'Essential reading.' - ESQUIRE
'Both absorbing and highly illuminating' - THE BOOKSELLER
'No one understands the intricacies of YouTube like Chris
Stokel-Walker' - THE ATLANTIC
Two billion people watch YouTube and it reaches deep into everyday
lives.
Its creators start new trends, popularise new songs and games and make
and break new products. Yet while they are famous to billions of mostly
young people, they mostly remain a mystery to the general public and
mainstream media. What is the secret of their appeal? How do they cope
with being in front of the lens - and who is behind their success?
More than 100 insiders spoke candidly to teach journalist Chris
Stokel-Walker for this first in-depth independent book on YouTube.
YouTubers is the only book you need to understand YouTube, its
ownership by Google, its deal for stars and its ecosystem of talent
managers, advertisers and marketers.
It is a richly-layered deep dive into YouTube brimming with lively
characters, engaging facts, and influencer case studies. It is an ideal
guide for any media studies students, advertisers, brand managers and
business people who need to understand YouTube professionally. And for
any non-fiction reader interested in a gripping business and technology
saga dripping with big money, ruthlessness, determination and ambition.
YouTubers starts by charting the platform's launch in a boring
19-second video of the elephant enclosure at San Diego Zoo - which has
now had 242 million views. YouTubers then moves onto the first oddball
videos before the site found success by showing comedy clips from the TV
show Saturday Night Live.
YouTubers reveals how YouTube saw off its emerging rivals in the
online video battle of the 2000s and was bought by the search engine
specialist Google. With Google's billions and boosted by smartphones,
YouTube became the dominant video platform.
Bloggers started to create engaging, fast-cut videos that capitalised on
the intimate relationship between creator and user - a 'parasocial'
relationship stronger than the bond between TV presenter and viewer. By
ceaselessly urging their followers to tap the like, comment and
subscribe buttons, these creators helped YouTube's rise to global
domination.
YouTubers speaks to YouTube stars KSI, Hank and John Green and delves
into the lives of child star MattyB, the training camp for aspiring
teenage bloggers, the YouTube stunts that go wrong and the increasing
efforts of creators to earn money from Patreon. And it tackles the
platform's Muslim extremism, red-pilling, and its content guidelines and
censorship.
YouTubers asks how YouTube can take on the threat from other big
platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
In short, YouTubers tells the riveting story of the exponential growth
of YouTube from single home video to global tech phenomenon. It is the
best and only book you need to read on YouTube.
Extract
Introduction
One spring afternoon Casey Neistat uploaded a video lasting five minutes
and twenty-two seconds to YouTube. In the style of so many YouTubers, he
looked straight into the camera and aired his opinion on a matter of
importance. As the elder statesman on the platform, Neistat's words
carry weight. He can make or break products and careers - and this video
was no different. Seconds after he uploaded his video to YouTube via his
superfast broadband at his creative headquarters in New York, it was
available worldwide to four billion people: everyone on Earth with an
internet connection. Millions of Neistat's subscribers instantly
received a notification telling them t
