TORONTO — In a white-and-red room replete with YouTube branding, jars of chewy berry candy and T-shirt-clad publicists, a group of camera-ready millennials flash their pearly whites as they pose for a selfie.
While they're not boldfaced names among people your parents' age, these YouTube personalities attracted thousands to the video-sharing website's first-ever North American FanFest in downtown Toronto on Saturday. The one-day live event, which featured 16 of YouTube's most popular vloggers from Canada and abroad, followed previous FanFests in Asia that each drew thousands of screaming admirers.
this impressive turnout, however, one YouTube executive still describes FanFest as "grassroots" — especially when compared to VidCon, an annual online-video conference that attracted 18,000 people last year, but started in 2010 with just 1,400. (YouTube hassponsored past VidCon events.)
"VidCon started almost like FanFest many years ago," Laura Lee, YouTube's global head of top creators, toldMashable on Friday at a press event. "But now, it's so established and big because of its success, that it's really just kind of [YouTubers] going there, sort of tending to their fans and their empires.Whereas with FanFest ... it has more of that organic kind of 'we're pulling folks together; we're bringing fans there.'"
She added that FanFest, which first launched in Singapore in 2013 before later spreading to India, Australia, Korea and Japan, provides fans with "that in-person payoff."
Much like how Lee sees FanFest as a more approachable version of VidCon, some YouTubers see themselves as more approachable versions of celebrities. And that's despite their sheer online reach — together, Saturday's participating YouTubers boast 59.9 million subscribers and 6.8 billion views.
IMAGE: DOMINIC CHAN
"It's like the new generation of celebrities, and we have different relationships with our viewers, right? So we're not as untouchable as like Beyoncé because Beyoncé's like a queen," said Lauren Riihimaki, 21, a beauty and style vlogger known as LaurDIY. "It's more like a role model or older sister figure, rather than someone that they know they'll never have the chance to meet."
"I think we're just relevant to their lives," added Riihimaki, a Canadian, who has 1.5 million YouTube subscribers.
While the average age of YouTube fans skews young, their buying power will only increase as they get older. And it's an audience that prefers YouTube personalities over mainstream celebrities, according to a recent Varietycommissioned survey.
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But this distinction between online and traditional stars is blurring, said Michael Stevens, a 29-year-old YouTuber who creates educational videos under his "VSauce" channels. Stevens, an American now based in the UK, has a total of 8.6 million subscribers.
"It's been changing slowly. Younger people today don't see a difference between what platform they're getting their entertainment from, or what they're using to communicate," he said. Stevens cited fellow YouTuber Grace Helbig's late-night talk show on E! and Epic Meal Time's cooking show on FYI, Epic Meal Empire, as examples of YouTubers with network shows.
IMAGE: DOMINIC CHAN
Despite moving on to more traditional pastures, however, these personalities still stay true to their online roots. For example, The Grace Helbig Show is an extension of Helbig's YouTube channel, featuring longer sketches and other YouTube stars. Meanwhile, Canadian singer and producer Mike Tompkins had a record deal, but returned his focus to YouTube after it turned sour. The 27-year-old said the route to success, whether online or not, is "all the same."
Some have even turned down offers to do mainstream work because they genuinely feel they're digital first, and perhaps even only, YouTube's Lee said. "I think there's been a change, a paradigm shift."
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