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One of the largest conferences for video and digital creators, VidCon will return as an in-person event at the Anaheim Convention Center this fall, after the pandemic forced cancellation last year.
<p>It's one of the early signs that as vaccination distribution ramps up, conference and concert planners are starting to scrap their virtual plans in favor of big in-person events. VidCon's announcement comes as airline travel is picking up and <a href="https://dot.la/disneyland-reopening-2651117801.html" target="_self">theme parks</a> open back up. </p><p>"We know from our fans from the industry and from creators that they really miss being able to get together face-to-face and celebrate the continuing development and future of the creator economy, so we've been really trying to figure out a safe, effective and fun way to do that," said Jim Louderback, VidCon's general manager. "We figured we could do it in October, and so for us it was a great time to be able to really bring our communities back."</p><p>The Anaheim Convention Center has been closed for the past year, but right now is "the brightest spot and the most optimistic we've been [about reopening]," said Mike Lyster, a city spokesperson. "It could be any time now, this week or next week, that guidelines from the state of California would indicate when we can reopen for events and how we can reopen capacity limitations and other safeguards, which we've been preparing for for about a year now."</p><p>The Convention Center has been tentatively booking events like VidCon over the past year, though it only recently reopened as a vaccine distribution center. Disneyland's announced reopening at the end of April, along with that of nearby Angel Stadium are big indications the Convention Center will open soon, said Lyster.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-proxy-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGNWVhOWY1MzA3ZDgzMWY4MTdhYjgxZWRiJTJGNjA1OGNlYTA1MGRhY2QxMzE4OGIwNzE5JTJGOTVhYmExM2U1OGM5MDdkMDEwODM2NjllNzA0YmMyMzIlMkZfVThCNjE5MC5qcGcmaG89aHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0cmVsbG8tYXR0YWNobWVudHMuczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbSZzPTMzNyZoPTI3MGYyNmZhNTM0NWUzODUxYjZkYzIwYTRlYjZkMTNmYWEyY2VhOWUxNWJjODY4MDAzNTQxODU3MWM2MzViOGMmc2l6ZT05ODB4JmM9MjM0NTUyNjU4NCIsImV4cGlyZXNfYXQiOjE2NzQ2NDkyNDd9.nI_Y284Kt3olR7SWcsm4hqv1nDonPpcwyC11oxxGkf4/image.jpg" id="e5029" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0ffae2ff60e604dc876694853516befd" />
</p><p>The last in-person VidCon drew 75,000 people in 2019. Tickets will go on sale this summer, with online attendance options available for the first time. Vidcon has not said they will limit capacity, instead they announced an ambitious line up of stars from EDM artist Spencer X to YouTuber Brent Rivera and other artists.<br/></p><p>In lieu of its 2020 convention, VidCon launched VidCon Now, a year-round virtual experience. Since its creation in June of last year, it has attracted 1.2 million attendees all around the globe. </p><p>VidCon's organizers also know not everybody is ready to go back to standing around a convention hall with thousands of others. The event is also offering a "livestream ticket," which allows convention goers to attend events in real time from their homes. Louderback said the livestream is primarily for fans who cannot attend for time, distance, money or health reasons. They'll have access to some of the content for creators and industry professionals as well.</p>"We want to make sure that we bring the nighttime performances, we bring the stage shows. We bring the interviews, as well as some of the workshops and keynotes, to our fans wherever they are," said Louderback.<p><br/>VidCon is also providing a subscription service to recorded events from the in person event in October. Louderback said that these events will be more centered around interviews, workshops and keynotes that creators might have not been able to attend or if creators later want to rewatch these sessions.</p>
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Influencers paid to promote everything from Gucci to Dunkin' Donuts on TikTok, YouTube and other social media platforms could have union protections under a new agreement reached over the weekend with SAG-AFTRA.
The move from the union, which already represents 160,000 artists and media professionals, folds in artists from the multi-billion-dollar, social media-based influencer industry that has been eroding the power of television commercials and their stars.
<p>The Screen Actors Guild-American Federal of Television and Radio Artists approved the agreement at its board meeting over the weekend, deeming "influencer-generated branded content" a type of advertising. The ads must have a video or audio element to fall under the pact, <a href="https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/sag-aftra-approves-new-influencer-agreement-72636/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Backstage reported</a>.</p><p>It's unclear just what the impact will be across the industry, where the line between influencer and celebrity has been blurred as celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston promote beauty products to her 36.2 million followers on Instagram to so-called "micro influencers" like fashion influencer Tonya Smith, who has 145,000 followers. </p><p>The agreement gives the union a line into a booming new world of advertising. Talent agencies <a data-linked-post="2648899321" href="https://dot.la/influencer-marketing-2648899321.html" target="_blank">have already picked up influencers</a> they hope will go big. Major studios including Netflix have scouted actors for shows such as "Haters Back Off," which features YouTuber Colleen Ballinger. Brands are set to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, according to a report from Mediakix. </p><p>The protections provide health and pension benefits and earn union income.</p><p>"Making it easier to cover this type of work has been a top priority for our organization. I want to commend the efforts of our staff in creating an agreement that will benefit SAG-AFTRA's current members as well as allowing all creators an opportunity to join the union. As new ways of storytelling emerge, it's imperative that we embrace and lift up these artists," SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said in a news release.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-proxy-image shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image image-crop-16x9">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/SAG_AFTRA_Building.jpg" target="_blank"><img
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data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTY0MDUxNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTU2NzUyOH0.JYPaYRFt4h83Q0KXrrPczkQ69L-hWnVer4KXAWsOKIs/image.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C225%2C0%2C445&height=700"
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<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The SAG AFTRA building on L.A.'s Wilshire Boulevard.</small>
</p><p>YouTubers had been covered by the union. The new agreement extends eligibility to influencers on all social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitch.<br/></p><p>Influencers must also be incorporated and have a contractual agreement with an advertiser to promote products on its behalf, according to Backstage. There is no mandated contract minimum.</p><p>The growing social media marketing economy relies on individual contracts with top influencers <a data-linked-post="2648899321" href="https://dot.la/influencer-marketing-2648899321.html" target="_blank">like teen TikToker Charli D'Amelio</a>, who earned at least $4 million in 2020, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2020/08/06/tiktoks-highest-earning-stars-teen-queens-addison-rae-and-charli-damelio-rule/?sh=79d6a02c5087" target="_blank">according to Forbes</a>. Lesser-known influencers may receive free products or trips in exchange for posting videos on Instagram or other platforms. </p><p>Social media allows companies to target specific audiences with more precision than a television or radio commercial. As a result, the number of online influencers compensated to peddle products has shot up.</p><p>Backstage reported that there had been three and a half years of research and discussion within SAG-AFTRA about whether to admit influencers after several instances in which the union was approached by individuals for guidance as they negotiated contracts. </p><p>The union said more details will be forthcoming.</p>
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In 2012, Evan Britton founded a website premised upon what the web arguably does best: help people obsess over celebrities.
Britton launched his first site in 1999 as a senior in college and has since made his living monetizing web clicks.
When he created Famous Birthdays as a sort of Wikipedia of celebrities nine years ago, TikTok wasn't even born and Snap had barely launched. The term "influencers" had yet to seep into the mainstream. But as social media created a new form of celebrity, the site has morphed into a pillar of the teen-centric world of online personalities and creators.
<p>
This month the company said it will surpass 35 million unique monthly visitors across its app and website. Third-party data providers, which use various methods to estimate web traffic, peg that figure anywhere between 4-6 million (Comscore) and 29 million (Similar Web). Many of those users are teens who use the site to browse celebrity profiles, contribute to popularity rankings and see who's trending.
</p><p>
"It's a pulse of the Gen Z community," said Talia Kocar, VP of Content at Mammoth Media, a Gen Z-focused mobile entertainment studio.
</p><p>
And as that community has expanded and entrenched its online presence, Famous Birthdays has ridden the wave. Britton's profitable website makes money from billions of programmatic ads that are generated from places like Google and Amazon and it has become a useful resource for the growing industry of monetizing online celebrity.
</p><p>
In April it will launch its third international off-shoot in French, joining Spanish and Portuguese, as the company anticipates the spread of influencer fever beyond America.
</p><p>
"Famous Birthdays is essentially the Wikipedia of influencers," said Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential, a leading influencer marketing firm. "It has become a very valuable tool within the influencer industry to do quick research on creators and it's also very popular with young fans. They have found a unique niche in the fact that influencers are the new celebrities for Gen Z."
</p><p>
Britton hadn't originally intended on serving that niche. He'd started <a href="https://www.famousbirthdays.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Famous Birthdays</a> with A-listers in mind and a user-first focus on growth. The plan was to add new profiles to the database based on users' search patterns.
</p><p>
"The internal search data guides our roadmap," he said. About 90% of user searches on Famous Birthdays yield a hit. The other 10% help to indicate what else users want.
</p><p>
"We built technology around analyzing those missed searches," Britton said, adding that Famous Birthdays' search engine now receives over 1 million inquiries a day. "It lets us know before anyone else what's happening."
</p><p>
Early on, it became apparent that users wanted something more than A-listers.
</p><p>
They wanted social media celebrities. So Britton and his now team of 30, including freelancers, took to reaching out to up-and-comers that the data suggested were on the rise.
</p><p>
In late 2018, for instance, Famous Birthdays contacted Paige Mackenzie, an Arkansas-based teen who at the time had about 600,000 followers on still-nascent TikTok.
</p><p>
"I was like 'oh my god'; I had a fangirl moment," Mackenzie said. "I was a normal girl with a couple of followers, and they want to know about me? That was the coolest thing."</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><script id="infogram_0_bde6b6e3-9f0b-4097-92ae-015bb30b0f6f" src="https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed.js?rFs" title="Famous Birthdays Growth" type="text/javascript"> </script><div style="padding:8px 0;font-family:Arial!important;font-size:13px!important;line-height:15px!important;text-align:center;border-top:1px solid #dadada;margin:0 30px">
<a href="https://infogram.com/bde6b6e3-9f0b-4097-92ae-015bb30b0f6f" style="color:#989898!important;text-decoration:none!important;" target="_blank">Famous Birthdays Growth</a><br/>
<a href="https://infogram.com" rel="nofollow" style="color:#989898!important;text-decoration:none!important;" target="_blank">Infogram</a>
</div></div><p>Mackenzie has since grown her TikTok following to 7.5 million. She typically regales her fans with comedic videos she describes as "relatable," like when "your brother annoys your mom right when you're about to ask something important."</p><p>
When Mackenzie was added to the platform, Famous Birthdays had about 20 million users. That has since exploded beyond Britton's imagination.</p><p><span></span>"The platform has evolved quite a bit over the years – much like how Gen Z's (and my) definition of a celebrity has," said Kocar, who added that Mammoth "constantly references" Famous Birthdays to inform its content decisions.</p>
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@willywonkatiktok/video/6849877838120701189" data-video-id="6849877838120701189" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;" > <section> <a target="_blank" title="@willywonkatiktok" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@willywonkatiktok">@willywonkatiktok</a> <p>Thanks for making this happen :) Go boost me if ya want <a title="willywonka" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/willywonka">#willywonka</a> <a title="famousbirthdays" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/famousbirthdays">#famousbirthdays</a></p> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - Greg and Zach" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-6795947928369335045">♬ original sound - Greg and Zach</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
<p>"TikTok has been a wave that's really grown our platform," Britton said, noting that stars on the social-video stalwart are his site's most popular searches. "There's been a huge momentum for the creator economy and we've been on that wave because we were seated as the platform beneath all of that."</p><p>That momentum has led Britton to recalibrate his expectations.</p><p>"Six months ago, I would have thought our ceiling was maybe 50 million users, but I think we're gonna be there by the end of next year, based on how things are going," he said.</p><p>The company's <a href="https://es.famousbirthdays.com/" target="_blank">Spanish-language version</a> launched in July 2019 and now comprises about 15% of Famous Birthdays' total traffic, Britton said. The <a href="https://pt.famousbirthdays.com/" target="_blank">Portuguese version</a> launched in October 2020 and the French version will launch in April 2021.</p><p><span></span>Britton hopes to replicate his platform's success in those new markets. In the U.S., arriving on Famous Birthdays has come to be seen by creators as a veritable badge of honor.</p><p>When Duke Depp was invited to bring his online persona Willy Wonka to Famous Birthdays in July, he bragged about it to his nearly 18 million followers.</p><p>"Check it out my dear children, I finally made it on Famous Birthdays," he said. The post has since been liked over 412,000 times and received over 4,000 comments.</p><p>In September, Grandad Frank told his nearly 5 million TikTok followers that "Something crazy happened!!!!" He'd made it onto Famous Birthdays.<br></p>
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@billyvsco/video/6864718524619738373" data-video-id="6864718524619738373" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;" > <section> <a target="_blank" title="@billyvsco" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@billyvsco">@billyvsco</a> <p><a title="greenscreen" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/greenscreen">#greenscreen</a> thank you guys! Number 1 forty-7 year old. Y’all are awesome! <a title="waitforthegreats" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/waitforthegreats">#WaitForTheGreats</a> <a title="boost" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/boost">#boost</a> <a title="famousbirthdays" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/famousbirthdays">#famousbirthdays</a> <a title="foru" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/foru">#foru</a></p> <a target="_blank" title="♬ borderline by tame impala - audioz !" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/borderline-by-tame-impala-6815764995805121285">♬ borderline by tame impala - audioz !</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
<p>Famous Birthdays currently hosts around 210,000 profiles, along with some 15,000 pages for shows, movies, bands and web groups. The team receives over 1,000 user-submitted edits and updates per day, Britton said, which they manually review and verify.<br></p><p>Using inputs like search volume and user engagement, Famous Birthdays also provides several popularity rankings.</p><p>The company has never raised outside capital and doesn't plan to start.</p><p>"Our vision is to build the Wikipedia for the Digital Generation," said Britton. "Given the scale we already have, we're confident that we'll be able to do it without raising VC."</p>
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