A popular Albuquerque chiropractor is raking it in, not because of his massive client base here, but because of the millions of views he’s getting online from all around the world.
Pops and cracks are doing great things for Dr. Beau Hightower’s business. Videos featuring New Mexico celebrities like Diego Sanchez and other famous visitors like Mark Consuelos and Marilyn Manson getting uniquely brutal forms of chiropractic treatment, sometimes involving hammers and chisels, are racking up millions of views on YouTube.
“I’ll just put a compilation of people’s necks getting cracked and it’ll do 9 million views,” Hightower says.
The success is a happy accident that is paying off in a big way.
“We came across this craze, particularly when we were treating patients, with the cracking videos that we didn’t realize was such a big thing,” he said. “We’re clearing six figures pretty easily, just from the amount of views that we’re getting just from ad revenue from YouTube.”
Pocketing $130,000 in his first year, and racking up nearly 400,000 subscribers. People from all over the world are paying attention.
“We’ve had people fly in from Saudi Arabia and India and places all over the world,” Hightower said.
Social media experts say even though some make millions online, this amount of success this quickly is impressive.
“Beau is doing a phenomenal job of differentiating himself,” Del Esparza, owner of Esparza Advertising, said. “He’s created a buzz. He’s got about 300,000 followers, which is pretty good for New Mexico.”
It’s a painful process that Hightower believes more than just his business. “To be able to be an attraction that brings people from around the country and the world and to shine a spotlight on, this is really cool and it’s something you know when I was younger, always hoped we would be able to do,” he said.
For some perspective, the top earner on YouTube is a 7-year-old and his dad reviewing toys. They made $22 million last year and have 19 million subscribers.
