YouTube producers go to class to learn secrets of turning online fame into fortune

Many people see YouTube stars as the real rock stars of today, but only a select few of them have figured out how to get paid like a guitar god.

YouTube is trying to change that, and this week ran its own school of rock for almost famous video creators.

The recently opened YouTube Space in Toronto wrapped up its first set of workshops designed to help YouTubers grow their channels into a successful livelihood.

The workshops were part of the lead-up to Saturday night's YouTube FanFest, where the site's biggest stars like Toronto's Lilly Singh, a.k.a. Superwoman, will perform and meet their fans.

Singh urges creators to do whatever they can to prepare themselves for YouTube's thriving but crowded market.

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"I started six years ago in 2010 and YouTube was very different, it was very much so an outlet for people to talk about ideas or people to be creative. It is still that, but it is much more of a business today," Singh said in an interview with CBC News.  

The business-building workshop attendees have already logged many hours on YouTube — most have more than 100,000 subscribers.

"Our goal with programs like this, which frankly didn't exist a few years ago, has really been to help accelerate the growth of those channels and give them the tools that will help them monetize better and grow their businesses," said Liam Collins, head of the Americas for the YouTube Spaces Team, who travelled from New York for the event.

Olga Bykina, who has more than 300,000 subscribers to her healthy-eating channel Fablunch, feels the workshops she attended were worth it. "We're able to meet with experts from different fields like marketing, social media, legal."

The paradox of YouTube fame

Bykina is the kind of relatable YouTube success story many creators look up to. She isn't a millionaire like the Swedish video gamer andYouTube superstar PewDiePie, but the ad revenue from her channel and the products stemming from her online fame (she has a line of lunch containers) are her livelihood.

But some would say her story is still quite rare.

Comedian and writer Gaby Dunn, who is based in Los Angeles and runs the YouTube channel Just Between Us with her friend Allison Raskin, wrote a widely shared article with the headline: "Get Rich or Die Vlogging."

"(It) is about being YouTube famous and also broke because I think there's a misconception, especially among the fans," Dunn told CBC News.

"I think people think because they see me in videos that I'm wealthy, because visibility to them, and maybe in the past, equalled financial stability. And today it doesn't."

Dunn's article mentions YouTubers who get recognized on the street but still hold menial jobs, and those who have performed in front of thousands of screaming fans but can't afford groceries.

With 700,000 subscribers, Dunn and Raskin now make "$4,500 to $5,000 dollars on a really good month" from YouTube ads. But that money then gets split into two, and they also have to pay for their crew and sound editor — a growing necessity in the new world of glossy, professional-looking YouTube videos.

The rest of their income comes from comedy writing and acting gigs which, Dunn admits, are easier to get because of YouTube exposure.

No overnight success

How to make money from diverse but YouTube-related revenue sources is actually one of the things the business-building workshop tries to teach creators.

"Creators also build other sources of revenue and we encourage them to do that," said YouTube's Liam Collins, pointing to product placement in videos and merchandise sales as some of the other ways YouTubers can earn cash. "We have a whole team of people that help channels monetize and grow their revenues."

He says the early years of YouTube were about understanding the needs of the consumers, but now the company is focused on finding ways to make sure the creators stay online and keep producing. 

Olga Bykina's advice to people is don't give up. She's now eyeing hiring a social media consultant and an administrator — something she could not have dreamed of doing in the early years of her channel.

"I think what people need to realize is that success does not come overnight," she said. "For most of us, we work years and years and years before we actually see success, and that comes with the amount of followers, with the amount of money you're able to make."

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