Over my time on the internet, I have come across statements made by many who partake on the YouTube hustle that having a channel has actually cost them opportunities in whatever industry they’ve tried to enter into. At first glance you’d assume that maybe one of the causes for this is the content that they’ve uploaded on their channel, however, often times that’s not the case. Even people with prominent channels, that are successful and family-friendly have met similar fates, so I wanted to explore this phenomenon and see why having a YouTube channel might actually cost you opportunities!
To understand why people may feel a certain way, I did what many investigators would do and began researching…on Google. Well, let’s backtrack a bit here. One of the reasons that sparked this blog was a tweet made by a prominent Voice actor and YouTuber SungWon Cho aka ProZD, who wrote this on twitter:
-i was replaced in a project once because one of the other VO directors found out i was a “fucking youtuber”
-on a project i booked, the director told me afterwards they hadn’t wanted to send me the audition in the first place because they thought i was just a youtuber https://t.co/M6IepGmvNZ— SungWon Cho (@ProZD) December 3, 2019
Sure, one tweet alone wouldn’t have motivated me to look into it, until I take a look at each quoted tweet and realized “wow, seems to be a common trend“! Not just in voice acting, it seems whatever career you’re trying to venture into, if the industry isn’t fond of you having a YouTube Channel, it’s basically over before it’s even begun.
This begs the question, why would just having a YouTube channel, that’s well kept and semi-professional be enough to snuff someone out of an opportunity? I could drag this on but I sense you grow wary of this so I’ll just get right to it. It’s perception! No really, that’s it. Ok, maybe not exactly but it does play major factor as to how you’re perceived when they find out you have a YouTube channel. Just like any employment, your potential employee will look at your social media history to see what type of person you are before hiring you. Having a YouTube channel takes this a step further as it already paints a picture of you before they’ve even looked at your stuff.
YouTube till this day is not held in high regards by the mass majority, regardless of generations and regardless of the amount of subscribers someone might have, which I know, is odd. The main image that people have in their heads for YouTuber, and I’m massively generalizing, it’s of a “person sitting in their room and talking to a camera”! Which, is kinda true funny enough. However, just like gaming and comic books, those hobbies have a lingering bad reputation that still haunts those communities till this day and YouTube is somewhat in that same ball park. There’s no “pride” or ” stature that comes from saying “I’m a YouTuber, like there is for saying I’m a doctor or a Real Estate agent.
Sure, it’s getting more accepted by the younger the generation who’ll grow up more cultured but outside of that, people don’t see it as proper profession yet. In their heads, YouTube is a place for people to just goof off and have fun. They can’t see the potential it offers and how one can build a business from it. They don’t understand the hard work that goes behind the scenes to make a proper, edited video. Of course, with all the bullshit that has transpired on the platform over the years, it’s no wonder people aren’t taking the platform and the people who’re on it very serious, and also why YouTube is so desperate to bring over actual actors and celebrities to change the image of the platform. And we won’t be seeing a change in that trend anytime soon.
YouTube has been around for more than ten years, constantly evolving and yet till this day, the distain for the platform and its content creator remains strong. The pioneers who put the platform on the map have all but come and gone, and new blood have picked up the mantle, maybe ten years on the internet seems like a eternity however, in my opinion YouTube is still young and has a whole more ways to go so I look forward to see the perception change. Until then, I’d recommend anyone who those YouTube to carry themselves for dignified and treat your channel like a business, that way maybe the perception might change.
