[LINK] Oz Queen of YouTube

[Marghanita da Cruz]

stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:
> How Natalie became Australia's queen of YouTube
> 
> Natalie Tran, 22, is the most subscribed YouTube user in Australia and 
> ranks 37th in the world.  (By Asher Moses, February 4, 2009 - 12:47PM)
> 
> http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/web/how-natalie-became-
> australias-queen-of-youtube/2009/02/04/1233423281416.html


while a linker's clips languish at under 100 views
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRhspFpVT_g>

> 
> 
>>From her parents' home in western Sydney, Natalie Tran, Australia's queen 
> of YouTube, has proven time and again that titillation is not a 
> prerequisite to internet fame.
> 
> With more than 150,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, Tran, 22, is 
> easily the most subscribed YouTube user in Australia, while globally she 
> ranks 37th.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/user/communitychannel
> 
> The 118 videos she's created over two years have amassed 64 million 
> views, making her also the most viewed Australian YouTube user of all 
> time - more popular on the site than even AC/DC, whose videos have 
> attracted 53 million views.
> 
> But while some female web stars such as Obama Girl have used their 
> sexuality to amass scores of drooling fanboys, Tran has eschewed 
> titillation in favour of comedic skits about her everyday life.
> 
> "I think that to have longevity on these kind of websites you need to 
> offer something different ... there's plenty of [sexual] material on the 
> internet that would provide that kind of entertainment already," she said.
> 
> For instance, her most recent skit riffs on the poor quality voice 
> recognition services many companies use to answer their phones and 
> provides funny tips on how to bypass them.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZT3ykAkLGg&feature=channel_page
> 
> In another, Tran talks about the irrational fears that people have, such 
> as: "When I kill an insect I'm really conscious that there's another one 
> in the room that's probably seen that massacre go down and it's probably 
> going to try and find me as well as my family."
> 
> http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=f3GwJXfefck&feature=channel_page
> 
> The comedic value is in Tran's satirical re-enactments of the situations 
> she is talking about and the fact that she plays all of the characters.
> 
> Tran said the skits were all based on things that happened in her 
> day, "just a little bit exaggerated for comedy purposes".
> 
> "They're not huge deep and meaningful videos, they're just short snippets 
> that are meant to be a little bit of fun in somebody's lunch break ... 
> the world wouldn't be a worse place without them," she said.
> 
> Tran publishes a new video every two to three days, each taking about 
> four hours to make, including writing, filming, editing and uploading.
> 
> Outside of that she said she spends an hour at night replying to the 
> hundreds of messages she receives each day from fans.
> 
> Also unlike many internet celebrities, Tran has never courted fame, 
> regularly turning down TV shows and journalists who are more interested 
> in poking fun at the whacky world of YouTube than seriously examining its 
> place in the new digital media world.
> 
> She works in retail on and off while studying digital media at the 
> University of NSW, but says most of her classmates don't know of her 
> YouTube fame.
> 
> Tran said she had been approached by numerous companies seeking to 
> sponsor her videos or pay for an endorsement but she decided against 
> heading down that path, fearful it would put viewers offside.
> 
> "It [sponsorship money] is very tempting but it's not really what I'm 
> looking for - I've spent a long time creating something and I don't want 
> to give that up," she said.
> 
> While she earns a modest income from YouTube's Partner Program - which 
> gives a small percentage of ad revenue to the site's most popular users - 
> Tran said money and fame did not concern her.
> 
> She was more interested in practically applying her digital media studies 
> to learn "the science behind" making content that builds and sustains 
> audiences online.
> 
> "I don't think internet fame holds very much in the real world," she said.
> --
> 
> Cheers,
> Stephen
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202