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A New Generation of Stars

15 Aug, 2014 By: Stephanie Prange

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As I’ve noted before, my two daughters, 16 and 12, spend more time on devices such as tablets and cell phones watching amateur entertainers on YouTube than they do watching television or other professionally produced entertainment. And now a survey of teens ages 13 to 18 commissioned by Variety confirms the trend.

Well-known stars didn’t even make the top five in the survey that asked teens about the overall influence of well-known personalities. The top “celebrities” in the survey were the online comedy team Smosh, No. 2 The Fine Bros., No. 3 PewDiePie (my daughters’ particular favorite), No. 4 KSI and No. 5 Ryan Higa — all online stars. Among the top 10 celebrities on the list that most parents may recognize are Paul Walker at No. 6, the star of the “Fast & Furious” series who tragically died in a car accident last year; No. 7 Jennifer Lawrence; No. 8 singer Katy Perry; and No. 10 Steve Carell.

My first clue that my kids were watching more than mainstream programming (their mother’s entertainment) was their interest in the phenomenon “Fred,” an online nerdy character created and played by Lucas Cruikshank, who talked in a squeaky, childlike voice about life in the suburbs in short sketches. The YouTube channel spawned a feature based on the character that came out on disc after airing on Nickelodeon. “Fred” turned out to be a short-lived fad in my house, proving Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame axiom, but not before “Fred” sold lots of DVDs.

Those same kids that propelled “Fred” into the limelight are making famous online performers such as PewDiePie. I don’t know if these new online stars are fads that, like “Fred,” will fade quickly as kids turn to someone new (Cruikshank, by the way, has moved on to a new channel sans “Fred”). Nevertheless, it looks as if Hollywood is starting to take notice. Fox’s Teen Choice Awards this year greatly expanded its Web categories to a total of 13 digital awards, including top male and female Web star. These stars even have their own version of Comic-Con, Vidcon, which recently attracted nearly 20,000 attendees to the Anaheim Convention Center and included an “industry track” featuring DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Whether these online stars represent a promotional opportunity or will spawn a whole new home entertainment business seems to be a looming question for the industry.

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