My kids have favorite YouTubers (people with a YouTube channel).
It strikes me how radical this is. I grew up watching Love Boat and Starsky and Hutch after school. The YouTubers my kids watch are essentially making indie TV shows for the computer – either Let’s Play, or straight GamePlay, or even videos that use a game interface but are more like stand-up comedy. All are episodic. All have subscribers. All are indie and completely unique – no Hollywood stereotypes, no industry-approved scripts.
It’s all indie, all the time. This is the future, folks. And it’s highly entertaining. (This doesn’t foretell the end of novel-reading, but it is some serious competition. And I believe that the novel will continue to be the “base form” of literature, from which will spring movies, TV shows, VR experiences, and more.)
My sons also have some favorites on YouTube. Key and Peele comes to mind. They're hilarious. And now they have their own TV show. I think on Comedy Central? I love how people can just upload their own creations. Really cool.
It's really the democratization of entertainment… I love it!