YouTube stars more popular than mainstream celebrities among teens

The digital age has seen an increase in content generation, be it commercial or solely for entertainment purpose, specifically in the video segment. YouTube has seen a massive increase in viewership and according to a couple of surveys the popularity of YouTube stars among the connected teenage generation has increased rapidly, even more than traditional celebrities. One of the surveys done in Finland by an independent research company interviewed 500 Finnish teens aged 13-17 asking them to name 3-5 celebs that they follow regularly. The survey concluded three main outcomes:

• Twelve of the top twenty celebrities they followed were online creators with their own YouTube channel.
• The top three YouTubers clearly stood out. But after that, an extremely wide range of celebrities were mentioned.
• Only three celebrities in the Finnish Top 20 list have a background in television and there are no Hollywood movie stars on the list.

According to another survey, 57 percent of 15-29 year old Finnish young adults follow YouTube on a daily basis and watch it for about one hour per day this translates that over half of the entire Finnish population views Youtube videos every week. Another survey last year in the US compared 10 YouTube stars with the most subscribers against 10 traditional entertainment stars with the highest Q score among teens (a widely recognised measure of influence by advertisers and marketers). In this survey 1,500 people aged from 13-17 were asked what they thought about these 20 personalities in terms of approachability, authenticity and other aspects of their overall influence. Respondents’ answers were then translated to a 100-point scale. YouTube stars creating content around video games had the highest ratings populating one-quarter of the top 20 list, including the top three influencers ­— KSI, PewDiePie and Vanoss Gaming. PewDiePie was also named the biggest star online in Variety’s#Famechangers ranking.