Has YouTube given rise to its last MrBeast? Fewer megastars seem to be emerging on the platform. Instead, YouTube is becoming home to an endless number of viral creators across dozens of niches. We spoke with two YouTube execs about the rise of niche content and this new wave of creator fame.
If you consider yourself very online, you'd likely be able to name the early wave of top YouTube creators, from Lilly Singh and PewDiePie to Zoella and Tyler Oakley. But these days, even for an extremely online person, it's become increasingly difficult to identify the new wave of creators dominating the platform and achieving mainstream success beyond megastars like MrBeast . At VidCon , the annual creator conference in Anaheim, California, Business Insider spoke with YouTube execs Amjad Hanif, who's vice president of product management for creator products, and Kevin Allocca, global director of culture and trends, about why there seem to be fewer breakout stars on the platform these days.
It boils down to two main reasons. Firstly, there are far more creators on YouTube now than ever before. Secondly, megastar creators can be harder to spot as they now exist in niche corners of the internet.
During the early days of YouTube, there were only a handful of channels to watch with creators consistently making quality content. Most of those YouTubers were in mainstream categories like beauty, lifestyle, and comedy. But now, the number of YouTube creators uploading content and making money fr.