TikTok took over VidCon, and YouTube is next

Filed under:YouTube offers what TikTok can’t — stabilityPandemonium at VidCon is generally a good signifier of what people actually care about. This year, YouTubers took a backseat to the creator scene’s new rockstars: TikTokers. It’s something Logan Paul encountered during the stampede caused at his first VidCon appearance as a “featured creator.” At VidCon, an event where scoring clout is just as important as meeting your favorite creator, having access to famous TikTokers walking through the crowd makes the convention worth attending.“These TikTok kids are going to replace half the YouTubers that are at VidCon this year,” YouTuber Philip DeFranco tweeted on Friday. Creators are using TikTok as a place to bring fans with them to YouTube, cultivating a channel presence there, too. If you really want to know what YouTube’s about, you got to get in YouTube.” That’s almost untrue of YouTube’s “top notch” creator culture today — the people coming to VidCon as featured creators. One person told The Atlantic that YouTubers “have too much confidence to the point where they think they’re too good to be around their lower fans.” What happens when people’s favorite TikTok stars want to start getting paid, move to YouTube, and become inaccessible at VidCon just a couple of years down the road? TikTok may be experiencing a short-lived popularity boom, like its various predecessors, but its noticeable impact on the industry and young fans is a sign that YouTube will probably undergo a significant cultural change as new stars start looking to monetize.