UNITED STATES—The social media revolution in the mid noughties gave a platform to everyone in society to vent and share their opinions, whether that be through Twitter, Facebook or vlogging.
Vloggers in particular have brought great fun and entertainment to our lives. And some of the best have gone on to make a fruitful career out of vlogging.
In this article we take a look at some of the best vloggers from the year so far, some of them in surprising areas.
Andrew Neeme – Poker
Perhaps poker wouldn’t seem like the kind of sport that would be conducive to blogging. It’s often quiet, incredibly secretive and most importantly when it comes to vlogging, very long. For the spectator it’s almost like cricket, but with much less action and a whole lot less talking.
Don’t tell that to Andrew Neeme though, the live cash game pro splits his time between grinding at the poker table and creating content. He has over 67,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel and creates a variety of videos.
Citing Casey Neistat as his inspiration, Neeme tries to deliver engaging, educational and entertaining content. It seems to have worked well for him with his work receiving a 99% approval rating on YouTube.
Spencer Owen – Football
This vlogger is the most successful in the United Kingdom and is responsible for the number 1 football team on YouTube. Spencer started out streaming FIFA matches on Twitch and YouTube before sharing footage and highlights from his 11-a-side amateur team.
Earlier this year his team Hashtag United were admitted to step 6 of English non-league football which operates at semi-pro level. Hundreds of wannabe footballers travelled from all over the country to try out for the team before Spencer and manager Jay Devereaux finalized the squad.
The team have a hardened social media following of over half a million people and a larger social media share than 13 of the current 20 Premier League clubs. Even short videos of training sessions push well into the 200,000 viewers mark. The team aren’t doing too bad either, having won 11 straight games they now sit top of their league as they aim for promotion in their debut season.
YOUTUBE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt-byCAYpWE
Paul Stenson – Erm, we’re not really sure
Notorious outrage merchant Paul Stenson is the owner of the White Moose Café in Dublin and the Charlesville Lodge. His social media antics have helped to raise the profile of both his businesses, with the small hotel raking in profits of over one hundred thousand euros last year.
Stenson first rose to prominence when his tongue in cheek sign warding off vegans from his restaurant went viral, boosting the profile of his business but irking one of the easiest to provoke demographics in the world.
Paul Stenson isn’t a traditional vlogger in the strictest terms, sharing most of his content to Snapchat and Instagram. However his content reaches hundreds of thousands of fans weekly and often sees his name and businesses end up on the front pages of worldwide media.
Over the past three years Stenson has managed to cause controversy among vegans, the elderly, bloggers and vloggers, Brazilians and many more. He has reaped the financial rewards that his shock-jock antics have brought him.
KSI – FIFA
Okay, now we’re moving into big boy vloggers, we’re not messing around with people who have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, we’re dealing in millions now. In 2009 Olajide Olatunji began uploading footage of himself playing FIFA onto YouTube.
Fast forward to 2018 and that vlogger now has over 17.5 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, who tune in for tips on how to play the game but predominantly to enjoy his goofy nature and narration.
When KSI first started uploading footage of his games it was purely experimental and an expression of his passion, now it’s a lucrative business. Earlier this year KSI took on fellow YouTuber Logan Paul in a boxing match at the Manchester Arena.
Fans could stream the fight for £7.50 online while 15,000 spectators crowded into the arena to watch it in the flesh. No details of the purse have been revealed but professional boxing expert Steve Bunce estimated that both fighters will have walked away from the fight with £30 million each. Not too bad for a kid that started streaming his FIFA matches from his Mum’s house ey?
YOUTUBE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYmE1i2gJGA
PewDewPie – Video Game Commentary
You may know him as Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (you won’t) or by his super famous moniker PewDewPie. The Swedish video game commentator is the biggest vlogger in the world with over 60 million subscribers and an estimated salary of over 12 million dollars last year alone.
In essence what he does is very simple, he plays a series of video games and records his reactions in the top corner of his videos. His funny commentary and whacky reactions are what have endeared him to his huge hoards of fans.
Although controversy did strike last year when it was discovered that he had used anti-semtic language in some of his online games prior to becoming a vlogger. If you’ve ever logged into Team Deathmatch on Call of Duty, that’ll come as no surprise to you.
One of his largest business supporters Disney cut ties with him following this scandal, but YouTube have not stopped him from streaming and the scandal doesn’t seem to have affected his enormous earning potential.
