1. Y O U T U B E ’ S P O P C U LT U R E I M PA C T
Ryan Williams July 10, 2022
2. P O P C U LT U R E C O N N E C T I O N &
I N F L U E N C E
Viral content
Advertising
Content creators
Music
Gaming
Tutorial videos
3. V I R A L C O N T E N T
• Viral content is material that spreads rapidly
through social sharing.
• Viral videos come to be common-place and
trendy and “Going Viral” becomes a major
ambition for many.
• “[YouTube] is one of the most successful to
express feeling, communicate with friends, and
advertise business messages” (Khan & Vong pg.
2).
• Some people utilize viral videos and new-found
fame to launch successful YouTube channels or
other careers.
Top 10 Viral Videos of All Time
(as of 2014)
Watchmojo.com
4. A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
• October 2005: YouTube sees its first video
hit 1 million views
• Nike advertisement showing Brazilian
footballer Ronaldinho and his “Golden
Boots”
• The power of advertisements on videos is
fully realized and companies rush to
promote their business.
• YouTube advertising becomes so incredibly
profitable that two ads before a video and
ads during videos are displayed.
Nike Futebol apresenta:
Reinventando
Ronaldinho
Nike Futebol
5. C O N T E N T C R E AT O R S
• Community Building - Content creators have
been given the opportunity to build a
community based on high-viewership
• YouTube’s adherence to user generated
content (UGC) gives creators the ability to
grow a channel into a full occupation and
hire people to do editing and other behind
the scenes work.
• Major influencers become world famous
with millions of subscribers.
• Even children can become YouTube stars
like Vlad and Niki two brothers, aged 9 and
13, who have 83.5 million subscribers and
as of 2019, have earnings nearly of $50
million ($49.3m)
6. M U S I C
• Music videos moved from TV
channels like MTV to purely
online based YouTube
channels.
• Every famous artist now has
a YouTube Vevo channel and
post their music when it is
released
• Some of the most well-
known artists and bands
have millions of subscribers
with the most subscribed
being Blackpink at 75.1
million
• YouTube even pushed itself
into the music streaming
business with this connection
and now provides millions of
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
7. G A M I N G
• Ordinary kids become celebrities through
gaming skills
• Professional gaming gets much more
popular
• Birth of “Let’s Plays”, walk-throughs,
achievement guides, reaction and review
videos
• YouTube joins live streaming allowing
gaming communities to interact in real time
• 73% of YouTube gamers say they enjoy
watching others play games on YouTube”
(Petrova & Gross)
8. T U T O R I A L
V I D E O S
• Just like gaming guides,
other tutorials like make-up,
home design, and more are
widely mainstreamed
• How-to videos become
incredibly easy to find and a
common phrase is
developed -“Just look it up
on YouTube”
• People with similar hobbies
can be connected through
tutorials and the comments
9. P R E Y O U T U B E
V I D E O P L AT F O R M S
Newgrounds
AlbinoBlackSheep
eBaums World
10. N E W G R O U N D S
• Early video and specifically gaming-based
website using Adobe Flash created in 1995
• Focused primarily on small indie internet
games, animation, and art
• User generated content led to early memes
and viral videos
• Viral Videos: Potter Puppet Pals, Numa
Numa & All Your Base Are Belong To Us
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
11. A L B I N O B L A C K S H E E P
• User generated content through Adobe
Flash based on animation
• Becomes major portal for “animutation”
a new Flash animation style coined by
Neil Cicierega creator of Potter Puppet
Pals and The Ultimate Showdown
• Viral Videos: The Ultimate Showdown,
Rejected & The End of Ze World
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
12. E B A U M S W O R L D
• Entertainment site founded in 2001
by Eric Bauman
• Focused primarily on videos, Adobe
Flash cartoons and web games
• Acquired by ZVUE Corporation in
2007 which also owns Cheezburger,
Know Your Meme, and Cracked.com
13. P E R S O N A L
I N F L U E N C E
• I use YouTube daily for at least a
couple hours and currently
subscribe to 106 channels
• The content I consume includes
gaming, sports (mainly soccer),
history, science, music, music
reviews, politics, late night TV,
and even reactions to news and
events going on in the world.
14. R E F E R E N C E S
• Khan, Gohar Feroz & Vong, Sokha. (2014,
September).Virality over YouTube: an empirical
analysis. ResearchGate. Retrieved July 10,
2022, from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280193
609_Virality_over_YouTube_an_empirical_analy
sis
• Know Your Meme. (n.d.) Neil Cicierega.
Retrieved July 10, 2022, from
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/neil-
cicierega
• Leskin, Paige. (2020, May 30). YouTube is 15
years old. here's a timeline of how YouTube was
founded, its rise to video behemoth, and its
biggest controversies along way. Business
Insider. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from
https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/youtub
e-is-15-years-old-hereaposs-a-timeline-of-how-
youtube-was-founded-its-rise-to-video-
behemoth-and-its-biggest-controversies-along-
way/slidelist/76111673.cms
• Massey, Jake. (2020, March 6). Highest Earning
YouTubers Per Video Are Brothers Aged Four and
Six. Lad Bible. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from
https://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/viral-top-
youtubers-make-more-than-300000-per-video-study-
finds-20200306
• Nike Futebol. (2015, August 24). Nike Futebol
apresenta: Reinventando Ronaldinho [Video].
YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpU7lsKcL2s
• Petrova, Ekaterina & Gross, Neta. (2017, June) 4
Reasons People Watch Gaming Content on YouTube.
Think with Google. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-
strategies/video/statistics-youtube-gaming-content/
• RixFlix Productions. (2017, January 7). These Videos
Went Viral Before YouTube Existed! [Video].
YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lrltdJaGCY&t=2s
• WatchMojo.com. (2014, December 12). Top 10 Viral
Videos of All Time [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk4acvdyyqo
