How one company reshaped — and kind of ruined — the viral video landscape

It’s Viral Market Crash week on Mashable. Join us as we take stock of the viral economy and investigate how the internet morphed from a fun free-for-all to a bleak hellscape we just can’t quit.

Jukin Media is like an internet mob boss.

With nearly 50,000 videos in their library, it owns a huge chunk of the viral videos on the internet, and it decides who gets to share those clips — and they don't come cheap. Yet you're probably blissfully unaware of the company that's behind the scenes pulling the viral strings.

As a company, what Jukin does is relatively simple: It finds undiscovered videos, buys them or strikes a revenue share from the owners thirsty for viral fame or money. It then licenses the clips for rebroadcast — to everyone from the local news to highlight reel shows on MTV.  Read more...

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