Young gamers swap the study books for control pads as they gear up for “real careers” as internet pros – but is it long-lived?
Being a Youtube personality or online gamer may appear like an odd career, and critics haven’t been shy about telling them to “get a real job” – but as the rise of Youtube careers starts to bring in up to 20 times the income of a standard 9-5 job, we wonder who’ll have the last laugh.
According to young Youtuber ‘MetricateGames‘, it’s time to break the mold and accept that times are changing. A professional online gamer? It’s no more absurd than someone being a Social Media Manager and running the online presence of a local business. It’s as stable (if not more) than working in a high street shop, at least you know the internet isn’t going to shut down during a recession.
MetricateGames has a popular gaming channel with 13,000 subscribers en-counting, and was recently visited by a famous Youtuber who helped him upgrade his gear in the hope pursuing a career in the field.
Having won a competition, Manchester based ‘MetricateGames’ got a knock on the door from Vikkstar123, a famous online personality with over 15 million subscribers to his gaming channels, who handed over £5000 worth of equipment and helped set him up for making his ambitions a reality.
“It was really surreal, this guy is actually really famous and anyone into gaming or Youtubing will totally realise how big that is. He was a really great guy as well, really helpful, and I basically look up to him because he is proof that this really is a proper line of work.” He said.
“I was really emotional and basically over the moon by the whole thing. I think anyone who is interested in this line of work and really has an ambition for it should go for it, it’s getting more and more recognised as a legitimate way to make a living, and the success of some people out there proves that.”
Things are Getting Serious
As is evident from the above, being a “YouTuber” is fast-developing into a bona fide grown-up business which leaves the old world no choice but to accept. There are young entrepreneurs like MetricateGames all over the world, and the current top ten Youtubers are making nothing short of a fortune (as well as a pretty solid name for themselves in the online community).
Swedish comedian “PewDiePie”, for example, is known for being the most subscribed to Youtuber on the planet, with over 50 million so far. This is almost the ENTIRE population of england (53.1 million). We dare anyone to tell him that it’s just a hobby.
Jenna Marbles started out making funny videos about drunk hair tutorials amongst other things, and has grown into one of the world’s most famous Youtubers with almost 20 million subscribers. Jenna now makes her living from this, and we imagine she’s not going hungry anytime soon.
Getting on the Youtube Bandwagon
Some Youtube personalities have corporate sponsors, such as Polaris, who pay for product placement in their clips or production of online ads. But if you are trying to build your name (and aim to join the list of pros who are getting paid), you are advised to:
- Collect at least 1,000 Subscribers. Find your purpose and stick to it, making sure your channel gets traction.
- Be mindful of dodgy companies who target up and coming Youtubers – if you’re approached for a partnership, make sure there is no lock-in clause or unusual paperwork.
- Ads – Advertisers will only pay when someone clicks an ad or watches for 30 seconds. This is why you can’t tie your channel views straight into making money. If your video gets ten million views but nobody watches or click the ads, you don’t make any money.
