Do your children dream of YouTube stardom? Do them a favor: crush that ambition now.<\/p>\n
New research out of Germany, billed as among the first to review the chances of making it in the new Hollywood, shows a vanishingly small number will ever break through\u2014just like in the old Hollywood.<\/p>\n
In fact, 96.5% of all of those trying to become YouTubers won\u2019t make enough money off of advertising to crack the US poverty line, according to an analysis by Mathias B\u00e4rtl, a professor at Offenburg University of Applied Sciences in Offenburg.<\/p>\n
Breaking into the top 3% of most-viewed channels could bring in advertising revenue of about $16,800 a year, B\u00e4rtl said. That\u2019s a bit more than the US federal poverty line of $12,140 for a single person. (The guideline for a two-person household is $16,460.)<\/p>\n
The top 3% of video creators of all time in B\u00e4rtl\u2019s sample attracted more than 1.4 million views per month.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re a series regular on a network TV show, you\u2019re getting a good amount of money,\u201d said Alice Marwick, an assistant professor of communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. \u201cYet you can have half a million followers on YouTube and still be working at Starbucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Children born after YouTube was created in 2005 have grown up surrounded by videos churned out by performers such as Jake Paul, PewDiePie and Zoella, whose clips about their daily lives, video gaming and fashion, respectively, have turned YouTuber into a popular career goal.<\/p>\n
One in 3 British children age 6 to 17 told pollsters last year that they wanted to become a full-time YouTuber. That\u2019s three times as many as those who wanted to become a doctor or a nurse.<\/p>\n