Six weeks into a fierce season of ABC's Dancing With The Stars, YouTube's fashion wunderkind Bethany Mota is still going strong. Paired onstage with pro favorite Derek Hough (as well as off-stage in romantic rumors), Mota is currently ranked No. 2 in the competition's average score chart. But as far as the Google-owned YouTube is concerned, she's No. 1 in the video channel's ongoing push to go mainstream.
'Oh my God, LOVE HER, oh my God,' Taylor Swift tweeted with the hashtag #BAEthany soon after after DWTS's 19th season premiered. If most of America hadn't heard of Mota before DWTS, this single shoutout from Mota's most famous fan, retweeted more than 15,000 times, was a fine introduction.
So how does a teen go from online fashion and beauty guru to competing in one of America's most popular reality TV shows? It helps if YouTube has your back. The video-sharing site has undying faith in Bethany Mota. This is clear by how much and how fiercely the online video company is hawking the 18-year-old to mainstream media outlets; print magazines, name brand apparel, and now-reality television.
Mota isn't the only YouTube star to make the cross-over to reality TV, but she is the first to do it as an official YouTube brand.
'We're just getting started with YouTube and its potential' Omid Kordestani, Google's chief business officer said during the tech giant's earnings call earlier this week. Along with Coke, General Motors and other major brands, the video-sharing site now has deals with the top five U.S. advertising agencies, Kordestani announced. The more eyes YouTube can get on its stars, the more ads that are seen by potential customers.
The online video giant campaign to push its homegrown stars into mainstream media territory includes on and off-site ads to promote some of its highest subscribed and most marketable Youtubers. The site is also committed to funding the shows of some top content creators in an effort to make high production channels and videos they hope will be more accessible to the larger public.
As the face of YouTube's efforts, Mota is the obvious choice. Her Macbarbie07 channel, which features videos fashion tips and Mota's shopping purchases, has over 7 million subscribers. Each viewer bears witness to the lucrative advertising that accompany Mota's videos. She's also partnered with Aeropostale to create her own clothing line, and is the covergirl of Seventeen magazine's October 2014 edition.
YouTube is 'very happy for her,' a company representative told ReadWrite when we asked about Mota's DWTS success. It seems an obvious understatement about its most popular cash cow.
Reality TV, it seems, is the YouTube's gateway drug to larger fame. What better a genre where YouTube stars to continue to capitalize on their natural charisma and good looks?
In May 2010, before YouTube started financing the Internet famous, comedian Kevin Wu, better known as Kevjumba, participated in the 17th season of The Amazing Race with his father. The 24-year-old currently boasts over 3 million YouTube subscribers.
Two other YouTubers, Strawburry17 (Meghan Camarena) and Joey Graceffa joined the 22nd season of The Amazing Race as a team, returning to join the cast of the show's second all-star season in 2014. The two friends are both YouTube vloggers who make humorous videos about their lives. Camarena currently holds close to 800,000 subscribers, while Graceffa has over 4 million. Breaking away from reality TV, several YouTube content creators have also transitioned to scripted programs on cable.
Comedian YouTuber Fred, also known as Lucas Cruikshank, has spawned three movies and a television show on Nickelodeon based on Cruikshank's titular character in his YouTube channel, Fred Figglehorn.
Comedy team The Fine Bros also have a television series premiering on Nickelodeon called ReactToThat, a show based on their popular web series Kids React. The two channels' youthful demographics make them a strong match for channels like Nickelodeon.
Mota's demographic of tween to teen girls makes her a perfect fit as one of DWTS's resident 'young person' for the season.
DWTS's show's calculated line-up of Retro Star, Athlete, and Reality TV Star From Another Reality TV show, is regularly rounded out by a Disney Channel or Nickelodeon celebrity to grab the kid demographic that couldn't care less about ballroom dance competitions. This season, DWTS includes Janel Parris from ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars. But the show's choice of Mota suggests all involved expect her appeal to be as great as her kid-friendly predecessors. So far, they're right.
It is now no question whether or not YouTube can break its stars into mainstream media. With Mota's major press blitz as of late, it's clear they already have. The teen queen is in-and now the question is whether or not her fame will be sustainable in Hollywood.
Images courtesy of Dancing With The Stars and Seventeen Magazine
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