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

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

#121
post #29

My 7 year old son watches Dude Perfect on YouTube, which I had never heard of. Apparently its all the rage, in elementary schools and he heard about it via other kids. I watched a few to make sure they were ok, but they mostly came off as older guys doing elaborate stunts that kids would do on a much smaller scale (like throwing balls off tall buildings, fat suits on cars, etc ) I'm not shocked they are making $20M o…

The only reason it works is because these youtubers know that the largest demographic on YT is 8-22 year olds who are immature. On the flip side, the advertisers think they're advertising to adults with disposable income....thus it because a huge waste of ad spend for the advertisers but they haven't realized that yet. All they know is TV viewership is decreasing and online media is rising...so they need to do someth…

Well they are advertising to people with disposable income, by proxy: the parents of the kids who watch the videos then beg/nag their parents for things from the adverts.

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

#122
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Mr. Rogers was different because he was using his influence for social good and to teach positive characteristics/skills/traits etc. The other personalities, do not specifically cater to this. They're more interested in creating a following and creating something that keeps people coming back for more.

Ironically, Mr. Rogers created a following and something that kept people coming back for more.

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

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My GF is an elementary school teacher and she says the amount of kids who are developing anti-social behaviors is increasing pretty rapidly. Kids these days have computers and are basically simply "escaping" to the internet to live in a fantasy world that is disconnected from reality. Some even display active addictions to computer games, like minecraft, while others say they only have friends online in the games or…

Computers, internet, youtube, games - these things are a part of a real world. I mean, they aren't a hallucination, they don't exist on a separate plane of reality. Experiences are real, joy they bring is real, and for many people, it's far better than what the "real" world around them has to offer. If people are tempted to escape into a virtual world, it might be because the real world around them sucks.

Technology is designed as a hyperstimulus. The real world (suffering aside) sucks the same way fruit sucks compared with candy.

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

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the essence of most modern entertainment. I once produced a pilot children's animation and had written a "bible" - the text that sets out what you plan to do for a series - and was told by a senior commissioner in no uncertain terms that modern children's tv series "must take place in the same place with the same characters so kids can come home and watch the show at the same time every day and feel l…

> there should always be a space for government-funded programming and art Government funded art doesn't make it pure art, it makes it art that serves the political aims of the bureaucrats charged with doling out the money.

Absolutely. But I for one would rather live in a world that had the diversity of both private and state-funded art, each with their own biases. Surely that's better than the single influence of the market?

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

#125
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Fun to imagine an alternative reality where our brains would simply be unable to accept flashing monitor LEDs or vibrating speaker diaphragms as representations of people.

If we can figure out why certain animals are unable to process TV images, we may be able to replicate the effect.

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

#126

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…

My GF is an elementary school teacher and she says the amount of kids who are developing anti-social behaviors is increasing pretty rapidly. Kids these days have computers and are basically simply "escaping" to the internet to live in a fantasy world that is disconnected from reality. Some even display active addictions to computer games, like minecraft, while others say they only have friends online in the games or…

Youtube is turning 14 next year and computers have been mainstream way longer than that. Personally I was a kid when it was the TVs fault and video games were making kids violent, but imo things turned out just fine.

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

#127
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My GF is an elementary school teacher and she says the amount of kids who are developing anti-social behaviors is increasing pretty rapidly. Kids these days have computers and are basically simply "escaping" to the internet to live in a fantasy world that is disconnected from reality. Some even display active addictions to computer games, like minecraft, while others say they only have friends online in the games or…

Youtube is turning 14 next year and computers have been mainstream way longer than that. Personally I was a kid when it was the TVs fault and video games were making kids violent, but imo things turned out just fine.

Trading card games and D&D is ruining kids.

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

#128

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…

Great comment. I have some thoughs on the matter: - I dont think you need the money motive though (its def. sufficient but not necessary). - The relationship between money and art is as old as civilization itself - in fact I believe the coupling is looser today than in ages past. - Some would argue that the term art is not applicable to most popular youtube channels.

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

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there should always be a space for government-funded programming and art Government funded art doesn't make it pure art, it makes it art that serves the political aims of the bureaucrats charged with doling out the money.

Absolutely. But I for one would rather live in a world that had the diversity of both private and state-funded art, each with their own biases. Surely that's better than the single influence of the market?

Consider the explosion of music that's available. AFAIK, none of it is funded by the government, yet there's music for every conceivable taste.

Almost no two people have the same taste in art, and what they're willing to pay for.

I doubt you'd be living in a world that doesn't have art you like if the government didn't fund it.

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

#130
post #29

My 7 year old son watches Dude Perfect on YouTube, which I had never heard of. Apparently its all the rage, in elementary schools and he heard about it via other kids. I watched a few to make sure they were ok, but they mostly came off as older guys doing elaborate stunts that kids would do on a much smaller scale (like throwing balls off tall buildings, fat suits on cars, etc ) I'm not shocked they are making $20M o…

A significant portion of this list is dominated by people who scream all the time because kids love it. Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, et al.
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