Who are the highest-paid YouTubers? Obviously, the people who have over a million views per video. Or is it those who have over a million subscribers? Or does it just take a couple hundred thousand viewers and followers? Surely popularity is the baseline for success on the media outlet. Those reaching thousands and millions, those who fans that send them little gifts in the mail, and people who have strangers recognize them on the street and beg for an autograph — surely these people are making just as much as any other celebrity because, in essence, that’s what they are. People use the term “internet celebrity,” but for many subscribers who dedicate their time to watching videos of people they’ve followed for years, these YouTubers are celebrities. Admittedly, if given the choice between Brad Pitt’s autograph and Philip DeFranco’s, I’d quickly run in DeFranco’s direction, screaming his tagline “Hey Nation!” at the top of my lungs. I’ve never gone to a concert, but when DeFranco hosted a DeFranco Does Chicago event in my hometown, I got tickets without hesitating — tickets both for the plane and event.
Recently, famous YouTuber and BuzzFeed employee Gaby Dunn published an article titled “Get Rich or Die Vlogging: The Sad Economics of Internet Fame.” She begins with a story of how one of her co-workers who did not attend their staff party for unknown reasons was found later that night — not sneaking in late with apologies, but rather serving food at the restaurant the event was hosted in. A couple of peers thought she was joking, perhaps doing a bit for a video, but no, the waitress/Buzzfeed employee/famous YouTuber had to explain to those she worked with that she had to waitress on the side in order to pay the bills.
Dunn has interviews from many big-time YouTubers, including Megan Tonjes, who recounted how she had performed on the main stage at VidCon in front of screaming and crying fans, all the while not knowing how she would pay for groceries. A similar story is told by another YouTuber who spoke of how fans had memorized her work schedule at Starbucks, and so she had to let the job go because they were interfering with her work. Situations like these leave YouTubers dangling in between work, too famous to hold regular jobs, and yet not making enough money to live without them.
I was fascinated by the article. I had always assumed that the internet was the up-and-coming platform for making money and that those people who had the dedication to ride its wave to multiple views and followers were those entertaining enough to thrive off of it. It’s easy to assume that a person who you and people all over the country idolize would be very well off. These people had branded themselves, I thought, and had to be reaping the benefits with fat checks and loving fans. But no. Some of them have less in their bank account than some college students I know. The cause of this is that we have been taught to discourage personal branding. Thinking of people who have branded themselves strictly off of personality and name, celebrities like the Kardashians are the first to come to mind. Many don’t respect them, and their rise to fame is always questioned. So when YouTubers begin to rise, we question their worth in this same way. Yes, their videos are entertaining, but many believe that they could do the same thing, if not better. This keeps us from spending and donating to them. Their names are known and so we figure that it is their responsibility to flourish, and if they can’t, they must have done something wrong. But YouTubers get their sponsors and money based on how many views and subscriptions they get. Viewers give them their power. We make it possible for them to have a living. And if so many people believe they deserve the same, if not more, it is hard for the YouTuber to earn money in a field that is becoming flooded by participants.
