Hong Kong YouTube stars turn their self-made celebrity into online careers

Tommy Leung Ka-ming adjusts his webcam and starts recording a "freestyle" tirade, titled "Everyday Narcissism Worsens". With his bed and wardrobe in the background, it's a raw attack on vain Chinese men who post "selfies" of themselves on social networks, wear sunglasses indoors, and fuss over their boy-band hair styles.

Leung, better known as Ming Jai, posted the video on YouTube three years ago. It has since had over 1.5 million hits and 15,000 likes. But this isn't a viral hit like "Charlie Bit My Finger", which attracted nearly 600 million YouTube clicks and earned the toddler's family enough money to buy a new house from the advertising revenue.

While Charlie's success was unplanned, Leung knows the secret to his "virality" and is part of a new wave of entrepreneurs who are capitalising on their self-made celebrity to launch businesses. "I never imagined I'd make my living on YouTube," he says. "It's a new channel of revenue that only a handful of people have picked up on."

But that's about to change. YouTube came of age as a business model in 2012, with the worldwide roll-out of the YouTube Partner Programme it launched in the US in 2007. This allows contributors to share advertising revenue with the site, with the contributor taking 55 per cent.

In Hong Kong, more than 19,000 people registered their channels for the Ad Sense tool, which delivers adverts to sites based on website content. With the barrier to entry removed, the floodgates are now open for Hongkongers to cash in online.