YouTube, at 6.5 years old, is indisputably a central part of today’s society. Whether it’s through hosting political debates and making our government more accessible, branding today’s youth the ‘YouTube Generation’, or just allowing our culture to spread around the world as we laugh and cry at the same videos. YouTube is also bankrolling a number of stars. People that create content and publish it on YouTube with ads are able to make enough revenue that they can create content as their full time job.
September seemed to be the month to shine for some of these YouTube Stars, being highlighted on some primetime shows.
On September 9th, Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Freddie and Brandon are from the YouTube channel freddiew well-known for its videogame references and impressive effects. They also host a second channel that shows the behind-the-scenes work of making the freddiew videos.
On Friday, September 24th, 20/20 covered how some people have been able to turn their videos into cash.
Way beyond just the money, the episode is very informative about how hard YouTube stars work and where they’re going. You can catch the full episode on the 20/20 site.
But it’s not only the young that are getting in on the craze. Even this video of an elderly couple figuring out how to use a webcam has gone viral with over 8 million views.
How much can you make by going viral? Business Insider covers some of the analytics and revenue of ten YouTube stars. Are you going to be the next star? How about accountants that can specialize in handling ad revenue around tax time?