It is quite possible (I would even say likely) that they still run on bots mostly but buy a couple of ads here and there to make it look like they are sending you legitimate traffic. I am sure the LA times are not the only ones to figure out that you google things to see where your video is being promoted.
If these services actually relied on ads and real people, then they are doing some amazing work. Getting 20K people to click on a video for $46 is amazing given current CPC rates.
"Getting 20K people to click on a video for $46 is amazing given current CPC rates."
Getting 20K first world people interested enough to click might be amazing but watching a few thousand of these a day at those rates might make minimum wage in say Ulan Bator.
Mongolian minimum wage ~ $4 a day
1/20,000 of $46 is .23 cents
That's ~1,600 vids a day but a worker would prolly see less then a third of the total so let's say 5k videos a day. Prolly counts as a view as soon as you watch a second or two though -- you'd need 10 vids a minute to maintain 5k a day.
Meh, a "Mongolian Turk" horde seems possible but bots seem far more likely and attractive as you say.
It seems it would be pretty easy to just 'rent' computers to do this. Even better if they are in the united states. It's essentially software that notices when you are idle and opens up Youtube videos, and other web media to inflate viewership.
Maybe you even share the profits with the computer owner.
Is there not analytics available for youtube videos? I would be suspicious if 90% of my views were from Mongolia (or more likely, China) after a campaign like this.
If these services actually relied on ads and real people, then they are doing some amazing work. Getting 20K people to click on a video for $46 is amazing given current CPC rates.