‘Charlie bit my finger’ earns $500,000 in 5 years (VIDEO)
A screengrab from “Charlie Bit My Finger,” the most successful non-commercial video in YouTube history.
The family that created the most viewed amateur YouTube video ever — featuring a biting baby and his talkative older brother — has made a half-million dollars from ad revenue, according to Mashable.
The video had captured a few million views within a few months of being posted.
More from GlobalPost: Finger-biting baby and his brother are YouTube's biggest success story
The father of the British boys featured in the video, Howard Davies-Carr, said he had considered taking the video down at that point but decided not to because there were already many parody videos and copies in circulation.
Once the video reached 50 million views, the family began earning cash from YouTube ads and television spots, Mashable wrote.
It has now had more than 436 million views, with the only video watched more on YouTube being the official theme of the 2010 World Cup.
Speaking to ABC's Nightline in the US, Davies-Carr said the whole thing started when he posted the video in 2007 for one of his son's godfather in Colorado.
The family also started a blog in 2009 to document the kids' lives, and also a Twitter account devoted to the pair, @harryandcharlie, a YouTube channel with other videos of their boys and a Facebook page.
Without federal support, local stations, especially in rural and underserved areas, face deep cuts or even closure. Vital public service alerts, news, storytelling, and programming like The World will be impacted. The World has weathered many storms, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to being your trusted source for human-centered international news, shared with integrity and care. We believe public media is about truth and access for all. As an independent, nonprofit newsroom, we aren’t controlled by billionaire owners or corporations. We are sustained by listeners like you.
Now more than ever, we need your help to support our global reporting work and power the future of The World.