That video struck gold. On Day One, it was viewed more than a million times.In the alley beside his Brentwood Bay apartment building, David Beck kneels in front of a gold water balloon, gripping an ax in both hands. In slow motion footage, he swings the ax down towards the balloon, scrunching his face with the effort. When the ax finally hits it, the balloon pops, revealing another, fully-intact balloon underneath it. (Source: Capital Daily)
This was in March 2020, the Beginning Times of the pandemic, and Beck was about to lose his "real" work. Which gave him more time to hone his balloon popping craft. By posting balloon content, he grew his account to 11.2M followers. And found that he was able to monetize his lark into a full-time job. One of his videos has had over 100 million views.
Beck has an international following, and it's somewhat comforting to learn that Americans aren't the only ones spending time watching balloon popping on TikTok. "Only" 25% of his views are from the U.S. "with other top countries including the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, but he’s not sure where Canada ranks."
There are thousands of kids who probably dream of doing Beck’s job. A 2019 survey found that 86 per cent of young Americans want to be influencers, and a 2018 British survey found that “social media star” was among the most popular dream jobs for children. However, Beck explains that while he loves what he does, it’s not always as easy (or as lucrative) as people expect.
His income has been estimated to be over $2.5M, but Beck says that this ain't so.
“That’s complete bullshit… I’m not the Logan Paul of Canada,” he laughs. “There’s a discrepancy between what people think you make in what you actually make. People think ‘oh, seven million followers [at the time of this article; now over eleven million], you must be making hundreds of thousands of dollars’ or something. It's not like that. It's more humble than that.”If you're wondering where the income comes from, and I surely was:
Beck explains that a TikToker’s earnings depend on what kind of content they’re making—not just how many views they get. The money he earns comes from a few different sources, including musicians who pay to have their songs featured in videos, brands who pay for their product to be shown on screen, and TikTok itself, which will pay for Beck to participate in campaigns or trends.
He makes a reasonably good living, and likes what he does. So, no Kardashian, but still living his best life. So, props to him.
Growing up, Sunday evening in our house meant watching The Ed Sullivan Show. (It also meant College Bowl and Rocky and Bullwinkle. An all round excellent TV viewing night!)
Ed Sullivan presented a smorgasbord of talent: popular singers (Elvis! Steve and Eydie Gormé! The Beatles!); opera (Beverly Sills and Robert Merrill) and Broadway stars (Ethel Merman, Robert Goulet). Harmonic players. The Bolshoi Ballet. Tap dancers. Borscht Belt comedians. Ventriloquists, puppeteers, puppeteering ventriloquists. And, often, a circus act of some sort.
Inevitably, when Ed introduced an act with some sort of circus-y talent, my father would ask the question: how did this person find out they had a talent for juggling bowling balls, eating fire, spinning plates. The answer for most of these acts was that they were probably either born into it (i.e., were part of a circus family) or figured out that was a way to make a living in the circus (after running away to join it).
We were not, to say the least, circus types. On the contrary, making fun of the circus was something that - led by my father - we all enjoyed as a family. (Other than my mother. She was too nice to ever make fun of anything.)
I can only imagine what my father would make of someone who was making their living posting balloon popping videos.
TikTok is, I guess, the new Ed Sullivan Show. And it's a really big one.
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