What's The Next Big Pop Cultural Push?

[Ruin Explorer]

So I woukd argue Mr Beast and others are already the next big thing.

Yeah you're saying that but it's very unconvincing, because all the evidence is against them being "the new big thing" in pop culture generally.

You're talking about a bunch of aging has-beens (sorry to say that about people in their 30s lol) with slowly failing YouTube careers trying to transition to television because they think the bell has probably been rung on YouTube. None of these people even have the charm of Hulk Hogan (which is a low bar to clear, brother), we're not even going to get Hulkamania-style low-level pop culture infiltration from them.

Mr Beasts also is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He did it a lot quicker tgan Tom Cruise, The Rock, Arnold Swarzenegger or Oprah. If you want to look at it that way.

Sure, but can anyone else repeat that? Or was it a one-off trick?

I mean, I know the answer - because he essentially wrote down how he did it, which was by analyzing and then gaming YouTube's metrics, to get himself the maximum possible views and to identify the content that got the maximum possible views, which is this lucky-day and quasi-game-show-y stuff directed at literal children (who don't have any money, but are being advertised at). None of this content is stuff he was personally invested in (and that's true at the start too, as much as you may like to pretend it was different). It's all stuff he decided to do because he knew the algorithm would favour it.

No-one else is going to be able to do that in the same way again, and he's already failing at it, because he has a brand now, and he can't really pivot from that - or doesn't seem to have been able to find a way to, given his views fall month-on-month.

Also, nobody knows how much money he actually has except him, and you're comparing him to people who were actually directly paid money, whereas his is all tied up in his business. Your mistakes is you think he's a star. He's not. He could die tomorrow and if one of his acolytes followed the rules he laid down in his very detailed manual (which got leaked a few months ago - it's mostly, like 85%+ sensible stuff, just peppered with a dash of borderline criminality, manipulation/bullying/intentional deception - of third parties, not his employees, though there's bit a bit of that too and intentional ignorance of and intentional failure to comply the law, particularly environmental law) and probably keep the brand going just fine.

That obviously wouldn't be true with any of the people you used as examples. He's an uncharismatic child entertainer who got into his position not by being the most entertaining inherently, or having any charm or anything, but by gaming YouTube's algorithm and targeting the softest possible audience with content. This isn't me "meanly" saying this about him. He's explained this at length. He's been fairly open about it - and his manual is even more detailed about it.

His brand is a bit closer to Oprah in some ways, but Oprah relied on Oprah, where MrBeast... it's just a brand.

I don't think any YouTubers or TikTokers are going to be "the next big pop culture trend". Now some kind of activity or idea that emerges first on social media? That easily could be. The people themselves? Probably not, not unless that person has incredible star power and isn't just essentially relying on "children love my content because I used a computer to determine what content children loved".

 

[Zardnaar]

Yeah you're saying that but it's very unconvincing, because all the evidence is against them being "the new big thing" in pop culture generally.

You're talking about a bunch of aging has-beens (sorry to say that about people in their 30s lol) with slowly failing YouTube careers trying to transition to television because they think the bell has probably been rung on YouTube. None of these people even have the charm of Hulk Hogan (which is a low bar to clear, brother), we're not even going to get Hulkamania-style low-level pop culture infiltration from them.


Sure, but can anyone else repeat that? Or was it a one-off trick?

I mean, I know the answer - because he essentially wrote down how he did it, which was by analyzing and then gaming YouTube's metrics, to get himself the maximum possible views and to identify the content that got the maximum possible views, which is this lucky-day and quasi-game-show-y stuff directed at literal children (who don't have any money, but are being advertised at). None of this content is stuff he was personally invested in (and that's true at the start too, as much as you may like to pretend it was different). It's all stuff he decided to do because he knew the algorithm would favour it.

No-one else is going to be able to do that in the same way again, and he's already failing at it, because he has a brand now, and he can't really pivot from that - or doesn't seem to have been able to find a way to, given his views fall month-on-month.

Also, nobody knows how much money he actually has except him, and you're comparing him to people who were actually directly paid money, whereas his is all tied up in his business. Your mistakes is you think he's a star. He's not. He could die tomorrow and if one of his acolytes followed the rules he laid down in his very detailed manual (which got leaked a few months ago - it's mostly, like 85%+ sensible stuff, just peppered with a dash of borderline criminality, manipulation/bullying/intentional deception - of third parties, not his employees, though there's bit a bit of that too and intentional ignorance of and intentional failure to comply the law, particularly environmental law) and probably keep the brand going just fine.

That obviously wouldn't be true with any of the people you used as examples. He's an uncharismatic child entertainer who got into his position not by being the most entertaining inherently, or having any charm or anything, but by gaming YouTube's algorithm and targeting the softest possible audience with content. This isn't me "meanly" saying this about him. He's explained this at length. He's been fairly open about it - and his manual is even more detailed about it.

His brand is a bit closer to Oprah in some ways, but Oprah relied on Oprah, where MrBeast... it's just a brand.

I don't think any YouTubers or TikTokers are going to be "the next big pop culture trend". Now some kind of activity or idea that emerges first on social media? That easily could be. The people themselves? Probably not, not unless that person has incredible star power and isn't just essentially relying on "children love my content because I used a computer to determine what content children loved".

He is in his mid 20s. Amazon spent around $100 million on his show.

I'm not that big of a fan of him BTW. I watched some of his stuff to see what the hype was about.

Parts of it reminded me of Jackass without the violence and toilet humor. Young guys making stupid content aimed at yoing people.

I'm just looking at the numbers.

Worlds biggest youtuber may actually be more relevant than Hulk Hogan in his prime.

I don't know of he will blow up bigger. I wouldn't be surprised he dies or someone else like him blows up.

 

[Metroido]

...

Parts of it reminded me of Jackass without the violence and toilet humor.

...

Sooo,... nothing like Jackass then...

 

[Zardnaar]

Sooo,... nothing like Jackass then...

Young guys doing dumb stuff.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Young guys doing dumb stuff.

But that's not what's happening at all.

There's no "dumb stuff" going on in MrBeast's videos except on a superficial level. There's just ultra-cynical pandering to a pre-teen/young teen audience. Again, this isn't me being mean, this is MrBeast's own explanations - it's all put on to target the audience. Whereas Jackass didn't have that cynical audience targeting - those guys really were - and in some cases still are! - like that on camera and off. It was a different, stupider, but more honest era (at least in the one regard).

Plus there's a level of cruelty to others (rather to themselves) and brutal emotional manipulation here that wasn't generally present in Jackass (though Jackass was VERY problematic in other ways), particularly financial manipulation, and manipulation of people's hopes/dreams in a crushing capitalist system.

Finally:

I don't know of he will blow up bigger. I wouldn't be surprised he dies or someone else like him blows up.

It's a prediction thread so fair play, predict what you want, but I don't personally think anyone who is currently a "big YouTuber" is going to become a big pop culture thing/cool. Someone in future? Maybe, yeah. Probably someone with more individual on-screen talent/charm rather than just complete ruthlessness and skill at manipulating metrics.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't personally think anyone who is currently a "big YouTuber" is going to become a big pop culture thing/cool

I think this is wrong. YouTube is what the kids watch. There isn't anywhere else "the next big thing" can come from, because the kids are not consuming much of any other media.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

YouTube is what the kids watch.

We'll see, won't we? I think people are overfocused on what actual children like when children have rarely been taste drivers re: pop culture (rather late teens through thirty tend to be).

There isn't anywhere else "the next big thing" can come from, because the kids are not consuming much of any other media.

Really? Streaming doesn't exist? TikTok doesn't exist? Ok. YouTube is a specific thing, and YouTubers are a specific breed of operator. It's not a generic term for "any site where you watch people do/say stuff".

 

[Zardnaar]

We'll see, won't we? I think people are overfocused on what actual children like when children have rarely been taste drivers re: pop culture (rather late teens through thirty tend to be).


Really? Streaming doesn't exist? TikTok doesn't exist? Ok. YouTube is a specific thing, and YouTubers are a specific breed of operator. It's not a generic term for "any site where you watch people do/say stuff".

Could also be a tik tok person.

Mr Beast is closest so far imho. I'm not claiming you have to like him

 

[Paul Farquhar]

We'll see, won't we? I think people are overfocused on what actual children like when children have rarely been taste drivers re: pop culture (rather late teens through thirty tend to be).

Media consumption habits are formed as children. Having been raised on YouTube as preschoolers, I can’t seem my grandkids suddenly switching to the BBC when they hit adulthood.

Really? Streaming doesn't exist? TikTok doesn't exist? Ok. YouTube is a specific thing, and YouTubers are a specific breed of operator. It's not a generic term for "any site where you watch people do/say stuff".

I kind of lump TikTok, Instagram etc with YouTube, as media oldies are largely oblivious to*. Conventional streamers like Netflix will follow the BBC into irrelevance, just a few years later.


*Although, having said that, my partner spends quite a lot of time on YouTube watching people demonstrate crochet techniques and the like, and I have a friend of my generation starting a streaming business on Instagram.

 

[Epic Meepo]

My understanding is that MrBeast was pretty much just an organizer of real-life non-fatal Squid Games where poor people withstand torture for the promise of some kind of monetary reward, and filmed for peoples' entertainment because there is no God

Take out the cameras, and that pretty much describes every employer I've ever had