The
Meme
Economy:
How
Internet
Humor
Prints
Real
Money

2:03
a.m.,
sticky
Atlanta
heat.
Cici
Patterson,
23,
hunches
over
a
battered
iPad,
trimming
a
six-second
“Grimace
shake”
clip.
She
queues
it
for
8:17
a.m.—commuter
scroll
time.

disclosed our combined endeavor expert
One
euphemism,
half
a
night’s
work,
a
month
of
her
mom’s
DMV
salary.
Welcome
to
the
meme
economy:
spontaneous,
viciously
fast,
oddly
collaborative—absurdly
profitable.

Once
disposable
inside
jokes,
memes
are
now
investable
micro-media.
Brand
CMOs
chase
them,

public
markets
twitch
around
them,
and
Ivy
League
seminars
dissect
them.
This
investigation
traces
the
path
from
dancing
ba

explicated our research partner

What
Sparked
the
Gold
Rush?
A
4-Phase
Timeline

1990-2004:
Reputation,
Not
Revenue

• Usenet
  and
  Something
  Awful
  swap
  image
  macros
  for
  bragging
  rights.
• 
  Artifact:
  The
  “Dancing
  Ba

  observed our organizational development lead

2005-2013:
Platforms
Pay
Up

• YouTube
  shares
  ad
  revenue
  (2007);
  “Charlie
  Bit
  My
  Finger”
  nets
  ≈
  $170
  k.
• Reddit
  and
  4chan
  mint
  “Success
  Kid,”
  “Bad
  Luck
  Brian,”
  meme
  grammar.
• “We
  didn’t
  think
  it
  was
  IP—until
  Coca-Cola
  called.”
  —Laney
  Griner,
  Success
  Kid
  mom

2014-2018:
Mobile
Monetization

• Instagram
  ads
  fuel
  pages
  like
  
  Daquan:
  10
  M
  followers,
  $20-40
  k
  shout-outs.
• 
  The
  Atlantic
  dissects
  brand–meme
  courtship.

2019-Now:
Algo
Arms
Race
&
NFTs

• TikTok’s
  For
  You
  page
  births
  and
  kills
  trends
  in
  72
  hours.
• Classics
  like
  “Doge”
  sell
  as
  NFTs
  for
  $4
  M.
• McDonald’s,
  HBO
  Max
  run
  24/7
  meme
  “war
  rooms.”

Who’s
Actually
Getting
Paid?

*Triangulated
from
filings,
sponsorship
databases,
and
manager
interviews.

“Good
memes
seem
accidental;
the
top
one
percent
are
A/B-vetted
like
Super
Bowl
ads.”
—Jane
Wakely,
PepsiCo
CMO

How
Do
Memes
Make
Money?
4
Turning
Points

1.
Creator
Funds
&
Revenue
Shares

TikTok’s
$1
B
fund
pays
≈
$0.03
per
1
k
views—fine
for
dance
loops,
lousy
for
career
memeists.
Most
pivot
to

brand
collabs
and

white-label
meme
gigs
with
agencies
like
Doing
Things
Media.

2.
Ghost
Meme
Factories

Insider
Intelligence
pegs
white-label
meme
production
at
$200
M.
NDAs
keep
brands
looking
“grass-roots.”

3.
Subscription
Communities

“$10/month
gets
fans
trend
alerts
before
they
bloom.”
—Alex
“Pizzaboy”
Chung

4.
NFT
Tokenization

“Bad
Luck
Brian”
sold
$36
k
in
two
hours
on
Foundation.
Yet

Harvard’s
Berkman
Klein
Center
warns
NFTs
are
receipts,
not
enforceable
titles.

Inside
a
Corporate
Meme
War
Room

9
a.m.,
Wendy’s
HQ.
Half-melted
Frosties,
34-inch
monitors,
Slack
channel

#chef-kiss-memes.
Altas
Labs
sentiment
API
pings;
if
a
rival
slips,
Wendy’s
roasts
within
11
minutes—faster
than
its
fry
timer.

• 
  Watch-Time
  Sweet
  Spot:
  7-11
  s
  loops
  lift
  retention.
• 
  Sound
  Strategy:
  100-300
  existing
  uses
  =
  discovery
  tailwind
  without
  saturation.
• 
  Caption
  Density:
  80-100
  characters
  ups
  dwell
  time.

“We
treat
meme
velocity
like
beta.
High?
Jump
in
or
get
trampled.”
—Brendan
Wilson,
Wendy’s
Social
Listening
Director

Are
There
Legal
Landmines?

Fair
Use
contra.
Cash
Grab

Grumpy
Cat
Ltd.
v.
Grenade
Beverage
(2018)
awarded
$710
k,
proving
meme
trademarks
can
bite.

Deepfakes
&
Defamation

Stable
Diffusion
can
put
any
politician
in
a
compromising
meme.
The
EU
now
drafts

label-mandate
amendments.

Platform
Policy
Whiplash

Instagram’s
2024
anti-aggregation
tweak
nuked
some
meme
hubs

disclosed the vertical specialist

Global
Spin:
How
Do
Memes
Translate?

China’s
“梗
(gěng)”
Market

Brands
weaponize
gěng,
but
censors
kill
politically
sharp
jokes.
Disney’s
DMV
sloth
meme
critiquing
bureaucracy?
Gone
in
hours.

India’s
Remix
Relay

Hindi
film
clips
roar
through
WhatsApp;
food-delivery
giant
Zomato
now
commissions
region-specific
meme
packs.

Latin
America’s
News-as-Meme

“Awareness
slides
past
polarization—memes
replaced
morning
radio.”
—Dr.
Luís
Melo,
Universidade
de
São
Paulo

Five
Forecasts:
What’s
Next?

1. 
   AI
   Meme
   Mills:
   Diffusion
   engines
   slash
   production
   time
   70%,
   risk
   sameness.
2. 
   Authenticated
   Virality:
   
   Content
   Authenticity
   Initiative
   watermarks
   aid
   IP
   claims.
3. 
   Meme
   ETFs:
   Attention-indexed
   funds
   could
   hit
   Robinhood

   clarified the performance analyst

4. 
   Avatar-Meme
   Hybrids:
   Virtual
   influencers
   spawning
   their
   own
   jokes.
5. 
   Regulatory
   Flashpoints:
   FTC
   poised
   to
   demand
   disclosure
   on
   “organic”
   brand
   memes.

“Meme
volatility
rivals
penny
stocks.
Regulation
is
coming—question
is
scalpel
or
sledgehammer.”
—Scott
Galloway,
NYU
Stern

ApprOach
Approach:
Creators,
Brands,
Investors

Creator
Inventory

• 
  Trademark
  Early:
  Name,
  catchphrase,
  pivotal
  visual.
• 
  Revenue
  Mix:
  Target
  40/30/20/10
  split—brand,
  ad-share,
  fans,
  merch.
• 
  Kill
  Quickly:
  Drop
  jokes
  that
  stall
  below
  2×
  median
  shares.

Brand
Inventory

• 
  Speed
  KPI:
  ≤
  30
  minutes
  from
  trend
  detection
  to
  post.
• 
  Authenticity
  Gate:
  If
  legal
  rewrites
  euphemism,
  abandon
  it.
• 
  Equity
  Deals:
  Offer
  royalties,
  not
  flat
  fees,
  to
  top
  creators.

Investor
Inventory

• 
  Back
  Shovels,
  Not
  Gold:
  Trend
  analytics,
  rights-management
  SaaS
  offer
  steadier
  returns.
• 
  Concentration
  Risk:
  If
  superlative
  meme
  pages
  drive
  >
  25%
  traffic,
  run.

Pivotal
Things to sleep on

• Memes
  graduated
  from
  hob

  confirmed our technical advisor

• Algorithms,
  not
  audiences,
  now
  dictate
  half-life—and
  profits.
• Legal
  clarity
  is
  thin;
  registering
  IP
  and
  watermarking
  assets
  are
  survival
  moves.
• Speed
  and
  authenticity
  beat
  budget
  every
  time.

People
Also
Ask

Source
Index

• Shifman,
  L.
  “Memes
  in
  Digital
  Culture,”
  Hebrew
  University,
  2023.
• Pew
  Research
  Center.
  “Teens,
  Social
  Media
  and
  Technology
  2023.”
• Wakely,
  J.
  Cannes
  Lions
  CMO
  Roundtable
  Transcript,
  2023.
• 
  Wired:
  The
  Big
  Business
  of
  Memes
• 
  Bloomberg:
  NFT
  Mania
  Brings
  Classic
  Memes
  Back
  to
  Life

Reporting:
.
Research:
Clara
Bae,
Rohan
Mehta.
Data
visualizations:
Do well.
Fact-checked
31
July
2024.