I earn £120,000 a year making social media videos go viral

I earn £120,000 a year making social media videos go viral

Eknoor Singh's successful social media video clips include one of popstar Dua Lipa

Eknoor Singh says he needs nothing more than his mobile phone and a decent internet connection to bring in more than £120,000 a year.

The 22-year-old from London works as a professional "clipper". Clients pay him to create short, vertical social media videos in the hope that they will go viral.

"The more views a clip gets, the more money I make," he says.

Usually, the client — which could be anything from a clothing brand to a record label, movie studio, podcaster or influencer — first provides a longer video for the clipper to watch.

The clipper then produces 30 to 60-second clips of what they judge to be the strongest part or parts, and posts them on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or other platforms.

The thinking is that clippers, who are generally aged between 16 and 25, understand better what will appeal to that audience and can help the short videos attract as many views as possible.

Because clippers can earn up to $3 (£2.30) for every 1,000 views across platforms, the work can be highly profitable if a clip really takes off.

Singh says he became hooked on clipping last year after earning $300 from posting a short video of popstar Dua Lipa on Instagram.

"I was like, 'OK, this is a lot of money for simply posting a video.' I instantly knew how lucrative it could be."

He now says he makes "at least £10,000 a month".

He says he looks for clips that are funny, quick to watch and engaging, such as a short video he made in May showing Sabrina Carpenter's reaction after the tails of her dress were stepped on at the Met Gala in New York. Singh did not say who the client was.

Singh's clip of Sabrina Carpenter went viral

For 24-year-old clipper Ethan Weems from Wichita, Kansas, clipping is a profitable side hustle alongside his other video-making work. He says he earns "at least $1,000 a month" from clipping.

He does this by making short videos for YouTuber and podcaster Caleb Hammer, who is best known for presenting a show called Financial Audit, which examines the personal finances of his guests.

Weems says clipping allows him to make a living from home, giving him more time with his wife and one-year-old son. "I don't want that typical nine-to-five job where I have to go into an office every day," he says.

But while some clippers can make good money, social media consultant Lia Haberman warns that there are very few of them. "It mirrors the creator economy more broadly. The vast majority make little to nothing," she says.

Streaming industry analyst Devin Nash also says it is easy to underestimate how much time clipping takes to succeed. He says successful clippers must "watch hours and hours of content, and they just live in that world".

Ethan Weems says the income helps him continue to work from home

A number of intermediary websites connect clippers with potential clients, listing available video jobs.

These include pages on general online forums such as Reddit and Discord, as well as dedicated clipping sites such as Clipping Culture, Vyro, Whop and Kick.

The latter sites charge a fee to the companies seeking the work. Clipping Culture lists clients including Capital Records, Universal Music Group and HBO Max.

For companies like these, hiring a teenager or someone in their 20s working from a bedroom is far cheaper than paying for traditional social media adverts, and is likely to be more effective at attracting eyeballs.

That has been the experience of Boxabl, a Las Vegas-based company that makes modular homes. "I think we've done probably a billion views [of clips] so far," says founder Galiano Tiramani, who appears in many of the company's videos.

In the UK, Jimmy McLoughlin, a former Downing Street adviser and now host of the Jimmy's Jobs of the Future podcast, has also adopted clips.

"The clips are almost like trailers for the main events," he says. For example, a recent podcast with Prime Minister Andy Burnham "had close to 50,000 long plays, but in terms of clips, it's done millions".

Eknoor Singh says he can make clips anywhere with just his mobile and a good internet connection

Evan Stanfield, founder and boss of Clipping Culture, is only 21 himself. He launched the business last year after leaving the University of Kansas.

Stanfield says the website links brands with more than 340,000 clippers from around the world. He has a straightforward explanation for the popularity of short videos: "People's attention spans are getting shorter and shorter."

He adds that clipping is a young person's game because "they're most of the consumers of short-form videos".

Back in London, Eknoor Singh says he is "kind of clipping non-stop", wherever he is.

"I could be anywhere. I could go on holiday and make money."