YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M

#31

Post by thaumasiotes » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 5:03 AM UTC

ehsankia wrote: post #24

lynnetye wrote: post #21

I just watched a few minutes of "Ryan disappear[s] through a Secret Portal in the house to the North Pole" and am thoroughly impressed. Clearly a lot goes into the concepts, sets, and overall production of these videos. I don't know all of the details, but I can imagine how building a business like this could be one of the cooler ways for a family to spend quality time together.

I'm not sure if you're being serious, but that video was honestly minimal amount of effort when it came to effects, sets and production. There are channels on Youtube with a fraction of the following that produce content orders of magnitude more professional than that. This kind of video can be made by some amateur producer in their bedroom. Considering they make 22M, you'd really think they'd spend money on at least…

> Considering they make 22M, you'd really think they'd spend money on at least getting a single professional video editor, if not more.

...why? Their current production values seem to be doing well.

Re: YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M

#32

Post by buzzy_hacker » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 5:04 AM UTC

TravHatesMe wrote: post #16

What I find interesting is that many of these youtubers have created personas to appeal to their audience, like true entertainers. However loyal viewers are fooled into this false sense of reality, where they are friends with content creator and this is not a persona at all, he's my friend. Over time, the content creator and the audience share so many moments together, it becomes an emotional bond and a substitute fo…

> Over time, the content creator and the audience share so many moments together, it becomes an emotional bond and a substitute for people's social needs.

I've wondered about this for podcasts too. I noticed a scary habit where I would play podcasts when I was feeling lonely. Over time, you feel like you're pals with the hosts and something about the audio format checks the social needs box in your brain, thinking that you're hanging out with another human. I don't want to unconsciously sate my social needs with podcasts so I've been more intentional about my listening.

As for people growing attached to the persona, here's an interesting case: https://youtu.be/VJJ90qpzark?t=458

Re: YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M

#33

Post by thaumasiotes » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 5:05 AM UTC

andygcook wrote: post #8

ravenstine wrote: post #2

> As he is still a child, 15% of Ryan's earnings are put into a bank account that he can only access when he becomes a legal adult. Why 15%? Why not 100%? Why not even 50%? Should this sit right with me? I want to believe this child isn't being exploited. EDIT: Thanks for clearing that up for me. It seems I was misunderstanding.

From the Wikipedia page, only 15% of the child’s earnings need to be put aside into a trust: “This law requires a child actor's employer to set aside 15% of the earnings in a trust (often called a Coogan Account), and codifies issues such as schooling, work hours and time off.” Seems like it should be more.

How much does this apply to a child employed by his own parents? I know the normal child labor laws don't apply -- at all -- in that case.

Re: YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M

#34

Post by ikeboy » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 5:05 AM UTC

inerte wrote: post #28

adventured wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Children under 13 can legally watch videos on YouTube with their parents. Consider the premise: you must remove all children, including infants and babies, from the room and or hearing/viewing distance before you utilize the YouTube service. That's laughable to say the least. You can also take your children to R rated films for example, they just can't go by themselves. The same concept applies to video games - you c…

Thought so too, but that's not their ToS, unless I missed some part (didn't read the whole thing and just scanned for age-related sections): https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms > In any case, you affirm that you are over the age of 13, as the Service is not intended for children under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use the Service. There are lots of other great web sites for you. T…

Terms aren't binding on someone incapable of entering a legal contract.

Google just needs it to cover themselves because they can't track under 13 legally

Re: YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M

#35

Post by adventured » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 5:06 AM UTC

inerte wrote: post #28

adventured wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Children under 13 can legally watch videos on YouTube with their parents. Consider the premise: you must remove all children, including infants and babies, from the room and or hearing/viewing distance before you utilize the YouTube service. That's laughable to say the least. You can also take your children to R rated films for example, they just can't go by themselves. The same concept applies to video games - you c…

Thought so too, but that's not their ToS, unless I missed some part (didn't read the whole thing and just scanned for age-related sections): https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms > In any case, you affirm that you are over the age of 13, as the Service is not intended for children under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use the Service. There are lots of other great web sites for you. T…

I read the ToS before posting that. It's overruled by the fact that the adult can utilize the service and legally YouTube can't force a parent to remove their child from the room while said parent is utilizing YouTube. It's perfectly legal and does not violate the ToS. The parent is using YouTube, the ToS applies to them and not the child.

It is that simple. It would be laughed out of court on any challenge as an issue.

You can also use thousands of other popular sites that are 13 age restricted while in the presence of your children.

Re: YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M

#36

Post by joering2 » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 5:08 AM UTC

ikeboy wrote: post #34

inerte wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thought so too, but that's not their ToS, unless I missed some part (didn't read the whole thing and just scanned for age-related sections): https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms > In any case, you affirm that you are over the age of 13, as the Service is not intended for children under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use the Service. There are lots of other great web sites for you. T…

Terms aren't binding on someone incapable of entering a legal contract. Google just needs it to cover themselves because they can't track under 13 legally

And that's the irony; if they weren't, this youtuber would make exactly $0. $0 != $22MM.

Re: YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M

#37

Post by codetrotter » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 5:08 AM UTC

ehsankia wrote: post #24

lynnetye wrote: post #21

I just watched a few minutes of "Ryan disappear[s] through a Secret Portal in the house to the North Pole" and am thoroughly impressed. Clearly a lot goes into the concepts, sets, and overall production of these videos. I don't know all of the details, but I can imagine how building a business like this could be one of the cooler ways for a family to spend quality time together.

I'm not sure if you're being serious, but that video was honestly minimal amount of effort when it came to effects, sets and production. There are channels on Youtube with a fraction of the following that produce content orders of magnitude more professional than that. This kind of video can be made by some amateur producer in their bedroom. Considering they make 22M, you'd really think they'd spend money on at least…

OTOH, maybe the family enjoys doing as much as possible themselves.

If everything needs to be professionalized, where does that leave the hobbyists and the amateurs? Should there not be room for them? If not, why?

Re: YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M

#38

Post by jetrink » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 5:09 AM UTC

TravHatesMe wrote: post #16

What I find interesting is that many of these youtubers have created personas to appeal to their audience, like true entertainers. However loyal viewers are fooled into this false sense of reality, where they are friends with content creator and this is not a persona at all, he's my friend. Over time, the content creator and the audience share so many moments together, it becomes an emotional bond and a substitute fo…

This was described in 1956 by Horton and Whol in the paper Mass Communication and Para-social Interaction.

> One of the striking characteristics of the new mass media - radio, television, and the movies - is that they give the illusion of face-to-face relationship with the performer. [...] The most remote and illustrious men are met as if they were in the circle of one's peers; the same is true of a character in a story who comes to life in these media in an especially vivid and arresting way. We propose to call this seeming face-to-face relationship between spectator and performer a para-social relationship.

They even use your term 'persona' to refer to the individual behind the glass.

> But of particular interest is the creation by these media of a new type of performer: quizmasters, announcers, 'interviewers' in a new 'show-business' world - in brief, a special category of 'personalities' whose existence is a function of the media themselves. [...] Lacking an appropriate name for these performers, we shall call them personae.

http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/short/horton_and...

Re: YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M

#39

Post by gigatexal » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 5:10 AM UTC

This kid has made more money than I will ever see in my whole life. I’m not jealous I’m proud! I hope he’s got some good support around him as all that money so young could be a recipe for disaster if not managed right. High school comes to mind: if I was a self made millionaire in high school oh man I would likely have been even more wreckeless than I was.

Re: YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M

#40

Post by sjg007 » Tue, Dec 04, 2018, 5:10 AM UTC

ACow_Adonis wrote: post #18

To me this little news snippet had just hit home how much of a bubble I live in, and how we're diverging into multiple streams of media for different cultures and classes. These million dollar media businesses exist that I have no idea about and no exposure to. Presumably when my child reaches approx 8, he'll have been brought up without ads and with most of this content having been blocked (or more accurately, just…

Eh? I mean, most of the money comes from sponsored videos.. So hot wheels, thomas the train, surprise eggs.. etc.. some are obvious, some are the kid playing with the thing. It's funny that we cut the cord and don't allow kids to watch nick jr or disney jr but instead allow youtube where the subversion is greater. My kids don't watch any (or very few) traditional ads but they know exactly what is hip. Most of this was from youtube kids. And now they have the surprise toys. Genius. Is it bad or good? I mean don't take your kid to target or walmart or the supermarket or the airport...