YouTube, how much are you making off Jill and Kevin's wedding?

It's lifted up those who have been dumped by their one-eyed lovers.

It's made married couples turn to each other and think: "Why in the blessed blazes did I marry you?"

One can even imagine it will inspire those who are about to embark on one of life's more treacherous paths to reassess their mode of transport.

Am I talking about the new health care bill? No, I'm talking about the latest and perhaps most inspirational video to have graced YouTube's library of life.

When Jill Peterson and Kevin Hines set their wedding date in St. Paul, Minn., they decided to create a special entrance in the church: a loosely choreographed dance to Chris Brown's "Forever."

Jill had been a dancer, you see. And, well, marching up the aisle to organ music is so 1939.

Kevin told NBC's "Today Show" that he had only posted the video because Jill's dad had nagged him to YouTube it so that more distant family members could enjoy the amusement. (I especially loved the portly chap in the shades who looks just like Turtle from "Entourage.")

Since last Sunday, almost 5 million people have watched the delightful wedding party dance. More than 2 million people laptopped it up between 10 p.m. PDT Friday and 10 a.m. PDT Saturday.

But here's the thing. Unlike, for example, the Susan Boyle YouTube video--various versions of which have been watched by more than 100 million people--the wedding dance actually has ads around it.

Well, one. In the box to the right of the video.

Friday night, I saw one for Veet, a superbly relevant wedding product. (Gentlemen, in case you are unfamiliar with Veet, it's an excellent repository of depilatory stuff.)

Saturday morning, the ad space encouraged me to go to the California State Fair (yes, complete with American Idol winner David Cook and a Beatles tribute band.)

As yet, there are none of the little yellow-and-white scrawling ads defacing this mesmerizing video. However, it would be truly instructive if YouTube could give us some sense of how much it is making from what might turn out to be the most-watched piece of film (any kind of film) of the week.

Google has been on an interestingly defensive offensive on the subject of YouTube's prospects for money-making.

Indeed, it has made much of a new ability to "buzz target" those videos that are gaining exponential viral momentum.

So it would be a gracious gift for Google to give us a running score of just how much it's making from Jill and Kevin's wedding.

You see, if I am ever lucky enough to get married, I would love to out Jill-and-Kevin Jill and Kevin. And I'm interested to know if I could make some money out of it myself.

[Police_States_of_America]

it is without a doubt that good is offering its premium content providers much more than its regular, average joe content providers. many of the movies and TV shows have less than ten thousand views, which would not equate to much money if they were being payed the standard "youtube partner" rate.

[jezzur]

Youtube has done a lot for short film makers, educators, and everyone really. It is a media revolution, and a pretty good one. They deserve the cash. Maybe prior to your wedding you should spend time finding a server to cope with 5 million hits for free, with a massive and hard/cleverly-earned viewership, and so on.

I have seen lots of people talking about CNET journalism. The last few times I've bothered clicking I've got this nonsense. It reminds me of the worst television show on Australian TV - Today Tonight... quasi news made for morons.

[bluemountain]

YouTube deserves to make the money for sharing this with us. In the real world only a few would have enjoyed it, now the whole world enjoys.

[steveoohh]

So, Chris, how much money did you make off this article asking the question about how much money youtube made off this video? Seems like a fair question.

[hightechfanboy]

So, Steve, how much money did you make off this comment asking chris how much money he make off asking how much youtube make off. J.K. but on a serious note, the ceremony is pretty original, but maybe a little disrespectful if is taking place on an actual church.

[Splashes]

I agree, Steve, fair question. Cnet and every other website try to capitalize (literally) on the buzz surrounding any viral video. Nothing wrong with that, but if Cnet starts pointing fingers at the naughty capitalists at YouTube, I'm gonna barf.

[jezzur]

Why is it disrespectful to dance in church? Oh yeah, we all have to dress up in nice clothes and pretend to be good people in front of our selfish community, while effectively doing nothing of consequence.

Nice.

[jsibelius]

What? There are ads on that page?

[mjconver]

Yeah, I didn't see any ads. I never see ads. Thanks, ABP!

[JimmyJoeJohnson]

AdBlock Plus

nuff said

[bigtrav261]

Ditto.

[armen_b]

The sad truth is "not that much."

Assume 5 million views (that's the latest counter). Assume at least half of those views, if not more, actually happened OFF youtube.

2.5M views, is 2500 CPM units, the standard advertising unit representing 1000 pageviews.

The *most* Youtube could hope to generate off a UGC post with an above the fold 300x250 ad is $1.5 CPM. That would be DREAMY, by the way.

So you're looking at 2500 * 1.5 = $3750.

A whopping $4K for delivering a 4+ minute video over 5 million times.

Now, I have no idea what the standard rate is for those 'crawl' ads (they'd be the best source of that), if they even showed them on this video. If they did, you could assume they could monetize the remaining views that happen off-site, and add it in as additional revenue for the ones they show on Youtube proper.

Be generous and assume they made an additional $1.5 CPM from those two avenues, and you're still looking at well below $10K in revenue for a once-in-a-year type video phenomenon.

It's a tough business.

[lonny paul]

BUT Wait! They don't get paid on a CPM basis, they get paid on a CPC basis.

So all those ads for the fair, bet nobody clicked on 'em.

Google has been tweaking their ad serving logic for years in an attempt to maximize advertisements, but from someone familiar with the amount of revenue the ad on the upper right of the pages actually earn - it's minimal.

And as this article shows through their embedded ad-free version, a lot of the views happen off YouTube too.

[ikramerica--2008]

How much money did this couple pay YouTube to host and stream this video again? Oh, right. Nothing.

Would this couple ever have been on Today if not for YouTube? Oh, right, not likely.

YouTube's model was a gamble, it's paying off for them on assumes. For those who post, a few people get brief fame, some actually get more.

[dracoaffectus]

I have a couple questions...

how do pages like this which embed the video from youtube sans ads affect the money Google makes from the video?

and how much could this newly married couple have made by putting this video on revver instead of youtube?

[Don Key]

Not to be a downer but it's kind of odd that they would pick a song from a person known for spousal abuse...

[The_Decider]

I can't tell you how many couples I have known that use Every Breath you Take from The Police as "their song". Don't they realize how creepy that song is? Likely not, which says a lot about people and women specifically.

[SmoothIAm]

They are at about 6,5 million views. If they are Youtube partners, which their channel doesn't indicate that they are Youtube partners ,they would have made about $3500 - $4500 off the video. I don't know maybe Youtube cut a deal with them directly for this one video. The real money in this stuff is the licensing to all the TV shows that want to show the video on air.

[lodish1]

Granted, the previous comments merit a response. But at the end of the day, didn't we all enjoy this grand wedding entrance. Quite frankly since the end of June we have been inundated with nothing but death and sad news. This makes me smile and right now I don't care how much or who's getting what; the cost of happiness or a smile is pricele$$. Let's be happy for this young couple and pray that they make it through the 15 millionth showing of this video and still be married. Some things are simply GOD's business not ours...
Chaplain Detra

[limotek]

I feel that You Tube benefits all. Ten years ago the only way people would be noticed by their antics was by newspaper, on a radio station or if you were lucky by T.V. which may be only shown in parts of the world. Then You Tube was introduced and they brought video clips to everyone?s door step. At the end of the day all I?m trying to say is who cares about the money don?t forget it?s all for a laugh.

[limotek]

I feel that You Tube benefits all. Ten years ago the only way people would be noticed by their antics was by newspaper, on a radio station or if you were lucky by T.V. which may be only shown in parts of the world. Then You Tube was introduced and they brought video clips to everyone?s door step. At the end of the day all I?m trying to say is who cares about the money don?t forget it?s all for a laugh.

[sanjayb]

I didn't know white people could dance! :-P

[jkweddingentrancedance]

I bet Youtube is making a good buck. This video has definately changed my autumn plans!

24 hours ago I had never heard of this video, just stumpled upon it. Wow, loved it. Redefines a church wedding.

Just for fun I bought the domain <a href="www.jk-wedding-entrance-dance.com">www.jk-wedding-entrance-dance.com.</a> Now glad I did, it is already driving me traffic and making good money.

I will be going to my friends Witu´s wedding in October in Argentina after all... see you then mate :)

Chris Matyszczyk writes "I would love to out Jill-and-Kevin Jill and Kevin." Might not happen in our lifetimes. Most wedding videos simply don't just go viral, even though they are really really funny.

Here are the digital forensics details to show how the viral effect was manufactured, even though the original video was real. After all, there are thousands of funny wedding videos and none of those went viral (America's Funniest Videos has been on TV for years showing wedding bloopers submitted by people).

http://bit.ly/8K9pW

Cheers

[wemeier]

YouTube provides a (questionably) useful site that millions of people around the world have enjoyed. They not only provide entertaining videos, but also educational videos. The cost to provide that storage and bandwidth must be astronomical. If what pays for it is ads along the side of the page, I'm all for it. Would you rather YouTube be a subscription service that charges YOU to view the videos?

[roachkarenm]

Who cares about the money.......that's business, this video brings a smile to my face everytime I watch it. And, I do watch it often, I guess it will get old soon, but for now, when I 'm frustrated or have too much on my plate, I put it on, and feel better. I think it's great, I have shown it to so many people, they all feel the same. Good job J&K.