The intimacy and immediacy of watching videos on a phone screen (how about 70% of YouTube viewers watch) helps creators connect with their audiences, opening opportunities for making money beyond just a cut of ad revenue. Sergey Vashketov films his two sons, Vlad and Niki, who make wildly popular videos for kids. The boys dress up in costumes, play... See more

YouTube is less surprising than its peers, especially TikTok. While the latter has an almost telepathic capacity for serving you a wide variety of content it thinks you’ll like, YouTube is instead a platform designed for long-term buy-in. Creators are less likely to go viral on a one-off video on YouTube than they are on TikTok, but they’re more... See more