Trying to make dollars and sense out of YouTube's partner program

[Commentary] Making money from YouTube videos — it's something I've always wondered about. You won't get rich stuffing Mentos into bottles of Diet Pepsi, right? Probably not. But millions of people are at least hoping for some modest returns, thanks to a profit-sharing program run by YouTube's corporate parent, tech heavyweight Google. They're also trying to figure out how the system works — and if they're getting honest numbers about how much money they're due. "There's really no way to know for sure," said Andrew Broadbent, a Santa Cruz Internet consultant who specializes in helping clients with YouTube videos. "You just have to believe YouTube that the figures are the real deal." He added that serious money — more than $100,000 a year — actually can be made for the talented (or lucky) few who rise to YouTube greatness. But the vast majority of the site's hundreds of millions of users will barely earn enough cash annually to buy a pizza.