Early You Tube Stars Get Real Income

What the Buck? Here's Michael Buckley's "My You Tube Story." According to a Dec 2008 NY Times report, "You Tube Videos Pull In Real Money," Buckley earned over $100k in the previous year (plus an HBO development deal) from his YouTube video-commentaries or rants about celebs.

For years, my 17-year-old daughter's favorite YouTube star and main source of daily news has been Philly D (of "The Philip DeFranco Show"), who offers his take on current events and celeb news. (Should I have been monitoring my daughter's online activities better?)

YouTube star Lisa Donovan or ""Lisa Nova"has talent for sketch comedy and parodies. Like Tina Fey, she liked to play Sarah Palin, including in this infamous McCain/Palin rap. Later she launched a company promoting hundreds of YouTube video producers. Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the bigtime with "Hey Little Sparta" (aka "The Mean Kitty Song" -- 78 million views). He told the NYT in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements in his videos.