It was only five years ago. In 2010, John and Hank Green – known as Vlogbrothers to their fans – initiated a gathering of fellow YouTube content creators and their subscribers. Named “VidCon,” the event grew from just 1400 participants to over 20,000 attendees this year. That’s pretty crazy. Within a very short time this has revealed a phenomenon regarding the fervent popularity surrounding internet personalities you most likely never heard of. The fan demographic appears to be made up of teens and young adults in their early 20s. And the personalities they follow are greeted with the similar amount of enthusiasm formerly reserved for the likes of a super group such as The Beatles.
As to how a single person or persons could achieve celebrity while creating low to no budget videos strictly viewable on YouTube and Vine is a million dollar question to be answered. Content can range from beauty tips to sketch comedy or just the opinionated ramblings of a pop culture enthusiast. Obviously there are aspects to each approach that appeal to an initial swath of viewers. So much so that when the resulting content was shared through other social networks, it went viral thus appealing to an even larger swath of viewers. Being a content creator myself, I have found it challenging to gain a reach beyond the niche following some of my creations might accrue. While some projects might have developed a certain fan basethey’renowhere near as popular as those feted at an event that has grown as quickly as VidCon.
Advertising companies, marketers and recognizable brands have taken notice. A creator like Meghan Camarena has acted as spokesperson for Skype, Allstate and recently signed a deal with MakerTV. In fact, VidCon’s co-founder John Green is also the bestselling author of the young adult novels The Fault In Our Stars and Paper Towns and has combined that success with his own YouTube channel as a promotional conduit for the Hollywood adaptations of his work. This has become a big business for those who hit it rich with millions of subscribers, shares and likes. It has also enabled a rather paradoxical situation for those of us dealing in providing the tools and gear seemingly required to produce such content. You see, not only are most of these vlogs created with a minimum amount of equipment. Most of them are created with something as basic as a mobile phone. These aren’t “industry professionals” in the traditional sense. Sometimes it’s just a product delivered by an 18 year-old kid through the cam in his laptop. However, the production values do seem to improve as each personalityrises in visibility. Even Canon has gotten into the game by announcing their packaged Video Creator kits at VidCon while partially targeting this market.
The most recent VidCon event occurred in Anaheim, California last weekend. And it stands to reason that next year’s conference will increase from 20k attendees to over 30,000. In October, the East Coast will play host to StreamCon NYC, a similarly themed convention founded by LeftField Media and TubeFilter (inceptors of the Streamy Awards). In a situation that brings to mind New York’s attempt to replicate the success of the San Diego Comic Con (an apt comparison. Particularly since LeftField Media’s Greg Topalian was the founder of the NY Comic Con), StreamCon NYC already boasts a guest roster made up of the YouTube/Vine/Snapchat elite. Even my place of employment will have a presence there as Adoramaissponsoring a live demonstration focusing on video production for online use (which also means that, yes, yours truly will be among the throng of What’s Trending viewers and Nerdy Nummies fans). To say this could be “huge” might turn out to be an understatement.
But StreamCon NYC is not the first convention of its kind to make an appearance east of the Mississippi. Playlist Live has been going strong in Florida and will expand into Washington, DC this September. Across North America we’ll see the YouTube FanFest, the DigiTour, not to mention smaller, more independently run events scattered about the map. So what can we take away from this? Home grown, user generated videos have become a viable industry in of itself. The next time you feel compelled to mock personal musings uploaded from the bedroom of a teenager, take stock of the amount of views attributed to it and ask yourself if you’re not witnessing the birth of a new brand ambassador.
