As YouTube changed over the years, the structure of viral videos and the ad revenue generated from them changed as well. For example, in 2007, the "Charlie Bit My Finger" video apparently brought the family that uploaded it "tens of thousands" of British pounds, according to Business Insider. Howard Davies-Carr, the father of the boys in the famous video, told the outlet he only initially shared the clip with certain friends and family before "it became difficult to maintain a list of who could watch the video." So, he changed the video to "public" and the rest is viral history. 

By 2012, the adorable clip reached over 400 million views and raked in "about $160,000" in ad revenues on YouTube, according to Newser. By 2017, the views more than doubled, earning the family an astounding "$1.3 million in royalties" (per The Mirror). In addition to money, the video also led to advertisements, public appearances, and travel for the family.

In a roundabout way, "Charlie Bit My Finger" led to the Davies-Carr family having more children. "Without the clip, we couldn't have had Rupert," Shelley Davies-Carr, Charlie's mother, told the tab of her youngest child (the family now has four boys). So now kids with YouTube dreams can tell their parents that they're filming everything they do because they're trying to start a family!

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