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

bbc.com

41–50 of 325 posts

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

#42

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…

Considering the politician with the best understanding of exploiting a major social media platform is President now, imagine where these youtubers will go.

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

#43

I’m kind of surprised that Logan Paul is still doing so well. Living embodiment of YouTube gone wrong, still made $3 million more than he did last year according to this article.

People are generally not so bright and have very short memory and attention span.

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

#44

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…

I wasn't kidding at all! I once found my ~4yo niece watching a series of YouTube videos that were just close ups of adult hands unwrapping small toys. Zero animations. No audio or editing. The video had a million views or something. (I can't even find this video because I don't know what to search for.)

When I read the BBC article, I assumed it was something equally no budget. Little kids like weird stuff.

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

#45

It amazes me the amount of advertising dollars funneled into advertising to users who are not even allowed to use the website (those under 13).

Under 13 year olds cannot have a youtube channel or account without the supervision of their parents. They absolutely are allowed to use the site, though. Youtube even has channel setting specifically for young children.

YouTube has an entire app for kids: https://www.youtube.com/yt/kids/

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

#46

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…

Yes, but there is a bright side too. Mr. Rogers developed a personal relationship with many of his viewers in the way that you are talking about, and I think he did a great service to the world

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

#47

> 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.

For those wondering the same thing as me:

http://www.perennialfinancialservices.com/blog/thank-uncle-f...

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

#48
Something still feels wrong about something that takes comaparatively so little effort making so much money. I’m not saying it’s easy but it’s much much easier than many other proffesions. Think of software engineers slaving over brilliant designs staying up night after night for a few hundred thousand per year, or even NFL stars that expose their brains to permanent damage. It’s almost like a new form of the lottery. The viral lottery.

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

#49

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 th…

Personally I’ve experienced something like this while reading fiction. The characters are so life-like and endearing in some books that I miss them and feel a loneliness temporarily after finishing. So I guess it isn’t just modern media, humans just have a tremendous capacity and need to connect.

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

#50

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…

> 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.

Just like Mister Roger's Neighborhood in the 1970s.

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