Before WKRC’s Clancy Burke became a Reporter at the station, she was already a YouTuber.

Now that she works at WKRC she still posts videos to her YouTube channel and uses that as a source of income.

“I was actually a freshman in high school, and it all started out of boredom,” Burke said. “I’ve always just loved teaching. If you look at my videos, that’s kind of the core of what it all is.”

Burke was getting thousands of views for each of her videos — a diary of sorts of what goes on in her life. Her new boss hired her in April partly because of her YouTube savvy.

“We are looking for people who understand how to communicate with Millennials,” News Director Tim Geraghty said. “YouTube is fast becoming more and more of a source for folks to not only be entertained but to gather information.”

Since her personal YouTube channel’s viewership is so high, Burke can monetize her videos. She does not disclose how much she makes on YouTube, not even to the News Director. And even though her work at the station is arguably what’s driving her YouTube growth, he’s okay with that.

“I don’t necessarily see it as a side job for Clancy,” Geraghty said. “She was very open with us. We knew about it the day we hired her. I don’t know how much money she makes.”

Burke has one video with over 4 million views, others have around 40K views.

She posts videos one a week and at 24 years old, she is enjoying both the on TV and on YouTube life.

But, if she could keep growing her YouTube channel, Burke could make more money there than in TV news.

So how much does she make on YouTube?

As we said, she has some videos that get millions of views and others that get around 50K. She has just over 400K subscribers. YouTube does not pay you anything for how many subs you have, it is all about views.

So, let’s say that Burke posts a video that gets 300,000 views. If she monetizes that video, she will most likely make somewhere between $200 - $450 for that video. Why the big gap? It also depends on the content.

A make-up video will bring beauty product advertisers into the mix. A gaming video will bring the game developers into the mix. Depending on how competitive the ad market is, Burke will make more or less money.

She posts one video a week right now and as you can see making an extra $400 a week is a nice side hustle.

But, think if she posted 4 times a week and continuing growing her channel? You could easily see that she could make more money on YouTube than in TV news.

Our friend Justine Ezarik, known as iJustine on YouTube makes millions of dollars a year on YouTube and has grown into a one-woman social media empire.

Right now, Burke is enjoying life in both worlds and if her bosses are ok with it, then good for her.

She is getting cross-promotion for both jobs and the station thinks it can also help them.

“I believe that the vast majority of people who subscribe to her page probably are not local TV viewers” said Geraghty, “and one of our hopes is if they enjoy watching Clancy, they might give her a try on our app or watch her on the regular TV channel.”

The problem now is where do you draw the line?

If Burke is allowed to do her side hustle, what about the Anchor that wants to open up a business of their own? If you let one do it, are you going to let everyone else?

The situation with Burke and WKRC seems to be a good fit, but the station may have started down a slippery slope and it could come back to bite them in the future.

Stay tuned….

H/T Cronkite News Lab