From teen fashion gurus to tipsy chefs, bedroom video blogs may be coming to an end for some of YouTube’s biggest stars. The Google-owned video site announced it’ll soon start paying the production bills for new content.
“We’ve decided to fund new content from some of our top creators, helping them not only fulfill their creative ambitions but also deliver new material to their millions of fans on YouTube,” Alex Carlos, YouTube’s head of original content, said last week.
See also: YouTube Is Chasing Hollywood—But It Should Worry About Its Homegrown Stars
YouTube clearly has a lot of confidence in its homegrown stars, which is smart, considering the millions of impressionable, fanatic teen loyalists who support their favorite vlogger’s every move. Where the YouTube celebs go, their fans will follow. And with Google money behind the campaign to create Hollywood-level content, these small screen stars have a real chance for mainstream success.
While we don’t know for sure which stars are about to get a big boost in financing, here’s who ReadWrite predicts will be getting a YouTube-funded show in the near future.
See also: YouTube Wants To Be More Than Just “Internet Famous”—Here’s How
More Than A Fashion Queen: Bethany Mota
Nobody on YouTube is having it better right now than Bethany Mota. The 17-year-old, whose road to tween fame on the glory of “haul” videos where she shows off her fashion purchases, has more than 7 million subscribers on her channel.
Mota’s sparkly personality, good looks and massive following make her a natural for the retail industry, so much so she now has her very own Aeropostale fashion line. She’s the cover model on Seventeen magazine’s first-ever YouTube-dedicated issue, on stands in October. And there’s already so much push behind Mota, she’s the youth-oriented contestant on this season’s Dancing With The Stars on ABC.
YouTube’s Justin Timberlake: Connor Franta
He isn’t a singer, persee, but nonetheless, fangirls and fanboys are obsessed with Connor Franta, whose channel is three-million subscribers strong. The vlogger, who’s known for his standard YouTube comedy commentary, used to be part of YouTube’s boyband-that’s-not-a-band, Our2ndLife.
Franta departed that boy comedy collective, but he continues to expand his performances and and collaborate with other high-profile YouTube stars. With his boy band good looks and big personality, Franta is like N’sync’s Justin Timberlake…and just like Justin, he’s about to make it big.
Drunk Recipe For Success: Hannah Hart
Comedian Hannah Hart hit the heights of YouTube popularity via her series “My Drunk Kitchen,” a cooking show hosted by the inebriated Hart. Her very first video, “Butter Yo S - - t,” hit 100,000 video days after it was first posted in March 2011 and its been gravy ever since. She’s so popular, British chef Jamie Oliver appeared on one episode.
With more than 1.5 million subscribers, Hart recently hosted online video awards show the Streamy Awards, where she won for best comedy video. Other projects include her first feature film, Camp Takota, released in February, which created with YouTube friends Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart. Hart has both the fan following and the funny to make it in mainstream media.
How To Take Over YouTube: Tyler Oakley
LGBT youth advocate and “professional fangirl” Tyler Oakley boasts 5.5 million subscribers on his channel, which features humorous vlogs, collaborations, a slew of hosting gigs and his “How To Take Over” travel videos. Oakley also co-hosts PopSugar‘s online pop culture update “Top That!” with Becca Frucht.
With more than three million Twitter followers, Oakley recently won 2014’s Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star: Male and Choice Web Collaboration. He also took home two Streamy online video awards this year, Entertainer of the Year and Activist Icon of The Year.
We wouldn’t be surprised to see Oakley getting his own YouTube-funded interview series. He’s already turned the mic on big names like One Direction and Michelle Obama.
Lead photo by Gage Skidmore.
