Cats laughing all way to the bank

The owner of "Grumpy Cat" has revealed that her pet made £64-million in the past two years.

But Grumpy Cat - who has her own agent, several advertising deals and a film, Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever - isn't the only successful feline on the internet. Many others are capitalising on the craze, because cats aren't just cute - they're also serious business.

I Can Has Cheezburger? is the most lucrative cat company. The website is entirely filled with "lolcats", or images of cats alongside humorous captions, and its parent company has raised more than $32-million (about R365-million ) in funding.

When Ben Huh bought the website in 2007, he didn't have exceptional insight into the popularity of cats, but the number of hits was too big to ignore.

"When we started the business, the thing we relied on was the numbers - the huge demand that we could see of people who wanted to see this content," he says. "This is where the data really led the charge. Instead of saying, 'That can't possibly be right because it's just cat photos', we decided we should move forward with this."

Huh said he expanded the website by carefully curating content. He avoided algorithms and focused on editorial selection of photos that would provoke engagement. Huh's staff became experts in recognising and promoting unusual cat photos.

Cats are a democratically chosen animal of the people, and many kittens became popular online entirely thanks to their naturally adorable looks. But several companies have taken note of the massive audience for felines and capitalised on cats' cachet. Pizza Hut, O2 and Skittles are just a few of the major brands that have incorporated cats into their advertising campaigns.

There's no doubt that the animal delivers major financial rewards. In 2011, Cravendale Milk's advert featuring cats with thumbs racked up more than 7million views on YouTube. The company said brand awareness increased 10% and sales grew by 8%.

A Cravendale Milk commercial featuring a cow, released at the same time, had just 220000 views. Cows may have a more obvious connection to milk, but they just can't compete with the humour and likeability of an animated cat.

Uri Baruchin, strategy director at The Partners brand consultancy, said the use of cats in advertising is an effective way to capitalise on a strong social media strategy.

"A very important aspect of social media marketing is that you engage with your audience more directly," he said.

"It means that you try and use the same language and the same imagery as the communities you engage with use. If cats are so central to internet expression, then it's only natural that companies will get to that point."

Others argue that the sheer volume of cat images and videos online provides ample inspiration when creating adverts.

"There's a lot of content, so some of it's going to be really brilliant", said Matt Smith, co-founder of the Viral Factor, an advertising agency that uses its familiarity with online culture to create popular videos for mainstream brands. "There are lots of cat images and therefore there are more funny images to play with. So in the internet tool kit of repurposed content, cats feature highly."

Companies that feature a major internet meme, such as Grumpy Cat, can harness the power of the animal's online fame.

"When a brand piggy-backs the success of a meme, there's a feeling of ownership among people on the internet - more so than with celebrities," said Smith. "People feel they helped make Grumpy Cat famous in some way, through their own creativity and their own efforts."

Smith said the latest online craze changes "often", but cats don't seem to be going away.

"It used to be a joke in our company. We'd say: 'Right, we've got quite a good idea, how do we really make it work? Ah, throw a cat in'," said Smith. "And then occasionally we actually did do that."

Next time you chuckle at a hilarious lolcat, remember that there's an internet-savvy media mogul who's laughing much louder.