Could This Be My Ticket to a Life of Fame and Fortune?

ads, Blogging, happiness, humor, lessons learned, music, retirement, Teaching and Education 3 Minutes

Here is an excerpt from a post I wrote over five years ago:

A couple of years ago I happened to walk outside my house and I noticed one of the neighborhood cats chasing something down our street.

When I went to get a closer look, I noticed it was a baby rabbit that appeared to be injured.

My first thought was that this was not going to be a happy ending for the rabbit, given the reputation that most cats have. However, it didn’t appear as if the cat meant to do any harm, so I decided to film the action on my phone.

As it turned out, the video ended up with a decent number of views, almost 40,000. For me, that qualifies as viral. (For comparison purposes, a video I made about Cost Structure and Profitability, which was much more educational, only attracted 24 views. I guess that says something about accounting, my online teaching effectiveness, and our society’s obsession with cats…)

Perhaps part of the reason the video went “viral” was the title I used, “Cat and Baby Bunny Best Friends”, thinking that using the word cat would help attract viewers.

It was also quite convenient when I went to add some music to the video and found that one of the free music clips offered by YouTube seemed to fit perfectly.

Not much happened over the next five years, picking up around another 5,000 views. Don’t get me wrong, I was still amazed that so many people would watch such a silly video. But in the grand scheme of things, it was far from being considered a popular video.

And then something happened at the end of November 2021. The number of daily views started increasing exponentially, at one point hitting over 40,000 views in just one day.

So just like my WordPress stats, I became addicted to checking my YouTube stats. I started predicting, based on what was happening, that the video would reach one million views sometime in February of this year.

And lo and behold, early this morning the video hit one million views.

I also started doing some calculations as to how much money I would be making from this video, and began planning an early retirement.

So to all my loyal readers, if you want to see the video before it’s inundated with ads, here you go:

The video also has over 500 comments, none of which are mine. Here are a dozen examples that highlight the range of comments:

  • Omg, I just subscribed to your channel and your rabbits are so cute🐇🐇 !! I also love Rabbits and currently have 10 of my own😁 Edit : now have 16 rabbits, the proud momma just had another little of 6 baby bunnies yesterday 😭😅🤭 Edit : now at 18 Rabbits 🙃😭
  • That bunny looks terrified…cat is waiting for owner to look the other way so he can REALLY “play” with his “best friend”
  • Heartwarming and sweet. Nature is wonderful
  • That cat is sizing up his next meal
  • The MUSIC! Such DRAMA! Cats and bunnies – I can watch them all day!
  • Love needs no language, it itself is a universal language. Love and care for innocents is humanity. We all should try to atleast go vegitarian, if going vegan is difficult.
  • Cat: “as soon as you turn off that camera, I’m going to eat this bunny”.
  • i like how you dramatised it with the music. nice :))
  • I think the cat and rabbit stopped out of mercy for us, because they knew if they continued we’d have to endure this loud corny ass music.
  • Wow, comments seems to think that the cat will do harm to the rabbit. The music seems to be more of terrifying. To me the cat is protecting the rabbit. You can see it is looking around for other cats or dogs or traffic that might be around. When the rabbit stop. The cat will keep guard the rabbit. A true friend.
  • No. They are not friends. The bunny actually looks injured when he turns to try and run again. The cat is just biding his time toying with the bunny before he kills him. But by all means just stand there and film the spectacle. 😠
  • Omgeee I needed that. Luv restored ty

As you can see, some people loved the music, some people thought it was terrible. The music was just one of the random pieces of music that YouTube makes available to add to your videos. I thought it fit perfectly.

I have no idea how the story of the cat and the baby bunny ended.  But that is how many of us artistic directors end our movies, leaving it up to the viewer to offer their own take on the events they just watched.

By the way, feel free to watch it again in case you missed any of the subtle nuances I included… 🙂

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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41 thoughts on “Could This Be My Ticket to a Life of Fame and Fortune?”

  1. Looks like your views are multiplying just like rabbits. Well congratulations, now you can quit your job and live on Easy Street. I’m looking forward to watching you, as you make the rounds of the talk show circuit.

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  2. I did watch it twice. Second time with music. What can I say, cats are the new tires (it was you with the tire post that went viral, right?). This cat is very chill and I don’t think it plans to eat the rabbit, it’s not displaying rabbit-eating behaviour. So congratulations on this milestone and yes, our society is obsessed with cats, so now I am off looking for some cats to shoot. With my camera. Not with guns.

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  4. How did I not know you had a YouTube channel? Maybe you need some dramatic music with your next Cost Structure and Profitability presentation. That, or you could make a grand entrance into your classroom like a professional wrestler. Have a Michael Buffer (the boxing announcer) voiceover, “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” as you saunter into the class. I’m picturing the Geico ad where Jaime walks in and interrupts the making of the ad.

    Okay, just thinking a little outside the box here.😊

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  6. Wow! Congratulations on going viral – you can get an injection for that, you know. I can’t help thinking that, dramatic though that music was, Eye Of The Tiger might have been a better fit…

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  7. A million views is quite the accomplishment, my friend! The music was perfect for building anticipation. You have now discovered that cat videos are like crack to YouTubers. Throw in a baby bunny and it is almost an overdose. I think you can use what you learned here to punch up your educational videos.

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  11. People are funny . I posted a video of a train on YouTube and it got almost 1000 views in 24 hours! Anytime I post cat pics or videos on any platform they get views and likes. Gotta admit I love watching kittens play .

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  13. 1st, that cat is totally going to kill the bunny. I have 2 cats and they make ‘friends’ with bunnies all the time. Then they eat them. This whole thing is truly bizarre. I can’t imagine seeking out cat and bunny videos. I guess people are sharing it(?). Will you actually make money from youtube? I don’t know how that works.

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    1. I am guessing it was not going to end well for that bunny. Once you meet certain YouTube requirements, you can start ot have ads on your videos, and make money from those. I’m just not sure who would want to advertise on that cat video…

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  16. It is absolutely adorable!! One million views? Wow! The day we shut down school in March of 2020, I posted reading a book on YouTube every day for my students. I might even have over 20 views on each one. 😂

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