How much ad revenue did Gangnam Style earn?

Going from virtual unknown to creator of the most viewed YouTube video of all time with the video Gangnam Style (1.23 billion last time I checked) has brought considerable wealth and fame to the Korean rapper Psy (not to mention his father’s business). But we forget how much YouTube and Google (the site’s parent company) have profited from the popular video.

So how much ad revenue could a single video possibly earn? ABC reports:

“It generated over $8 million in online advertising deals,” Nikesh Arora, Senior VP and Chief Business Officer at Google, said on Google’s earnings call.

At that rate, Quartz points out, the video is racking up about 0.65 cents every time the video is played. Psy’s take? An estimate by the Associated Press said that last year Psy brought in $7.9 million from his share of the YouTube ad revenue, iTunes downloads, and TV commercials.

Related on SmartPlanet:

• Gangnam Style and Asia’s rising cultural influence
• Youtube’s evolution from cute cat videos to Gangnam Style
• The K-Pop industry: Why ‘Gangnam Style’ became a hit