Latest news with #LinusSebastian
Fast Company
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
How influencer marketing lost its edge
Scroll through a TikTok feed, and you'll eventually come across someone—usually incredibly photogenic, with perfect teeth and flawless skin—extolling the virtues of some product or another, or a restaurant, or a destination. And then another. And another. Influencer marketing is an unintended consequence of the social media revolution. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok allowed ordinary people to build followings—and, in a way, become celebrities. Brands and businesses soon latched onto these influencers, leveraging the trust they had with their audiences to advertise products. Mia Maples and Linus Sebastian are the Serena Williams and George Foreman of the digital age: celebrities who can raise a company's profile with a single post, lending credibility to products with a young, energetic audience. Crucially, they allow marketers to reach consumers increasingly cynical toward traditional advertising, and even taking steps to shield themselves from it, whether by paying for ad-free subscriptions on YouTube and Spotify or using ad-blocking browser extensions. That is, at least, the argument on paper. In practice, things are murkier. Reasonable questions remain about whether influencer marketing is as effective as once thought, or whether it still works at all. What Even Is an Advertisement? To understand the challenges facing influencer marketing, we first need to define what constitutes an advert. An advert is, in essence, any material—written, spoken, or audiovisual—that attempts to sell a product or service to a third party. For brands, influencer marketing offers a way to connect with an elusive demographic. Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha don't read newspapers —and neither do many millennials—or consume much broadcast television or radio. They're tech-savvy, know how to block ads, and often pay to remove them from their services. These consumers, skeptical of legacy media, likely feel differently about their favorite creators. When those creators tout a product, it can convey a level of credibility. These influencer-brand tie-ins may not feel like ads, but they are, and that's the intent behind them. That is, at least, the theory. In practice, things work a little differently. Waning Influence Let me be clear: Influencer marketing still holds power, and value for brands. But its influence is often overstated, and we're now seeing diminishing returns. First, there's ' influencer fatigue.' Brand deals are so common that almost everyone knows when their favorite creator posts a new video, a good portion will promote a VPN provider, budget headphones, or some other product. These in-content ads are so ubiquitous (and often grating) that browser plug-ins now skip past them. SponsorBlock, for example, is the largest, with over two million Chrome users. Just as people might leave the room during TV commercials, they're now doing the same for online content. Similarly, on apps like TikTok and Instagram, the '#ad' hashtag (the telltale sign of an influencer deal) often prompts users to immediately scroll. This almost reflexive, negative response is called 'influencer fatigue,' fueled by the overwhelming wave of promotional content on social media—and a growing annoyance with influencers themselves. That's the thing: Influencers were once seen as a way to deliver advertising without it feeling like advertising. But over time—thanks to saturation—that's no longer true. A Matter of Trust There's also a growing trust gap between consumers and brands that lean heavily on influencers. Take PayPal-owned Honey, once promoted by some of YouTube's biggest creators. It was pitched as a free browser plug-in that scoured the web for discount codes. In reality, Honey—later described as a 'scam' —siphoned affiliate revenue from those it was otherwise owed to—including, ironically, the very creators who promoted it. It also manipulated which codes were shown, hiding the most valuable ones. Honey isn't alone. Other companies, like BetterHelp, also leaned on influencers, only to later land in controversy. These scandals chip away at the credibility of influencer marketing. They make consumers wary of creators promoting new products—especially when those creators, often small one-person teams, lack the resources to vet what they're endorsing. The result: a decline in trust for both influencers and brands. Evidence suggests this decline is real. A 2023 study from EnTribe found that just 12% of people are likely to buy products promoted by influencers—and 42% of those who did regretted it. Then there's the issue of attribution. If a million people watch a video, how many truly saw the promotion—and didn't skip it, either manually or via a plug-in? How do you measure impact, beyond simple conversions tied to affiliate codes—which fail to capture brand awareness or perception? Is Influencer Marketing Still the Future? That's the $33 billion question, isn't it? I still believe the influencer economy holds value. Without it, we'd still face the same challenge: reaching an audience increasingly elusive to traditional advertising. But as an industry, we need to recalibrate expectations and find more creative ways to reach younger consumers. Though younger audiences live much of their lives online, they don't exist entirely behind screens. They leave the house—and outdoor advertising should be part of the strategy. Podcasts. Streaming video. In-game advertising. And yes, even legacy media—when supported by the data—all have a role to play. There's room for influencer marketing, too. But it alone isn't enough. And likely never was.
Forbes
29-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Leading Creator Reveals How He Makes Money—and It's Not What You Think
Linus Sebastian By any measure, Linus Tech Tips is one of the most successful YouTube channels in the world with more than 16 million subscribers and 8 billion views. But what Linus Sebastian has built goes far beyond a channel. It's a diversified, vertically integrated media company—one that continues to grow in scale, influence, and sustainability. In a detailed (and very on-brand) video posted to the Linus Tech Tips channel this week, Linus and his team broke down exactly how their business made money in 2024. While they no longer disclose exact revenue figures, the percentage split reveals how the business has evolved over the last 8 years. The single largest source of revenue in 2024 was which accounted for 55% of total revenue—up from just 15% in 2020. That growth has been driven by product innovation, fulfillment efficiency, and sheer scale. 'Back then, two of our biggest product families didn't exist yet—hand tools and bags—which now make up about half the revenue,' the team explained in the video. LMG even flipped the model—going from being sponsored to becoming a sponsor themselves. 'We recently flipped the script and went from sponsor to sponsorer, choosing some of our favorite creators to show off all of our products,' said COO Nick Light. AdSense made up a smaller percentage of revenue in 2024 than in previous years—down from 26% in 2020. But that's not a decline in performance; it's a reflection of how fast other areas of the business are growing. 'Just because it's a smaller percentage does not mean that it's less money,' said another team member. 'It means that LMG is far less reliant on our Google overlords than we used to be.' 61.5% of YouTube revenue came from traditional ads, while 37.3% came from YouTube Premium—despite Premium users only making up 29% of views. Shorts, by comparison, underperformed: one 13-million-view short earned just $1,300. LMG's top channels for AdSense were the main Linus Tech Tips channel (76%), ShortCircuit, and TechLinked. Sponsorships made up 21% of total revenue in 2024, broken down into: LMG now works with over 150 sponsors across 13 categories. PC parts made up 34.6% of sponsor revenue, followed by SaaS (25.5%) and lifestyle brands (13.6%). 'A sponsor can buy airtime on our channel, but they can never buy our opinion,' Linus said. 'And if a sponsor doesn't like it, we'll just drop them—like we've dropped so many others.' Floatplane, LMG's proprietary paid video platform, contributed 7% of revenue—up 1% from the year before. Despite subscriber losses after the August 2023 'great reset,' the platform bounced back thanks to stronger exclusive content and new offerings like 4K video and event access. 'You are the boss… when you choose to directly support us on Floatplane,' Linus told viewers. Affiliate marketing brought in 3% of revenue. These are links typically found in video descriptions or on LMG's websites that generate a commission when users make a purchase. What makes Linus's story so compelling is how deliberately he's built LMG from the start. 'Unlike most creators that I meet, I was never a one-man show—not even for one day,' Linus told Colin and Samir in a December 2024 interview. 'I always had someone operating a camera, operating a timeline—usually both.' In the early years, money was tight: 'We almost ran out of money… If I didn't nail things, we just wouldn't have had money to pay paychecks. I had what I called the one-take policy.' Today, the company employs over 100 people. Linus has stepped back from daily operations (he hired a CEO in 2023), but remains deeply involved in scripting, creative direction, and writing. 'If there's anything that I am as a creative, I would say it's that I'm a writer… My canvas is a blank sheet of paper.' Even as the business has matured, its core philosophy hasn't changed. 'The audience is the boss,' Linus said. 'And it's the hardest boss in the world.' What Linus has built is far beyond the 'solo creator + AdSense' model. It's an independent media company with: As an investor in creator-led businesses, I've seen firsthand how this model of vertical integration and audience alignment can scale and is exactly the kind of structure we aim to build with the creators we partner with. I believe the next great media brand won't come from Hollywood—it'll be built by creators who follow this playbook.
