Zoella is bigger than Beyonce on YouTube – but who is Zoe Sugg?

The online star has more than 6.2million subscribers, was reported to have earned £300,000 in one year, and huge video billboards of her have sprung up in Westfield shopping centres.

But who is she and why is she relevant? These are questions on many people's lips as they are forced to sit through an advert promoting her fashion and beauty channel before the YouTube video of their choice.

Zoe Sugg, 24, started a blog in 2009 as a 'creative outlet' and since then she has built a fortune through Google video advertising revenue, sponsorships and her own high-street bath product line.

Despite all the lucrative opportunities, travel and popularity, critics say that girls should not have role models that encourage materialism, over-consumption and obsession with appearances.

Forums dedicated to discussing YouTubers state their disapproval with advertising and marketing products to the young and impressionable.

She received fierce backlash for an emotional video posted ' Sometimes It Gets A Bit Too Much', which garnered more than 2.5million views alone.

Brands pay her thousands to be marketed in her blogs or vlogs (video blogs) and Zoe, with her vlogger boyfriend Alfie Deyes, 21, announced her move this week to a £935,000 five-bedroom house.

The luxury Brighton property also comes with an electric gate, which she suggested she needed by complaining of crazed fans ringing her doorbell throughout the day and night in the past.

Meet-ups with her fans draw in thousands and security is present to protect Zoe from the crush of dedicated fan girls desperate to take a selfie with their idol.

When she and Alfie turned up to see One Direction at the O2 arena in London, she felt forced to go home as she was overwhelmed by the attention.

Zoe, who grew up in Wiltshire, told the Telegraph: 'We were surrounded by people and it was so unexpected and stressful that the security men had to rescue me.

'I was so upset I had to go home before a single note was played.'

Her fans describe her as an 'inspiration' for speaking about anxiety and issues effecting young women and she was made the first Digital Ambassador for mental health charity Mind earlier this month.

She said: 'I know just how isolating it can feel to experience severe anxiety.'

The daughter of a property businessman and beautician, she left school with three A-Levels and turned down university for an interior design apprenticeship.

Last year she was awarded Best British Vlogger 2013 at the Radio 1 Teen Awards and this year she picked up Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award in the UK Favourite Vlogger category.