Dream job Let's Player
If the Swede PewDiPie, the Germans Sarazar and Gronkh, Diabl0x9 from Valais or ZeronikHD from Eastern Switzerland were sitting at the next table in a restaurant, many boys would come running up excitedly and ask for photos and autographs. Who are they? They are YouTube stars, or to be more precise: Let's Players - LPers for short. They film themselves trying out computer games and comment on their progress in real time.
It's all about the game itself: the small successes from level to level, the failures, the starting again from the beginning. And the viewer experiences the game from exactly the same perspective as they would at home on their own PC, except that they are not playing themselves. Like a sitcom, the LPers record their computer games in daily episodes and upload them to their personal video channel.
Teenagers now celebrate gamers like film stars and quote the smug remarks of their role models. This is hardly surprising. After all, many teenagers watch more YouTube than television. They feel very close to their stars on this channel, as they communicate directly with them via the comment function. In the old world, a journalist posed the questions to the stars of the young people on their behalf.
Earning money while playing?
Felix Kjellberg, alias PewDiPie, has been gaming since 2010 and is now a highly paid YouTuber: he is said to receive around 3.5 million francs a year for letting people watch him play computer games. For many boys, that sounds like a dream job. But it should not be underestimated: The days of shaky mobile phone films are long gone - there is often a lot of work behind the videos.
Successful video bloggers are media professionals. Language is also crucial. Swiss German does not attract crowds. Nevertheless, the Swiss are also successfully involved. Diabl0x9, for example, has 1.68 million subscribers - the Valais native has been around since 2010 and comments in French. And 413,309 subscribers watch ZeronikHD - the man from eastern Switzerland has been there since 2012 and comments in German.
Advertising, advertising, advertising
Anyone who is successful on YouTube can become a partner channel. The company continues to train its click-happy crowd pullers so that even more viewers click even more. Because that brings in advertising revenue. And partner channels in turn receive a share of this revenue. Anyone who wants to watch a video from the aforementioned Swiss «Let's Players» must first watch an advert or accept banners. On the one hand, this finances the YouTube platform, which claims to have generated four billion dollars in revenue last year.
This also finances the YouTubers. Depending on the form of advertising, they receive between 30 cents and 2.5 dollars per 1000 clicks. This is because the more often their videos are viewed, the more the companies invest in advertising. And the more clicks the films receive, the more Google, the owner of YouTube since 2006, pays the video bloggers.
On Medienstark you will find tips and interactive learning modules for the competent use of digital media in everyday family life.
