This blog was originally founded as a way to help amateur “online video creators” make cash. It’s drifted into a review of the online video industry, advertising implications, and even a source for current popular online viral videos.

For this post let’s get back to our roots.  Through the sweat, blood and tears of MarquisdeJolie (click “more” below for his bio and links) we now have our first report on the profitability of some of the online video sites. This is not a pure study, but click here (yesterday’s post about how to do one) if you want to volunteer to do one. Again- don’t volunteer publicly as it taints the study.

Revver – Started Oct. 25, 2005 and has more than 500 videos.

• first payment March 15  $45.40
• next payment March 30 $93.43
• next payment June 1     $1,345.67
• next payment July 1      $561.66
• next payment July 15    $304.43

MotionTV – He started in April and accrued earnings on 89 videos (not paid yet) is:

• April .62
• May .78
• June .36
• July   .61

Eefoof – Started in July, with accrued earning $8.64. That’s from 187 videos.

No test of Flixya yet. It’s too new.

A few important notes about this data:

1. His Revver videos had more time and volume, so that’s part of the reason Revver performed much better.
2. His videos are unique- short and crazy. There are other “genres” that may see different results
3. Revver gets VERY little traffic on its own relative to other online video sites. So we can assume that the majority of the views of his Revver videos took place on sites beyond Revver (and partially because Marquis markets himself well online).
4. Before you decide Marquis videos are crazy and his data must be too, this is a guy that used his army disability retirement of $400 to buy 12 buildings in his early 20s.

James Jarvis posts on Revver as “Marquisdejolie,” and has well over 500 videos to date. They’re disturbing, bizarre, compelling, cynical, ironic and usually hysterical. Most are psychedelic-looking with amazing photographic, video and audio distortions. He’s been called a modern-day Van Gogh, but he hasn’t cut off his ear yet.

Jarvis maintains a perplexing website, JamesJarvis.net, which focuses on his deep disdain for the “atavistic, calculatingly neglectful” V.A. Before his obsession with Revver, he was a photojournalist and brigade newspaper editor for the army, editor of a national magazine, and
owned an escort agency.

One of the fantastic things about Revver is the ability to journey through the subconscious of a person like James Jarvis, right from the safety of your computer. Check out some of his favorites on the “Bizarre” section of CubeBreak or by clicking here.