VideoInk: The Business of Beauty 2013
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VideoInk: The Business of Beauty 2013
Beauty brand Bobbi Brown Cosmetics is partnering with Collective Digital Studio to launch a beauty and lifestyle YouTube channel called I love makeup. The goal for I love makeup is to go beyond what you normally see with beauty content/channels on YouTube. While the channel will have how-to content and makeover-based shows, it will also feature an array of original “beauty-centric” comedy series and various types of “aspirational content.” The beauty brand is looking to mine what it considers to be a fertile ground of current and new customers: YouTube. “We made a strategic decision to launch this new channel in an effort to reach Millennials where they are playing today and to have a conversation with them in their language,” said Maureen Case, president of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, in a statement.
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The beauty brand is looking to mine what it considers to be a fertile ground of current and new customers: YouTube. “We made a strategic decision to launch this new channel in an effort to reach Millennials where they are playing today and to have a conversation with them in their language,” said Maureen Case, president of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, in a statement. Bobbi Brown, the founder and namesake of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, echoed that thought. She said the decision to launch a YouTube channel stemmed from seeing her products being used by YouTubers in their videos. “We decided to partner with some of them to fully engage with them and to reach a younger audience the way only YouTube can,” she said. With that in mind, I love makeup’s launch slate will include programming featuring the likes of Grace Helbig (Daily Grace), Weylie Hoang (ilikeweylie), Taryn Southern, Alexa Losey, Sophia Chang (Fashionista804), and Claire Marshall (ohhairclaire).
“Grace’s Faces”: Comedic genius Grace Helbig, along with her makeup artist sidekick, “surprise” YouTube stars including ijustine, Hannah Hart, and Glozell with the gift of a pop-in makeover. “The Pretty Party”: The entertaining and action-packed show features the
channel’s YouTube inf luencers doing various beauty challenges, makeup demos, and “road-testing” waterproof mascara and smudge-proof lipstick.
“Haute Wheels”: Every week, one lucky fan will be chosen to receive a custom makeover and lesson — in a tricked out “Haute Wheels” beauty mobile — to get them ready for an upcoming event. “Make Up and Go”: The channel’s signature “getting ready with me” series fea-
tures a glance into the makeup routines of different beauty gurus — each told in a stylistic and personal way.
“Say It with Makeup”: The world’s most talented artists including musicians, painters, designers and chefs, are tasked to trade out their normal “tools” for a new palette of only makeup and makeup tools. Watch what they can create with makeup alone! “Inspiration Nation”: In this artistic, aspirational spin on the standard makeup “how-to,” we delight and inspire viewers with our take on how to achieve the best looks in beauty. “Beauty Dos, Don’ts, and Duhs”: This signature tips & tricks series provides all
the quick fix-its and beauty basics any gal needs to know.
Since the channel partners seem to be aware of their audience’s relationship with social media, Bobbi Brown and CDS plan to build a community encompassing Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram. Channel talent and Bobbi Brown makeup artists will interact with viewers across all of the platforms every week. I love makeup is executive produced by CDS’ Davida Hall. The official launch date is set for September 10. 5
VideoInk: The Business of Beauty 2013
YouTube is helping to democratize what “beauty” means, much in the same way it’s democratizing what it means to be a comedian, a news anchor, and even a romantic actor. Check out our pick of beauty haulers:Kandee Johnson, Rachel Talbott, MissGlamorazzi and Zoella
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kin-care buyers are more likely to watch videos online and on mobile devices when compared to the general population, according to new research findings released by the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and Prosper Insights. The report, which attempted to measure how active “frequent skin-care and suntan lotion buyers” are on computers and mobile devices, found that 49% of skin-care buyers “regularly” watch online video content, compared to 22% of the general population. In addition, 37% of skin-care buyers regularly watch mobile video, versus 12% of the general population. Granted, this appears to measure how often this consumer group watches video content in general on digital platforms. But if you combine this with some of the other data in the
report — like how skincare buyers are more likely than the average US adult to research (61% vs. 42%) and purchase products (50% vs. 29%) online, or how “skincare enthusiasts” love entertainment apps (72% vs. 56%) — then it stands to reason that this group is likely to watch a decent amount of beauty-related content on the web. Skincare enthusiasts are also more receptive to video ads, with 30% “regularly” watching pre-rolls compared to 10% of average adults. Which, if anything, reinforces how big of a business beauty content creators and advertisers have the potential to command online, especially on sites like YouTube. 7
VideoInk: The Business of Beauty 2013
It wasn’t until her makeup-savvy college roommate introduced her to her first high-end mascara during a study abroad in Paris, that she became hooked, diving into the YouTube beauty scene and making it her mission to learn what the pros knew.
When she was young, MissGlamorazzi was a tomboy.
After swimming in makeup videos for a summer, Nilsen decided to film her own, but not because she was confident in her ability. With the exception of spiders, being on camera was her number one fear and she intended to conquer it.
Now, 24-year-old Ingrid Nilsen of the famed YouTube beauty channel that has amassed more than 1.3 million subscribers, makes a living being girly and glamorous.
“I really made the video to try and make myself a more confident person,” Nilsen says. “So, I made my channel at like 3 a.m. and then posted a video the next day. It just felt good to put the video up there whether people were watching it or not.”
A career as a beauty maven was never her plan: The first thing Nilsen ever wanted to be was a teacher. Then her ambition moved to animation and by late middle school, Nilsen was sure she’d be an architect. In fact, she carried that dream to college, choosing it as her major.
VideoInk: Business of Beauty 2013
But people were watching and asking to see more, so she kept posting. 8
At first, by her own admission, her videos were less than stellar. She even removed her first hair curling tutorial citing poor lighting, mumbles and appearing as though she were “in a bat cave,” she says giggling.
she says. “And that means having whatever it is that I’m putting out there in the world, truly ref lect who I am and the things that I love.” There aren’t any MissGlamorazzi branded items yet, but within the next five years, Nilsen hopes to launch a product line or a company. Something, she says, that will be sustainable beyond the life of her YouTube channel.
When Nilsen signed with YouTube talent network, Big Frame, in August 2011, that’s when things got real, she says. “It really kind of solidified everything as a business, like ‘OK this is what I’m going to do’,” she says. “They’ve been a big part of helping me grow my channel.”
Ask Nilsen to describe herself and you get one surprising answer and two that are just what you’d expect from this cheerful entrepreneur: She says she’s “dedicated, nerdy [surprise], and just very happy.”
Since then, she’s taken on brand partnerships with companies like BH Cosmetics and does some sponsored content. She also collaborates with other YouTubers like Tyler Oakley and Elle Fowler, and draws a crowd at events. She is able to fully support herself as MissGlamorazzi.
Nilsen is motivated to continue growing the MissGlamorazzi brand, which she sees as a way to show young girls they can overcome fears and become whatever they want. “I was so shy and so not confident,” she says. “And I really just want to spread that message to girls and kind of cultivate a new generation of confident young women.”
Nilsen built a brand as she built her following, but branding isn’t just about business to her. “Building a brand means staying true to who I am,” 9
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t 22, Zoe Sugg, the brains behind Zoella, has turned her beauty blog into somewhat of a media enterprise and it all began with a boring night. Sugg had been scouring the web for beauty blogs and vlogs to stay up on beauty world happenings when one night, with little else to do, she decided to join in. Like many beauty bloggers on the scene, Sugg started her YouTube channel as a way to combat shyness and to get in on the conversation that was happening. At first, she was stumped for what to film, so she shot a day out shopping with a friend. For the first “proper” Zoella video as she refers to it, she simply filmed 60 things in her bedroom for a glimpse into her life. Her following grew slowly. She admits on her blog to having gained just three followers in two weeks, but she kept at it and her present YouTube celebrity still surprises her. “It’s amazing that Zoella pays the bills these days and I am just very fortunate that my hobby turned into a proper job,” she said in an email interview.
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Despite her ability to rake in subscribers and views, the beauty guru said she is, “Excited, appreciative, humbled, amazed, and very much looking forward to the future,” when she considers her success as Zoella. When it comes to tutorials, you’ll find Sugg demonstrating everything from her daily makeup routine (or her brother’s attempt to do her makeup) to easy hairstyles to a Topshop haul with an accompanying $500 gift card giveaway for viewers. Sugg has made quite a name for herself since starting Zoella in 2009. She appeared in Teen Vogue as a “YouTube mega star” in February 2013 and in 2011, won Cosmopolitan UK’s “Best established beauty blog” award. Now, Zoella fans are so devout that some have even created blogs dedicated to their beauty idol: Zoella-style, Queen Zoella, Little Zoella Things. Sugg signed with beauty/fashion-focused YouTube MCN StyleHaul in November 2012 and has been steadily growing Zoella since. To her, building a brand means, “Sticking to what is true to you, being consistent and working hard,” she said. Partnering with brands is a departure for Sugg in some ways — mostly because she’s determined to always share products she genuinely believes in. “I turn down about 99 percent of the approaches that are made by brands that want to be on my channel,” she said. “Because, as with everything else that I do on my channel, I only talk about stuff I love.” Instead, Sugg partners with other brands like Sprinkle of Glitter and Tanya Burr on their own channels, which she said is a great experience. As for the future, Sugg wouldn’t say exactly what’s in store for Zoella. Opting to keep an air of mystery, she exclaimed “There are loads of exciting things in the pipeline, so watch this space!”
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eauty is one of the most intriguing content categories on YouTube, because it’s changing the way billion-dollar brands are selling everything from acne and anti-aging creams, to nail polish, mascara, and even deodorant. Take L’Oreal Paris, the third-largest global beauty brand in terms of overall revenue. In 2012, the company ran ads in eight of the top fifteen beauty videos, a clear vote of confidence in the most popular YouTube beauty gurus’ power to boost brand awareness, affinity, and purchase intent. And with good reason. Although most brands have launched their own content channels, there are challenges to amassing loyal audiences that rival the size of a Michelle Phan. First is marketplace fragmentation. There is just too much content for any one beauty fanatic to consume. Lancome, for example, is another brand that purchased ads in the top beauty videos of 2012. Its YouTube subscriber base is fractured between three channels: Lancome Worldwide, with just over 6,500, Lancome Spain with just over 2,000, and Lancome USA, with 14,100 subs. While sizable, those numbers are nowhere near the level of active engagement of a popular beauty guru like Jessica Harlow with nearly 454,000 subscribers. The second challenge is the diffi-
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culty in matching the genuineness that YouTube content creators bring to their audiences. “The commonality across the successful beauty creators is that they are honest, authentic, and easy-to-understand,” says YouTube beauty and entertainment strategist Taylor Marcus. Most successful beauty haulers didn’t start out with ad revenue on their mind — they started posting content because they were crazy about makeup or skincare, and wanted to connect with others who felt the same. That’s an intangible quality that few brands are able to replicate, even with a dedicated content development team. Helping Brands Feel Pretty Screen enough beauty videos on YouTube though, and you’ll see the multitude of brand partnerships and sponsorships currently available. The YouTube team helps facilitate many of these deals, such as a recent cross-platform integration between CoverGirl, Walmart, and EleventhGorgeous. “P&G wanted to drive awareness of CoverGirl cosmetics and encourage purchase at Walmart, so [we] connected P&G with YouTube creators and beauty inf luencers to create a custom video integrating the brand and key products,” Marcus says. The video was so well received among EleventhGorgeous fans that
the inf luencers created an additional video featuring P&G products at the request of subscribers, at no cost to the brand.” The deal also included a national print campaign that ran across multiple publications like Us Weekly. Media companies like Conde Nast are also potential partners for brands and beauty content creators. In Elevator Makeover, for example, Jessica Harlow teams up with Glamour contributor and hairstylist Theodore Leaf to do a ridiculously fast, special occasion makeover of a woman — while she’s in the elevator on her way to the event. P&G is the underwriter of the show, a deal announced as part of a whole roster of new, sponsor-backed original series for Glamour from Conde Nast Entertainment. So who are these digital beauty gurus that dominate on YouTube? “We’re seeing a whole host of incredibly successful beauty creators, all succeeding with different strategies,” Marcus says. “Obviously Michelle Phan is one of the biggest names on YouTube and her success with Ipsy and as a Lancome ambassador is impressive. But we’re also seeing creators like Tati Westbrook from GlamLifeGuru be nominated in Allure’s best beauty vlogger competition and of course, Bethany Mota from Macbarbie07 has over 2.3 million subscribers to her channel.” Other notable beauty content creators include Kasey Marie, Franchesca Ramsey, Rachel Talbott, Alba Garcia, and Kandee Johnson.
Currently there are three main revenue streams for YouTube content creators in the beauty business: direct ad sales from YouTube, partner revenue from a multi-channel network (MCN), and merchandising or product sales. Since brands want scale, the prospect of joining an MCN is appealing for beauty haulers that may be popular — just not in terms of millions, or even hundreds of thousands of viewers. Although contract terms and benefits vary, the premise is that an MCN will help individual content creators make more money by bundling their views and offering marketing, sales, and sometimes even production support in exchange for a cut of the ad revenue. Backed by $17 million in VC funding, StyleHaul is one of the largest of such networks. Founded in 2011, the StyleHaul network attracts 50 million unique monthly views. According to president and CEO Stephanie Horbaczewski, StyleHaul is sharply focused on adding the right content creators to its network, citing the “viewers’ attachment to the inf luencers” as one of the key factors in its success. “There are best practices such as quality, consistency, and composition, but ultimately innovation and the ability to engage the viewer are most important,” Horbaczewski says. That dedication to quality talent continues to attract brand partners like Maybelline, which recently partnered with StyleHaul to ramp up viewership in its “Recreate the Runway” series. Meanwhile, Big Frame’s Polished offers creators the premise of additional revenue outside of YouTube with its multi-platform strategy, according to director Lisa Filipelli. “Polished is multiplatform in that it is first driven by the content on YouTube, but also socially via several other platforms such as the Polished.com blog and website, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+,” Filipelli says. continued on page 23 13
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atch any of Rachel Talbott’s videos on YouTube, and you’ll notice the ease with which she talks to her audience. She is a natural. That’s not to say other YouTube beauty gurus have a problem with this — they wouldn’t be where they are today if they did not know what they were talking about — but in Talbott’s case, she comes off as a true beauty and fashion pro. Which is an apt description of who Talbott is — just look at her resume.
I was working as a skincare specialist for Clarisonic, and lots of my clients and friends suggested I start a blog to share some of my tips,” says Talbott. “Eventually, I got wind of the opportunity to do video blogs, or vlogs on YouTube. Beauty gurus on YouTube were on the rise, and I thought it would be a fun opporThis is a fun outlet for me, because as a child tunity to share everything I had I did lots of commercials, theatre, and voicelearned as a skincare specialist.
overs and session singing,” she says. “YouTube allows me to not only be on camera, and share It also helped that YouTube was a my passion for skincare, fashion, beauty, etc., homecoming of sorts. but also gives me an opportunity that brings me From that opportunity, she has back to my on-camera roots.
built a YouTube career that spans a channel (CheckInTheMirror) with more than 224,000 subscribers and partnerships with brands and media companies like Nine West and Disney to produce content for their YouTube destinations. Helping her along the way is YouTube talent network Big Frame, which she says has been a key partner in helping her grow her audience and work with brands on the world’s biggest video site. “Partnering with a network you trust is key as they can really help you with income opportunities,” says Talbott. This requires a lot of listening and communicating, which Talbott says Big Frame provides in spades.
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There are a variety of road blocks when working on the internet,” says Talbott. The major ones are building an audience and, as Talbott describes it: “figuring out how you are going to make a living without taking every single brand deal that comes your way. A network such as Big Frame is able to help Talbott accomplish both without the risk of losing the trust of her audience, which she says would be easy to do if she took every brand deal offered to her. This is why communication is so important. “I really made it clear [with Big Frame] that I wanted to make money hosting webisodes and creating content for other channels, and not by taking every single money-making brand deal that came up,” she says. And now that aspect of her YouTube career — the content that she is producing for other channels and sites — is where a majority of her income comes from. It doesn’t mean she’s not open to talking about and working with brands for her main channel, it just has to be done in an authentic way — the oldest and truest adage when it comes to engaging with people online.
I’m extremely picky with brands that I choose to work with,” says Talbott. “I’ve said ‘no’ to way more brands than I’ve said ‘yes’ to. It comes down to honesty and integrity for me. I have to really love the product to mention it on my channel. And to maintain her authenticity, it’s important that Talbott is allowed to speak about that brand or product in her own words, which means: no script. “I don’t like to spout off statistics, or be given a script,” she says. “I’m okay with sharing important information and educating my viewers, that’s originally why I started my channel, but it has to be my own words.” So far, Talbott says she hasn’t had any hiccups with brands. And as her YouTube presence has grown, she says it’s
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opened up more opportunities for her to work with brands she already loves, which makes it easy to talk about them on her channel — a “win-win” for all.
that, partnering with a team that can help guide your career is essential.” “I have said no to big offers before, because I knew I couldn’t take it,” she continues. “If I’m offered an opportunity to be in a commercial outside of my channel, that is one thing. But my channel started with honest opinions, and I want to keep it that way.”
Of course there are other ways for beauty gurus and other content creators on YouTube to grow their audience and monetize content, be it from collaborating with other content creators or “mainstream” channels or from pre-roll ad revenue. Once again, Talbott says it’s important for creators to have a good working relationship with their representation to manage all of that. “A lot of people say to me ‘Man, I wanna start a YouTube channel,’ as though making a channel and making loads of money is easy,” she says. “It’s really, really not. As the industry gets more saturated, it gets harder. What’s important is to focus on being you and building an audience that likes and relates to you. Once you do
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Easy, Breezy, Beautiful Uncovering the Business of Beauty on YouTube
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t all started with a simple YouTube search: “smoky eye for brown eyes.” Four hours later, I had a basic grasp of how to achieve the coveted look — not to mention a newfound appreciation for eyeshadow primer, liquid liner, and brow highlighter. Welcome to the Business of Beauty on YouTube, where thousands of digital beauty gurus upload thousands of hours of tutorials, product reviews, and interviews every day. It’s where mega-brands like P&G and Estee Lauder are targeting a rabid audience with channels of their own, or through partnerships with media companies like Hearst and sponsorships of high-profile content creators like Tanya Burr. It’s where the “face” of beauty actually mirrors the demographic makeup of the United States (and abroad), with popular content creators across a variety of ages and ethnicities, and both genders. And it’s where viewers like me can get lost in a sea of great (and not-so-great) content. than 100,000 subscribers each “Smaller” channels like Total Beauty and eHow have managed to accrue upwards of 20 million views on their videos.
Of course, views and subscriber counts are just one type of metric. Stats like subscriber retention, view-through rates, and ad click-through rates would provide a more nuanced understanding of how engaged the YouTube beauty audience is, but there’s currently no definitive, third-party source for that type of information.
Individual content creators and multi-channel networks (MCNs) like StyleHaul and Big Frame’s ‘Polished‘ likely offer their own analytics for brands — particularly since advertisers want a granular understanding of the audience — but from an outsider’s view, it’s all a matter of either knowing who to subscribe to or rolling the dice with search.
The global beauty industry is massive — total sales for Q1 topped $2.2 billion last year — so it’s no surprise that the appetite for beauty content on YouTube is equallyhuge. Some quick stats from luxury research group L2:
Show Me the Pretty
Dior-57 million views Proactiv-14 million Michelle Phan-738 million views
Much like any YouTube adventure, searching for beauty content using common phrases like “statement lip,” “applying liquid liner,” or even “organic skincare” yields a mixed bag of results. Some content is popular — but not necessarily good — and exploring beyond the first few pages of results
Excluding Phan and her Fawn Network, five of the channels — It’s Judy Time, PurseBuzz, The Stylish, Xteener, and Hello Style — have more
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is time-consuming (hence my initial four-hour trip down the eye makeup rabbit hole). Promoted videos can dominate the search results and the targeting is hit-or-miss. Over the course of a single viewing session, viewers can often be served the same, irrelevant ad multiple times — and then other times, get the perfect 30-second spot that boosts purchase intent or product consideration (L’Oreal Spain Agua Micelar makeup remover, I’m looking at you). Still, some commonalities emerge when you spend enough time digging. For example, it appears that many of the more popular content creators — including Jennie Jenkins, Kandee Johnson, Rachel Talbott, and Amanda Steele — began uploading beauty videos in 2009. In fact, many of the most popular videos in terms of overall views are clips from 2010–2012, and not a channel’s most current content. That hasn’t stopped beauty haulers from adhering to seasonal calendars, a factor YouTube beauty and entertainment strategist Taylor Marcus says contributes to overall success. “Whether it’s tagging videos around summer hauls or catering specifically to Halloween makeup, beauty videos work very well when programmed around certain tentpole moments,” Marcus says. “Of course there are evergreen topics, like what foundation works well or a skin cleaning regime, but definitely creators are successful when they lean in to the current trends and seasonality.” Meanwhile, beauty content is dominated by two types of videos – how-tos or tutorials and product reviews or “hauls” – across five main categories:
Makeup Hair Skincare Natural/Vegan Nails
There are subcategories like men’s and celebrity-fo-
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cused content within each vertical, which makes sense, since the categories mirror the breakdown of how beauty products are sold in stores. The categories and subcategories also ref lect global trends in beauty product consumption. For example, demand for organic beauty products is forecast to reach $13.2 billion in 2018, so you’d expect to see networks like Nature’s Knock Out to continue to increase in popularity. And men’s grooming is one of the fastest-growing categories in personal care, hence the growth in popularity of content creators like Jair Woo and Men’s Skin Care with Ross.
Redefining Beauty One Channel at a Time There’s also a distinct heterogeneousness to the beauty content on YouTube, a ref lection perhaps of the global nature of its audience. Whether discovered by search or from clicking through content creator suggestions and tags, the faces behind the content are quite diverse. Natural hair-care vloggers like Franchesca Ramsey, Kim Love, and Long Hair Don’t Care have surged in popularity with women of color. There are hundreds of videos focused on makeup for Indian weddings, and even channels focused on makeup for women battling cancer. Far more than just helping brands sell products, YouTube is evolving into a place where the “business of beauty” isn’t defined by “mainstream” American or Western standards of beauty. There is a diversity of races, nationalities, and an inf lux of “alternative” ideas of beauty – take the punk rock-inspired Monroe Misfit or Vintage or Tacky for example. In this way, YouTube is helping to democratize what “beauty” means, much in the same way it’s democratizing what it means to be a comedian, a news anchor, and even a romantic actor.
VideoInk: The Business of Beauty 2013
Often, success in this brave new digital and social world seems directly proportionate to how mean or “snarky” a personality can be. (Think news sites like Gawker, the ruthless annals of Reddit, or the Twitter accounts of any one of Bravo’s Real Housewives). Which is why YouTube beauty sensation and makeup artist Kandee Johnson is such a breath of fresh air. There’s absolutely no snark in her makeup tutorials, hairstyle how-tos, or product reviews.
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Watch enough of her videos, and you might suspect that the bubbly, positive persona Johnson — or KandeeJ as she’s known to fans — presents in her videos is a caricature. But talk to her for a few minutes (or even an hour), and you’ll find that she really does pepper her speech with an infectious giggle and frequent exclamations like “Oh gosh!” Nevada-based Johnson’s main YouTube channel boasts over 1.4 million subscribers and more than 203 million views. Some of her most popular clips, like this tutorial on how to apply glitter lip stickers and this transformation into the Queen of Hearts character from Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” have over eight million and three million views, respectively. Welcome to Kandeeland, a world where being genuinely nice and life-affirming leads to integrated sponsorships with brands like Kia, and guest spots hosting the Golden Globes for L’Oreal.
Johnson is currently repped by Maker Studios, whose roster of beauty talent includes Andrea Brooks of AndreasChoice and Camila Coehlo of Makeup By Camila. So far, the 10-month engagement has boosted Johnson’s income through commercial appearances like the Kia series with Chester See, but even with Maker’s representation, she says YouTube still isn’t quite paying all the bills. “It’s definitely part of my income, but it’s not like I don’t have to do anything else,” Johnson says. “I blog and I do some TV show appearances and hosting.” She’s also a single mom raising four children, sharing glimpses of that side of her life on her second YouTube channel and supplemental blog. In the midst of it all, Johnson manages to get new content up on her main channel almost weekly — a departure from when she first launched in 2009 with a constant stream of daily content. “In the beginning, I did a video almost every day and it was insanity,” Johnson says. “I’d shoot these crazy costume videos that would take me two hours to film and then hours of editing to cut down to 10-12 minutes. If someone had told me that I’d be up until three in the morning every night making YouTube videos, I would’ve have thought they were crazy. But that’s what it was like.” Johnson’s goal now is to do two videos per week, a task she equates to a 16-hour day for each video, since she serves as “camera man, lighting person, and editor.”
VideoInk: The Business of Beauty 2013
With this much investment, you’d think that Johnson would be a bit more focused on monetizing her efforts. Though she’s worked on some non-paid projects for makeup brands “she’s loved for years” like Urban Decay, MAC, and Makeup Forever, she doesn’t do paid product reviews or beauty endorsements on principle. “I’ve had every brand approach me for years now, but it’s been a question of staying true to my audience,” Johnson says. “YouTube is like having a conversation with your friend — and if your friend says ‘this is brought to you by McDonald’s’ that feels very strange. And while I do think that turning down some of the opportunities was not a financially wise choice — particularly at certain times in my life — I didn’t and don’t ever want to talk about things I don’t believe in on YouTube.”
It’s this acceptance of what is real — without succumbing to negativity — that seems to fuel Johnson’s YouTube popularity. While her clips offer step-by-step instructions for how to make a lemon sugar scrub, or do a celebrity-inspired eye, or even attempt a runway look, viewers also eat up the bittersweet moments of life that she shares in between. “My life is
VideoInk: Business of Beauty 2013
not perfect. I got married when I was really young, got divorced and then married and divorced again,” she says. “And I have struggled as a single mom. Some
people on YouTube want to portray that their life is just awesome, but sometimes mine is not. I don’t wallow in that though, I try to inspire people, and I think that’s what makes them come back.” For Johnson, she says the inspiration is what keeps her coming back — even more than the ad revenue.
“I got an email shortly after I started, from a girl who was planning to commit suicide,” Johnson says. “She said she’d been watching my videos because she wanted to be beautiful when people found her. But eight hours later, she was still watching and eight hours later she was still alive, and she said ‘I’m alive because of you.’ When someone says you helped inspire them to keep living — that’s how you know you’re doing something right. So I’ll definitely keep at it.”
continued from page 13 “However, this is just the beginning. We know that there will be additional opportunities in the future for books, TV shows, and we will be expanding to other areas of entertainment as the need for content grows and expands every day.” Other networks include PopSugar TV and Channel Nine. Yet a search through various forums shows that some content creators are still on the fence about whether or not to partner with networks. Is Y-Commerce the Future of Beauty? Looking toward the future, it’s clear that brands will continue to invest in YouTube — particularly with content creators that can give them instant likeability and credibility at scale. But as the content clutter gets harder to cut through for both brands and creators, the industry will also need new options for monetization. That’s where retail comes in, fueled in part, by a “shoppable” player that lets viewers get the products that content creators are using and reviewing in real time. It’s the same premise that brands like 1-800-Flowers have employed on Facebook, it’s the way that retailers are beginning to leverage Pinterest, and with the level engagement offered by video, it seems like a no-brainer. “Our team has been intrigued by shoppable video players for a while,” Filipelli says. “The pilot that YouTube has created is awesome and shows the future of videos, especially in this category. I think shoppable video, with a strong affiliate program will be key in the next 12-24 months.” YouTube would not comment directly on the implications of the shoppable player it initially tested with TRESemme, but if the player does get wide distribution, the additional retail revenue could be a game-changer for the industry as a whole. There’s no doubt that it could ultimately move content creators away from dependency on ad sales, so YouTube is understandably treading carefully — but if the company doesn’t launch it, another upstart video network will.
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