Viral succes is often backed by ad spending

Data shows that the correlations between money and popularity is true. “Without a budget, the chances of a video going viral are pretty slim,” says Anita Elberse, marketing teacher at the Harvard Business School, who conducted data analysis to try to understand how the Web is changing the ways companies reach customers.

She summarizes her findings, “Most of the time, you have to spend money to make money online,” Elberse says. “This is not to say that viral hits can’t happen out of the blue. They do, but they are the exception.”

Read about what the research showed.