Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Beyond the Internet, it could be said that the wheel is the greatest invention. But even the wheel needed an axle—an extra part that made the wheel go around, and as the axle is to the wheel, so is the viral video to the Internet.
The Internet would have been a barren wasteland of Al Gore's mind if it weren't for cats, emojis or "Homestar Runner."
Countless hours are spent on YouTube on a regular basis. (Actually, the hours can be counted, and they amount to 2.4 billion hours per month, according to YouTube.) With millions of eyeballs eagerly seeking billions of hours of entertainment, it is prime screen time for advertising before you get to your main event. And for each ad you watch before a YouTube video, the owner of the video makes on average $0.12, according to Penna Powers. That might not seem like a lot, but when a video gets millions of views, it sure adds up quickly.
For your YouTube must-view list, here are five of the most subjectively funny videos of 2015 in no particular order—and, we won't keep you guessing, the estimated ad revenue they would deliver:
1. Clash of Clans: Revenge (with Liam Neeson)
Views: 89 million
Estimated ad revenue: $1,606,772 if ads were enabled. The company makes $5 million per day as it is, so they are doing just fine without ads enabled on this particular video.
Liam Neeson reprises his most famous role to date in this Super Bowl commercial. No, not the elegantly bearded Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn, but the man with a very specific set of skills: Bryan Mills from the Taken franchise.
Bigbuffetboy85 clearly crossed the line when he (or she) wiped out Neeson's army on "Clash of Clans." He clearly had never seen "Batman Begins," "Clash of the Titans," "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" or "Rob Roy" because if he had, he would have run for the hills or just put his tablet on airplane mode.
2. Mean tweets with President Obama
Views: 34 million
Estimated ad revenue: $626,952
Currently, President Obama has a 50 percent rate of disapproval for his job as POTUS, according to an ABC News-Washington Post poll, so it goes without saying that people don't necessarily care for him. But with all of those people who keep their opinions to themselves, as the ancient sage Thumper once taught, there are those other few million people who will voice their opinions in a way that everyone can hear…or read: Twitter.
Jimmy Kimmel invited the president to review some of his most glowing reviews on national TV. Obama takes the heat pretty well, which is to be expected; he's been doing so for almost eight years.
Jimmy Kimmel invited the president to review some of his most glowing reviews on national TV. Obama takes the heat pretty well, which is to be expected; he's been doing so for almost eight years.
3. Gato Malo
Views: 9 million
Estimated ad revenue: $168,256
Cats are notorious for caring about absolutely nothing but themselves. They can't be reasoned with; they can't be befriended; nor can they be persuaded. Not unlike the cat from this Geico commercial, this cat, more than appropriately named Gato Malo (Evil Cat), throws out all sense of courtesy and defies his master with such sass—sass that only a cat can have.
4. Walker broke his arm
Views: 2 million
Estimated ad revenue: $44,689
Breaking a bone is almost every boy's dream. Not only is it a rite of passage into adulthood, but it's also really cool to have all of your friends sign your cast (when, in reality, you just want all the cutest girls in the seventh grade to sign it). So when you couple such a manly moment with the great equalizer—laughing gas—you get some really great footage.
5. DashCam 'Shake It Off'
Views: 37 million
Estimated ad revenue: $681,545
From Ryan Adams covering her entire album to this police officer jamming out to "Shake It Off", Taylor Swift is definitely generating a lot of publicity post-release of "1989". And this DashCam Confessional series from the Dover Police is helping her—and the department—with their public images.
What are some of your favorite videos from 2015?
Ad revenue calculated by Penna Powers, a total communications firm that is one of the largest buyers of YouTube ads in the state of Utah.
