BBC - Rise of the Superstar Vloggers (2016)

This programme contains some strong language.

Video sharing online has revolutionised the way

we connect with each other for ever. This is mental!

Now everybody can share anything and everything with anyone.

Let's talk about the G spot!

And it's given birth to a new breed of celebrity.

That looks good. Can you do that on here?

By simply turning the camera on themselves, vloggers -

video bloggers - have billions of people watching them online.

You feel like you know them even though you haven't met.

They're sticking two fingers up to the old media establishment.

This is so cool!

They sell out stadiums and have fan bases boy bands would kill for.

SCREAMING

SCREAMING

With jet-set lifestyles, record-breaking book and DVD sales,

they're mixing with Hollywood A-listers

and have the ear of the world's most powerful people. Michelle Obama!

This new media landscape has the power to transform lives,

but there's also a darker side. That is harassment, violation, assault.

I was miserable.

Vloggers are now amongst the most influential people on the planet.

# ..We are your friends... #

This is the Rise Of The Superstar Vloggers.

Hello, best friends. Here I am vlogging, filming my YouTube channel stuff.

I'm here at Jamie Oliver's kitchen. Here he is.

Today's been mental. That was a fun flight, wasn't it?

It's going to be a good day today.

'I'm Jim Chapman and I make a living by filming my everyday life

'and uploading it to the internet.'

Yeah, should be really, really fun.

'I film anything, from my weekly shop, to my dog Martha.'

Go on, then!

'It started for me five years ago.

'My sisters were posting videos online which were gaining

'in popularity, so I thought I'd give it a try.'

Hi, YouTube.

Erm, so this video is basically based on the mistakes that

I made whilst camping at a festival.

This is the first video that's actually on my channel.

So at 22, I think I was when I was doing this,

I didn't really have many friends.

If you haven't watched it yet, go back and watch it now.

Just really wasn't happy. In fact, I'd go as far as to say I was miserable.

I mean, when I first started, really,

it's kind of like an antisocial way of the social, because you're

just talking to a camera, you're not talking to actual people.

Straight away I knew I loved it.

Welcome to Everyday Jim.

'I became obsessed with vlogging.'

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to another airport.

My name is Jim Chapman, I'll be your host today.

'Over time, I grew in confidence, developed a particular style

'and built a following.

'Whatever it is I'm doing, people are watching and engaging.

'Now my videos have been viewed almost 200,000,000 times

'and no-one's more surprised than me.'

The question I get asked most by everyone is, why you?

Why have you got all these subscribers and all these views?

Honestly, I think it's kind of impossible to quantify.

You can't write it down, you can't put numbers on it.

It's just something that comes across on camera.

There's a relationship between myself and my audience

erm...and I think you can't make sense of it.

It just sort of happens.

If you try and define the single thing

that makes a vlogger successful,

I think it's an impossible task.

Having a great personality, being funny, being engaging,

being relatable - you've got to connect with people

on a personal level millions and millions of times over,

as well as having that secret sauce

that puts you head and shoulders above the rest.

'And people are liking what they see,

'no matter how trivial or everyday the content is.'

Why don't you come along? Let's enjoy the day.

Vlogging has become a global phenomenon, adopted

by millions of others who have a desire to share their stories too.

Telling stories about our lives is a basic human instinct

and need that we have to relate to other people.

We've done it when we sat around the campfires as cavemen and women,

we do it through soap operas, we do it through talk shows and reality TV

and vlogging is really the next stage of that.

Ten years ago, YouTube was launched.

All right, who is watching YouTube?

Increasing availability of the internet and cheap technology

meant uploading videos became widely accessible and easy to do.

Vlogging was born.

I find your videos strangely compelling.

Video creators began uploading anything

from the insane to the mundane.

People are watching me vlog and probably think I'm nuts.

Nothing was off-limits.

BABY CRIES

A fascinating place to go to see all the videos

young people have produced.

After four years, YouTube introduced adverts, making it

possible to earn big money from shared revenue and endorsements.

The internet became flooded with people showing their talents,

sharing tips or promoting products.

I like to use her mask.

The superstar vloggers began to emerge.

I'm going to meet some of the biggest names in the vlogging world

to discover what vlogging means to them.

Why do they stand out and what does it say about all of us?

Good morning, guys!

How are you doing?

Alfie Deyes and his vlogging girlfriend Zoella are internet royalty.

When visitors to London's Madame Tussauds were asked

who should be this year's addition to their waxwork Hall of Fame,

Zoe and Alfie received more votes than any other celebrity.

We're here, we're in Madame Tussauds in London,

because today is the official launch,

like, party evening of Zoe and I.

Oh, my God!

It's so weird.

Starting when he was only 16,

Alfie's videos have now clocked up three quarters of a billion views.

What have you been up to today?

I've been putting fake tattoos all over my arm.

I need to get to the gym.

This morning, I've just been doing house chores and jobs.

His videos are about anything,

from yoga to sausages to helicopter rides.

So cool.

I've known Alfie since we were both starting out as a vloggers.

I wanted to find out

when he first realised making videos could be more than just a hobby.

I was working like four hours a week,

just like a weekend job in a clothes shop in town

and the first time my YouTube earnings

earned me more than the clothes shop, I went into work the next day

and just handed in my notice, which a normal person would be like,

"Cool, I earned double - I earned at YouTube and I earned at the clothes shop."

I was just like, "OK, if I sack the clothes shop, then I can put double

"the time into my YouTube," so I just did that.

Life for you has kind of gone a bit crazy recently, right?

You're a wax figure in Madame Tussauds.

My hair looks better than real life. No, that looks good.

Can you do that on here?

Yeah, I think all of us have been offered

and done some crazy stuff that we never ever expected.

I'm in bloomin' Madame Tussauds. I'm in Madame Tussauds.

Like, I've got a wax figure of me and you can go and see it in London.

That is insane.

That is actual concrete evidence of the level at which you are.

Genuinely at that level, in the same room as Kim Kardashian

and David Beckham and the Queen and the leader of the Free World.

It's crazy to think that people have voted for you to be

in the same company as those people, immortalised for ever in wax. Yeah.

That's...

I can't even get my head around

how far this has come in the last five years.

Alfie's fans love to watch him vlogging his real life,

but I wanted to know

just how authentic HE feels he is in his videos.

I think I'm hopefully exactly the same. Yeah. Like,

I went to hospital recently and had like two biopsies

taken from my chest, I filmed all of that.

As soon as they had finished the procedure, I was vlogging

in the hospital bed, showing them everything.

I like to just try and be completely real.

How much control do the audience have over what your end product is?

I think quite a lot. I think it's quite positive.

I think it's such a strong relationship.

Like, these people know me better than like some of my friends maybe.

They know everything about me and I love that.

But there is a growing backlash against hugely popular

vloggers constantly sharing every detail of their lives.

Alfie was recently singled out in a VICE magazine article.

I think the headline was something like, "Vain and Inane." Yeah.

How does that feel for you?

They don't care about the person at the other side.

Luckily, I'm really strong, I don't take any of that in

and I'm just like, "Cool, you can waste your time writing about me.

"I'm not even going to look at it."

Part of it is because... a lack of understanding,

like, just not knowing the form of media that YouTube is

and the thing that I think is the most important thing to

remember is that as soon as I tick upload, or you tick upload,

or whoever puts upload on their video, that's it,

we're not making people watch it.

People are spending their time clicking on my channel,

clicking on my videos cos they want to watch it.

We're not making them do that, they're choosing to do that

and I think that's the most powerful thing.

Global fame now means it's virtually impossible for Alfie to

walk the streets without being recognised.

Oh, my God! What's your name?

Nice to meet you. Bless you.

Can I take a picture? Yeah, of course you can. Sure.

JIM LAUGHS

OK, ready? One, two, three.

There you go. It's lovely to meet you.

Did you enjoy it? Yeah.

See you later. See you later. Have a nice day. Bye-bye.

Often they know so much about me from uploading every single day that

it's just like chatting to a friend. Yeah.

Hello. How are you doing?

No way!