At the top of the list are make-up video blogger Shaaanxo (2,865,988 subscribers), Wacky Wednesday, a channel dedicated to the strangest videos on the internet (1,420,542 subscribers) and Hawke’s Bay comedy video blogger Jamie Curry (1,357,786 subscribers).
Having a video “go viral” or receiving a lot of YouTube views is the way to gain subscribers, says Elena.
The first video she had go viral was a “lyric prank video”. These videos involve filming a text message conversation with an unwitting acquaintance using the lyrics to a well-known song.
The song lyrics are usually risqué and the person an unsuspecting friend, parent, former teacher or, in this case, Elena’s crush.
“I put the video up on my YouTube channel on a Monday and by Saturday I had got 10,000 new subscribers,” says Elena.
“Every day I was waking up and getting 10,000 more subscribers. That’s what it’s like when you get a viral video.”
Three million viewsThe video, posted four months ago, has now accumulated more than three million views. A video about pranking her friend’s boyfriend, that she posted a month before the crush video, has accumulated almost five million views.
In another popular video she text pranks her mother Janet Athy with the lyrics to I Just Had Sex by The Lonely Island.
While her mother is less than impressed during the video-recorded conversation, Elena says both her mum and dad Dominic Carroll are proud of her work.
“I did a few more after that and they went viral, and I made it to 100,000 subscribers in a month,” she says.
Subscribers are the digital equivalent of a fan base. Like any form of celebrity, having a lot of subscribers means a lot of fan mail and the occasional in-person recognition.
“I’ve had some crazy experiences of guys coming up to me and asking me out to dinner,” she says.
“Across all platforms I would get about 500 messages a day.”
But it’s not all fun, games and fan mail for the university student, who juggles her full time studies around planning, recording and editing a weekly video, responding to followers, interested businesses and public figure management requests.
“I don’t have a life,” she says, when asked how she juggles it all.
Fan baseThat doesn’t stop Elena from getting back to her fans.
“I try to get back to people if they have reached out to me and they really need help,” she says.
“It’s mainly just people who I think need that response, people who look for a friend in YouTube. I’m absolutely no one, but I can make people feel better.”
This is the new direction of Elena’s YouTube channel.
“I’m trying to turn my image into a profile that girls and boys can come to in times of need,” she says.
“I guess going to your parents or a counsellor can be daunting for some people and now people turn to the internet.
I would like to become a role model for my viewers because they are mostly younger than me.”
Her visionElena’s vision has changed dramatically since she started her YouTube channel four and a half years ago, when the main focus of her channel was make-up tutorials.
This change in focus has followed new offline interests.
“I want to become a life coach,” she says.
“I like the positive side to it. It still has that counselling element but without the heavy stuff.”
Elena has the possibility of trying life coaching this year, during an AUT work placement.
“If YouTube is going as well as it is (when I finish university), the plan is to continue with that for a few years and then maybe get into life coaching.”
For now however, Elena is focusing on improving her YouTube outreach and general media presence.
“I will be doing a bit of commercial acting now. It’s just to get my face out there a bit more, just on television advertisements,” she says.
“Making it on YouTube (in general) can be tricky. For me it’s sustainable, it’s providing a lot more opportunities, which provide more income opportunities.”
“I knew you could make money from it (when I started) because my dad was making some money when he first started doing it.
“He was doing lettering for signs. He uploaded a few videos and one of them went huge. He was only making $50 but that excited me. That’s all I wanted to achieve.
“But now that it’s taken off, I’m aiming for the big time.”
