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The ultimate fate of YouTube stars

UltraMav

Member
Yeah I found this weird. Having a family means you have less time? How shocking and unique to youtubers!

I mean, he's not saying he's not doing his job anymore, just that scheduling it is more difficult, seeing as he produces everything from his own house. Add to that that -- depending on how ambitious a production schedule may be -- a "typical" work week can be much, much longer than 40 hours, and I can see what he means.
 

Gurrry

Member
Its going to all come crashing down eventually. Same with twitch people.

Ive always wondered what these people are going to do when they get older and people stop watching them. That income that theyve been so reliant on over the years will come to a stop, and theyre 35-40 with no job history looking for work. Hopefully they save their money.
 

Mesoian

Member
so basically youtube stars are like porn CHILD stars


FTFY.

Their continue fame will be similar t when you would see Emanuelle Lewis or Raven Simone in another show.

The youtube phenom is a really interesting way to break into fame, but almost no youtube stars have even attempted at growing that fame beyond convention guesting. There's a pretty low ceiling for that sort of thing.

Its going to all come crashing down eventually. Same with twitch people.

Ive always wondered what these people are going to do when they get older and people stop watching them. That income that theyve been so reliant on over the years will come to a stop, and theyre 35-40 with no job history looking for work. Hopefully they save their money.

To be fair, if you're running a successful twitch channel with over 1000 followers, you have enough experience to work tech at any entertainment studio in the world. It's tough stuff. The real problem is they'll have very few connections to any other form of entertainment. It's still all about who you know and internet fame don't extend as far as a lot of people think it does.

That being said, when youtubers start hitting the point where they're aging out of the life, they will be the front line champions for corporate marketing teams. Freddy Wong made a meagerly sized video empire with his success and connections, imagine if, when he was just starting out, he was given 500k dollar budgets to push a product.
 

Jams775

Member
Yeah I find it funny how youtubers with very successful patreon accounts will occasionaly mention it and their supporters at the end of a video but for the most part it doesn't come up during the main parts of their videos. Twitch streamers on the other hand always have to specifiaclly call out every single follow and donation live as it happens, while also having a permanent graphic on their stream listing the biggest and latest donations.

I get that the sites have developed different cultures and ettiquites but it makes it really hard for me to watch Twitch and take streamers seriously.

On Youtube the motto seems to be "make fun/engaging/interesting content and people will want to support it" while on Twitch it's "pretend like you're the best friend of the random person that just gave you five bucks"



"Hi everyone, Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest pussy eater."

I feel like Twitch has grown into a really gross kind of begging/shoutout while playing games. It just doesn't seem like a healthy situation for both streamer and viewers. I see it as a toxic relationship in the same way that a person only dates somebody for their money/status. At least with the Youtube/Paeteron, they're actually making content. It's like a show that isn't funded by traditional means. Where as Twitch is basically what those phone sex services used to be for lonely people that won't actually make people less lonely but only make their situation worse. (or in that poster's kid's situation, feel like they're popular or friends even if it's for a split second and it was paid for).

I think the Youtuber's will have a far better chance at being remembered as long as their channels are more show like. Just like I remember watching G4 or some goofy public access show in the 90's.
 

Gurrry

Member
FTFY.


To be fair, if you're running a successful twitch channel with over 1000 followers, you have enough experience to work tech at any entertainment studio in the world. It's tough stuff. The real problem is they'll have very few connections to any other form of entertainment. It's still all about who you know and internet fame don't extend as far as a lot of people think it does.

That being said, when youtubers start hitting the point where they're aging out of the life, they will be the front line champions for corporate marketing teams. Freddy Wong made a meagerly sized video empire with his success and connections, imagine if, when he was just starting out, he was given 500k dollar budgets to push a product.

I can see that, but youre talking about an extreme minority here. There are alot of people out there with no talent outside of streaming content. I can name countless channels that get tons of viewers that no actual company would want to affiliate with. There arent that many jobs out there that are going to be available for the influx of dying youtube/twitch stars.

Just because they can turn on OBS and get subs doesnt mean they can write TV shows for disney. Or produce anything for an actual TV show. They dont use OBS in the industry.
 

Krev

Unconfirmed Member
Youtube/streaming content is the most disposable and of its time content there is.

People remember the Hollywood golden age stars because they emotionally resonated on a deeper level. They had great talent or a memorable image, and were associated with quality storytelling that touched people profoundly.

Youtube stars can't touch that.
 

Jams775

Member
Youtube/streaming content is the most disposable and of its kind content there is.

People remember the Hollywood golden age stars because they emotionally resonated on a deeper level. They had great talent or a memorable image, and were associated with quality storytelling that touched people profoundly.

Youtube stars can't touch that.

Sure, but they can be on the same level as say a news anchors that had been on air for many years. Someone like (CBS Anchor) Charlie Rose is never going to resonate with people, but a lot of people are going to remember him long after he's been gone.
 
The biggest names are masters of self marketing, and look at how Hanna Hart can segue to other projects constantly. And Troye Silvan is now a moderately successful singer. These guys know the lay of the market better than the vast majority of people. I can't imagine they would have a hard time moving to promotion and marketing after they tire of their online stint.
 

Kimawolf

Member
I wonder the same, like what will happen to Jenna Marbles in 10 years, will they all go the way of Sourcefed and just vanish?
 

Mesoian

Member
They dont use OBS in the industry.

Eh, you'd be surprised.

But regardless.

I can see that, but youre talking about an extreme minority here. There are alot of people out there with no talent outside of streaming content. I can name countless channels that get tons of viewers that no actual company would want to affiliate with. There arent that many jobs out there that are going to be available for the influx of dying youtube/twitch stars.

Just because they can turn on OBS and get subs doesnt mean they can write TV shows for disney. Or produce anything for an actual TV show.

This is true. And it's why a lot of streams need to double down on supplimentary content in order to bring more people to regular stream days and channel updates. Soviet Womble, for example, is extremely popular, but a great percentage of his fans come from his youtube channel, which are all highly produced cut downs of his streams. They resemble more of a television comedy sketch than the regular 2-3 hour stream archives that most people engage with. Or Smight, who dabbled in various ways of making speedrunning more interesting to watch, organizing the lust for early multistream, chat interaction, and eventually making his own youtube gameshow for discord users.

The people who are going above and beyond will have no trouble breaking into the more traditional entertainment scene. Of course it doesn't really help that, with the power of google adsense, as flawed as it may be, most people don't really want, nor need to go above and beyond. 2 minutes on the twitch front page is enough time to see that you can get a decent amount of viewers, donations and bits from a low cut top and sexist donation incentives to live a fairly easy lifestyle. And when this bubble bursts, and it will, a lot of people will be left in the cold, at least until the next big fad comes around that everyone can do with minimal effort.

But if you're a youtube STAR, someone who google or amazon or now microsoft (I guess) wants to partner with, you should be looking on how to grow that brand until it can escape the internet, rather than sort of...resting on your laurels. Because like the advertising ban showed us, this whole thing could collapse at any moment. Meanwhile you got people making house walkthrough videos talking about how their channel is paying their mortgage.

It's a gold rush baby.

Youtube/streaming content is the most disposable and of its kind content there is.

People remember the Hollywood golden age stars because they emotionally resonated on a deeper level. They had great talent or a memorable image, and were associated with quality storytelling that touched people profoundly.

Youtube stars can't touch that.

giphy.gif
 

br3wnor

Member
As a casual watcher, I much prefer the You Tubers over the f**king beggars on Twitch ... asking for f**king money.

I just find it fucking pathetic... putting on makeup and showing a bit of cleavage and asking for donations.... you have working hands... legs... get off your ass and get a job...

So if you could play video games and have people watch you and got paid for it, you wouldn't do it?

You sound jealous bro.

As for the OP, I'll be interested to see where Youtubers/Patreon/Twitch streamers all end up down the line. It's such a new area that's constantly evolving. A lot of it is also dictated by young kids/teenagers who can be a fickle bunch and someone who's king of the mountain today could be toiling in obscurity in a few years.

I myself never really got into watching streamers outside of the occasional Twitch for Hearthstone or some other new game that I wanna check out. I give the people who do it for a living a lot of credit because it takes a lot of hustle to make it profitable/popular enough to live off of. I'd hate such job insecurity.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I think it's a weird situation in which the personality-driven Youtube stars are on the most precarious footing long-term, but they also have the greatest chance to successfully pivot (Hannah Hart is a good example, although let's see where she ends up long-term.)

As of now Youtube is still really just a feeder into more "traditional" forms of entertainment where real money is, but given how Youtube and internet-media-focused the up-and-coming generation is I wonder how long that will last.

Creative fields focused on chasing fame have a lot of burnout in general. It's hard to say whether Youtubers are really worse than musicians and models, or its just perception bias. I do think it's going to be harder to maintain that cult of personality now than in days gone past, because it's much easier for the "meet your heroes" syndrome described in this thread to hit them. Old-school Hollywood stars could keep their distance and maintain a brand through their films. If you've got to be tweeting constantly and pretending you're always accessible that's a much greater liability (not to mention I imagine much more emotionally draining, despite the comparative fame of a Humphrey Bogart and Casey Neistat being worlds apart.)
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
You don't see how a single man with no kids would have more time to dedicate to his work than a married man who has to help raise children?

He also goes into how he doesn't really feel comfortable shouting "fuck!" at the top of his lungs for a gag now that he has a child in the house, so he has to work around the family's schedule.

So how do other men who have jobs deal with families? It's one thing to spend 100 hours a week on a YouTube job, but I don't know how much he is spending on it per week.

The second is an artistic choice at the end of the day. He could get a studio where he does these things. Or sound reinforce the room.

I don't know every detail of this guys life, but I shouldn't be expected to. If he wants to make a living and this is his job he has to make both work. No one forced him into this job nor did anyone force him to get a family. Bemoaning about either just sounds like he is aiming to pick one over the other at the end of the day


I was wondering about that too. Like is he saying he currently spends 16 hours a day making YouTube content and he wants to transition to a conventional 9-to-5? Because that would make sense. If not, well uh, welcome to life.

Exactly
 
I think the Youtuber's will have a far better chance at being remembered as long as their channels are more show like. Just like I remember watching G4 or some goofy public access show in the 90's.

Agreed (I also share your views on Twitch but I'll leave it at that). When people try to predict, they look to the past because they rightly assume history will repeat itself. But you have to know when to distinguish things that are not comparable. In the case of people saying "YouTubers are like _______stars" they're forgetting that YouTube isn't like the traditional entertainment industries.

In movies, music, radio, tv... porn... those are industries where the entertainer works at the mercy of the industry decision makers. It's well known that those industries kick people to the curb for a variety of reasons and while that's cruel, it's accepted. The entertainer'a access to their own fans is managed by the industry heads. You can make the best album ever but they decide if you get the spotlight. On YouTube the creator has the closest thing to direct access to their fans (at least those who subscribe).

That's where YouTube is different. I have a few dead channels I'm subbed to where the creator hasn't uploaded in years but if he does I'm going to be eager to watch that video. Now what do you think would happen if that person was a moderately successful singer who took a few years off and then came back to the studio wanting to make a follow up album? Good luck with that.

That's where YouTube is different from the other ______star industries. The old industry model robbed the creator of direct access to their own fans and that access was regulated by how valuable it would be to the industry heads. As long as you have a solid channel, enjoy making content, people enjoy watching it and YouTube is still around then I'd say they're not going anywhere unless they choose to leave.
 

AdanVC

Member
Haha, I remember a tech youtuber that managed to crowdfund a Mac Pro for no real reason other than he wanted one and his audience was willing to give him the money.

I think you're referring to David Di Franco, right?? I remember all the drama when he did that, lot's of hate and despite of that, he got the money for the Mac Pro in like 3 days, lol. the dislikes started going so bad on his videos after that, he had to turn them off. Despite of that, he is a nice guy, I used to view his content every day but I got bored of it because it got very repetitive and his vlogs got boring too, the only thing he does is just walk around on his place, eat and play videogames while hanging with his parents. Not that exciting really...
 

btrboyev

Member
They need to diversify. It's dumb to just hope your career lasts long enough in something as fickle as YouTube.


Like Casey. Dude was smart to "end" the vlog, sell his company to CNN (but still work for it), then bring the vlog back. He is one of the YouTube greats right now and he's still making moves to have a path after YouTube. Smart.


What? He's like freshly 40 I think lmao. And from an marketing standpoint, those Samsung ads were a good call. I personally feel like Samsung usually spends way too much on marketing, but the Neistat relationship is a solid investment.

Neistat is 35. He's younger than I am.
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
I think the smarter ones know to diversify or move on from their Youtube stuff after a while. The less ambitious ones, or the ones who stick to the same schtick for too long, tend to fade away. I think the low effort Youtubers that just scream into their mic and make funny voices all the time tend to disappear after a few years, probably from burnout. The ones that put in more effort into their videos and take their jobs more seriously understandably seem to last longer.

There's a Youtube comedian called Jon Lajoie who started off making Youtube videos but moved on to do some music and TV stuff. He still does his Youtube stuff now and then, but his production values have gone way up.

SovietWomble has a pretty interesting take on the whole thing in that he sees streaming/Youtubing as something like broadcasting for radio. He's explained on stream before that a lot of people seem to tune in to watch his stuff whenever it's convenient while not necessarily really paying close attention, which is similar to what radio shows used to do. So his plans are to continue doing his thing, because he doesn't think the market for making videos will dry up anytime soon. On the other hand, he does put a lot more effort into his videos than most Youtubers, so I think the production of his work makes his content last a lot longer than typical Youtuber fare.

There's a Youtuber named bubsbeauty or something like that, who started off doing a lot of makeup tutorial videos but has since moved away from that as her life got busier. She got married and has kids now, so her videos have moved to more of a vlog style that touches on makeup stuff rather than something that focuses on makeup.
 

LakeEarth

Member
There's a Youtube comedian called Jon Lajoie who started off making Youtube videos but moved on to do some music and TV stuff. He still does his Youtube stuff now and then, but his production values have gone way up.
He's also one of the main players in the FX show The League.
 

arigato

Member
I watch a lot Youtube / Twitch content but it's all so fucking garish. The obligatory DONT FORGET TO LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE and the gif overlays and music that plays on subscribing / donating is like something out of Idiocracy.

There has to be a better way to get these content creators some fucking dignity.
It truly is like something straight out of Idiocracy.
 
I make decent money on YouTube in my small-but-growing channel. I'm far from being a "star" but I can easily see how things will apart for the vast majority of successful YouTubers, even those near the top of the earning scale.

Which is why I just do YouTube stuff as a hobby, but have a full-time career that I stick to and will not be giving up, ever, even if I "hit it big" on YouTube.
 

Shy Fingers

Banned
John and Hank Green seem to have figured it out a while back


  • Started a successful vlog series that is still running after 10 years
  • Used vlog to gain popularity to push their more passion projects: Author and Musician
  • Started a charity
  • Started a yearly convention(s)
  • YouTube funded them to start up educational channels which are now a part of their larger business as a whole
It's just crazy to me what they've become over the past 10 years
 
I have grown to just like watching James Rolfe as James Rolfe as opposed to AVGN. Casually seeing him play games with Mike Matei is something I have gotten used to.
 

Permanently A

Junior Member
Youtube/streaming content is the most disposable and of its time content there is.

People remember the Hollywood golden age stars because they emotionally resonated on a deeper level. They had great talent or a memorable image, and were associated with quality storytelling that touched people profoundly.

Youtube stars can't touch that.

I genuinely think its the complete and utter opposite. Hollywood golden age stars aren't real people. They're actors. They had a memorable image because it was carefully cultivated, by the roles they picked to play on the screen and how they carried themselves in public.

YouTube stars on the other hand, make up for "quality storytelling" with the genuine reality of their lives. Which is more "real" than the other? The kind of access to their lives someone can provide YouTube is something Hollywood stars could never have.
 

UltraMav

Member
I have grown to just like watching James Rolfe as James Rolfe as opposed to AVGN. Casually seeing him play games with Mike Matei is something I have gotten used to.

He comes across as the most genuine man on YouTube when he's not doing his AVGN character. I find myself watching a lot of his videos just because it's always nice (simulated) company.
 

Sheroking

Member
I was wondering about that too. Like is he saying he currently spends 16 hours a day making YouTube content and he wants to transition to a conventional 9-to-5? Because that would make sense. If not, well uh, welcome to life.

What? No.

He's saying he's been asked to follow up on a ton of projects by his fans and is explaining that he doesn't have as much time as he used to have to do it all. This is just him laying out a schedule.
 

Krev

Unconfirmed Member
I genuinely think its the complete and utter opposite. Hollywood golden age stars aren't real people. They're actors. They had a memorable image because it was carefully cultivated, by the roles they picked to play on the screen and how they carried themselves in public.

YouTube stars on the other hand, make up for "quality storytelling" with the genuine reality of their lives. Which is more "real" than the other? The kind of access to their lives someone can provide YouTube is something Hollywood stars could never have.
It's much less memorable than the beautiful fiction.
 
Most of those Youtube "personalities" are going to disappear back into obscurity and be forgotten about, even if they don't manage to expand beyond Youtube and still they probably will. Eventually even the biggest names like that PewBicPie guy will lose their audience assuming he doesn't sabotage himself first with another stupid stunt. The apocalypse is probably going to drive a lot of people out if they don't set up and have successful Patreons or whatever.

Remember some of the first Youtube "stars" like Brookers and how for like a minute major studios were signing them to deals of some sort? What ever happened to Brookers?
 
Its going to all come crashing down eventually. Same with twitch people.

Ive always wondered what these people are going to do when they get older and people stop watching them. That income that theyve been so reliant on over the years will come to a stop, and theyre 35-40 with no job history looking for work. Hopefully they save their money.

I mean, most successful YouTubers should have naturally established a good network of people, and have proven they can do one or all of the following depending on their ability and willingness to delegate: 1) manage a brand, 2) be the face of a brand, 3) video edit/produce A/V content with some expertise. It may not always be a 10/10 looking resume, but it's certainly far from "no job history"
 

Loxley

Member
Remember some of the first Youtube "stars" like Brookers and how for like a minute major studios were signing them to deals of some sort? What ever happened to Brookers?

According to Wikipedia she lives in India now and works for some media company.
 

oneils

Member
some people just quit. like shaycarl one of youtube's biggest vloggers, was caught cheating on his wife with a porn star. dude is a republican morman so he just disappeared with his family

Damn, if he just vlogged about cheating on his wife with a porn star he'd have millions of views. Lost opportunity.
 
I see a lot of them fading out. The Creatures were huge, now their main guy Kootra has 942,126 subscribers but gets less than 5,000 views per video on average.
I don't think he has ever their big dude, just the guy who technically owned everything. It's telling that their viewership cratered when the other people left and followed them to their new channel.

But it is sort of crazy to see how far he's fallen since 2012 or so. Much of it had a own fault. Poor guy got divorced, too. Rough.
 
Well, as I stated.... I watch one twitch video... maybe once every 3 months only to see the pathetic attempts at asking .... for money again and again...

I read... all your.... posts.... as the... asthmatic kid... on malcolm in... the middle........
 

rickyson1

Member
People think twitch and youtube will go away? If anything they will get bigger. Free entertainment.

yeah specific people may lose the interest of their audience over time or sites may die out or pop up but the medium as a whole is essentially people watching videos they are interested in for free kinda weird to think that that would ever die out

and something like twitch where you're literally getting donations and subscriptions directly from your audience seems even more sustainable provided you continue to keep your audience interested in watching you
 

Skux

Member
As a casual watcher, I much prefer the You Tubers over the f**king beggars on Twitch ... asking for f**king money.

I just find it fucking pathetic... putting on makeup and showing a bit of cleavage and asking for donations.... you have working hands... legs... get off your ass and get a job...

If it pays, it's a job.
 

entremet

Member
I mean, nothing last forever, especially in entertainment industries. I just hope they're diversifying their income streams.
 
People think twitch and youtube will go away? If anything they will get bigger. Free entertainment.

I don't know. Now with Facebook in the game and Snapchat, you don't have to look up vids on YouTube for dumb shit or vloggers, your friends and family are now just as willing to supply you that type of entertainment.
 
Not Youtube related but RedVsBlue/Roosterteeth is an example of guys who transitioned well (even though their current content is garbage).

I don't know. Now with Facebook in the game and Snapchat, you don't have to look up vids on YouTube for dumb shit or vloggers, your friends and family are now just as willing to supply you that type of entertainment.

I dont think you quite understand why people watch Youtube or Twitch.
 
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