YouTube becoming the next big career launcher

Swedish video gamer and commentator Felix Kjellberg, more commonly known on his YouTube channel as PewDiePie, made $7 million from his gaming videos in the past year and is the highest earning YouTuber. In fact, at least 25 YouTubers make more than a million dollars annually.

YouTube is becoming the next big platform for ordinary people to gain recognition and possibly make it in the entertainment business. Many aspiring artists use YouTube as a stepping stone to mainstream success. Because of its user-friendly platform, more people than ever before, regardless of wealth or location, have the potential to go big.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, has become a money makers for ordinary people, and it will continue to do so in the future.

Kjellberg started his channel just four years ago during his sophomore year in college. In 2013, the number of subscribers for his channel jumped from about 3.5 million to 19 million; he has received approximately 1.3 billion views.

Along with his exponential growth in subscribers, Kjellberg has also received numerous awards, including the Most Popular Social Show and the Swedish Social Star Award. He has also been featured in The New York Times.  

Because YouTube allows viewers to connect to different video makers all over the world, popular YouTubers essentially have “celebrity status” and are regularly stopped on the street.

Most importantly, YouTube allows creators to actively pursue new projects because of the guaranteed support from their massive fan bases. British vlogger Zoe Sugg, known by her YouTube name Zoella, used her channel to advertise her book “Girl Online.” Her book was the fastest selling book of 2014 and broke the worldwide record for highest selling first week sales for a debut author. In addition, Sugg and fellow British YouTuber Tanya Burr both have their own makeup lines, Zoella Beauty and Tanya Burr Cosmetics respectively.

Another one of the dozens of success stories is 18-year-old Bethany Mota, a “beauty guru” from Los Banos, Calif. In the past year, she partnered with Aeropostale to create her own clothing line, became a finalists on “Dancing with the Stars” and became the number one searched fashion designer on Google, beating out Kate Spade and Oscar de la Renta.

In fact, “becoming a YouTuber” is turning into a career path for many. Many famous YouTubers, like Kjellberg, started their channels when they were younger, in their teens or early 20s, and dropped out of school or other professions to work on making videos full time.

Their dedication to YouTube is possible because the site partners with creators and pays them based on the number of views and advertisements.

YouTube  is also an easy way for established celebrities to expand their influence. Boy bands One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer both made videos to reach out to fans and answer questions. Jimmy Fallon, host of “The Tonight Show,” posts clips of interviews and games from his show and has amassed close to 2 billion total views. For Fallon and other TV hosts, YouTube is the perfect means to reach out to people who either do not have cable or access to watching the show live.

Many current celebrities, primarily in the music industry, started out on YouTube before being discovered; well-known examples include Justin Bieber, Austin Mahone, Pentatonix and violinist Lindsey Stirling, whose second album ranked No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

2014 was a big year for YouTube. In 2014 alone, thousands of YouTubers earned six figures a year. There are more than1 billion users on YouTube, and the number will only continue to skyrocket.

2015 will mark the 10-year anniversary of the site’s creation. According to The Guardian, economists predict that within the next year, YouTube’s revenues will grow at least 50 percent.

YouTube has the possibility of going beyond the individual person. Companies have begun to use YouTube as promotion for their products, but most users are still independent parties. In the future, we will continue to see YouTube as being one of the biggest sites on the Internet. There is no doubt that YouTube is shifting from being a video-sharing site to a full-flung entertainment venue.