Film-makers swear by the adage never work with children or animals. But home videos of giggling babies, cute kittens and sneezing pandas are earning thousands for families on the internet.
A 58-second clip of two young brothers has helped net their family more than £100,000 (about R1.2-million) after it was watched 386 million times. The unlikely internet sensation went viral on YouTube, earning the boys’ father Howard Davies-Carr a share of its advertising revenue.
YouTube claims hundreds of families are making six-figure sums through similar deals. “Charlie bit my finger - again!”, as it was titled, shows the moment one-year-old Charlie Davies-Carr sunk his teeth into his unwary older brother’s finger. The film of giggling Charlie “and the outraged reaction of his three-year-old brother Harry” was posted on YouTube in 2007 for friends and family to enjoy.
But it was featured on a US TV show and went on to become a phenomenon, spawning fan clubs and even mobile ring tones of Harry howling: “Ouch, Charlie, ouch!”The film, and other videos Mr Davies-Carr has uploaded, have earned the family more than £100,000 through a “partnership” with the website. The company monitors all uploads and if it believes a video will go viral, it contacts the person who posted it. Revenue from ads placed around the clip is then shared between the site and the film’s creator.
Mr Davies-Carr, 42, and his wife Shelley plan to put the money towards school fees for their children. The IT consultant from Buckinghamshire also sells T-shirts with the logo “Charlie Bit Me” after he realised others were making money from selling merchandise linked to his sons. But he has denied “commercialising” the brothers.
He said: “Ever since the boys were born, I’ve had the camera out, but ‘Charlie bit my finger - again!’ that was pretty much the first video I’d posted. It was just a small captured moment I wanted to share with their godfather in Colorado.”
Another beneficiary of the phenomenon is Jamie Hagan, whose videos of his younger brother Jacob have been seen by 16 million. In 2008 the teenager filmed his seven-year-old brother playing on a computer game, and his tearful reaction when it was switched off.
The resulting video went viral and since then Jamie, now 18, estimates he has made about £40,000. He became a YouTube “partner”, and receives about 60 p per 1,000 views of his videos.