Teens are infamous for their obsession with various apps on their phones including Tik Tok, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. These apps have taken over the lives of teens with the help of various content creators. The creators usually see the app as a steppingstone to mainstream media, but for the past few years, their use on the app has put up a wall between themselves and mainstream companies. This wall seems to be coming down as the mainstream media world accepts more and more influencers.
Liza Koshy:
Liza Koshy is known for her YouTube Red Comedy Series, her work with Vogue and her hosting job on Nickelodeon’s “Double Dare.” Koshy was born and raised in Houston and spent her free time during high school uploading videos to the now departed app Vine. Like many other Vine personalities, Koshy then made the jump from Vine to YouTube. On YouTube, she racked up over 17 million subscribers, where she made clean, kid-friendly content. Due to her YouTube success, Koshy received a job as a host on Nickelodeon where she speaks to the same demographic but on a larger stage. This job and her clean social media fame led her to many other opportunities in the mainstream media world.
David Dobrik:
David Dobrik is a creator on YouTube and
is commonly recognized for his four minute and twenty second videos featuring his
friend group commonly known the “Vlog Squad.”
David started on the 6 second video app Vine and eventually moved to YouTube.
Rather than fear the YouTube community, Seat Geek (a ticket purchasing app)
established a relationship with David Dobrik and has sponsored numerous videos.
This relationship has allowed Dobrik to make substantial money off YouTube, and
he is even able to gift cars to members of his friend group. Dobrik’s success
with Seat Geek led to various other companies reaching out for sponsorships.
One of these companies is Chipotle, who asked David to promote their new
ordering app. As an incentive, they even named a burrito after him. Companies
use this marketing technique to advertise to a younger demographic, and David has
the means to make crazy videos that his fans enjoy. Due to his success in the
YouTube community Nickelodeon offered him a job as a host for their new show, “America’s
Most Musical Family.”
Lauren Riihimaki:
Lauren Riihamaki is better known to her 9 million subscribers as LaurDiy and has partnered with numerous companies to make her screen name known around the world. Lauren makes video focusing primarily on diy’s. She shows younger artists how to do fun crafts. She now has her own line of crafting kits which can be bought in Walmart, Target, Hobby Lobby and Amazon and has recently been asked to be the host of her second HBO show. The show, called “Craftopia,”will have nine to fifteen-year-old contestants race to make the best craft creation and will be on HBO plus.
Lily Singh:
Lily Singh, commonly known as her YouTube handle Superwoman is an internet sensation. Singh, having conquered the YouTube world by enticing 14.9 million subscribers with her comedy skits moved into mainstream media as NBC welcomes her into their family. Her show, “A Little Late with Lily Singh,” airs at 12:30 a.m. on NBC. The show is a combination of a traditional late-night format and her YouTube channel. She is the poster child for all the up and coming YouTubers hoping to one day make the jump to the traditional TV environment.
