PDF Publication Title:
Text from PDF Page: 005
56 — Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, Vol. 7, No. 1 • Spring 2016 outside projects. He had released a book, This Book Loves You, and a video game, PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist, on iOS and Android. He also won the 2014 Teen Choice Award for “Web Star: Gaming.” V. Discussion This section focused on dealing with the three research questions, the YouTube video qualities that appealed to viewers; common characteristics among the three studied; and how the three used traditional media to strengthen their personal brand. YouTube’s transformation from video sharing to profitability The three YouTubers all began posting videos more than five years ago. Helbig began posting content as early as October 2006, just one year after the site was developed and around the same time that YouTube was purchased by Google. According to Kim (2012), “Since being purchased by Google, YouTube has adopted a new e-commerce model; it puts banner ads in videos or in YouTube pages and shares the revenue with the copyright holders of the videos. The basic idea of selling banner advertisements is to play commercials during the streaming of videos” (p. 57). All three featured advertisements in their videos. An advertisement played before videos even began on Sugg’s and Helbig’s channels, while Kjellberg had a banner placed in his video. Over the past decade, YouTube became a launching pad for careers (Luscombe, 2015). Based on the videos watched throughout this study, Kjellberg, Sugg, and Helbig all mentioned that they used their videos as a source of income. Kjellberg was then the most subscribed user on YouTube, with over 40 million subscribers and 10 billion overall views on his channel (“Track YouTube,” 2015). His videos generated more views than the world’s population, which was then a little over 7 billion (“Worldometers,” 2015). Grundberg explained, “The 24-year-old Mr. Kjellberg, who created PewDiePie five years ago, had parlayed his persona into a brand name that pulls in the equivalent of $4 million in ad sales a year, most of it pure profit” (2014). According to Business Insider, most YouTube millionaires got paid through advertisements, previews, and sponsored videos. Side projects, such as book deals, also added to their amount of income (Kosoff, 2015). Kjellberg, Helbig, and Sugg all had advertisements display throughout their videos in addition to book deals. Sugg’s book, Girl Online, “broke the record for highest first-week sales for a debut author in the U.K., selling 78,109 copies—besting J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter titles and E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey” (Burling, 2015, p. 24). Without Sugg’s following on YouTube, her book would likely be just another young adult novel. What began as a place for Sugg, Helbig, and Kjellberg to upload videos as a hobby is now their career. Appeal to Viewers In relation to RQ1, the study found a YouTuber’s authenticity appealed to their viewers. Strangelove (2010) explained, “There is no one authoritative YouTube identity, but there is one dominant YouTube community—the community of amateur videographers. Their numbers will most likely always exceed those of participating celebrities and media corporations” (p. 113). Each YouTuber analyzed in this study began as a normal individual posting videos online. YouTube provided a look into the extraordinary lives of everyday people (Strangelove, p. 127). This study found that all three YouTubers filmed inside their homes either sitting on the edge of their beds or at their desk. They have conversations with a camera through vlogging (video blogging). Burgess and Green (2009) explained, “The vlog reminds us of the residual character of interpersonal face-to-face communication . . . it is a form whose persistent direct address to the viewer inherently invites feedback . . . Traditional media content doesn’t explicitly invite conversational and inter- creative participation” (p. 54). According to Sörman, founder of a YouTuber network in Sweden, “PewDiePie is like a cool friend you have and subscribing to him is almost like Skypeing with him—that’s why viewers are such dedicated fans” (Grundberg & Hansegard, 2014). All three link their other social media platforms to their YouTube account so they can continue to interact with viewers. Kjellberg’s fans, or “bros” as he called them, were engaged because he took the time to talk about them in videos or answered their questions (Kosoff, 2015). Helbig and Sugg did the same and had created a community for their fans within the Internet. Strangelove (2010) explained, “Participation in online groups leads to a psychological sense of community. People can be deeply engaged in online communities.PDF Image | How YouTube Developed into a Successful Platform for User-Generated Content
PDF Search Title:
How YouTube Developed into a Successful Platform for User-Generated ContentOriginal File Name Searched:
06_Margaret_Holland.pdfDIY PDF Search: Google It | Yahoo | Bing
Cruise Ship Reviews | Luxury Resort | Jet | Yacht | and Travel Tech More Info
Cruising Review Topics and Articles More Info
Software based on Filemaker for the travel industry More Info
The Burgenstock Resort: Reviews on CruisingReview website... More Info
Resort Reviews: World Class resorts... More Info
The Riffelalp Resort: Reviews on CruisingReview website... More Info
| CONTACT TEL: 608-238-6001 Email: greg@cruisingreview.com | RSS | AMP |