Web Secret 407: unboxing videos

YouTube supports a rather odd subculture of people who video themselves opening boxes (or shopping bags) of stuff they have recently purchased.

Popular items include luxury goods, electronics, and makeup.

Before you scoff, the most successful among them are laughing all the way to the bank. And performing a service (more on that later.)

First, how do you make money on YouTube? Most people think it's by having was numbers of followers. But actually, it has to do with how many people watched the ad you allowed YouTube to place in your video. In addition, you may have other remunerative links, eg to Amazon which your followers click on to purchase the products you promoted.

Here are some examples:

Here is BmwA5H unboxing a Rolex - 387,000+ views



Here is TheSyndicateProject unboxing the MMM3000 'Ultimate Gaming Helmet' - 5,000,000+ views



Here is KathleenLights sharing her 2016 drugstore makeup haul - 653,000+ views



By the way the 22 year old KathleenLights has over 1,822,000 people following her YouTube channel. Not too shabby.

The best of these videos do more than entertain - they actually provide a prospective buyer with a detailed view of what they will get.

And that's a good thing.