The Earning Potential of YouTube

This article give some pretty crazy facts about how profitable YouTube can be. Granted, you have to get a pretty massive following to be able to earn advertising revenue, but man, if you can do that you can make bank.   

• Mr. Higa, who owns the channel nigahiga, is reported to have made $150,000 in YouTube revenue in 2010. 
• Higa's made-for-YouTube movie, "Agents of Secret Stuff," has logged more than 10 million views since Thanksgiving and already turned a profit on its $25,000 budget.
• "Friday" singer Rebecca Black is believed to have already grossed $1 million from YouTube streams and iTunes downloads of her hit single.

http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/bringing-youtube-talent-advertisers-distributors/226881/