Melbourne singer, songwriter, and geometrically inclined performer Gotye performing with Kimbra won 3 Grammy Awards for his song Somebody that I used to Know in 2013.
The Gotye youtube clip has had 1,535,344,012 or 1.5 Billion hits since it was first uploaded 5th July 2011.
Mini Rates Exercise:
In 111 months Somebody that I used to know has scored 1.5 Billion hits. How many hits a. per month, b. per day, c. per minute? (Round off numbers)
Ans: a. 13.5 Million per month
b. 450,000 per day (Assuming 30 days per month)
c. 37,500 per hour and 625 per minute (for over 9 years non stop!)
Estimate of Youtube Earnings for this Song:
The Influencer Marketing Hub puts the rates an advertiser pays between $0.10 to $0.30 per view on Youtube, but averages out at $0.18 per view. Using the lower rate, how much has this song earnt in just over 7 years?
Earnings = 0.10 x 1.5 x 109 = 1.5 x 108 = $150,000,000 = $150 million*
*This calculation is based on a click per view of the video. Gotye will not receive anything like $150M, however, because advertisers pay per click on their ad.
According to the Influencer Marketing Hub again ‘on average, the YouTube channel can receive $18 per 1,000 ad views. This equates to $3 – $5 per 1000 video views.’ Again, using the lower rate:
Video Hits =1.5 x 109
Divide by 1,000 = 1.5 x 109 ÷103 = 1.5 x 106
$3.00 per 1,000 video clicks earnings = 3.00 x 1.5 x 106 = 4.5 x 106
Realistic Earnings = 4.5 x 106 = $4,500,000 = $4.5 million
A Geometric Parody:
Here is Mathspig’s take on the song:
Somebody that I used to Know:
It’ll either help students do their exercises or work like Clockwork Orange and have them running screaming out of the room when they hear the first few notes.
Mathspig Blog 