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Linus Sebastian is the face of a mini YouTube empire. The company also looks like a scaled-down version of Gap, which employs a fashion designer, logistics specialists, graphic designers and “fit technicians” to sell merchandise to fans.

Sebastian, among them online personalities who understood this putting their names or faces on products are increasingly becoming a ticket to fame.

Selling themed items such as hoodies and plush toy video game controllers accounted for about 32 percent of Sebastian’s income Linus Media Group In 2021, up from 3 percent five years ago, he told me. Sebastian says, “clothing is really successful people’s like the Kardashians to make a living for the “world”. (This isn’t entirely true, but you get the point.)

Advertising, the traditional way people monetize online attention, accounts for just over half of Linus Media Group’s revenue. Many of the company’s videos about computers, video games, and other technological hardware have plugs for sponsors, and Sebastian’s company collects a revenue share From the ads and subscriptions that YouTube sells.

But it’s specialized goods that are both growing faster than other revenue streams and different from anything Sebastian has done before. “You can’t just stick your label on a t-shirt and expect people to buy it,” he said.

On Tech writes a series of newsletters about the economics of internet creators, or people like Sebastian who are very good at making online videos and other material and make it a livelihood.

Sebastian offers a look at the skills needed to start a media company in the 21st century. He is the chief executive who is equally at ease. unpacking old cable TV boxes For 14 million video subscribers, and I’m talking to me about risky financial metrics.

Sebastian’s ten-year path to becoming a YouTube star began mainly with the encouragement of his former boss. Sebastian was working at a computer retail store and the store asked him to make videos to increase sales. It’s easy to see why they were caught. Sebastian is having fun in his videos, never like me build a solid gold video game controller.

Sebastian said he later had a disagreement over strategy with a senior who told Sebastian he could line up or find another place to shoot a video. He chose the second option. Sebastian launched his own YouTube channel in 2013 and started a business with his wife just months after their first child was born.

Today, Linus Media Group has about 65 employees and half a dozen YouTube channels with combined monthly views to compete with the Super Bowls. Team members write screenplays, produce videos and negotiate deals with sponsors. They also founded a streaming video site To monetize YouTube.

About 11 people only work on the goods. Employees order empty water bottles and underwear from factories and contract a local Vancouver-area printing company to customize them. Others specialize in apparel design, customer service or worldwide product shipping. Selling goods is inherently more costly than selling advertising.

Making fun for the varying tastes of millions of subscribers isn’t always fun.

“Do you think your job is stressful?” said Sebastian. “I have 10 million bosses.” (Technically, 14 million.)

But despite being a YouTube star for years, Sebastian says he’s still excited about the idea of ​​a crazy video to try in the middle of the night.

More from Ten Tech in the internet creator economy:

Before you go …

• Get to know technologist Peter Thiel, who has resurfaced as the leading financial backer of Republican US political candidates, many allied with the views of Donald J. Trump. My colleagues Ryan Mac and Lisa Lerer Candidates who want to challenge the republican order.

• Contract workers in sub-Saharan Africa, who reviewed Facebook posts, described stressful working conditions and paid as little as $1.50 an hour. Nairobi-based employee for outsourcing firm Sama Said Time He said he has about 50 seconds to review Facebook posts that sometimes contain graphic images depicting dismemberment, murder or rape.

• The love story behind the photos in the “high-five” Wikipedia entry. A Valentine’s Heart to this story Tim and Tamara’s five minutes of internet fameAs sleuthed by the broadcast Entry.

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Check out these beautiful and spooky photos of polar bears He captured an abandoned weather station in the Arctic.

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