YouTubers: How YouTube Shook Up TV and Created a New Generation of Stars

by Chris Stokel-Walker

‘For anyone trying to understand the bonkers world of YouTube, this is 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 now watch YouTube, yet its stars are a mystery to the general public and 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 laid bare the reality of their lives for this, the first in-depth independent book on YouTube. It charts the platform's rise from single home video to global boom – while getting the facts on brand deals, burnout and authenticity.

This is an ideal guide for anyone in universities, media or marketing who needs to understand YouTube professionally, and of course those who want to make it as a YouTuber.

Table of Contents

PART I

POWER AND BEGINNINGS

1. Casey Neistat and the power of YouTube

2. Jake cars, money, and a burning swimming pool

3. Me At the Jawed Karim and the worst video of all time

4. Viral YouTube laughs all the way to the bank

5. Grace Helbig and the first stars of vlogging

6. From Russia to Latin YouTube goes global

PART II

ENGINE HOW YOUTUBE WORKS

7. The YouTube’s secret formula

8. Policing extremism and the Adpocalypse

9. Sponsored the tale of Dodie Clark and Heinz beans

PART III

CHARTING THE STARS

10. Know your elite, macro-influencer and micro-influencer

11. Elite fighting their way to the top

12. Child meet MattyB, who gets two million views a day

13. beauty, crime and DIY

14. speaking to a devoted audience

PART IV

BEHIND THE SNAPSHOTS

15. Summer in the a gathering of the influencers

16. Sapphire builds a career

17. Sarah Weichel, star agent

18. Training with the 11-year-old YouTubers

19. YouTube with the adult entrepreneurs

PART V

CAUGHT IN THE MACHINE

20. Pranks for why Monalisa Perez shot her boyfriend

21. the fourth wall for YouTubers

22. slaves to the algorithm

23. Fanatical obsessive relationships

PART VI

THE BATTLE FOR CONTROL

24. YouTubers found a union

25. seeking independent support

26. from books to pop sockets

PART VII

THE YOUTUBE v TV

27. Invasion of the Hollywood stars

28. Is YouTube killing traditional TV?

29. Online video YouTube v Facebook

PART VIII

CONCLUSION

30. A flawed winner

Glossary

Acknowledgements

Notes

Index

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology

352 pages, Hardcover

First published July 18, 2019

Reviews

[Simon Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

YouTube is a global phenomenon. Such is its immensity, deeply integrated in the world of young people, that any description of the website will always come up short. Like blind men grasping at an elephant, aspects that may seem fundamental to one observer will be totally absent from the account of another. To gain an overview of any credibility, one must not only consider YouTube through many lenses - economic, sociological, historical - but also through multiple perspectives. Stokel-Walker’s YouTubers succeeds as a cutting-edge account of one of most important websites in the world, as seen through the eyes of some of its top creators, industry experts, and researchers.

Drawing on interviews on topics ranging from extremism to mental health to finance, Stokel-Walker weaves a tapestry of impressive scope. Speaking as a YouTuber, he captures the feel of the website, what it is to be a YouTuber (warts and all), and in particular highlights many of the less-publicised struggles of creating content to offer up to the almighty Algorithm. I suspect that in years to come, YouTubers will be viewed as an important historical account. It is a front-line report of a key time in the history of digital content creation and consumption, a meticulously researched history of online video, and a deep anthropological study of the often misunderstood Homo influenceris.

If you want to understand the inner workings of your favourite YouTube influencers, and perhaps where we are heading next, you should read this book. It’s smart, sweeping, and significant.

[Mara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars-- the assumed audience here is someone (I'm guessing a boomer?) who is scratching their head over what the hell Youtube is and how it got to be so popular. And insofar as that is the audience, I think this does a good job of running through the history of the platform, an explanation of its cultural relevance, and an overview of the major ethical & business practice considerations that have come up between Youtube, advertisers, investors, creators, & viewers. What this makes me hungry for is a more "inside baseball" book like this-- maybe an oral history? I don't know, but I think this is a very nice version of what it is, even if I wanted it to go deeper in many places based on my own familiarity with the subject matter & people involved

[James R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite being written relatively recently this book has aged poorly as it covers a subject that is constantly changing. It's a good summary of where things were with YouTube at the time of writing but anyone that has a passing interest in YouTube will have already been aware of a lot that is in this book. The interviews with content creators were interesting and the speculation about the future of YouTube was thought provoking.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book caught my attention because I am both an avid YouTube watcher and a not-so-avid YouTuber. I thought I had a fairly good understanding of YouTube’s beginning and workings but reading this was really eye-opening. I love a good backstory and have to say that my eyes were opened to the nitty-gritty of my favourite app. Now I seem to be coming across more stories that reinforce the book’s salient points which I never noticed before. It’s a well-written book that canvasses and the length and breadth of the contexts, motivations and ideas that combine to form YouTube’s story which is also, I think, a story about our evolving civilisation and rapidly morphing social norms.

One major thrust of the book which I don’t agree with, however, is the responsibility heaped on the organisation to police content. While not a supporter of unpoliced publications that spread radicalisation, conspiracy theories and other misinformation, I believe these things are really only a reflection of humanity itself. It is humans themselves that should be addressed. We somehow need to address the root causes of these issues – in which case I see policing content as merely suppressing the problems. I realise this might be a bit of an idealist point of view, but it seems a bit unfair to shove this responsibility on emerging tech and then call their responses overreactions.

This is very much a book relevant to current times. I feel like the conclusion could have been a bit stronger, although, at the same time, the author is very right in leaving it open-ended. YouTube is really too novel a phenomenon to predict a solid trajectory for and there is little/no baseline for permutations. How can one really make conclusions about what YouTube will hold for humanity? I give this book 4.2 stars.

[Irene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was more interested in reading about YouTube from a media standpoint (given how they are a giant in competing for people's attentions in today's entertainment sphere).

However, this book was more like an encyclopedia of YouTubers and the type of content they produced. There was nothing eye-opening in terms of how YouTubers ran their business or developed content, beyond what can easily be found in a quick web search. I'm not certain who the intended audience was, but for those who wanted to study media or become a YouTuber producing content, they will not glean anything eye-opening from this.

There was hardly anything on audience engagement/reception with YouTube content, or the process of how YouTube content was created by these creators. At the most, there was a brief mention of parasocial relationships that one can find in many, many psychology books (particularly those books specializing in audience engagement).

I've spent no more than 4 hours researching the business of being a YouTuber, and even still knew more than what was presented here. Just surface-level details that amounted to little more than observations capable of being made by a casual observer with some time on their hands.

[Lucy Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed looking into the Youtube world. Having been an avid watcher since 2009 I understood the world on the surface level but this book goes so much deeper. The sheer amount of research that the author did is incredible.

The book includes the views of a wide range of Youtubers including one of my favourites, Lucy Moon. It is an easy read and I read it happily in one sitting.

Thank you to Netgalley and Canbury for this book.

[Claire Coupland · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book, sharing the secrets of YouTube’s success. I was fascinated by the start up story and found the book full of interesting information. I also enjoyed hearing about famous YouTubers and the secrets to their success. Highly recommend this to anyone who’s thinking of starting a YouTube channel or anyone who wants to understand contemporary business.

[Steve Bowbrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, fantastically well-researched magazine journalism extended to book length. Useful overview of the emerging industry, brutal economics and pressures on creators. Not a business book or a cultural studies book, so no startling insights but quite a lot of specially-commissioned research makes it a very useful read.

[Ravenclaw Library Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read about YouTube and the phenomenon from so many differentpoints of view.
I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in starting a Youtube channel.

[Alastair Naismith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great guide into the weird world of YouTube culture suitable for anyone no matter what their involvement with the site.

[John Molina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Just wow. Great read and highly informative. Not much to analysis.

[Frijor]

YouTube

[Alyona Trotsenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ничего нового и интересного не нашла( Успех ютуба они приписывают алгоритму, который тебе рекомендует похожее (как спотифай). Но нетфликс и амазон уже дышит в затылок)))

[James! · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and informative, but to an extent quite surface level. Definitely a good introduction for those who know nothing of the site but as someone who has practically grew up on it, I felt quite familiar with a lot of this