Baby Shark has 16.4 billion views but makes no money for its creator because YouTube prevents him from doing so

YouTube

YouTube is above all a participatory video streaming site where each user (professional or individual) can create their own universe and share all their videos with others.

• License:
  Free license
• Author :
  Google Inc.
• Operating systems:
  Windows 10/11, Online Service, Android, iOS iPhone/iPad
• Categories:
  Video, Internet

The fault is the conditions imposed by YouTube, therefore, on content for children. Despite the existence of Baby Shark, Pinkfong does not glean “that” $67 million in revenue per year and $13 million in operating profits. This is what the Wall Street Journal reveals to us that this viral phenomenon has accumulated around 4.7 million views per day since 2016.

Why doesn’t Baby Shark bring anything back to his creator?

But then, why does Pinkfong receive very little money from the Baby Shark video despite this phenomenal success? It all dates back to 2019, when YouTube reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over compliance with US law protecting children’s online privacy.

This arrangement imposes strong constraints on all content aimed at minors on the platform: targeted advertising is completely prohibited on these videos, as is engagement, since comments and subscriber notifications are disabled.

Faced with this limitation, the profitability of Baby Shark and all creators of children’s content has collapsed. Pinkfong is taking the full brunt of these new rules.

According to Garrett Johnson, a researcher at Boston University who analyzed the impact of this 2019 agreement on online children’s content, Baby Shark could generate 2 to 3 times more revenue for its South Korean studio without these restrictions.

Faced with this economic reality, Pinkfong diversified its revenue sources and moved away from dependence on advertising revenue from YouTube. The company now sells online content (streaming, live events, merchandising, etc.).

But remember, Baby Shark is not Pinkfong’s golden goose: it’s Bebefinn, which represents around 40% of Pinkfong’s total revenue.

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