On YouTube, Seven-Figure Views, Six-Figure Paychecks

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McLaughlin and Neal sell Rhett & Link-branded shoes on their YouTube site. "In our experience, the merchandise sales can add up to a significant amount of money. But I don't see how you could do it without the direct sponsorship," says McLaughlin. "We were doing sponsored videos before we became YouTube partners. We just see [the additional revenue] as gravy."

Top YouTube entertainers usually command flat fees in the five-figure range for their sponsorships. Rhett & Link negotiate their own deals. "The rules of this game are being created as we go along," says McLaughlin. "Sometimes you ask a price and people laugh in your face, and sometimes they say, 'Yes,' and you're like, 'Hmmm, maybe we should have asked for more money?' "

Earlier this year, DeStorm Power won a video-making contest run by Wonderful Pistachios. In Power's 30-second spot, he sings and plays percussion with pistachios. The video won him a lifetime supply of pistachios, a camcorder, and $25,000. That helped set his sponsored-video fee for clients such as PepsiCo (PEP) and General Electric (GE). "Once you do something, you don't want to go backwards," he says. "You have to keep the scale around where it is."

Not all YouTube stars want to handle their own business negotiations. "I wanted to focus on the creative side," says Michael Gregory, a Brooklyn musician whose band, the Gregory Brothers, leapt to YouTube stardom with its Auto-Tune the News series. He teamed up with a company called Next New Networks, a web-video development company in New York. The company manages performers' sponsorships, negotiates ad deals with Google, and handles audience development and public relations. Next New Networks represents about 50 artists who collectively generate more than 150 million monthly views. "These guys are no different than creators working in television and film," says CEO Lance Podell. "They're looking for fame and fortune."

Rhett & Link plan to follow the opportunities wherever they arise. "We want to do it all," McLaughlin says. "But we don't ever want to neglect the Web."

The bottom line: Thanks to ad revenue-sharing deals and corporate-sponsored videos, top YouTubers can earn well north of $100,000.

Gillette is a reporter for Bloomberg News.

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