They’re stars of the tiny screen — YouTube legends living unassumingly next door.
Almost 450,000 viewers tune in to 20-year-old Tessa Violet, a k a MeekaKitty, as she rants about infomercials, video games and whatever else pops in her mind while she hangs out in her mom’s apartment. And she’s not just doing it for the thrill of being watched.
Violet gets cash every time someone views her videos. Some video bloggers can pull in $6,000 a month depending on the traffic and the clicks they generate.
As part of YouTube’s partner program, Violet has her own “channel.” Major advertisers, from Progressive Insurance to Croc’s shoes to Modell’s Sports, flash ads across her videos. And the adorable redhead gets a certain percentage of ad revenue each time viewers watch her videos or click on her ads.
Company spokesperson Chris Dale said the video site has “hundreds of partners making thousands of dollars a month and some who are earning six-figure salaries yearly.” YouTube usually approaches folks who have big subscription bases, who upload videos regularly and respect the community guidelines. Then it runs ads against their content. Sometimes advertisers approach YouTube stars directly, said Dale.
Content providers have to be invited to join the YouTube partner program, and will receive revenue based on their CPT or Clicks Per Thousand.
The following New Yorkers — among the most popular in the city — all have found an audience for their schtick, and some are making a nice living singing, dancing and telling jokes, all from their living room or bedroom.
DESTORM POWER
Name: DeStorm Power
Joined: April 26, 2006
Channel Views: 2,305,119
Subscribers: 253,001
Content: “Sesame Street for the grown and sexy!” DeStorm, a songwriter, asks his viewers to challenge him to write songs about whatever they want.
Comments: “At first I was just using YouTube to store videos. And then I read an article and realized there’s a career to be had on YouTube. At the end of last year I started getting some folks watching. It’s a gradual build unless you get a shout-out. It took nine months for me to get to 100,000 subscribers. It’s like having a baby.
“You can definitely make a living. I’m pretty much living off my YouTube career.”
MEEKAKITTY
Name: Tessa Violet
Age: 20
Joined: July 16, 2006
Channel Views: 6,491,447
Subscribers: 447,790
Content: “Sometimes I turn on the camera. Then stuff happens.” The adorable redhead takes viewers with her to Rome on a trip with her mom.
Comment: “I first started vlogging in 2007 for my senior project in high school. I did a video blog about a trip I took for work. Then in 2008, I moved to New York with my mom and started video blogging as a hobby.
“I’m not sure why YouTubers like me. I think the answer to being popular on YouTube is to be consistent and just be yourself. I’m really grateful that I have as many viewers as I do.
“I’m going to college next fall to study production. I’m interested in making music videos.”
THE WILL OF DC
Name: William (He won’t reveal his last name)
Age: 23
Joined: June 23, 2008
Channel Views: 887,804
Subscribers: 221,105
Content: On Mondays and Fridays he posts videos that monitor the stats for the top 100 YouTubers with the detail which Maria Bartiromo tracks the NASDAQ.
Comments: “I’d begun tracking the most popular YouTube videos of the week on an excel spreadsheet, and fellow YouTuber, Ray William Johnson, said, ‘You should turn this into a video.’ Now it’s turning into a career. I’m making some monetary gains and by the end of the year, I plan to support myself with my channel. To see real money, I probably need 80,000 views per video; two videos a week.”
DERRICK COMEDY
Names: Derrick Comedy consists of actors Dominic Dierkes, DC Pierson, and Donald Glover
Joined: January 27, 2006
Channel Views: 5,519,905
Subscribers: 175,467
Content: A comedy troupe.
Comment: Says Dominic Dierkes, 26: “We all met at NYU. We started putting videos on YouTube in 2005 because we didn’t have enough money to host them ourselves.
“We have always wanted to make a bigger project: a TV show or a movie. [Derrick Comedy member] Donald Glover had the idea for the movie. It’s about ‘Encyclopaedia Brown,’ all grown up. G-rated characters in an R-rated world. We have never paid ourselves from our YouTube revenue or any merchandising we sold. We always put it back into the company because we had an eye on a bigger project.”
DENISE VLOGS
Name: Denise Kass
Joined: May 25, 2008
Channel Views: 518,612
Subscribers: 51,756
Age: 25
Content: Funny posts pontificating on life, love, frenemies, the proper etiquette for Twitter in a low-cut blouse.
Comments: “I started like probably anyone else on YouTube. I got bored one day and went online and discovered some YouTubers I liked and saw how successful they were and thought, Hey, I could try this out. My main thing is comedy, but it’s fun to play with sexuality a little bit, but not too much.
“My set-up is so amateur. I just have a Canon HD camera and a tripod.
“My vlogs pay probably half of my income; but I still have another gig, which I got through YouTube. I write and shoot Internet marketing videos for Ford.”
IMPROV EVERYWHERE
Founder: Charlie Todd
Joined: April 14, 2006
Channel Views: 5,143,410
Subscribers: 468,519
Content: “ Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places.” The comedy troupe has executed over 100 missions — a k a pranks — involving thousands of “undercover agents” — aka fellow pranksters.
Comments: “YouTube has been huge for us. ’The video in which we froze Grand Central Station changed my life. It went viral — 22 million people viewed it. It’s allowed me to travel the world in the past two years. A dozen international cities have invited me to come to festivals and to do projects.
“Millions of views can be nice money, and allows me to do what I need to do. Mostly I invest in nicer equipment and props. It’s hard to know which videos will do well. One will get a million views and another will get 300,000. So it can be tough to know what your income will be.”