Social Media Entertainment: The New Intersection of Hollywood and Silicon Valley (Postmillennial Pop)

365 Pages·2019·3.129 MB·English

by  Stuart Cunningham, David Craig

Social Media Entertainment
POSTMILLENNIAL POP
General Editors: Karen Tongson and Henry Jenkins
Puro Arte: Filipinos on the Stages of The Sonic Color- Line: Race and the
Empire Cultural Politics of Listening
Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns Jennifer Lynn Stoever
Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Diversión: Play and Popular Culture in
Meaning in a Networked Culture Cuban America
Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford, and Joshua Albert Sergio Laguna
Green
Antisocial Media: Anxious Labor in
Media Franchising: Creative License the Digital Economy
and Collaboration in the Culture Greg Goldberg
Industries
Open TV: Innovation beyond
Derek Johnson
Hollywood and the Rise of Web
Your Ad Here: The Cool Sell of Television
Guerrilla Marketing Aymar Jean Christian
Michael Serazio
Missing More Than Meets the Eye:
Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Special Effects and the Fantastic
Masculinities Transmedia Franchise
Mark Anthony Neal Bob Rehak
From Bombay to Bollywood: The Playing to the Crowd: Musicians,
Making of a Global Media Industry Audiences, and the Intimate Work of
Aswin Punathambekar Connection
Nancy K. Baym
A Race So Different: Performance and
Law in Asian America Old Futures: Speculative Fiction and
Joshua Takano Chambers- Letson Queer Possibility
Alexis Lothian
Surveillance Cinema
By Catherine Zimmer Anti- Fandom: Dislike and Hate in the
Digital Age
Modernity’s Ear: Listening to Race and
Edited by Melissa A. Click
Gender in World Music
Roshanak Kheshti Social Media Entertainment: The New
Intersection of Hollywood and Silicon
The New Mutants: Superheroes and
Valley
the Radical Imagination of American
Stuart Cunningham and David Craig
Comics
Ramzi Fawaz
Restricted Access: Media, Disability,
and the Politics of Participation
Elizabeth Ellcessor
Social Media Entertainment
The New Intersection of Hollywood
and Silicon Valley
Stuart Cunningham and David Craig
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
www.nyupress.org
© 2019 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the
author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or
changed since the manuscript was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cunningham, Stuart, author. | Craig, David Randolph, author.
Title: Social media entertainment : the new intersection of Hollywood
and Silicon Valley / Stuart Cunningham and David Craig.
Description: New York : New York University Press, [2018] | Series: Postmillennial pop |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018020900| ISBN 9781479890286 (cl : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781479846894 (pb : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Internet entertainment industry—United States. | Internet entertainment—
United States. | Social media—United States.
Classification: LCC HD9696.8.U62 C86 2018 | DDC 384.3/80973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018020900
New York University Press books are printed on acid- free paper, and their binding materials
are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppli-
ers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also available as an ebook
In memory of Matt Palazzolo, writer, star, and producer,
Bloomers, and for all those creators doing good

Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Introduction 1
1. Platform Strategy 19
2. Creator Labor 65
3. Social Media Entertainment Intermediaries 115
4. Authenticity, Community, and Brand Culture 148
5. Cultural Politics of Social Media Entertainment 184
6. Globalizing Social Media Entertainment 223
Conclusion 263
Acknowledgments 289
Notes 297
References 299
Index 333
About the Authors 353
vii

List of Figures and Tables
Figures
I.1. Gigi Gorgeous 2
I.2. VidCon 7
1.1. SME and Legacy Media Advertising Revenue Comparison 20
1.2. Income of New and Established Players 21
1.3. YouTube as a Component of Alphabet Revenue 43
1.4. Projected TV and Digital Video Advertising Spend,
2014– 2020 43
2.1. YouTube Channels with over One Million Subscribers 66
2.2. YouTube Space (Los Angeles) 85
2.3. Rhett & Link 96
2.4. A New Literary Age? 110
4.1. PewDiePie 161
4.2. Michelle Phan 173
4.3. Hank and John Green 175
4.4. VidCon 177
4.5. Nerdfighter Merchandise 178
5.1. Tyler Oakley and Friends 185
ix