Author

Joseph Murphy

A Study of Influence: An Investigation into The Connection Formed by

YouTubers and Their Following

Degree Programme
New Media & English

Submitted to the University of Limerick, March 2017

 Name

Joseph Murphy

I.D. Number

13145959

Supervisor

Dr. Liam Murray

External Examiner

Professor Alison Fell

Degree Programme

New Media and English

Date

1st March 2017

II
Correction Sheet

III
Abstract
This thesis is situated in the discipline of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and
contributes in the understanding of the popular online personalities known as YouTubers.
These online personalities have become more influential to their following, which can
sometimes be millions of people, over recent times. Thanks to their parent site, YouTube,
they have been able to form connections with their fans resulting in brands seeking them out
to help market their products. This influence leaves them with the ability to earn large
amounts for themselves which is discussed within this thesis. This study is concerned with the
level of influence.

Therefore, this study is an investigation into the influence a YouTuber can have and also an
investigation into the earning ability they can possess. This study focuses on both these topic
gathering information from available academic literature, online sources and also an online
survey which investigated the relationship between YouTubers and fans, traditional
celebrities and fans and also societies interaction with YouTube itself.

Based on the online survey carried out, the findings suggested that indeed these YouTubers
have amassed large followings from their channels and turned their authentic connection with
their viewers into an influence that has been proved stronger than connections with traditional
celebrities. Brands have started to take note of this influence and have begun using
YouTubers to a certain degree. They have promoted product on their channels resulting in
positive marketing strategies. Moreover, its clear that some people are still unaware of the
influence of YouTubers and also unaware of the platforms stature overall. I further argue that
more research can be done as a result of my thesis.

I
List of Contents
Page No

Abstract I

List of Contents II

List of Tables III

Acknowledgements IV

Authors Declaration V

Page No.

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 5
2.1. Influence 6
2.2. Earning Power 9

3. Methodology 13

4. Research 17

5. Discussion 25

6. Conclusion 30
6.1 Aims 30
6.2 Recommendations for Further Research 31
6.3 Reflections 32

7. Appendences 34
7.1. Information Letter 35
8. Bibliography 35

II
List of Tables

Pie Charts Page No.

Pie Chart 1: Figure1.a 21

Pie Chart 2: Figure1.b 21

Pie Chart 3: Figure1.c 22

Pie Chart 4: Figure1.d 23

Tables Page No.

Table 1: Figure1.A 24

III
Acknowledgements

Many people come to mind when I think of who has supported me throughout the long

process of completing my Final Year Project. Without these people I wouldnt have been able

to get through the entirety of task. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Liam

Murray who decided to accept this subject as my Final Year Project. It was a great boost of

confidence that someone agreed that research needed to be carried out in this topic. He also

showed genuine interest into the writing, results I found and also the literature available. I

would like to thank him for his feedback which helped me along the way and when I got lost

in search of the results.

I would like to thank everyone who took part in the online survey that helped shape my Final

Year Project. They gave me the information I needed to continue and also helped deeper my

understanding of the topic. To all the fellow New Media & English Students who helped in

the research and also with their company in the library for the last few weeks.

I would also like to thank my work, The Horse and Hound Hotel, for agreeing to give me

these last few weeks of so I could finish the project entirely and not be stressed out by dealing

with customers.

Finally, I would like to thank my friends and family who have supported me over the last few

years. They helped me before I even started this thesis by pushing and supporting me to go to

University. My Mother, Father and brother a special thanks for the never ending support.

Thank You to All!

IV
Authors Declaration

I hereby declare that this project is entirely my own work, in my own words, and that
all sources used in researching it are fully acknowledged and all quotations properly
identified. It has not been submitted, in whole or in part, by me or another person, for
the purpose of obtaining any other credit / grade. I understand the ethical
implications of my research, and this work meets the requirements of the Faculty of
Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee.

________________________

Joseph Murphy

March 2017

V
1. Introduction
For my Final Year Project, I decided to investigate the world of Social Media

Personalities, in particular YouTubers. A YouTuber is simply someone who constantly

interacts, posts and appears frequently in videos on YouTube. I planned on carrying out

research into how a YouTuber becomes influential and also determining how powerful this

influence becomes. The most subscribed YouTuber is PewDiePie. His channel alone has more

subscribers that the population of Spain, at the time of writing, with over 53 million subs

(YouTube 2017). One aspect of my research will include relating them to traditional

celebrities. Traditional celebrities are classed as actors, singers, comedians, television hosts

etc. They are what society has become used to seeing everyday on our phones, laptops and

television screens. Some pay to go see them in cinemas and concerts and some read about

them in magazines. This can be where some opinions are formed of them despite never

hearing much information regarding their personal life from themselves. Much different for

YouTubers who have more privacy in that regard. These people are making home-made

content, mostly editing it themselves at home and then simply posting for people to enjoy.

This gives a realistic, authentic and personal report with the person. Something we can relate

too, feel a connection with and eventually identify themselves with. This is the relationship I

want to explore and research.

Another aspect this thesis will explore is the earning power these YouTubers can have.

It will not be an investigation into their bank accounts but instead research into what they can

achieve. It will help in my research to see just how these YouTubers can produce from their

videos, brand deals, advertisements etc. I also want to see how brands interact with them, this

comes from beginning to notice in recent times more and more YouTubers becoming brand

ambassadors or even just supporting products and placing them in their videos. My Final Year

project is not discussing which of these two types, YouTubers or traditional celebrities, are

1
more popular by looking at their Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook statistics but showing the

difference between the two as a way to understand the YouTuber. My hope is that I can see

who is more influential. I also want people to have a better understanding of the YouTuber

community and how it has grown.

Two years ago I wrote a piece entitled How much do YouTubers Earn (Murphy,

Joseph) and posted it onto my personal blog on WordPress. I did not expect for it to receive

over 22,000 views and still continues to climb every day. The interest in the blog post alone

opened my eyes to the popularity of these YouTubers and how interested people are in seeing

their life behind the screen. The level of earning a YouTube star can possess is a highly

interesting topic as we can see from the blog post. They have the ability to make a large

income every day from videos that they posted weeks and even years ago. It is a highly

controversial topic within the YouTube community also with many creators making videos

talking about it. They often feel that its an invasive question that people wouldnt even ask

most people they know.

These personalities often call themselves content creators. They create content to share

with others. For example, a fifteen-year-old girl interested in a daily vlogger to a nineteen-

year-old boy simply watching somebody else play video games. The most popular place for

these creators is undoubtedly YouTube. There are so many genres and categories on YouTube

that we see people over the age of 65 frequenting the sight (Digiday 2017). Gaming, Make-

up, Comedy, Vlogging, Parody, D.I.Y, News etc. I will be focusing more on the person

behind the personality themselves but these personalities will be from different sub-genres.

The blog post became popular among YouTube fans with the comment section

becoming a place for people commenting their own opinions on the matter. Many comments

have been removed due to the language they contain and were rather serious threats being

2
posted. The passion some people have for their favourite stars is an interesting topic to

explore further. Any slight dismissal of their credibility results in them feeling attacked. With

this level of connection, its not surprising the level of influence these social media stars are

able to produce. This was another push for me to continue in my area of research. The piece

itself was also quoted and even linked to other sites that focused on YouTubers and their

personal lives. My blog also contained other YouTube related posts that have become popular

also. This showed me how their fans have an emotional attachment to their favourite

YouTuber just as some have to their favourite celebrity.

Between 2016 and 2017 a number of YouTubers secured massive deals with T.V

shows and online media distributors. One popular YouTuber named Miranda Sings, who is a

parody character, secured her own, self-titled, Netflix show which premiered in December

2016. Cameron Dallas, a 19-year-old boy who started making six second videos on Vine then

started making videos on YouTube, also had his own show on Netflix where he was followed

around by cameras. Both shows have met critical success and outreached expectations in

terms of viewers. Another example is Shane Dawson who was allowed to direct his own

movie, Not Cool, while met with critical disdain it still made an impact with his fans. Other

Youtubers such as Smosh have started their own production companies, Make-Up Gurus have

started their own cosmetic lines and musicians have started full on music careers from their

YouTube Channels.

As part of my research I will be conducting a survey where I will be asking people

about YouTubers and Traditional Celebrities. I will be using this survey as an opportunity to

better understand the field Im researching. It will also add relevance too my thesis overall.

The results will also be compared to similar surveys carried out by others researching similar

topics.

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 YouTube is a hub of active users YouTube has over a billion users almost one-

third of all people on the Internet and every day people watch hundreds of millions of

hours on YouTube and generate billions of views (Statistics YouTube). With so many

active daily users and many of these users being brought in by YouTubers, there is huge

potential for research to carried out in this area.

In this introduction, we discussed the topic of this study with a look at the reasons why

it has potential to become a valid research topic. In the following chapter we will discuss the

literature surrounding the topic and also critique its findings.

4
2. Literature Review

This chapter will discuss, review and expand on available literature surrounding my

topic. To start with, finding recent literature for this topic was not as easy as I previously

assumed. The amount of material on YouTube was available but much of it focused on the

founding, growth and eventual dominance of the site. The topic of YouTubers or other social

media stars from other platforms was quite dearth and showed me that more research could be

done on my topic. The written literature I did find based on YouTubers were outdated and had

no real insight into how YouTubers as a community would form. While they did understand

the concept and power of YouTube, the subject of YouTubers was only starting. This is not

surprising as they are still relatively unknown to certain age groups and even people who

frequent the site for other uses.

Most of the literature that I did find was online. These pieces came from websites,

articles and blogs. Some websites had carried out surveys to help validate their claims. Many

presented their information by using infographics and slideshows. They were definitely more

aware of the trend of YouTubers than the academic literature.

My literature review will be broken up into sections. This will make sure the relevant

literature remains in the same section. The sections will be broken into; Influence and Earning

Power. After discussing what has been written in these areas I will critique and analyse what I

have found. Within each of these headings I will be discussing both YouTubers and

traditional celebrities, to make sure that people that are unfamiliar with the YouTuber are able

to get an understanding of their standing.

5
2.1. INFLUENCE

In terms of Influence, plenty of writers and online journalists have begun to notice just

how powerful these social stars have become in recent times. One article published by

Variety.com titled YouTube Stars More Popular Than Mainstream Celebs Among U.S.

Teens made several valid points. For their research they decided to conduct a survey on teens

living in the U.S. only, between the ages of 13-18. The results they found supported the idea

of these social media personalities having a larger influence on teens, in that particular age

group, over traditional celebrities with similar demographics. The article presented the results

in a clear and professional manner which influenced my personal research. The survey was

conducted thoroughly covering avenues such as approachability, authenticity, sex appeal and

reliability. These areas that were explored are considered prime factors in calculating

influence which gave merit to the survey.

The article couldve expanded in certain aspects of its survey. Firstly, the age limit changed

the results greatly. While the results wouldve came out differently, they would have been

honest to a wider range of users. According to YouTube statistics collected by Digiday, the

age groups of 35-44, 25-34 and 18-24 have the largest amount of visitors to the site. Many of

the most popular Youtubers such as Shane Dawson and Jenna Marbles, who obtained high

rankings from results of the mentioned survey, have been creating content for nearly ten

years, resulting in many of their fans being of an older age.

Its still interesting to note, while the 18-24 category is the lowest of these three age groups,

they still spend the longest time on the site. In March, YouTube drew 31.8 million users

aged 18 to 24 (98.3 percent of U.S. Internet users in that age bracket) who spent an average of

10 hours, 15 minutes on the site. (Blattberg, Eric). This information also influenced my

methodology as I chose the age requirement to be between 18-25.

6
 Secondly, the article couldve expanded the geographical area it picked as the survey

decided to stay within the parameters of the United States. From other research I found out

which countries had the most active users on YouTube. While different sexes, races and

religions were present, different nationalities were missing. People watching in India for

example, which is the country that YouTube is 3rd most popular in (Carrasco, Ed), are going

to have vastly different interest than people in America. While America remains the biggest

market for YouTube according to the same information, the results still dont reflect the

influence the YouTuber has around the world. A YouTuber such as Shane Dawson who is

popular for his sarcastic comments relating to American trends or Phillip DeFranco who

reports on news happening around America could have no following in countries where the

American society isnt important. The article doesnt allow for other countries to have a vote

which is reflected in the results. Eight of the top ten YouTubers represented are all American

and the remaining two YouTubers PewDiePie (Swedish), and Ryan Higa (Asian) are both

currently living and producing content in America. This is true for a good portion of the

information available as it is based around American culture and society. Work can be done to

expand this information and gather a better understanding of their worldwide influence.

One academic writing I found on the subject was aptly titled YouTube: Digital Media

and Society Series. Written by Jean Burgess and Joshua Green. The book was written as an

aid to help people understand the objective and phenomenon which is YouTube. The book

itself worked well as an introduction the worlds 2nd most visited website, according to the

Alexa Ranking as of 2017. (Alexa Top 500 Global Sites) Surprisingly this book was one of

very few that seemed to describe what YouTube can be and what it is used for. Many people

seem to label it as just a video sharing platform. This isnt the case. It is a type of social media

platform such as Facebook or Instagram. The landscape of YouTube has vastly changed since

the book was published in 2009. Channels have grown to need different affirmations then just

7
the view count on videos. The number of subscribers, which are followers of the channel, on a

specific channel and the like to dislike ratio has become equally as important, if not even

more important. Advertisers are watching these figures as they show an improved relationship

with their fans. This relationship with the fans is what makes them who they are and this

relationship is what drives their engagement level up making them marketable. They have a

solid following who have a connection with them. This connection can be accessed to sell

products. There was a small amount available surrounding this theory. Writers, authors,

journalists, bloggers but mostly brands have begun to take note of the YouTuber and its only

growing.

Other literature I found stated that the reality star is probably closest to the YouTuber

in terms of influence. Little to no script and often revolving around actual events that are

happening in their lives. This may contain some truth and I wanted to explore this by placing

some reality stars in my online survey to collect more information. The comparison to a more

well-known celebrity would give us a better understanding of the power of a YouTuber.

Burgees and Green were not completely wrong in their understanding of YouTubers and their

community. They were just not aware of what they would eventually become in the following

years.

From the available literature on the influence of YouTubers I can see that more needs

to be done in understanding just how influential these stars are and also becoming. The older

writing on the subject was quite understanding at the time but they couldnt see how far they

would get. They didnt expect them to have the connection with fans as they have now. More

recent research was better in their understanding of influence. Online articles and publications

also showed a better understanding then the written literature. They had conducted surveys

which were able to show their standing against a traditional celebrity.

8
 One major area that lacked exploration was the different genres found in YouTube.

Genres such as Gaming, Music, Comedy etc. were left from many articles surrounding

influence. These separate genres are some of the biggest draws to YouTube. Theres plenty to

be looked at in relation to how influential the creators in each genre could be. I explored it in

my online survey by choosing some from each genre but more could definitely be

accomplished.

2.2. Earning Power

The literature available for the earning power of YouTubers was similar to the

literature on influence. Mostly found online, with a small amount of books written on the

topic. To earn money, you have to sell something and what these YouTubers are selling is

personality. These brands often employ YouTubers to become the face of the company while

others simply do one video where they speak about the product and the simplest is a product

placement.

They create a niche for themselves where they can make a fan base and hopefully

expand into larger groups, genres, ages and platforms. Many YouTubers who started in the

early days of YouTube werent creating for money. Many were simply creating content for

fun and this eventually led to a full time job when the partnership programme came in.

Available literature explaining how they earned money and even the YouTube Partnership

Programme was difficult to get to, more than likely for reasons of privacy. One article

explained that YouTubers can only make money from their videos after they enter a YouTube

partnership, which allows them to monetize the videos they upload for advertisers. This

means that YouTube pays YouTubers to allow them place adverts on their videos.

Advertisers only pay when someone clicks an ad or watches for 30 seconds. This is why you

9
cant tie your channel views to dollars. If your video gets ten million views but nobody

watches or click the ads, you dont make any money. (Alba and Ahmad, 2017).

Many people are under the impression that the views on a video is the main source of

revenue for these stars, which is mostly according to my research. Advertising is the way they

make money from videos and this makes it quiet tough for a YouTuber to gain money from

their content. Without advertisers they wouldnt be able to make a living.

Outside of YouTube, these stars have become an incredible source of revenue for

brands. I found many online articles that had titles such as Consumers trust social media

stars more than celebrities or ads (2016) by Donna Tam and Sarah Menendez and Why

YouTube Stars Are More Influential Than Traditional Celebrities (2016) by Celie ONeil-

Hart and Howard Blumenstein. Both of these were found online on respectable websites that

backed up their claims with groundwork and evidence. In the latter we are hit with plenty of

informational statistics surrounding their impact.

Because creators foster strong ties with fans, they have a more engaged audience.
Creators are at the heart of cultural zeitgeist. Fans say they shape trends and drive the
culture forward; YouTube subscribers say that YouTube creators change and shape culture
Millennials think YouTube stars are trendsetters more than other celebrities. (ONeil-Hart
and Blumenstein, 2016)
The website had several interesting graphs which showed the difference between

traditional celebrities and YouTubers specifically. The article was a complete infographic that

lacked much text. This was similar to much of the other recent literature on the subject of both

influence and earning power.

Two of the biggest areas for brand deals, advertising and product placement on YouTube

come from Gaming channels and Beauty + Fashion channels. One article I found surrounding

the earning power, of a specific Beauty Guru was on Forbes. This content creator in particular

has completely showed how lucrative their video content can become. The article was very

10
reliable and plenty of the facts were verified. It was a write up of a live conference that took

place for the Forbes Under 30 Summit. Michelle Phan, a Beauty Guru started her channel in

2007 and quickly became one of the most popular channels on YouTube. Phan realised not

only her potential but also her channels potential. Phan soon grew to have over 8 million

subscribers on YouTube with plenty of engagement. This led to her being signed on as brand

ambassador of Lancme.

Phan gained notoriety with her instructional posts, including a Lady Gaga makeup
tutorial. Soon enough, she was signed by Lancme as their first official video makeup artist,
and then started a makeup line called Em with LOral, all thanks to the purchasing power of
her built-in fanbase. (Robehmed, Natalie).

Phan then started her own company Ipsy which really cemented her stature as an

influencer. her subscription beauty sampling business, Ipsy, last month raised $100 million

to value the company at over $500 million. (Robehmed, Natalie). Michelle Phan is just one

example of a YouTuber using their personal connection with fans to create a business that

they trust. These articles were excellent to review. The contained plenty of information and

had quotes directly from YouTubers themselves. They seemed to understand the position they

had in society.

There was a sufficient amount of information available on Gaming channels and how

game developing companies were utilising YouTubers, specifically gamers, for product

placement in their videos. Gaming channel Smosh, which are featured in my online survey,

are a perfect example of sponsorship. I found literature explaining how they were sponsored

by game developers Ubisoft.

More companies began recruiting them, including Hot Pockets, HP and Ubisoft. The
branded video Smosh did for the "Assassin's Creed 3," a parody song about the video game,
still remains one of their most successful clips on YouTube. To date, it's been viewed more
than 66 million times (Castillo, Michelle).

11
 One area that earning power left quiet unidentified was the actual amounts these

people could make. From the interest in the blog I posted, its obvious people want to know

this information.

Overall the literature review influenced my research and changed my attitude in terms

of the thesis. It ultimately had an effect on my online survey as it introduced me to new types

of YouTubers and their popularity and also made me more aware of the growing interest in

this area. It showed that there is some more research that can be done on the YouTuber. Most

online articles agreed with the sentiment that YouTubers are more interactive then celebrity

counterparts. They felt they had a great connection which made sense for them to be a better

influencer.

In this chapter, we discussed two attributes that make a YouTuber an influential role

model to the people that watch their videos. We learned about the relationship they create and

through the earning power section discovered what that relationship can translate to. In the

next section we talk through the decision to undertake an online survey.

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3. Methodology

This chapter will contain my explanation of my choice of methodology for my thesis.

It will explain how and why I chose my targeted population, why I chose the online survey,

was it an appropriate choice and how it related to my field of study. It will also contain some

information I came across on my research of the topic.

I decided that an online survey would be the most suitable method to gather my own

information. My supervisor advised me to spend time thinking of what questions to ask and

how to phrase them. The final result comprised of fourteen questions in total. Five of these

question involved the participant to think about themselves and their relation to YouTube,

YouTubers, traditional celebrities and the people they are influenced by. The questions were

as follows: Are you familiar with the term YouTuber? Are you currently subscribed to any

YouTube channels? Do you feel influenced to buy a certain product that has been promoted

by a YouTuber? Have you ever been influenced to buy a product that has been promoted by a

celebrity? and Would you say that a YouTuber is more influential than a celebrity? The

following nine questions were quite simple to answer too. They were all titled the same, and

the participant simply had to select the answer they felt was right.

For my targeted population I decided to use people between the ages of 18 to 25. This

particular age group was selected for a number of reasons. Firstly, from my early research of

the topic in general I found that the people who spent the longest amount of time watching

YouTube were between these ages. As I mentioned before, Monthly averages showed that

they spent just over ten hours and fifteen minutes on the site alone. (Digiday 2017) This

13
meant they were more likely to have a connection with some of these YouTube stars as they

spent longer on the website. This also showed me that this age category would have an

understanding of traditional celebrities also as they had been spending so much time online as

it was important for people who were taking part in this online survey to have an

understanding of traditional celebrities too. This would give me better insight into just how

influential each type was in comparison to each other. Secondly, from early research that had

been done, I noticed that people in that age category were the third most frequent age group

on the site itself. While the most frequent age group on the site was 25-34 year olds. They

were spending considerably less time on the site in comparison. (Digiday 2017)

People of the questioned age group are also the generation which has be most

influenced by social media. There is a greater chance of a connection being formed than other

age groups. These facts helped in my decision to select this age group. I decided to not ask

any participants for their gender. I didnt want the survey to become centered on which

gender watches what type of video on YouTube. This left me with a better look on the general

reaction to YouTubers. An online survey allowed my results to show validity and also show

reliability in their answers. Having the online survey set up in a professional manner with

correct etiquette with the addition of an information letter portrayed to the respondents that it

was a respectable survey.

My decision to use an online survey was primarily driven by how easy it was for the

respondents to answer the questions. I would likely get more responses from the age group if

they had a way to easily access the survey. I made sure that the survey platform I used

allowed the survey to be accessible through phone, computer, laptop and tablet. Making the

survey as easy for the participants to access was important for my results. I wanted them to be

able to take their time and not have to rush. They could complete the survey at home, during a

14
break, after class or any time that suited the participant. The online survey also removed bias

from the answers. Face to Face surveys often lead to different answers being given. Many

people become nervous in answering this way and end up giving a false or untrue answers.

There is extra security online, where human error could lead to people seeing their answers.

This method protected the anonymity of the participant as they didnt require anybody seeing

the answers they had given.

Aside from the participants of the online survey, it was also the best option for me. It

was quicker to make and easy to distribute. If I had conducted it in person it would have taken

much longer to make and cost more and this left me time to think of suitable questions for the

survey. The online survey is also easier in terms of presenting results as it is easier for me to

gather results online than going through each persons answers one by one. Theyre already

placed into pie charts for me to gather a better feel of the results again allowing extra time to

interpret the results for discussion.

The method of an online survey was the most appropriate for my field of study and

was the most justifiable way for me to gather results. My topic revolves around people who

access the internet quiet often and also spend a considerable amount of time there. This meant

people who saw my survey spent quiet a lengthily amount of time online. I posted the link to

my twitter account that stated the purpose of my survey. To stop people of unrequired ages

from answering the questions I added a note to ask only the required age to partake. I also

added two buttons that had Im Under 18 and Im Over 25 which when clicked would take

you away from the survey. I considered doing an interview with some YouTubers but felt

that the thesis would become slightly biased. They might have a preference for themselves

and could easily throw off my results from the online survey. This meant that they kept my

results free of bias which meant they were honest to the best extent.

15
 The online survey was the most appropriate method for my thesis objectives. As the

method would affect my results and my overall conclusion greatly, I decided the safest option

was this one. Any other method would feel less connected to the results. The method allowed

me to ask the participants to select between a celebrity and a YouTuber in regards to who they

relate to more. It allowed me to complete my objective where as others may not have let me

get the best results. It also allowed for the participants to have time to think about what they

were going to answer where as a face to face could be rushed due to the number of

respondents or outside forces.

This method allowed me to gather the results that I needed. The results from this

online survey will be placed into my research chapter where I can explain the meaning behind

them and also interpret them against my own thesis question. This will further my

understanding of the area and will also lead to more information available for the topic itself.

In this chapter we discussed the online survey in detail. We discussed its merits,

features and also preview the questions that appeared in the actual survey. The next chapter

will further discuss the results in greater detail.

16
4. Research

The results from my online survey will be presented in this chapter. Similar to the

survey itself I will split the results into two separate sections. This will make the results easier

to follow and understand as there were two separate sections in the survey. The first section

will be explaining the results of the first five questions and the following section will then

contain the rest of the questions ask. The first section will contain the questions where the

participant needed to concentrate on their interactions with YouTube, YouTubers and

traditional celebrities. The second section will focus on my questions where the participant

was asked to select between two options, these being a YouTuber and a traditional celebrity,

on who they relate to more. This chapter will interpret the results I have collected and studied

in relation to my Final Year Project while also providing details on why I asked that particular

question and explaining the results that I found.

My first question was set as an introductory question to my entire Final Year Project.

Are you familiar with the term YouTuber? I chose this question as it not only set the tone

for the following questions in my online survey but was a very fitting question for my topic. It

let me know how aware people are of the individuals Im researching. I had three simple

answers. Yes, No and Heard of It. Surprisingly, not one participant answered no. This meant

that the term wasnt a completely unknown. While 97.6% answered Yes the other 2.4%

answered Heard of It. To me this showed that the reach of a YouTuber has grown in recent

times without a doubt. This could be explained by their recent expansion into more

recognisable forms of media such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu and in turn are creating

excitement around themselves which has begun to be noticed and in turn is working in their

favour. As only 2.4% answered they have heard of them also revealed how their popularity is

17
on the rise, they have been around someone who has used it or have read it online themselves.

The result was a positive one for my thesis and showed promise for the following questions.

My second question was strategically placed as it was a continuation from the first

question. It asked Do You Feel Influenced to Buy a Certain Product That Has Been

Promoted by a YouTuber? I decided to use this question so I could start understanding just

how much people in this age group were being influenced to buy products they had seen on

YouTube channels, promoted by YouTubers or had a YouTuber spokesperson. I wanted to

find my own information on why these YouTubers were becoming the new choice for brands

and their products. I had two answers for the participants to choose from, just a simple Yes

and No. The results revealed positive feedback for YouTubers. Over half said Yes with

64.21% and only 35.9% answering No. This meant the majority of people who took the online

survey have at one point been influenced by a YouTuber to purchase a product directly from

their influence. This result supports the argument that these people have made a strong

personal connection with a specific YouTuber and in turn felt compelled to buy their

sponsored product.

The third question was placed as a contrast and direct opposition to the second one.

The participant was asked Have you ever been influenced to buy a product that has been

promoted by a celebrity?. I wanted to see how they compared. I decided to slightly change

the phrasing so it wasnt an exact replica of the previous question. This would place further

importance on the respondents to read the question and think about their answer. The options

were simply Yes and No. Unsurprisingly, yes had the larger percentage. 59.6% selected the

answer while 40.4% didnt feel influenced enough by a celebrity to buy their sponsored

products. While the results show how celebrities were still influencing people to buy products

the number wasnt as high as the percentage of YouTubers who had influenced people to buy

products which they had promoted. This result was quite crucial to my thesis and showed that

18
there was something to be researched surrounding this topic. They have surpassed the

traditional celebrity. While the results only show a slight difference of 4.61% it is still enough

to be noteworthy. It will be used to strengthen the evidence in my thesis.

The next question in the survey, followed closely from the last two. I decided to ask

the participants to choose which star they felt more influenced by. The question Would you

say a YouTuber is More Influential than a Traditional Celebrity? I gave the participant a

choice of three answers. Yes, No or Theyre equally influential. I decided to give the

respondents the third option in case they felt they had equal relationships between both types

of stars. The addition of the third option was important as a large percentage, more than I

previously expected, selected it. 22% of the respondents made their opinion clear by choosing

that they found both traditional celebrities and YouTubers to be equally influential. The result

I felt most important to my survey was left in the remaining percentages. Overall, 61% stated

that they believed YouTubers to be more influential than Traditional Celebrities. This meant

the majority vote ruled in favour of YouTubers.

The remaining 17.1% voted in favour of Traditional Celebrities. Even if you add the smaller

parts together (17.1% + 22% = 39.1%) it doesnt even become half the YouTubers total

influence in this result. To me this is a strong indication of not only the influence of

YouTubers but also the earning power they possess. If they can reach more people with their

content and also with the type of connection, they have. YouTube creators listen to and

interact with their fans resulting in communities that look more like friendships than fanships

(ONeil-Hart and Blumenstein, 2016).

The final question regarding the participants YouTube habits was placed in the online

survey for one reason. It was to gather information on how many were actually active on the

site. Many people use the site to just watch a video but its different to create a channel and

19
also subscribe to other channels. The question read Are You Currently Subscribed to Any

YouTube Channel? While the question didnt require that the participant had to be a content

creator themselves, it required they have a YouTube channel with subscriptions to their

favourite creators. The choice of answers available were Yes, No or Im Not Sure. I decided to

include the latter to help people who were taking part in the survey but didnt quite

understand either the terminology of the question or how the website actually worked.

The large percentage of participants answered Yes. 85.4% surveyed were currently

aware of themselves being subscribed to a channel on YouTube. 12.2% of those asked

answered No to the question and only 2.4% answered Im Not Sure. This result explained that

the vast majority of people are aware and or active on the YouTube platform. This result

backs up the fact that YouTube is the second most visited website and in terms of traffic in

the world, after Google and before social media giant Facebook, by Alexa ranking. ("Alexa

Top 500 Global Sites" 2017)

From these five questions, I learned that YouTube is actually bigger than I first

believed. It was always one of the most popular websites in terms of views, videos uploaded

and visitors every minute. It was interesting to see peoples relationship with YouTube and

not just from people who are writing about it and looking in from the outside.

The following section as explained in the introduction will contain the results of the

remaining nine questions. The question read on each Who do you relate to more? The

question was then followed by two names. One a YouTuber and another a more Traditional

Celebrity. Overall the results favoured the YouTuber. Out of the nine questions YouTubers

won a solid five. While the traditional celebrity was close behind with four, two of these only

won by a margin of 5% and the other won by 2.4%.

20
 The largest win for a YouTuber came for Jenna Marbles. (Figure1.a) She was placed

against reality T.V star Scotty T. Known for

Scotty T
his part in the MTV reality show Geordie
10%

Shore. Both have been brand promoters for

fitness products specifically. Jenna is the most

Jenna
Marbles followed female YouTuber with a massive
90%
17.7 million followers and her main channel
Figure 1.a
has over 2.2 billion views. (YouTube 2017)

Geordie Shore which airs on MTV has consistently high ratings with over a million average

per episode. The show is also in its 14th season with Scotty T receiving star billing. He has

also gone on to win the highly successful reality T.V show Big Brother, the celebrity edition.

I chose to put these two against each other as they both have similar demographics. Both have

a large pull over females 15-22 and 22-34. In terms of influence, its clear from the results

that Jenna, who was the YouTuber, was far more influential with a difference of 80%. This

confirms the theory that YouTubers have a better connection with their fans.

The second highest win for a YouTuber was Shane Dawson. I placed him against the

Seth Family Guy and American Dad

MacFarlane
16% creator Seth MacFarlane. The

reason I decided to use these two is

Shane
Dawson because they both have similar
84%
styles of crass comedy intended to

shock. Both men have been in the

Figure 1.b
centre of controversy. Shane Dawson,

with a subscriber amount of 17 million across his channels and over 3 billion views (YouTube

21
2017), faced media backlash when he used blackface in a video. He has since made an

apology video claiming not to be racist and deleted any video where he used it. Similarly,

Seth Macfarlane has faced numerous complaints surrounding areas of religious hatred,

especially secularism, racism and sexism. As both were so controversial, they were perfect to

compare. Shane Dawson came out on top with a difference of 80% between them. (Figure

1.b)

The closest results came from two very strong female characters I used the YouTuber

Grace Helbig who is a self-confessed Girl next door persona. I placed her against Katy Perry

who has a similar image. While Katy

Perry is an international superstar with

Grace
Katy Perry over 95 million followers on twitter
Helbig
51.2% 48.8%
(Twitter 2017) she barely beat Grace,

who has a minuscule 1.3 million in

comparison. Perrys YouTube account

Figure 1.c
is also significantly more popular with 20.7

million subs (YouTube 2017) compared to Grace with 3 million. (YouTube 2017) Perry won

by a small margin of 2.4% (Figure 1.c). This comes back to the power of YouTubers and their

connection across the screen. Despite being quite small in comparison she almost comes out

in equal stature.

22
While there was results that supported the theory of a YouTuber being equally if not more

influential than traditional

celebrities. Some results showed the

Pewdiepie
24.4%
opposite. One in particular showed

how Ed Sheeran, a massively

Ed Sheeran
75.6% successful singer-songwriter, who

had released new music at the time

Figure1.d of the online survey beat the most

followed YouTuber on the website. (figure1.d) PewDiePie has a massive following with over

53 million subs and over 14 billion views (YouTube 2017). He is best known for his gaming

videos where he films himself playing popular video games. Understanding this result left me

with a conclusion that while some YouTubers can have massive followings such as celebrities

they can also be less connected with their fans then others. I also looked into the YouTubers

demographic and found his main age group was outside my survey requirements.

PewDiePie's subscriber base is mostly young teenagers between the ages of 13 and 16 and

mostly male. (Pearson, 2017).

From the second part of the online survey I was able to get a feel of peoples personal

relationships with certain YouTubers and traditional celebrities. It also helped me to

understand why some are so influential. Underneath Ive attached a table of the remaining

results. These results show who was placed against each other, the difference between their

results and the winner of each.

23
 Results Table

YouTuber Traditional Celebrity % Difference Winner

Jenna Marbles Scotty T 80% Jenna Marbles

90% 10% YouTuber

Shane Dawson Seth MacFarlane 68% Shane Dawson

88% 16% YouTuber

Grace Helbig Katy Perry 2.4% Katy Perry

48.8% 51.2% Traditional Celebrity

KSI James Corden 45% James Corden

27.5% 72.5% Traditional Celebrity

Miranda Sings Sarah Silverman 18% Miranda Sings

59% 41% YouTuber

PewDiePie Ed Sheeran 51.2% Ed Sheeran

24.4% 75.6% Traditional Celebrity

Tyler Oakley Taylor Swift 5% Tyler Oakley

52.5% 47.5% YouTuber

Troye Sivan James McAvoy 82.6% Troye Sivan

91.3% 8.7% YouTuber

Smosh Ellie Goulding 66% Ellie Goulding

17% 83% Traditional Celebrity

(Figure1. A)

24
5. Discussion

This chapter of my thesis will deal with discussing the results collected from my

online survey and what they mean and will interpret them in relation to my thesis. I will

explain how they show just how influential YouTubers have become. I will also be comparing

the results to other surveys completed before mine to see if they got similar or completely

unexpected and different results. This chapter will be closely tied with my literature review as

it contains similar information. I got quite a positive amount of responses after sharing the

link to the survey on my social media pages. I was happy with the amount I received after

three days of being available. I then decided to close the link after I got enough responses.

This kept the data fresh in my opinion and stopped people who decided to do it later from

coming back to it. I wanted the participants to not rush the survey.

One result in particular that was quite unexpected came in the second section of the

online survey which was between Troye Sivan and James McAvoy. At the time of the online

survey the biggest movie in the country was Split, which was one of the reasons he was

picked, starring James McAvoy as the leading actor. Not only Split, but McAvoy was also in

the highly Successful X-Men franchise. Troye Sivan has had a successful music career which

was launched from his YouTube channel. The unexpected result wasnt that the YouTuber

had won but rather by the degree of the win. Only 8.7% of the participants related with the

actor more. The only reasoning behind the answer can come from the participant pool. When

we look at the results surrounding who is more influential, coupled with results from other

surveys which will be examined later on, the YouTubers are the people who have a bond with

the fan.

25
 From my results I came to the conclusion that YouTubers have become more

influential as a community and role models in the past few years. We see from the survey that

over 85% of the people surveyed were subscribed to a YouTube Channel and from earlier

research of available literature on the subject we saw how this was unexpected. These were

not seen as celebrities in publications when YouTube began. They were compared more to

reality T.V stars. This shows how publications didnt expect these stars to become more

influential to their fans than celebrities. This is the same for the YouTuber themselves. When

some of the larger ones started back before 2008, they werent making any money from

advertising. They werent making money until the partnership program began, as discussed in

the literature review, in 2007. This means this area of study and research is relatively

unexplored and undocumented.

A considerable 97.6% of the people surveyed saying they were familiar with the term

YouTuber. For me this was a quite unexpected result and trying to understand why the

number was so high was quite interesting. I eventually came to the realization that this result

showed how many people were using the parent site YouTube, which mentioned before was

over 1 billion users. To become familiar with the term they had to have frequented the

website, another possibility was that they couldve heard the term on other social media sites

such as Twitter or simply heard the term was from friends. These participants were more

likely to select the option Heard of It instead leaving. From this result I couldnt tell exactly

how long people were spending on YouTube but could estimate from the data they were

spending a considerable time.

One of the most important results came from the question where it simply asked

Would you say a YouTuber is more influential than a traditional celebrity and 61%

answered yes. This result gave my thesis legitimacy. It allowed me to continue my research

26
knowing that I had something that would have positive results. If the percentage had been

lower it would have thrown my research off and given no evidence to support my thesis.

One survey that had been carried out by Variety (2014) recorded similar results to

mine. While the survey itself differed in its questions asked and method, it had a similar

outcome. Variety, a well published magazine and online news site gathered information

around YouTubers and traditional celebrities and then placed them into a chart of most

influential. I discussed this survey in my literature review as it was helpful in my research of

the topic. In their survey they asked their participants to rate them in different aspects that

amounted to influence, these included authenticity, approachability and relatability. The top

five spots went to YouTubers meaning these YouTubers were ranked as more influential than

stars such as Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games, Joy, Silver Linings Playbook) Daniel

Radcliff (Harry Potter franchise) and Johnny Depp (Pirates of The Caribbean, Alice in

Wonderland/Through The Looking Glass). These are massive stars with movies that target

similar demographics and have made billions of revenue for each franchise.

While this survey was similar, they did take quite a different approach than I had.

Their survey focused on putting both the YouTubers and traditional celebrities into one chart,

I focused on trying to figure out who was more influential and relatable, to the participant,

when asked to pick between two. The online survey from my thesis worked better for my

research than the one carried out by Variety. For me, Im more interested in showing how

these YouTubers are becoming a new option for brands and their marketing strategies. I want

to understand their level of engagement and fan interactions. Both ways, in my opinion are

successful gathering suitable information to provide evidence.

Another survey carried out that mentioned YouTubers was made by Defy Media

(2017). This survey was created to inspect 13-24 year olds and how their media consumption

27
habits have changed. They wanted to see why these people were no longer watching

television. YouTube was a massive part of this survey and in the results they had found. The

topic of YouTubers was also present. They asked their respondents if they would by a product

suggested by a YouTuber or TV/Movie Star. This question was featured in my online survey

with both our results matching up and the YouTuber coming out on top.

The survey differed to mine in terms of its methodology, while both have similar age

preferences, Defy Media had quite a younger audience going as young as 13. Any participants

they included were asked to allow access to their social media feeds where observations could

be carried out. I did not ask for this as it was to invasive om their privacy and I felt this could

hinder results as when people know they are being watched or recorded they change thus

giving us a different outcome from reality. The Deft Media Survey also carried out interviews

between two people that had signed up to take part. This gave them further information on

other areas they were looking into.

During my early research I came across one particular survey that had some

interesting results. It carried the same theme as mine and also the others I have spoken about

in this chapter. What was most interesting about the survey was its geographical location. It

decided to only include Finland as its participant pool. Not only were the participants

sectioned to Finland, all of the YouTubers included were of Finish Nationality. This was an

interesting way of conducting the research. The survey wasnt as broad as some of the others.

It was carried out by an independent research company. They asked people between the ages

of 13-17 to name between 3-5 people they follow regularly online. The results showed that

the first three positions went to Finnish YouTubers. This result was similar to my findings in

terms of popularity and influence. The survey also showed that 12 of the top twenty were

online creators.

28
 My online survey was less similar to the research carried out by Defy Media than

Varietys research. While both had great insight into the topic, Defy Media only had a section

dedicated to the Idea of YouTubers being more influential than traditional celebrities. The rest

of their research was concerned about where this age group was getting their media intake

from. YouTube was mentioned as the top destination for consuming media. In opposition,

Varietys research was focused one similar outcome just like this thesis. Both Defy Media and

Variety were reliable sources of information. The survey carried out in Finland created similar

results to mine and the others, it asked a different question to obtain their result. All three of

the other results gave validity to mine.

In this chapter we discussed the results to lay out the key findings found in the

research chapter. It explained results that were unexpected and also gave theories and

opinions on why these results happened. The chapter also compared the research carried out

to other similar research findings showing similar discoveries. In the next chapter we will

review our findings and also reflect on the overall thesis.

29
6. Conclusion
6.1 Aims
For my Final Year Project, I had a list of aims that I wanted to achieve. My overall aim for the

study was to show how influential YouTubers had become in recent time. I felt that this was

achieved throughout the study, from my personal research in the online survey which I carried

out and the discussion that followed after. This proved that YouTubers were more influential

than traditional celebrities. This was the most important finding. Through my research and

writing it also showed that people still werent familiar with the role of a YouTuber and what

they actually do. This became another aim throughout. This was explained throughout the

subsequent chapters and also in the results section. This was one of the reasons I decided to

use traditional celebrities. They were used as a control almost. Another important part of my

study was to look at the earning power of a YouTuber. I had some personal insight from my

own personal blog that had focused on YouTubers which had been viewed by over 20,000

people. This gave me the incentive to further investigate the area. I managed to effectively

find literature and provide examples of how they can become successful from their YouTube

background.

For this type of study, I presumed that there wouldnt be much research already carried out.

While this was true the articles and writings that were available were a mixture of useful to

outdated. They did however help me to understand the basics surrounding my topic. While

one or two of the articles I used were excellent resources, many were quite outdated and had

been written before the emergence of YouTubers. Most of the secondary resources were

found primarily online and I only used two books overall. I carried out primary research in the

form of an online survey which provided useful information for me. It helped me provide

validity on my topic and left me with some results I found hard to explain. This in turn caused

30
me to research more on the topic to make sense of the results. Both primary and secondary

research was overall helpful in answering my research question.

I would confidently say that my thesis was relevant. I would also say that from the research

that was carried out and result interpreted that this thesis was partially proved if not

completely proved. YouTubers are the new ultimate influencers. That they have a better

connection with their viewers who would confidently say they would listen to their opinion on

what to buy. They would also listen to a YouTuber over a traditional celebrity in terms of

advice. This was not only proven by others in their surveys but also was proven by my own

online survey. This is priceless for marketers who are constantly looking for new ways to

promote their products. While we learned that some are already utilizing the YouTube

community, many more could be doing the exact same thing. Looking into the earning power

of a YouTuber was also relevant to the overall validity. Its one aspect to say they are

influential but without examples of some who have become very successful it would be easy

to dismiss my study.

6.2 Recommendations for Further Research

While doing the survey, many questions were raised. I became interested in the peoples

relationship with YouTube in particular. I wanted to spend more time looking into peoples

relationship with YouTube. I wanted to see if it was a positive or negative one. Many articles

I read criticized the amount of time spent on the site. This also raised an interest on

investigating the medias relationship with YouTube. How does traditional media and online

media speak about YouTube? I would like to carry out a critical discourse analysis on articles

correlated on YouTube and YouTubers. This will look out for key words repeated and used

when speaking about the mentioned topics. I would then like to do the same for traditional

celebrities and then compare both of them. The final question that was raised throughout my

31
Final Year Project was the success rate for brands that had used YouTubers as a

spokesperson. I would like to gather information on was it successful and did they feel any

difference from using their endorsement from a celebrity.

As mentioned before most of the articles I found were online. Not many written sources were

available and ones that were available had been written nearly ten years ago. More

specifically Irish people and YouTube. I want to see how long Irish people spend on the site

and also look into the Irish YouTuber scene. There is an Irish YouTube community that I only

discovered during my research that I would like to investigate. I would be interested in

carrying out a similar survey to the Finnish one mentioned in my discussion chapter. I would

recommend for any further research to include more local, outside of the U.S, research. It

would show greater depth in a YouTubers reach and also promote local YouTubers. I would

also recommend publishing updated written literature. More books would should be available

on the topic.

6.3 Reflections

Since beginning my Final Year Project I have come to view YouTubers differently. I still

have the same passion for their videos and their personality but my opinion has definitely

changed. I became aware of the business persona side of the YouTuber and the brands that

they were promoting. I have also begun to notice more and more products being promoted by

them, where I wouldnt have picked up on beforehand. As a college student with a connection

to some of these YouTubers who have used products and promoted brands Im dismayed that

I hadnt noticed them before.

The available literature also left me with a feeling of despair as there was so much left

to discuss on the importance of YouTubers to some people. They are not like a traditional

celebrity. They are something else completely, theyve created an authentic connection with

32
people of all ages, races, sexualities etc. It left me with some questions that I didnt have

coming into the project. I didnt realise why the majority of people are unaware of these types

of people, outside of the age perimeter I set for my online survey. I also didnt realise that

people had formed connections with traditional celebrities in the same manner as I was

discussing with YouTubers. I learned that for further research similar to this I would have to

remove any bias I possessed at the beginning of the project. This removal of bias caused my

project to be reviewed and left me with a more trustworthy overall study.

I had expectations that were and were not reached throughout the research part of my

thesis. While some research was uninterested in the role of a YouTubers connection to their

fans, some articles I found did. Some met and even exceeded my expectations when

describing the positive connection that was being formed. While I didnt expect everyone to

know what a YouTuber was and how they made a living I found out that the ones that did

know of these people were very positive about it. Some people I got to talk to during my

earlier research gave me a positive feeling that pushed me through till the end. I have nothing

but positive memories of my Final Year Project, while there were some struggles in the

journey I still managed to keep my optimistic view on the people Ive come to know and

watch every day.

33
7.Appendencies

7.1 Information Letter

My name is Joseph Murphy and I invite you to take part in my survey I am currently in my final year
studying New Media, and English. My supervisor and I have created the following online survey in hopes
of acquiring a deeper understanding of my Final Year Project, Social Media Personalities vs. Traditional
Celebrities: Focusing on the level of influence, earning power and effect of fame, the survey contains
simple questions that are easy to follow.

The results collected will be stored with anonymity and safety. Please check the answer that is correct for
you. The survey will take 2-5 minutes at maximum. There will not be a time limit on the survey so do not
worry about rushing. The survey is accessible through your computer or laptop, while also being available
on your mobile phone. Every participant has his or her right to anonymity. After I have collected the data,
I will assign everyone a unique code to correlate to their answers. Thus disregarding any connection to
your answers. The only people that can see your answers will be my supervisor and I.

Every participant has the right to refuse this online survey. If any participant does not wish to answer the
questions asked, they simply do not have to. It is not mandatory. Any participant that wishes to contact
the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science Research Ethics Committee can do so easily (details
below)

INVESTIGATOR Joseph Murphy 13145959@studentmail.ul.ie

Supervisor Dr. Liam Murray: Liam.Murray@ul.ie

This research study has received Ethics approval from the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research
Ethics Committee. If you have any concerns about this study and wish to contact an independent
authority, you may contact: Chairperson Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee
AHSS Faculty Office University of Limerick Tel: +353 61 202286 Email: FAHSSEthics@ul.ie

34
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"Statistics - YouTube". Youtube.Com, 2017,

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Ault, Susanne. "Survey: YouTube Stars More Popular Than Mainstream Celebs Among U.S.
Teens". variety, 2017, http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/survey-youtube-stars-more-
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Blattberg, Eric. "The Demographics of YouTube, In 5 Charts - Digiday". Digiday, 2017,

http://digiday.com/platforms/demographics-youtube-5-charts/.

Carrasco, Ed and Ed Carrasco. "The Top 10 Countries in YouTube Viewership Outside The
USA [INFOGRAPHIC] - New Media Rock stars". New Media Rockstars, 2017,
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the-usa-infographic/.

Castillo, Michelle. "Inside The Business Of Being A Youtube Star". CNBC, 2017,
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/24/inside-the-business-of-being-a-youtube-star.html.

Jenkins, Henry. Fans, Bloggers, And Gamers. 1st ed., New York, New York University Press,
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Media, Defy. Acumen Report: Constant Content / Defy Media. DefyMedia.com, 2017,
http:www.defymedia.com/acumen/acumen-report-constant-content/.

Murphy, Joseph. "How Much Money Do Youtubers Make?". 2014,

https://josephmur.wordpress.com/2014/12/23/how-much-money-do-youtubers-make/.

ONeil-Hart, C. and Blumenstein, H. (2016). Why YouTube Stars Are More Influential Than
Traditional Celebrities. [online] Think with Google. Available at:
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/infographics/youtube-stars-influence.html [Accessed 5 Jan.
2017].

ONeil-Hart, C. and Blumenstein, H. (2016). Why YouTube Stars Are More Influential Than
Traditional Celebrities. [online] Think with Google. Available at:
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/infographics/youtube-stars-influence.html [Accessed 5 Jan.
2017].

Pearson, A. (2017). What is the demographic of Pewdiepie's subscribers?. [online]

www.Quora.com. Available at: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-demographic-of-
Pewdiepies-subscribers [Accessed 15 Jan. 2017].

Robehmed, Natalie. "Forbes Welcome". Forbes.Com, 2017,

http://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2015/10/05/how-michelle-phan-built-a-500-
million-company/#2647ee014a99.

Tam, Donna and Sarah Menendez. "Consumers Trust Social Media Stars More Than
Celebrities Or Ads". Marketplace.Org, 2016,
http://www.marketplace.org/2016/03/31/business/consumers-trust-social-media-stars-more-
celebrities-or-ads.

36