在YouTube上淘金

When Howard Davies-Carr’s home video Charlie Bit My Fingerhad racked up about 200m views on YouTube, he found himself overwhelmed with requests from advertisers and chat shows.

一段名为《查理咬了我的手指》(Charlie Bit My Finger)的家庭录像在YouTube上点击量累积至2亿次左右时，无数广告商邀约和访谈节目邀请像雪片般涌向了视频拍摄者——霍华德·戴维斯-卡尔(Howard Davies-Carr)。

His background in technical software sales had not prepared him for negotiating such contracts and so he turned to an acquaintance, Damian Collier, an entertainment consultant with a legal background in handling television, music and theatre rights.

戴维斯-卡尔是做技术软件销售的，没有洽谈此类合约的经验，因此他求助于一个朋友——达米安·科利尔(Damian Collier)。科利尔是一名娱乐顾问，有处理电视、音乐和戏剧版权相关事务的经验，懂相关法律。

For those unfamiliar with Charlie Bit My Finger, it is a 56-second home video of a boy and his baby brother in which the latter bites the former’s finger. Filmed in 2007, it is also one of YouTube’s most wat-ch-ed videos, with close to half a billion views.

可能有些读者没听说过《查理咬了我的手指》。那是一段长56秒的家庭录像，拍的是一对兄弟，哥哥是个小男孩，弟弟是个小宝宝，弟弟咬了哥哥的手指。那段视频拍摄于2007年，点击量近5亿次，是YouTube上点击量最高的视频之一。

Mr Davies-Carr says the intention was never to make money from the clip. But when approached by various media he was happy to turn it into an opportunity.

戴维斯-卡尔表示，他拍摄这段视频时从没想过要从中赚钱。但当各种媒体蜂拥而至时，他很高兴能借机赚一笔。

“It has been entirely [reactive]?.?.?.?the boys live normal lives and people come to us – but from the various different things we have made about $500,000.

“（机会）完全（是自己找上门的）……两个孩子像往常一样生活，人们自己找上门——不过从各种活动中我们赚了50万美元。

The venture also sparked a new business, Viral Spiral, for Mr Collier, who now advises a number of viral stars on contracts – doing deals with off-YouTube distribution, ar-ranging appearances and even negotiating book deals. Along with cute kids, he represents those who have filmed animals, nature and pranks.

这次意外的经历还促使科利尔创建了一家新企业——Viral Spiral。如今，科利尔为多位因网络视频而爆红的新星提供合约咨询，帮他们处理线下的销售协议、安排出场活动甚至洽谈图书出版协议。除了拍摄可爱小孩的人，科利尔也为那些拍摄动物、自然风光和恶作剧视频的人做代理。

Viral marketing has become a familiar tool: advertisers generate something (such as a YouTube clip) that is quirky, interesting or amusing enough that consumers will spread it themselves, typically across social networks.

“病毒式营销已成为一种为人熟知的工具：广告商制作一些足够另类、好玩或者搞笑的东西（如放在YouTube上的一段视频），消费者会主动（往往通过社交网络）去传播。

But it is less clear what to do when something has already been seen by millions of people but is not a commercial property. Viral Spiral is attempting to turn such unplanned hits into cash.

但是，如果某个视频已有数百万人观看，但不是商业资产，开发其价值的方法就不那么显而易见了。Viral Spiral正在尝试将这种意外的点击点石成金。

The company’s most famous recent signing was the pair who filmed the “Fenton video, which shows a well-spoken Englishman chasing a dog that is chasing deer in London’s Richmond Park, bellowing “Fenton!

该公司最近签约的人里面最有名，是拍摄了《芬顿》(Fenton)视频的那一对。在这段视频中，一名说话文雅的英国人在伦敦里士满公园(Richmond Park)追逐一只狗，而那只狗正在追逐一群鹿。这名英国人边跑边喊：“芬顿！

“We’ve signed a book deal with Headline publishing for Find Fenton! Mr Collier explains. He adds that it is sold into supermarkets and that he is negotiating for it to sit near the tills at a leading bookstore in the lead-up to Christmas.

科利尔介绍说：“我们已经与海德林出版社(Headline publishing)签署了一项出版协议！他补充道，这本书已在超市上架，他正在与一家主要书店洽谈，想让书店在圣诞节前把这本书放在收银台旁的书架上销售。

Charlie Bit My Finger has been used in ads – including for Ragú, the pasta sauce – and has even become an app. “A popular clip can make six figures, Mr Collier says.

已经有一些广告采用了《查理咬了我手指》视频的片段，包括Ragú牌番茄酱的广告。《查理》视频甚至还被开发成了一款应用(app)。科利尔说：“一段流行的视频赚的钱可以达到六位数。

Mike Cooper, creative lead at content marketing agency Republic Publishing, says no one has yet pinned down what makes a viral success: “These clips play to the way we consume media now – in bite-size chunks – and they’re often talking points in the morning in the way that television shows were. A lot of people have tried to dissect what makes a viral hit and many have got close. But there’s a great deal of serendipity involved.

内容营销机构Republic Publishing的创意主管迈克·库珀(Mike Cooper)表示，目前还没有人找出“病毒式营销成功的诀窍：“这些视频迎合了当今人们消费媒体的方式——非常简短，而且往往可以作为人们早上见面后的谈资，就好像以前的黄金档电视剧一样。很多人尝试剖析一段视频走红的原因，其中很多人已经非常接近。但一段视频走红，还是有很多偶然因素。

In his TED presentation, Why Videos Go Viral, YouTube’s Kevin Allocca identifies three essential ingredients that make for a viral hit: tastemakers – the influential people who “validate a video; unexpectedness; and communities of interest, who will discuss the video and make spin-offs. However, he points out, there are more than 48 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute and only a tiny percentage have more than 1m views.

YouTube高管凯文·阿洛卡(Kevin Allocca)在其TED（美国的一家私有非盈利组织，定期组织TED大会；TED是technology（技术）、 entertainment（娱乐）和 design（设计）的缩写）演讲《一段视频为何走红》(Why Videos Go Viral)中，指出了导致一段视频走红的三个必备条件：流行创造者——有影响力的“慧眼识珠者；意外性；有一群人对视频感兴趣，讨论视频、并对其进行演绎。不过，阿洛卡指出，每分钟有超过48小时时长的视频上传到YouTube上，而只有一小部分的点击量超过了100万。

Viral Spiral now actively looks for the next Fenton or Charlie. “We now have a research team who search the net for virals – and, of course, we get a lot of approaches from people, says Mr Collier. “We’ve currently got a staff of nine, but we’re adding people every few months.

Viral Spiral如今正在积极地寻找下一个芬顿或查理。科利尔说：“现在我们有一支研究团队，专门在网上寻找点击量高的视频。当然，也有许多人主动来找我们。目前我们有9名员工，但每隔几个月我们就要增加人手。

Viral Spiral is also moving to producing its own viral shows. In one, called The Kings of YouTube, Charlie and his brother Harry will “review viral videos.

Viral Spiral也在尝试自己制作病毒式视频。他们制作了一段叫做《YouTube之王》(The Kings of YouTube)的视频，在那段视频中，查理和哥哥哈里(Harry)将对一些病毒式视频进行“审查。