New breed of web entrepreneurs

Over the weekend I headed to Mall of the Emirates with a very specific shopping list. My favourite YouTube guru, you see, had posted a "haul" video from Sephora and I was keen to go have a look at some of her selected merchandise for myself.

The fact that YouTube's self-appointed "Beauty Guru" is 16, who lives in Tennessee and probably hasn't travelled out of her state, let alone her country, doesn't quite deter me from following her make-up tips and fashion advice. Her other one million followers from the world over ranging in ages from the tweens to the aunties will probably all agree with me.

What exactly is a "haul" you may ask? It is shopping voyeurism for the 21st century. Women world over will tell you that the best part about a successful excursion to the mall is the thrill of coming home with shopping bags, throwing them on the bed, getting with your sisters or friends and then doing a show and tell. Replace the said sisters/friends with a video camera and talk to a potential audience of a few million people on YouTube instead, and you've got yourself a haul.

Most haul videos, however, are interspaced with beauty how-to videos where make up application tips are given to women of all ages, by women of all ages. One of the more successful YouTubers, juicystar07 is a 17-year-old who graduated high school a year early to head to LA to further her YouTube "career", whereas Lisa Eldridge, (screen name lisaeldridgedotcom) was already a successful make-up artist to celebs, working with Chanel cosmetics amongst other brands before she started making videos for YouTube.

Much like blogging, making YouTube videos has also become a very profitable venture on its own. Video makers tie up with YouTube for a partnership program which allows them to put ads in your videos and give you a share of their profit which increases in proportion to the number of subscribers you have and the number of views your videos get.

The more popular Beauty Gurus also get tonnes of stuff sent to them for free which they then use in tutorials, and sometimes even get paid to talk about. With millions of subscribers and a subscription base growing exponentially each month, these girls would then be given money to do "paid hauls."

While consumers understand that magazines are probably paid or compensated to feature products between their pages, they are more likely to trust the opinion of a young girl who swears by a particular brand of eye shadows who is talking to them through a video installed in her bedroom. A lot of them also have personal vlog YouTube channels (video logs) where they talk about their personal lives and experiences which gathers them an even larger fan base as it further humanises them.

While the FTC in America has since the end of 2009 enforced laws that insist on YouTubers disclosing products that have been sent to them for free or that involve a compensation or money exchange of any sort, most probably don't enforce that or casually mention products sent into them every few videos. Some of the more popular ones go on to work with specific make up brands (like Michelle Phan working with Lancome) and some have random tie-ups with unrelated businesses (Juicystar07 and her sister tied up with a brand to launch their own line of cell phone cases).

Gadget world

In the gadget world as well as a lot of channels have come up that show the unboxing of products as well as do gadget reviews on the latest tech gear. While I've done a few YouTube videos for my blog, I really enjoy the work of channels like DigitalRevCom that add some humour to their camera reviews.

YouTube videos are not only big business for the beauty and retail industry but have given a new platform for all sorts of entertainers. Young comedians Ryan Higa and Shane Dawson (nigahiga and shanedawsonTV) have videos that receive millions of hits and are both are rumoured to be working on their own TV shows. Lucas Cruikshank, who created the popular character Fred Figglehorn on YouTube has already gone on to tie up with Nickelodeon who made a Fred movie and also has a whole range of products surrounding the franchise.

Wannabe talk show hosts through YouTube also have a ready made platform by which they talk randomly about products, recent happenings and world news. Michael Buckley, a popular host on his whatthebuckshow is funny, mostly inappropriate and has one of the most subscribed channels on YouTube.

Some of these entertainers make a lot of money just from YouTube itself and Ryan Higa is said to have made around $300,000 in 2010 alone. And of course there are people like Rebecca Black who went from anonymous high schooler to having her own record deal with a cameo in a Katy Perry music video and Maria Aragon whose YouTube performance of Born this Way landed her a duet on stage with Lady Gaga herself.

So the next time you find yourself with a spare camera and some spare time why not showcase some of your hidden talent or encourage your kids to do the same and put up your videos on YouTube? You never know.. your kid could just turn out to be the next Justin Bieber. Oh, didn't you know he started off on YouTube too?

The writer is Director of Jumbo Electronics and a local blogger who writes at www.kiranscorner.com.