Broadcasters have learned the power of Internet and how YouTube can turn videos into viral, which means make millions of views in a short period of time via online sharing social websites. The TV show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, an American late-night talk show, truly understood the power of YouTube and, in 2013, produced a fake viral video called “Twerk Fail” that went viral with 18 million views. The “home-made” video consists of a girl “twerking”, falling down into a candle and ending up setting fire to her own pants. Weeks later, Kimmel exposed it as a fake viral produced by the TV show and the video gained another 20 million views, attracting great attention towards the talk-show. (Moylan, 2015). Nevertheless, some broadcasters are using the power of the Internet for more than just some viral marketing campaigns, they are using it regularly as part of the show itself. As observed by Moylan (2015), “YouTube has become integral to the success of many TV shows as the place where they post clips, highlights, trailers, previews, recaps and other goodies that don’t make their way directly into the show.” The TV show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” is a great example of its kind, being broadcasted at HBO, its episodes and extra footage are always published on YouTube later on. By doing so, not only the show gets the chance of becoming viral …show more content…
In fact, a Google-commissioned Nielsen study found that YouTube reaches “more 18-49 year-olds in the U.S. than any broadcast or cable TV network” and (as cited by YouTube, 2016). The creators at the website generate revenue based on ads, no different than linear television and many of them create high-quality shows with regular publishing schedules. Nonetheless, YouTube is famous for its “YouTube stars” more than for its high-quality and television-alike content. A survey conducted by the American magazine “Variety” found that 8 in 10 of the most influential celebrities among U.S. teens were YouTubers (Ault, 2015). Felix Kjellberg, known as “PewDiePie”, is a prime example of this. Kjellberg has more than 45 millions followers on YouTube and profits around $4 million per year. (Grundberg, 2014). And while it might look like most of videos on YouTube are home-made by individuals, most of big channels are affiliated to a “Multi-Channel Network”, which are companies that “offer assistance in areas such as product, programming, funding, cross-promotion, partner management, digital rights management, monetization/sales, and/or audience development” to their partners, while retaining a percentage of the revenue generated by the videos (Google, n.d.). Although these companies work behind the scene and are unknown to most of people they are