Most popular Hollywood celebs such as Johnny Depp, Marilyn Monroe, or Leonardo DiCaprio are among the most talked about people on the planet. But it seems that real-life YouTube stars who don’t work with huge producers, style advisors and expensive agents are preferred by teenagers, at least according to a new survey.
It’s impossible to know what teens will love or hate, but people in the show business usually follow teens leads. The younger generation has always been the one deciding stars’ faith – whether they will rise to international fame, or rather be gone into oblivion. And while for some Brad Pitt and company are the most popular Hollywood celebs, teens are replacing them with more regular folks – comedians and musicians who have become popular thanks to the social media and the Internet. In fact, teen’s favs right now are YouTube stars such as Smosh and the Fine Bros., two comedy duos, as well as Swedish video gamer PewDiePie.
This is the surprising, a bit fun result from a survey commissioned by the Variety magazine in July. Its purpose was to identify the most influential figures among young Americans, aged 13-18. Celebrity brand strategist Jeetendr Sehdev, who conducted the survey, asked 1,500 teenagers a series of questions to assess the various aspects of celebs’ overall influence. Half of the featured stars were mainstream celebrities, while the others were simply popular YouTube personalities. Surprisingly, the people we know so well from the big screen weren’t so popular among young people. Here is the list of the top 10:
- Smosh
- The Fine Bros.
- PewDiePie
- KSI
- Ryan Higa
- Paul Walker
- Jennifer Lawrence
- Shane Dawson
- Katy Perry
- Steve Carell
The highest score on the ranking goes to Smosh, the comedy duo of Andrew Hecox and Anthony Padilla, followed by another pair of laugh-makers – the Fine Bros. Benny and Rafi. With the largest number of YouTube subscribers, Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, comes third. Surprisingly, the highest-ranking mainstream celebrity is Paul Walker on the sixth position. He became popular with the already-legendary “Fast & Furious” movies, but tragically died in a single-car accident in November 2013.
According to Sehdev, teens love YouTube personalities because they are more approachable – you can actually interact with them, virtually at least. They are more “real” and authentic to young people and “less manipulated by the image-crafting machine”. Hollywood and pop stars, on the other hand are produced by very powerful people and marketed with the help of the media, so teens can’t really relate to them. They are stars that live in another world, in another universe. The others on the top 20 list of teen’s favourite personalities are Seth Rogen, Betty White, Vin Diesel, Johnny Depp, Daniel Radkliffe, Jenna Marbles, Michelle Phan, Ray William Johnson, Bethany Mota, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
