YouTube has been steadily becoming a popular platform for people to voice their opinions, share their experiences and show off their latest purchases through the growing trend of vlogging, which everyone seems to be talking about at the momentthanks to the success of YouTube star Zoella and the recent revelation that Swedish games YouTuber PewDiePie made £4.5m in 2014. See also: How to download YouTube videos
YouTubers have become a new breed of celebrity among teenagers, so much so that Zoella and her YouTuber boyfriend Alfie Deyes are about to become new additions to London’s Madame Tussauds after recieving the most votes from visitors.
It’s not a new notion, of course, but over the past year or two, several vloggers have been propelled into the spotlight, and even those that haven’t quite reached the highest heights have found themselves making some extra cash simply by sharing their thoughts, experiences and stories on YouTube.
As a quick example of some of those YouTubers and their success, Jim Chapman (j1mmyb0bba, 2.2 million subscribers) and Tanya Burr (pixi2woo, 3 million subscribers) have this year starred in a Mulberry campaign, BBC Radio 1 has a show hosted by YouTubers Dan (Danisnotonfire, 4.8 million subscribers) and Phil (AmazingPhil, 2.7 million subscribers), and Band Aid 30 starred Alfie Deyes (PointlessBlog, 4.3 million subscribers), Joe Sugg (ThatcherJoe, 4.9 million subscribers) and Zoe Sugg (Zoella, 8.6 million subscribers).
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YouTubers have got the potential to completely change, well, a lot, and they already are. Getting a product into the hands of a popular vlogger or partnering with one is marketing gold, so the way companies advertise and market their products is changing.
Some YouTubers are never even seen on camera. There are plenty of gaming vloggers who can be heard giving commentary over the top of gameplay walkthroughs and more. In fact, the most popular YouTube channel in the world is that of PewDiePie, with a whopping 38 million subscribers.
According to a report by Neilsen last year YouTube reaches more 18-34 year-olds in the US than any TV network, so the way we consume content is changing, too.
They’re also getting book deals and movie contracts, and Zoella’s debut novel GirlOnline became the fastest-selling book of 2014 and broke the record for the highest first-week sales for a debut author.
I’m interested to see what the future holds for vlogging – it’s a pretty exciting movement in my eyes, and another way that the internet is giving everyone a voice and making the world accessible to us all. YouTube has the potential to make anyone with access to the internet and a video camera (which, lets face it, we all have on our smartphones) rich and famous from the comfort of their own home, no matter what their background is, where they come from, or what their career aspirations might be. They’ve got access to an enormous global audience, instantly.
Not everyone agrees – some think that talking to a camera from the comfort of your bedroom doesn’t deserve to earn these YouTubers millions, but they’re all entrepeneurs in their own right, taking the initiative to turn their hobby into a career, and I think it’s admirable.
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