Making It Big With YouTube: Lessons From A 15 Year-Old Video Celebrity

By Ravit Lichtenberg (blog)

Fifteen year old Lucas Cruikshank is on stage. Cruikshank is one of YouTube’s top content creators (he opened his account when he was 11)—producing comedies and spoofs weekly under the show name Fred for and with his high-school friends.

Cruikshank has a number of sponsors; he promotes their products in his videos (or Virals as he calls product-placement rich videos). Recent data suggests Cruikshank has made over $15,000 on ads tied to his video plays.

“Kids always go to YouTube for comedy,” says Cruikshank, “so I created a TV show for YouTube.” And the best thing since he became a YouTube celebrity? Seniors talk to him at school. “And that’s pretty cool,” he says, chuckling.

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