The way media in YouTube
Do your children dream of YouTube stardom? Do them a favor: Crush that ambition now.
New research out of Germany billed as among the first to review the chances of making it in the new Hollywood shows a vanishingly small number will ever break through—just like in the old Hollywood.
In fact, 96.5 percent of all of those trying to become YouTubers won’t make enough money off of advertising to crack the U.S. poverty line, according to research by Mathias Bärtl, a professor at Offenburg University of Applied Sciences in Offenburg.
Breaking into the top 3 percent of most-viewed channels could bring in advertising revenue of about $16,800 a year, Bärtl found in an analysis for Bloomberg News. That’s a bit more than the U.S. federal poverty lineof $12,140 for a single person. (The guideline for a two-person household is $16,460.) The top 3 percent of video creators of all time in Bärtl’s sample attracted more than 1.4 million views per month.
“If you’re a series regular on a network TV show, you’re getting a good amount of money,” said Alice Marwick, an assistant professor of communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Yet you can have half a million followers on YouTube and still be working at Starbucks.”
Children born after YouTube was created in 2005 have grown up surrounded by videos churned out by performers such as Jake Paul, PewDiePie and Zoella, whose clips about their daily lives, video gaming and fashion, respectively, have turned YouTuber into a popular career goal.
One in 3 British children age 6 to 17 told pollsters last year that they wanted to become a full-time YouTuber. That’s three times as many as those who wanted to become a doctor or a nurse.
Of course, the goal is to be a superstar. The top 1 percent of creators garnered from 2.2 million to 42.1 million views per month in 2016, Bärtl’s research shows. Those top-tier performers often earn side money through sponsorships or other deals, so calculating their earnings is more complicated.
Pew Journalism Research Center found that about 21% of videos on YouTube were related to politics in some form. Politics is a common topic, as it allows for discussion and debate. The idea of being able to share what is interesting is an innovative idea which many people connect with. As well, users share what they see on YouTube with others, creating a mix of videos spread across different social networks. In this way, YouTube is seen a positive outlet in which viewers are able to share ideas and form communities online based on those shared interests. There are some drawbacks which can cause some to think about how they share the videos they view with others on YouTube.
One’s personal views can greatly reflect how they view YouTube. Those who see YouTube as a place to share and watch a multitude of videos on various subjects embrace the media influence which YouTube brings. Yet, there are some that see YouTube as something which should be controlled in order to be maintained. It is only a negative idea to those who make it a negative idea; it is not necessarily negative by nature. To understand the way media is influenced by YouTube, it is best to think about how one chooses to share what they learn or see on YouTube.
