The sad economics of internet fame

Interesting read, but hey ho, if you want to get rich, being a youtube star is probably not the way. They should just ask for a 1 off donation from their followers and see how much they get.
 
I couldn't penetrate the first paragraph. Is the execute summary that it's not easy to get rich in youtube?
 
yes, and because corporate sponsorship is only possible with the megasuccessful, whereas other highly 'popular' internet personalities get nothing, as Joe Public are not going to donate (either because they think they're already making money or, like most normal people, wouldn't pay for this shit)
 
So getting rich is hard. Who knew?
 
A few friends of ours make very nice six figure incomes from their own one-man social media startups - bloomin' hard work to start with but once you have a good system up and running it is wheelbarrow time. Mostly done through Facebook, with a bit of Instagram and Youtube thrown in.
 
I'm sub'd to a strongman on youtube - he move to america when he was doing well (brit guy) and it seems he hardly makes any money now and his content is certainly more quantity then quality these days imo...

then you get all these pranksters and their fake videos... :(
 
Interesting read. I knew a chap who does very well on YouTube. His main income was always though Google Adsense (those pesky adverts at the start of videos) but then he started making six figures through sponsorship. He's just built a home in the UK and has a place in LA, he employs his entire family to work for his "brand" - and he's not even 25 yet.

He has worked hard but he was lucky in that he started the whole thing before the YouTube boom. Now it's become a marketing wet dream, where paying youtubers to promote products can be cheaper and reach a wider audience than having it on TV.
 
just out of interest ...
to those of you here who know social media entrepreneurs who are doing well:
- is any of their revenue direct from the end-user (in-app purchases etc), if so what % that, and what from AdSense, sponsorship etc?
- would you pay for their product/service? (what's the demographic)
 
just out of interest ...
to those of you here who know social media entrepreneurs who are doing well:
- is any of their revenue direct from the end-user (in-app purchases etc), if so what % that, and what from AdSense, sponsorship etc?
- would you pay for their product/service? (what's the demographic)
Varies - one of them has their own product (think self-learning e-course) that they sell for a few thousand quid - they sell a few score of those per 'campaign' which they run a few times a year. Their potential customer base is built up over the year by relentless Facebooking. They are aiming for a seven figure annual revenue within a few years.

Gave up an unrelated full time job to start this a couple of years ago.

Would I pay for this product? No - main demographic is women who want to be entrepreneurs/get good at this particular hobby.
 
Don't know who that is I'm afraid :)

I do find it all a bit weird - it's very 'pyramid scheme'.

The typical circuit is.
- You create a product and start a business
- You don't do very well
- You spend a few thousand quid on course from an 'expert'
- You may succeed now (10% chance)
- Those that do now have a business and a product they can charge say £1K for
- They run that for a while
- They are now an 'expert' - they quit/sell their business and start a new one telling people how to start a business ("I can tell you how to make £££ a month from home...")
- They now have a product that sells for an order of magnitude more than their actual product
- £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££
 
just out of interest ...
to those of you here who know social media entrepreneurs who are doing well:
- is any of their revenue direct from the end-user (in-app purchases etc), if so what % that, and what from AdSense, sponsorship etc?
- would you pay for their product/service? (what's the demographic)

The lad I know generates the majority of his income from sponsorship, followed by ad revenue and then merchandise (shirts, hoodies etc). It's in the gaming genre and his content is aimed at a young teen audience. He mostly uploads himself playing games and commentating over it, and occasionally vlogs. He last uploaded less than 24hrs ago and already has 350k+ views. It's not particularly good content imo, but there's an audience for it.

I was at GamesCom in Birmingham a few months ago and he was there with his own stall with his family selling his merchandise, there were hundreds of kids waiting to meet him. He also employs his sister to run his online merchandise store. Paid sponsorship is the big chunk of earnings, Microsoft paid him just over $30,000 during the launch of XB1, they are just one of many sponsorship deals. Ad revenue generated from YouTube views is the bread and butter though. You are typically paid per thousand views, the more popular you are the higher rate per thousand you can receive. The last I knew he was being paid around $6 per thousand views, and when you're pulling in 350k views in less than 24hrs it's staggering.
 
The lad I know generates the majority of his income from sponsorship, followed by ad revenue and then merchandise (shirts, hoodies etc). It's in the gaming genre and his content is aimed at a young teen audience. He mostly uploads himself playing games and commentating over it, and occasionally vlogs. He last uploaded less than 24hrs ago and already has 350k+ views. It's not particularly good content imo, but there's an audience for it.

I was at GamesCom in Birmingham a few months ago and he was there with his own stall with his family selling his merchandise, there were hundreds of kids waiting to meet him. He also employs his sister to run his online merchandise store. Paid sponsorship is the big chunk of earnings, Microsoft paid him just over $30,000 during the launch of XB1, they are just one of many sponsorship deals. Ad revenue generated from YouTube views is the bread and butter though. You are typically paid per thousand views, the more popular you are the higher rate per thousand you can receive. The last I knew he was being paid around $6 per thousand views, and when you're pulling in 350k views in less than 24hrs it's staggering.

Wouldn't be Ali-A would it?

The son loves his gaming videos.
 
Wouldn't be Ali-A would it?

The son loves his gaming videos.

Sounds more like Stampy if he's pulling in that much, although just looked and Ali-A's doing pretty well for himself.
 
Tom Cassell aka Syndicate. Hit 9.5 million subscribers this month, crazy.
 
just out of interest ...
to those of you here who know social media entrepreneurs who are doing well:
- is any of their revenue direct from the end-user (in-app purchases etc), if so what % that, and what from AdSense, sponsorship etc?
- would you pay for their product/service? (what's the demographic)
Depending upon the site, I personally don't think adverts on websites are worth the trouble. Admittedly I don't personally run a website but I contribute to a few and the money isn't made from the small amounts generated from adverts - it is from all the secondary work that comes your way as a result of the enhanced profile.
 

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