• Professional video-game playing is becoming an increasingly common profession — but it's not all fun and games.
• We spoke to eight professional gamers, many of which live-stream themselves on websites like Twitch, to discuss the biggest downsides of their profession.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Video games are better than ever. But playing them for a living isn't all sunshine and roses.

Game-streaming has taken off in recent years, thanks in part to the growing number of incredible games released each year, and lowered barriers to entry: Webcams and microphones aren't expensive, and most new computers these days have more than enough power to handle playing a game and streaming it online simultaneously.

Thousands of people have turned their game-playing habits into full-fledged careers. Many don't reach the heights of, say, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, who rose to fame after rappers Drake and Travis Scott played "Fortnite" with him on Twitch one fateful night ("Fortnite" was the most popular game in the world at the time, and Blevins is one of its best players, which helps). But even if you don't become a celebrity through streaming, people can still make a decent living from playing video games in front of a live audience.

Still, playing games for a living isn't easy — or fun all the time.

We talked to eight professional gamers, who stream games for a living or play them professionally in tournaments around the world, and we asked them about the biggest upsides and downsides to their chosen profession. We have a separate story focused solely on the upsides of gaming, but this story is meant to emphasize the darker side of gaming, where it's often difficult to find time for family and friends, and trolls can go to extreme lengths to harass broadcasters.

SEE ALSO: Professional gamers reveal the biggest upsides of their profession

Sean Gallagher, a.k.a. "Gladd," is a 31-year-old Twitch streamer and YouTuber, who often plays "Destiny 2."

Gallagher says the long hours and "high levels of ever-changing competition" can be "exhausting."

"This is a day-in and day-out part of the job," Gallagher told Business Insider. "This could also be seen as an upside and motivator to keep pushing. However, as you get more comfortable in your element, there are always newer, younger, and fresh faces entering the market."

Gallagher also mentioned how work-life balance can become difficult for "relationships outside of gaming," since "it's very easy to become so tunnel focused on building up your gaming name, that you can lose sight of the friends and family around you." Plus, it's easy to get sucked into the numbers game when it comes to streaming, like keeping track of your viewers and subscribers, since those heavily influence one's income.

"This can cause frustration, confusion, and a demotivating state of mind," he said.

Follow Gladd on Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and Instagram.

Soleil Wheeler, a.k.a. "Ewok," is a 14-year-old Twitch streamer and YouTuber who was actually born deaf.

Wheeler appreciates the dynamic of game-streaming and building a community on Twitch, but she did lament that it means "spending less time with family than I used to."

"Before I started streaming, I did art commissions, like paint dog portraits. I played outside more before as well. Now I am learning how to balance and maintain a healthy lifestyle," Wheeler told Business Insider.

"It's a learning process, the time management. It's no fun trying to do all of that at 14 years of age but I know it will make me a more well-rounded person who can adapt to new changes that come my way."

Follow Ewok on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch.

"AFKayt," 32, is a stay-at-home mom and a variety streamer on Twitch three days a week, where she gives makeup tutorials, plays games like "Overwatch," or learns to play the ukulele.

"AFKayt," who wished to not use her real name due to harassment and recent threats made against her online, described how one troll can ruin a stream and everyone's good time.

"Someone created a script or something where over 500 to 1,000 bots came into my stream while I was live and started spamming really gross stuff," Kayt told Business Insider. "I had threats sent to me before just because I said something that someone doesn't like."

Kayt also talked about how "creative burnout" can take a toll.

"The easy part is pushing live and doing my things for two hours," she said. "But I put in most of my work when I'm not live because you have to get eyeballs on your content. You have to make graphics for your stream. There's a lot to building your personal brand and things like that."

Follow Kayt on Twitter, Twitch, and her own personal website. 

Stephen Brown, a.k.a. "Gunfly," is an 18-year-old professional "Fortnite" player for the professional esports team Luminosity Gaming.

Brown said the biggest downside to what he does is simple: finding the time to balance content creation with his rigorous practice and competition schedule.

"I have to always make sure I am competing at a top level, as well as producing content on Twitch," Brown said.

Follow Gunfly on Twitter and Twitch.

Ryan Wright, a.k.a. "True Vanguard," is a 31-year-old Facebook streamer and YouTuber.

Wright said one of the most notable downsides of being a professional gamer "is how punishing it is to take your foot off the gas."

"For example, this spring I took my first vacation in over three years. I stepped away from the stream and YouTube to take the wife and kids on a trip down south to relax for a little over a week. When I returned, I found that I had lost almost two years worth of growth in terms of my subscribership on Twitch," Wright told Business Insider.

"When you work tirelessly to grow your community for years, it's pretty demoralizing to see rapid drop-off like that. It really is an 'out of sight, out of mind' kind of industry," he said.

Wright also mentioned how generating growth can be extremely difficult, given how saturated the market is with "talented gamers and communicators."

"It's certainly a loser's market," Wright told us. "Most people who end up making a real run at vocational content creation end up losing capital, time, and other genuine opportunities in life. They take off work, quit school, or even quit their jobs ... I've seen a lot of people get burned by this mentality."

Follow True Vanguard on Twitter, YouTube, and his new Facebook channel.

Melissa Misenhimer, a.k.a. "Lulu," is a 32-year-old part-time Twitch streamer who works full-time as a pediatric registered nurse.

While Melissa says she "definitely wouldn't change" her current schedule, which involves working as a nurse and streaming in her off-hours, she definitely feels the biggest downside is how streaming can "take away from other 'in real life' situations."

"I generally maintain a strict stream schedule, especially since I work full time outside of streaming, so viewers always know when I'll be live," she told Business Insider. "But since I schedule my streams in advance, it may mean that I miss out on a last-minute friends or family lunch, or breakfast, or a hangout."

Follow Lulu on Twitter and Twitch.

Christopher Pavloff, a.k.a. "Jay3," is a 24-year-old former pro esports player and a current Twitch streamer and YouTuber.

Pavloff, who played competitively in tournaments for games like "Overwatch" and "Apex Legends," said the biggest downsides to being a pro gamer relate to time commitment, health, and a short career length.

"Most professional players perform at their peak until their mid to late 20's," Pavloff told Business Insider. "Although age may bring experience and comfort in professional play, your reflexes and response time start to slow. If you are lucky, you can continue your career in eSports working in management, analytics, or coaching, but for many their careers will end when they no longer can play at their peak."

Pavloff also mentioned how health issues can arise from "sitting too long and staring at a computer screen," including obesity and heart issues "from the combined lack of activity and the high caffeine and sugar diets that are common." He also said that practice is a huge time suck.

"At one point in my career, I was playing Overwatch for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week," he said. "It seems like it would be fun to spend so much time on a game, but it can be taxing and take time away from other things you want to do, like spending time with friends or going to the gym."

Follow Jay3 on Twitch and YouTube.

"Elixa," a 35-year-old Twitch streamer who also works part-time at Tesla, shared one of the worst harassment stories I've ever heard.

"Elixa" didn't want to use his real name for this story, and I understand why. Over the phone, I heard how one YouTuber harassed him relentlessly — first online, then eventually in real life —just because Elixa often streams in full drag.

According to Elixa, it all started when one YouTuber made a call to his audience to "hate raid" Elixa's Twitch channel, asking his viewers to visit, spam, and say "the most disgusting things."

"I looked up the video [on YouTube] and I saw myself on his video while he was collecting donations," Elixa told Business Insider. "He was pretty much asking people for donations so he could do this."

Days later, the YouTube troll somehow learned Elixa's real name, and began to send erroneous food deliveries to his workplace at Tesla.

"He'd be on the phone with the delivery person pretending to be me," he said.

Eventually, the troll somehow learned Elixa's cell phone number, plus the numbers of his fiancé and his fiancé's family, which led to tons of prank calls and "disgusting messages" in the middle of the night. Soon after, the troll posted "all of my information, all of my fiancé's information, his parents' information, information about my little brother, everything" through his public Discord channel, which led to threats.

"Someone said they were going to send a pipe bomb to us," Elixa said.

At that point, it got serious: Elixa and his family created a terrorism report with the government, and Tesla's legal and security teams also got involved. Elixa and his fiancé finally got a pair of detectives to work on their case, who subpoenaed YouTube to get the troll's information, and talked to the troll over the phone.

Since those detectives spoke to the troll, Elixa's harassment stopped completely.

"He was really scared over the phone," Elixa said, but apparently "he hasn't stopped. He's still doing this to other Twitch streamers."

Follow Elixa on Twitter and Twitch.

• The YouTube star Alisha Marie, who has 8 million subscribers, said she's landed brand-sponsorship deals by reaching out to the brand using the direct-message feature on Instagram. 
• She shared messages she has sent to brands on Instagram that helped her get those deals.
• Other industry insiders, like Ian Borthwick, SeatGeek's director of influencer marketing, agreed that messaging brands on Instagram was a good way to express your interest in a company. 
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

It might seem unorthodox, but some top YouTube and Instagram influencers and industry execs say that if you want to work with a brand, the best way to do it is by reaching out directly.

The YouTube and Instagram star Alisha Marie, who has 8 million subscribers on YouTube, created her channel in 2008. On it, she shares DIY lifestyle content and tips on fashion and beauty.

She told Business Insider that when you're starting your influencer career, you shouldn't get caught up in waiting for companies to reach out. She said she has successfully direct-messaged companies on Instagram asking to work with them.

"I've had a handful of deals where I just randomly hit the brand up," she said. "They ended up loving it, and not only that, they were willing to pay. It was the perfect situation where they needed me to reach out."

It's not about formulating the perfect pitch, she said. What's worked for her has been to show off her interest in the company by writing a simple note in an Instagram direct message.

"Not that it was very professional, but it was very me," she said. "It was in my own voice."

Here are two examples of notes she's sent:

• "Hey, I've loved your stuff for forever, let me know if you're ever interested in collabing."
• "Do you guys ever work with influencers?"

She said she's had luck with these requests.

Alisha has promoted companies like BMW and Starbucks through branded sponsorships on her YouTube and Instagram pages.

'Learn how to market yourself to a brand' 

Ian Borthwick, SeatGeek's director of influencer marketing, previously told Business Insider that one of the best ways to contact a brand was through email or Instagram direct messaging.

He said it was best to find a common connection and show that you care about what the brand is selling. 

Read more:How Instagram influencers land their first brand-sponsorship deals

"Learn how to market yourself to a brand because you'll need to know how to articulate yourself in the future," Borthwick said. 

Here is an example of what Borthwick would send: 

• "Hey, I saw you with X influencer ... here is why my audience is a great fit for you."

The "Mommy blogger"Jehava Brown, who has 78,000 Instagram followers and blogs about motherhood, food, travel, and style, previously told Business Insider that she landed her first brand sponsorship by emailing the company directly. She would search for brands that she felt matched her online presence.

"A lot of bloggers will find a media contact for whatever brand you are wanting to work with and just send an email about their pitch and stats," Brown said.

In the beginning, Brown would send a note like:

• "I'll share this if you send me those products."

At the time, she said she was OK with promoting products without getting paid because she was still benefiting by receiving the products for free.

For more on how influencers are profiting from their success online, according to industry professionals and creators, check out these Business Insider Prime posts:

• YouTube and Instagram star Alisha Marie explains how to pitch a brand for your first sponsorship deal: Alisha said to use your Instagram page as your portfolio and be ready to present it to the brand you want to work with. 
• How Instagram influencers land their first brand-sponsorship deals: Influencers and brand execs share their tips for landing that first deal.
• An Instagram influencer breaks down how much brands pay for sponsored posts, starting at 10,000 followers: A social-media influencer shares how she determines her rates when negotiating with companies like Disney and Walmart.

Join the conversation about this story »

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This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here. Current subscribers can log in and read the report here.

Social platforms are ramping up on emergent video formats to drive new and deeper forms of engagement across their sites and apps, yielding new opportunities for brands.  

As platforms experiment beyond in-feed videos, new formats and user behaviors around social video present meaningful opportunities for brands to reach millions of social users. In 2018, social platforms saw explosive growth around innovative video formats like Stories; a rising push around communal video experiences; the launch of new video-centric hubs on social platforms (e.g. IGTV); and the expansion of more premium or longer-form fare. 

In The Social Video Report, Business Insider Intelligence examines how video is evolving on social platforms, and how each platform's priorities are developing and shifting as social networks seek to scale viewership on this content. Social platforms continue to undergo transitions in a bid to capture user attention, but each represents a significant key to understanding how the social video landscape is expanding and reorganizing around new formats and distribution models. 

The companies mentioned in this report are: ByteDance, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, WhatsApp, and YouTube.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• Social video advertising investment is expected to grow significantly in coming years. Social video ad spend is expected to reach $25.6 billion by 2023, up 128% from $11.2 billion in 2018, per Business Insider Intelligence forecasts.
• Social video ad spend flows overwhelmingly to the dominant social platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Snapchat. Nearly three-quarters of YouTube ad revenue comes from video content, 60% for Snapchat, and 55% for Twitter, per eMarketer. Video is only 30% of Facebook’s total ad revenue, but the social giant accounts for the largest share of social video ad spend overall. 
• The Stories format has seen explosive growth over the past year. That growth continues to flow overwhelmingly to Instagram: Instagram Stories hit 500 million daily active users (DAU) as of Q4 2018, up from just 150 million DAU in Q1 2017. Instagram is the leading platform for Stories consumption and sharing: 54% of users say they use Instagram Stories the most, compared with other platforms, per Business Insider Intelligence exclusive data.
• Instagram launched IGTV, which it intended to be a YouTube competitor on long-form, user-generated video — albeit mobile-first and vertically oriented. If IGTV can convert Instagram's 1 billion users to consume video there, it could represent a massive, scalable opportunity as soon as the platform starts to monetize the section with advertising.
• Facebook Watch has pivoted to a communal viewing focus as it looks to scale viewership. But even though half of US adults say they've never even heard of Watch, some shows have demonstrated that they can gain loyal followings nevertheless.
• Snapchat continues to traffic heavily in ephemeral video, but the app is ramping up on premium video through Snapchat Originals. That push has helped drive a surge in video engagement on the app: As of fall 2018, the amount of time users spent watching shows each month nearly tripled since January 2018.
• TikTok's rapid growth has suggested that there's space in the landscape for short-form social video. TikTok has been downloaded more than 1 billion times globally, and was the No. 4 non-game app worldwide in 2018 on both iOS and Android devices, per Sensor Tower data. 

In full, the report:

• Examines and forecasts the rapid growth of social video ad revenue through 2023 across each major platform.
• Identifies how video formats are evolving on social platforms as companies seek to drive new types of engagement among users.
• Presents a platform-by-platform portrait of key social platforms' emergent video efforts and how they're each performing on key measures, including audience uptake and monetization. 

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> Purchase & Download Now
2. Subscribe to a Premium pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you've given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of social video.

Join the conversation about this story »

• Shane Dawson has just released the first episode of his docu-series with Jeffree Star, looking at the dark side of the beauty community on YouTube.
• Back in May, the beauty sisterhood went into meltdown because of a feud between three of the platform's biggest creators.
• It's unlikely James Charles, Tati Westbrook, and Star will appear in a video together ever again.
• Beauty YouTube is aggressively competitive and full of big personalities and passionate followers, so it's no surprise they're all constantly at war.
• The mob mentality of followers can be so fierce because they truly believe in the perceived relationship they have with their favourite stars.
• "Do I think James is gonna be the last? 100% not," said brand consultant Brandon Relph. "It's only a matter of time of who's going to be hit next."
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Before May 2019, you may have never heard of James Charles and Tati Westbrook. But since a series of exposé YouTube videos and melodramatic Instagram stories propelled them to become household names, there's a good chance you now know all about the contentious issue surrounding a vitamin company called Sugar Bear Hair, and how it tore a famous friendship apart.

Now that the first episode of Shane Dawson's docu-series looking into the dark side of the beauty industry has been released, we take a look back on everything that happened, and why the beauty sisterhood on YouTube is one of the most turbulent and drama-filled placed on the internet.

Read more: Shane Dawson just dropped a trailer for his documentary series about multi-millionaire beauty YouTuber Jeffree Star

Here's what happened

The beauty community went into meltdown on May 10 when Charles advertised Sugar Bear Hair on his Instagram story, which is a rival company to his friend Westbrook's brand Halo Beauty. Westbrook made her grievances about it public, releasing a long video detailing how Charles was backstabbing and manipulative, as well as throwing around several accusations about his alleged inappropriate behaviour around straight men. Jeffree Star, a fellow beauty guru, swiftly got involved and called Charles a "danger to society" and a "predator" in a string of now-deleted tweets.

Charles has told his side of the story in two subsequent videos — one containing a short apology to his friend Westbrook, and one 40-minute take-down of all the rumors spread about him, where he called the allegations "so fake" and "truly disgusting," and made several text conversations public.

A few days later, the trio agreed to settle their disputes in private. But it's likely the damage is irreparable, and Charles, Star, and Westbrook will never appear in a video all together ever again.

Timing is everything

Brand consultant Brandon Relph dubbed the recent drama "the perfect storm."

"That's why it was so big, because everything hit at just the right time," he told Insider. "It hit with the right people, with the right creators, with the right pieces of information — everything hit at a perfect point."

Charles was already receiving negative attention in the press for his tour tickets, which some believed were overpriced at $500 for VIP access, and his somewhat tone-deaf Instagram post where he said his attendance to the Met Gala was "a step forward in the right direction for influencer representation in the media."

Skeptics could say the beauty community timed its takedown of their former friend incredibly well.

Read more: All the celebrities who have unfollowed James Charles following his feud with fellow beauty YouTuber Tati Westbrook

"The YouTube world is very competitive, a lot of work, and very profitable if you can gather fans," media psychologist Pamela Rutledge told Insider. "Because the hurdle is low for entrants in the market, there is a continual need to keep your fans' attention."

Attention instinctively comes from anything that's unusual or highly emotional, she said, making inter-YouTuber conflict a particularly effective sweetspot.

"YouTube is, in effect, a reality show," she said. "The relationships among influencers add credibility by creating a sense of a world in which they operate and allows them to take advantage of the energy among characters rather than have to generate all the energy themselves."

Read more: YouTubers are calling out the platform's 'cancel culture' that subjects them to a rampant hate mob and sees them lose thousands of subscribers in a matter of hours

By creating drama between the characters on the YouTube "show," creators are more or less guaranteed attention and interest from their fans because they expand and twist the narrative. And with that intrigue comes more clicks, views, revenue, and brand deals.

"The Tati and James Charles feud provides an opportunity for fans to take sides based on the intensity of their attachment to each character," Rutledge said. "People love to pull others off pedestals even when they loved them a few minutes ago."

When one star exposes another, it can fall into what's known as "cancel culture," where fans in their hundreds, thousands, or even millions unsubscribe from a YouTuber and criticize their actions on social media. Charles, for instance, lost 3 million subscribers when his notoriety was at its peak, while Westbrook doubled her following from 5 million to 10 million. Charles has now gained the majority back, while Westbrook's traction has slowed.

'Dramageddon'

While the drama can occur anywhere, beauty YouTube seems to be a particularly turbulent area of the internet. Before everything came out about Charles, several other gurus had a fall from grace in 2018, in a period now known as "Dramageddon."

It all started on August 12 2018, when beauty YouTuber Gabriel Zamora tweeted a photo that broke and created many alliances at once.

"B---- is bitter because without him we're doing better," he wrote alongside a photo of him with fellow YouTubers Laura Lee, Manny MUA, and Nikita Dragun, all giving the camera the middle finger.

Fans assumed this was a diss towards Jeffree Star, who had come under fire for using racial slurs thanks to a video uploaded by Thomas Halbert. Zamora further confirmed the photo was a dig when he tweeted back and forth with one of Star's fans, saying "Imagine stanning a racist? I could never." All the tweets have since been deleted.

However, Star posted stories on Snapchat soon afterwards that appeared to debunk the rumors against him, and claimed Halbert was just trying to get attention for his merch line.

"Because he couldn't get what he wanted out of me, he flipped the subject to something that he knew was going to get a lot of attention because it's sensitive, and he made up a full false story to try to harm me," Star said.

Meanwhile, people were rifling through the social media histories of Lee, Dragun, Manny, and Zamora. Tweets were dug up that revealed they weren't in the clear when it came to a problematic past of racial stereotyping.

What happened next was a flurry of apology videos from Zamora, Dragun, Manny, and Lee, directed at both Star and the wider YouTube community. Lee arguably felt the biggest impact with an apology video that is considered one of the worst ever made, and a loss of about 300,000 subscribers in a week.

While "Dramageddon" has all blown over now, the ripples still remain. Zamora briefly made up with Star but the two don't appear to be on speaking terms any more since he took Charles' side in his feud with Westbrook. Dragun also stuck by Charles, recently making some of her private messages public to try and prove his intentions of advertising Sugar Bear Hair were innocent.

Mob mentality

The audiences of beauty YouTubers also seem to be particularly prone to mob mentality, which can be shown in the dramatic losses and gains of subscribers in the midst of drama.

For example, at the start of 2018, YouTuber Logan Paul uploaded a video of a dead body he found in a forest in Japan. He lost about 80,000 subscribers during the controversy — nowhere near the damage Lee and Charles experienced. Paul gained them all back, and then some, in the months afterwards, and still gets millions of views, despite experiencing an initial drop-off.

Read more: Logan Paul returns to YouTube with a documentary about suicide survivors: 'I know I've let people down'

Rutledge said herd behaviour can help explain what happens when the public attack those in the beauty community — it's like when drone bees attack to protect the queen. In Westbrook's initial video, the trigger for the attack was the vitamin promotion.

"Her fans rise up in arms, unfollow James Charles, and raise enough stink so that it moves off YouTube into the broader media," Rutledge said. "This may be due in part to the fact that James Charles had achieved a level of success that was giving him exposure beyond YouTube."

YouTubers feel like your friends

Audiences of beauty YouTubers may feel a particularly strong sense of allegiance because of how their videos are set up. The creator spends a lot of time talking to the camera, up close and personal to the screen, while they apply their makeup. This sense of authenticity through speaking directly to the audience creates what is known as a "parasocial relationship."

"In a parasocial relationship, the audience comes to feel that the personality is a friend and they experience the person as if they were in a reciprocal relationship, rather than a one-sided one," said Rutledge. "This experience is amplified in social media where influencers respond to some comments and fans, increasing the illusion of friendship."

Read more: What it's like to be the victim of mob mentality on YouTube

Fans then come to their favourite creators' aid during a conflict, or they may unsubscribe and "break up" with them if they feel abandoned (if they disappear), or betrayed (if they do something wrong).

"This tendency to become emotionally attached to influencers occurs from frequent viewing and the brain's natural instincts to interpret virtual as social, such as making eye contact, smiling, and personal disclosure — as it would in person," Rutledge continued. "This is not a pathology, but a normal response."

Without fans, Rutledge added, there is no YouTube star, and many people don't realize how much money the biggest creators are actually making.

Star, for instance, has a whole makeup and clothing line, and also owns Killer Merch, which holds and ships out products made by various other influencers.

In his first docu-series with YouTuber Shane Dawson in 2018, Star said he makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year. In one of his latest videos, you get a taste of it — he shows off his collection of shoes, Birkin bags, and diamonds in a hot pink vault which has its own armed guard.

Charles hasn't reached that level of wealth yet, but with his Morphe makeup line, he's definitely made a good living so far.

"Even if James Charles was to completely resign from doing YouTube anymore, I think he'd have a very cushy life...with the money he has," Relph said. "I don't think he's gonna be struggling financially any time soon."

Making and breaking careers

Despite all of this, according to Jenny Tsai, the founder and CEO of influencer marketing company Wearisma, data shows that past influencer scandals involving racism or mental health have damaged careers, with sponsorships being up to 12% lower following the incident.

For example, Lee's makeup brand's Instagram account "lauraleelosangeles" reaches just 50% of the audience it used to because only smaller influencers tag and share its posts.

Meanwhile, for Paul, while he's seen an increase in social media mentions, there has been a strong decrease in his media value, suggesting his content is not getting the same engagement it once did.

However, with a scandal like English YouTuber Zoella's, where she received criticism for charging £50 ($63) for a basic advent calendar, she now has 4% more sponsorship deals than she had prior to the incident.

"It seems the adage 'all publicity is good publicity' could be true," said Tsai.

"From this data, we would conclude that where influencers themselves are deemed 'inappropriate,' the scandal has a more long-term adverse effect," she added. "Where influencers make questionable commercial decisions on the products they promote, they are more likely to bounce back both in terms of commercial partnerships and their follower counts."

James Charles seems to be the latter, she said, "but whether he'll recover as some of his peers have … only time will tell."

Big personalities mean big bust-ups

If the recent drama has shown us anything, it's that scandals can happen to anyone. Up until a few weeks before the controversies, Star and Charles were talking to each other on social media. Their last collaboration on Charles' channel included Westbrook and was only in January. Charles also appeared on Star's channel around the same time, where they destroyed makeup made by other creators they'd had bust ups with.

However, beauty YouTubers also tend to have huge personalities, so it's no surprise they're constantly clashing, making up, and breaking up.

"It's always going to happen, there will always be another scandal," said Relph. "I think there's an element of people wanting to see the big people fail and that sort of contributes to it. Plus people don't keep allegiances for very long."

Read more: The feud between James Charles and Tati Westbrook is a reminder of how YouTube is the perfect breeding ground for narcissists

The higher the stakes, the bigger the battles, so when YouTubers fall out, the impact is usually huge. But all things considered, the drama could all be part of the game they simply have to play.

"Do I think James is gonna be the last? 100% not," Relph said. "It's only a matter of time of who's going to be hit next."

James Charles, Tati Westbrook, Jeffree Star, Manny MUA, Nikita Dragun, Laura Lee, and Gabriel Zamora didn't respond to requests for comment.

Read more: 

People are calling an 18-year-old YouTuber 'privileged' and 'entitled' for saying her trip to Greece was 'not fun'

The life and controversies of YouTuber Trisha Paytas, from public feuds and breakups to identifying as 'a chicken nugget'

Nobody knew YouTuber Danielle Cohn's real age until her own father said she's only 13. Here's what you need to know about the teen star who tricked the internet into thinking she was pregnant.

The whirlwind romances and breakups of YouTube stars fuel our appetite for increasingly extreme and dramatic online entertainment

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• Shane Dawson dropped the first episode of his YouTube documentary series, "The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star" Tuesday night.
• Filming began in January this year, and is set to look at the life of beauty mogul Star.
• In the first episode, Star told Dawson that he always travels with an armed security guard.
• "Just for the record, my bodyguards are always armed, including right now," he said. "So on the 1% chance, they shoot to kill."
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Jeffree Star told Shane Dawson that his guards were armed and dangerous in Dawson's new docu-series about the beauty mogul.

Star said he always travels with a bodyguard and had hired extra security for Dawson. He also said that his team was prepared for anything.

"Are you afraid of being killed?" he asked Dawson. "Just for the record, my bodyguards are always armed, including right now. So on the 1% chance, they shoot to kill."

"Got it," Dawson said.

The episode shows a glimpse into Star's lucrative lifestyle

The true extent of Jeffree Star's wealth and fame was revealed by Shane Dawson in 2018 when he worked with the beauty mogul on a mini docu-series about his life and empire. Dawson's new series "The Beautiful Life of Jeffree Star" looks to dig even deeper if the first episode that dropped last night is anything to go by.

Filming began in January this year, and the first episode started with Dawson getting ready to fly to Sacramento on Star's private jet to do a meet-and-greet at the Morphe makeup store, where 25,000 fans were expected to show up. The video already has over 7.5 million views.

Read more: Shane Dawson just dropped a trailer for his documentary series about multi-millionaire beauty YouTuber Jeffree Star

When Star arrived at the airplane with an entourage of staff and security, he tried to put Dawson's mind at ease.

"I'm freaking out, I'm scared," Dawson said.

"The planes are really safe, all these people are amazing," Star told him. "I don't think the world is ready for two big players to be taken out."

Once they arrived at the hotel and were separated from Star, cameraman Andrew Siwicki asked Dawson how he was feeling.

"I feel like I'm with the mob boss," he said. "Which I like, I feel safe. But I'm also like, what does that mean? It's like a mafia."

Read more: Why the beauty community on YouTube is one of the most turbulent and drama-filled places on the internet

At the Morphe event, the extent of Star's fame was made clear. The screams and chants from the crowd outside made their way through the walls into the building, eager to catch a glimpse of their idol.

When they went outside, Siwicki filmed a mob of thousands of fans, all screaming and waving, while Dawson stood back in disbelief.

When it was all over, they made their way back to the jet.

"Day one in my life is officially over," Star said, causing Dawson and Siwicki to laugh in exhaustion.

"Can't wait to be with you for a whole year," Dawson said.

The whole series will be nine parts in total

The docu-series is set to be released in nine parts. In part two, Dawson will explore the business of beauty, including a glimpse at his own makeup line he has developed with Star.

The rest of the series will also likely give a behind-the-scenes look at what happened when the beauty community went into meltdown because of James Charles and Tati Westbrook's feud in May of this year.

We're also likely to see even more evidence of how wealthy Jeffree Star truly is. For example, at the end of the episode, Dawson asked how much his glittering diamond-encrusted watch was worth.

"On average about 150," he said, meaning $150,000.

You can watch the full one-hour first episode below.

Read more:

YouTubers are calling out the platform's 'cancel culture' that subjects them to a rampant hate mob and sees them lose thousands of subscribers in a matter of hours

YouTuber David Dobrik gave a homeless man a car and free Chipotle burritos for a year

The life and controversies of YouTuber Trisha Paytas, from public feuds and breakups to identifying as 'a chicken nugget'

Jeffree Star surprised his boyfriend with a $150,000 lime green Aston Martin Vantage

The whirlwind romances and breakups of YouTube stars fuel our appetite for increasingly extreme and dramatic online entertainment

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Nxivm leader Keith Raniere has been convicted. Here's what happened inside his sex-slave ring that recruited actresses and two billionaire heiresses.

• Google rolled out a trio of new security features Monday that let you reduce how much of your personal activity the company tracks through its apps and sites.
• The features include incognito mode in Google Maps, auto-delete features in YouTube and Google Assistant, and Password Checkup.
• The new features are available across platforms and sync on Chrome and Android.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Google is rolling out a cluster of new features that aim to make it easier for customers to control what data they share with the company when using apps like Maps, YouTube, and Google Assistant.

Users will now be able to turn on "incognito mode" in Google Maps to stop the app from saving your location activity and can more easily instruct YouTube and the assistant to delete your history. These tools build on a feature rolled out in May that allowed users to more easily manage and delete data.

The new features are part of a broader attempt to make privacy controls the same across Google's products and therefore easier to use, Eric Miraglia, director of product management for Google's privacy and data protection office, wrote in a blog post announcing the features.

"Managing your data should be just as easy as making a restaurant reservation, or using Maps to find the fastest way back home," Miraglia wrote.

The security tools will roll out for Android this month and iOS "coming soon," according to the blog post.

Here's a breakdown of the new features and how they work.

SEE ALSO: How to optimize your Google security settings

Google Maps now features incognito mode

The tool that allows users to browse Chrome without leaving a history log is now available in Google Maps.

If users enable incognito mode in Maps, Google will stop saving the places they search for and visit. The feature can be turned on or off at any time using the settings dropdown menu in the app.

Accordingly, when incognito mode is on, Google Maps will not use users' searches to personalize future restaurant recommendations.

Google Assistant now supports voice controls for privacy settings

With this feature, users can instruct Google Assistant to delete history using commands like "Hey Google, delete the last thing I said to you."

Once the new voice commands are rolled out, which will happen in the coming month, users won't have to change their settings to enable them — simply speaking the commands to the assistant will work.

Users will also be able to ask the assistant questions like, "How do you keep my data safe?" to get information about Google's data privacy practices, according to Miraglia.

YouTube now has an auto-delete tool

Auto-delete, a tool that was already available on some Google apps, will soon come to YouTube. The feature allows users to automatically delete their YouTube history beyond a certain time frame.

This new feature builds on pre-existing auto-delete tools for location history and app activity.

A new Password Checkup feature will keep tabs on whether your passwords are secure

Google's password manager already offers a service that tracks passwords across different accounts. Now, a Password Checkup tool will offer users advice on whether passwords are weak or have been reused across too many platforms.

In addition, Password Checkup will alert users if Google detects that their passwords have been compromised across any sites, prompting users to change them.

Full details of how Password Checkup works are listed here.

• Playing video games professionally has become extremely popular — for good reason.
• We spoke to eight professional gamers, many of which live-stream themselves on websites like Twitch, to discuss the biggest upsides of what they do for a living.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Video games are better than ever. They're also more fun to play with an audience.

Game-streaming has taken off in recent years, thanks to the lowered barriers to entry: Webcams and microphones aren't too expensive, and there are so many computers out there with more than enough power to handle playing a game and streaming it online simultaneously.

Thousands of people have turned their game-playing habits into full-fledged careers. Many don't reach the heights of, say, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, who rose to fame after rappers Drake and Travis Scott played "Fortnite" with him on Twitch one fateful night (he's also one of the best players of "Fortnite," one of the most popular games in the world, which totally helps).

But even if you don't become a celebrity through streaming, people can still make a decent living from playing video games in front of a live audience. And game-streaming can be a great outlet, too: a way to work out your problems, connect with others, and make new friends.

Game streamers have done lots of good for greater communities as well: For example, players from the "Destiny" community raised over $4 million for St. Jude Children's Research during a few short weeks this summer. Many streamers also participate in the series of Games Done Quick charity marathons each year, which have raised over $22 million for charities like Doctors Without Borders and the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

If you're considering game-streaming for a living, there's a lot to look forward to. We have a separate story detailing the downsides of being a professional gamer, but we wanted to highlight all of the ways in which this profession can have a positive impact on your life, and the lives of others.

SEE ALSO: Professional gamers reveal the worst things about their profession

Sean Gallagher, a.k.a. "Gladd," is a 31-year-old Twitch streamer and YouTuber.

Gallagher says he's loved gaming since he was a kid, and streaming lets him "do something I love every day, for a living." Plus, he's been able to foster a community and create "impactful relationships."

"Building a community from scratch has always been a main goal of mine," Gallagher told Business Insider. "When I first started full-time streaming, my initial goal was to 'create a place where anyone can hang out and not feel judged."

Over time, Gallagher has embraced the entertainment side of streaming.

"I love helping people in any way that I can," Gallagher said. "Whether it's helping someone through a tough time, making them laugh or smile, or showing them the ways of a certain game, it's always heartwarming to know that I'm having an impact."

Follow Gladd on Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and Instagram.

Soleil Wheeler, a.k.a. "Ewok," is a 14-year-old Twitch streamer and YouTuber.

Wheeler, who was born deaf, said the biggest upside to her profession is that she can build a community and "lasting relationships with gamers like myself."

"These people that interact with me help shape who I am today," Wheeler told Business Insider. "We share common experiences as gamers and we have our lingo, inside jokes, and a unique bond. The gaming community feels like a second family."

She compared being a professional gamer to schools and workplaces, where you learn how to communicate and collaborate with the people around you, "which makes us feel even more united."

"I feel that I get more opportunities to mod not only myself, but those around me by being an influencer," Wheeler said.

Follow Ewok on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch.

Stephen Brown, a.k.a. "Gunfly," is an 18-year-old professional "Fortnite" player for the professional esports team Luminosity Gaming.

Brown kept it simple: He loves playing games, and loves even more that he can "pursue it full time."

"Being able to have fun with my friends online, and being able to build a community just through online that supports you ... I love being able to do what I love every day," he said.

Follow Gunfly on Twitter and Twitch.

"AFKayt," 32, is a stay-at-home mom and a variety streamer on Twitch three days a week, where she gives makeup tutorials, plays games like "Overwatch," or learns to play the ukulele.

"AFKayt," who wished to not use her real name due to harassment and recent threats made against her online, said streaming helped her deal with lifelong anxiety and a recent bout of post-partum depression.

"It works for me personally," she said. "I wouldn't say, 'Do you have anxiety? Go stream!' But it's helped me to connect with people. Gaming is something I've always loved, and I'd watched Twitch for awhile, so I took my passion of creating things — doing art and everything, plus playing games — and honestly, it's helped me a lot as far as having an outlet for me and having some identity other than just mom."

Follow Kayt on Twitter, Twitch, and her own personal website. 

Ryan Wright, a.k.a. "True Vanguard," is a 31-year-old Facebook streamer and YouTuber who often plays first-person shooters like "Destiny 2" and "Borderlands 3."

Wright said the upsides to professional gaming are two-fold: You can influence the larger community of gamers (including viewers and other content creators), but you can also influence the game-development process itself since companies often ask for feedback on their games before they ship them out to players.

"I've been flown to studios and gaming events to provide direct feedback to games still in production several times over the last few years, and it's always humbling to have developers ask you what you think about their work and how they think your community will respond to it," Wright said. "Being able to be a spokesperson for a huge body of gamers is a responsibility I don't take lightly but also thoroughly enjoy."

Wright also said he's loves growing his community and using it to do good. Wright participated in a charity event this summer, called GuardianCon: His stream raised over $20,000, while the entire event raked in more than $4 million for St. Jude Children's Hospital.

"Just being able to be a part of that was a humbling experience and a reminder of how much the gaming community not only cares about people, but how much they're willing to do about it," he said.

Check out True Vanguard on Twitter, YouTube, and his new Facebook channel.

Melissa Misenhimer, a.k.a. "Lulu," is a 32-year-old part-time Twitch streamer who works full-time as a pediatric registered nurse.

Melissa, who splits her work between being a nurse and streaming games online, said she loves meeting people "from all around the world."

"I play one base game, called 'Destiny 2,' and from that have been able to meet a ton of people I otherwise would not have through Twitch and teaming up in-game," she said.

Despite the time commitment needed for her main line of work, which requires keeping a strict streaming schedule, Melissa said she "definitely wouldn't change it.

"I've learned and gained so much, both in the technical side of setting up streaming equipment and programs, and the friendships gained along the way."

Follow Lulu on Twitter and Twitch.

Christopher Pavloff, a.k.a. "Jay3," is a 24-year-old former pro esports player and a current Twitch streamer and YouTuber.

Pavloff, who has played in competitive tournaments for the past several years, said the biggest upside to what he does for a living is that it gives him a sense of community.

"Despite a stereotype about gamers being anti-social and isolated, video games create some incredibly social communities," Pavloff told Business Insider. "Working in esports is an amazing way to get to know people from all walks of life, from all around the world. You get to make lifelong friends and build a community from not only esports, but the streaming that many professional gamers do on the side."

Pavloff also described the perks of playing games competitively, including the traveling you can do, and the money you can win if you perform well in tournaments. Attending a tournament in Montreal is also how he met his long-time girlfriend.

"I had the opportunity to go to Taipei, Taiwan, because of 'Overwatch,'" he said. "It was an amazing experience where I got to explore another country and culture with my teammates. I can't imagine I would have been able to go there otherwise."

Follow Jay3 on Twitch, Twitter and YouTube.

"Elixa" is a 35-year-old Twitch streamer who also works part-time at Tesla.

While Elixa shared one of the worst online harassment stories I've ever heard (you can read about it in the companion piece to this story), he says he wouldn't change doing what he does: spending 50 to 60 hours a week between Tesla and streaming online.

"It's just so rewarding and, at times, emotional," Elixa told Business Insider. "I think it's very empowering to be able to have your own set schedule, your own rules, and really express who you are. If you can do this, the lovelier your life will be."

Elixa started streaming games in November 2017, but in August of last year, he started doing makeup tutorials and wearing drag — and he noticed an explosion of interest. Elixa said he was able to create a community through Twitch, and he loves "building people's confidence" to help them accept who they are.

"People were reaching out saying, 'I was able to come out to my parents because of some of the things we talked about on stream," he said. "Some of the stories that I would see, just because I get on here and I do my thing."

Follow Elixa on Twitter and Twitch.

Are you a pro gamer with a story to tell?

We'd love to hear from you, about the upsides or downsides to professional gaming. Shoot me an email at dsmith@businessinsider.com.

• YouTube and Instagram star Alisha Marie, who has 8 million YouTube subscribers, said influencers should be turning down more sponsorship deals.
• She said she turns down deals daily, and that she says no more than yes. 
• If an influencer isn't using a product at all in their life, or doesn't believe in the brand, then it's not a good partnership, according to Kamiu Lee, the CEO of the influencer marketing company Activate.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

YouTube and Instagram star Alisha Marie says no to brand sponsorship deals a lot. In fact, she says no more often than yes, she told Business Insider in a recent interview.

"I was offered a deal last week and it was great paycheck," she said. "But it was with an item that I don't use in my daily life. The audience knows, you can't trick them."

Alisha said it's not worth the money if it could damage her reputation with her audience. And she's not alone.

Audiences know when a collaboration is unnatural. 

If an influencer isn't using a product in their life, or doesn't believe in the brand, then it's not a good partnership, Kamiu Lee, the CEO of the influencer marketing company Activate, told Business Insider. 

"It is much more impactful when the influencer is really able to articulate what about this product makes it stand out to the influencer personally versus just repeating a brand's key selling points in their content," Lee said.

Followers can tell when an influencer is faking their excitement, Alisha said.

That's why Alisha prefers working with brands like Starbucks, as it's a product she already uses in her daily life and her followers know that. 

Audience retention is a currency to creators. It's fine to promote a product, but will you be willing to give up the trust or attention because of a bad partnership?

"Obviously it's really hard when you have an actual dollar amount in your face," Alisha admitted, but says she often has to say no.

Avoiding 'questionable digestible' products.

Beyond questions of authenticity, the safety of a product is another factor influencers consider when deciding whether to do a brand partnership.

Amy Neben, a partner and talent manager at Select Management Group — which manages some of YouTube's top influencers, like Eva Gutowski (mylifeaseva), with 10 million YouTube subscribers — previously told Business Insider that she advises her clients against promoting any "questionable digestible" product not approved by the FDA.

"They have a platform that is much more powerful than TV or film for young audiences,"Neben said. "We really want to make sure our clients are always thinking about that and using their influence to do good instead of the one-off paid opportunity."

Vaping products are the most rejected type of sponsorship at Select Management Group, surpassing weight-loss teas, Neben said. 

Look to build lasting campaigns, not one-off deals.

Influencers should look to build a lasting partnership with a company, which often looks like a yearlong campaign or a package deal with Instagram posts, video shout-outs, or tweets included in one long collaboration, Lee said.

"This is more efficient," Lee said. "You don't need to learn a new brand guideline every time, and also more efficient for the brand as they won't need to recruit and brief brand new influencers every time."

For more on how influencers are profiting from their success online, according to industry professionals and creators, check out these Business Insider Prime posts:

• YouTube and Instagram star Alisha Marie explains how to pitch a brand for your first sponsorship deal: YouTube star Alisha Marie shared how she's landed brand deals by reaching out to the brand on Instagram.

• How brands can create a successful YouTube star partnership, according to SeatGeek's influencer marketing director:Ian Borthwick, SeatGeek's director of influencer marketing, shared his influencer marketing tips, like taking the backseat to allow the influencer to have creative control.
• How Instagram influencers land their first brand-sponsorship deals: Here are a few different ways social-media influencers can land their first brand-sponsorship deal when starting out

SEE ALSO: A top talent manager shares which products she advises her YouTube star clients not to promote on social media

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Pixar has a secret formula for making perfect films. Here are 5 rules that make its movies so special.

• Musician Madilyn Bailey, who now has a YouTube channel with 6 million subscribers, said starting a music career on YouTube wasn't easy.
• In an interview with Business Insider, Bailey credited her cover of "Titanium," which blew up overnight and now has 100 million views, with helping launch her career.
• But she still worked for about three years before "Titanium" without earning a real income from her music, she said.
• Bailey moved from Wisconsin to Los Angeles, where she now lives and pursues music full-time, employing her dad and husband on her team. 
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

In 2012, Madilyn Bailey uploaded a cover to the David Guetta song "Titanium" to her YouTube channel. It became an overnight hit.

That video, which now sits at 100 million views, allowed her to quit her job and move to Los Angeles to pursue music full-time.

But making a music career on YouTube wasn't been an easy road, and Bailey worked for years building her online fan base before "Titanium" became a hit, she told Business Insider in a recent interview.

From a small town in Wisconsin to making it in LA 

Bailey, who now has 6 million subscribers on YouTube, started her channel in 2009 when she was 16 and living in a small town in Wisconsin (she's now 27). She taught herself to write songs, play drums, guitar, and ukulele using online resources.

"As I was falling in love with music, I started seeing that people were posting videos of themselves doing acoustic versions of pop songs on YouTube, just right off their camera, nothing crazy," she said. She started a channel with the help of her mother, who made Madilyn pick her first and middle name (Bailey) as her stage name and helped her film her first few videos.

Within the first six months, Bailey began gaining attention online from groups like "Jonas Group," the management group that at the time managed the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato, she said. She graduated six months early from high school and began flying out to LA to film videos, using her job as a certified nursing assistant to buy plane tickets.

But she still wasn't making much money.

"It took about three years to start earning any sort of income," she said.

When Bailey started her channel, creators didn't have the option to monetize their channels through YouTube's Partner Program. She earned money by streaming her songs on iTunes and Pandora, using a website to distribute her music across the platforms.

Her advice to musicians starting out online is to put their music on every platform possible, and use a website like she did to easily distribute songs. Distributing music to streaming platforms allows an artist to start earning money as more people discover their music, and is a better option than relying on YouTube alone, she said.

'Develop yourself' 

After "Titanium" took off,  Bailey moved to LA to pursue music full-time.

Once in LA, Bailey took artist development classes and tried to get in as many writing sessions as possible. 

"As you are growing your audience on YouTube, develop yourself," she said she'd advise those looking to start a music career on YouTube. "Put yourself in tons of sessions. Anyone who will write with you, write with them." 

Bailey said she's been in about 200 writing sessions since she's moved to LA, and is now in a place where she has a clear vision of where she is headed as an artist, with an audience who she can release music to online. 

Bailey also signed with Warner Music Group's label PlayOn in 2015 and now has a team for things like booking shows and making sure her videos get posted and edited. Bailey's husband helps film and edit her videos and her dad also works for her.

But it all started from years of work without making significant money.

"Start posting, that's my biggest piece of advice," Bailey said. "The more stuff you can put out there, the more of a chance you'll have at something blowing up."

SEE ALSO: YouTube star Shelby Church breaks down how much money a video with 4 million views made her

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Alexander Wang explains how to wear all black without looking boring

• You can stream live gameplay from your PS4 to YouTube or Twitch, which is a great way to show off your skills.
• Before you can stream, you'll need to connect your Twitch or YouTube account to your PS4 using the Settings menu. 
• To start streaming a game, just press the Share button and choose "Broadcast Gameplay."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

If you're dominating in a game, why not show it off? 

Your PS4 makes it easy to stream gameplay to video sites like Twitch and YouTube. Once you've set up and linked your account to your PS4, you can start streaming with literally just a tap. 

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

PlayStation 4 (From $299.99 at Best Buy)

PlayStation Camera (From $59.99 at Best Buy)

How to stream on the PS4

Link your accounts to the PS4

1. Using your controller, select "Settings."

2. Select "Account Management."

3. Select "Link with Other Services."

4. Choose the service you want to use — either Twitch or YouTube.

5. Follow the sign-in instructions. Both Twitch and YouTube make it easy to sign in with your existing account. However, you may need to use a computer or mobile device — Twitch, for example, asks you to enter a code into a web browser to confirm your identity and connect your PS4.

Stream a game on your PS4

1. Start the game you want to stream. 

2. Press the Share button on your controller. Don't hold the button down — just tap it once. 

3. Select "Broadcast Gameplay."

4. On the Broadcast Gameplay page, choose the streaming service you want to stream to — either Twitch or YouTube.

5. Before you can start streaming, choose your video options. You can give the stream a title, for example, as well as choose your video quality. You can also scroll down to invite friends to the stream. If you have a PlayStation Camera installed, you can also include live video of yourself in the stream.

6. Select "Start Broadcasting."

You're now streaming video to the service you selected. 

How to stop streaming from your PS4

1. When you're done broadcasting, press the Share button on the controller again. The Share menu should pop out from the side.

2. Select "Broadcast Settings."

3. Select "Stop Broadcasting."

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

• How to gameshare between two PlayStation 4 consoles with Sony's 'Share Play' feature

• How to connect a PS4 controller to your PC in 2 different ways

• How to turn a PS4 on or off, or put it into Rest Mode, using the controller or system

• How to charge a PlayStation 4 controller using your PS4 console

SEE ALSO: 8 affordable PlayStation 4 accessories that'll help you make the most of your console

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How Area 51 became the center of alien conspiracy theories

• YouTube personality Shane Dawson has acquired more than 22 million subscribers in his over 10 years on the platform.
• Dawson, 31, is known for his documentary-length YouTube series exploring conspiracy theories and the lives of other famous YouTubers. He's also been involved in controversies stemming from past remarks he's made and since apologized for as well as offensive characters he's performed.
• Here's everything you need to know about Shane Dawson, whose worth an estimated $12 million and just released a new documentary about makeup YouTuber Jeffree Star.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Restaurant chain Chuck E. Cheese was forced to deny allegations earlier this year that it recycles uneaten pizza slices to serve to other customers, thanks to a YouTuber by the name of Shane Dawson.

The 31-year-old Dawson is essentially a YouTube veteran who has garnered more than 22 million subscribers in his decade of creating videos. His early comedic skits and parodies brought in a massive audience base who have stuck around to see Dawson evolve into creating hour-long documentaries about conspiracy theories and other YouTubers.

Dawson's fame has earned him an estimated net worth of around $12 million, as well as a book, a podcast, and numerous TV and film appearances. And then there were the multiple controversies (more on those later).

His latest piece of work is a documentary about makeup YouTuber Jeffree Star, and it dropped on Tuesday, October 1.

Here's everything you need to know about 31-year-old YouTuber Shane Dawson:

SEE ALSO: A fitness influencer will serve nearly 5 years in jail for using 369 Instagram accounts to harass bodybuilding colleagues and allegedly faking her daughter's kidnapping

The YouTuber was born as Shane Yaw on July 19, 1988 in Long Beach, California.

Source: Famous Birthdays

As a kid, Dawson grew up with an alcoholic father and was bullied for being overweight in high school. At 18, he signed up for the once-popular weight-loss program Jenny Craig, through which he succeeded in losing weight. He soon after got a job working at a local Jenny Craig storefront, and was later promoted to manager.

Source: Tubefilter

At the same time, Dawson was going out on auditions for acting gigs, but he wasn't having much luck. In 2008, Dawson decided to launch a YouTube channel called "Shane Dawson TV." However, his YouTube content got him into trouble early on: After recording himself pole dancing while at work, Dawson and six other people (including his mother and brothers) were fired from their jobs.

Source: Tubefilter, Forbes

The early days of Dawson's channel consisted of comedy sketches, video blogs and diaries, and impersonations of characters liked "Barb the Lesbian" and "Shanaynay"— who calls herself a "ghetto girl"— that are pretty problematic and draw on offensive stereotypes.

Source: The Startup on Medium, Bustle

Dawson's first video to go truly viral was "Fred is Dead," a sketch comedy video from September 2008 in which Dawson kills the beloved 2000s-era YouTuber Fred (aka Lucas Cruikshank). The video has more than 25 million views today.

Source: Know Your Meme

To pay the bills, Dawson picked up odd jobs — including working as a security guard at an aquarium — all while continuing to upload videos to his YouTube channel.

Source: Forbes

YouTube took notice of Dawson's growing popularity and invited him to join its partner program, which allowed him to make being a YouTuber a full-time, money-making job. By September 2011, Dawson's channel was the fifth most-subscribed to YouTube channel behind Ray William Johnson, Nigahiga, Smosh, and Machinima.

Source: Know Your Meme

Dawson started dating fellow YouTuber Lisa Schwartz in 2011. The two dated for a few years and even lived together before splitting in 2014. "That period of time was quite dark," Dawson later said in a video with Schwartz about their relationship. "It was nice to have someone who knows what it felt like to have problems."

Source: We the Unicorns

As Dawson continued to produce viral video hits, he harnessed his newfound fame to pursue other ventures. In 2013, Dawson launched the "Shane and Friends" podcast where he interviewed various YouTubers. However, the podcast stopped recording new content in 2017, and all episodes were deleted from the web after controversial comments Dawson had made on the show were dug up (more on that later).

Dawson also expanded into producing films and shows based off his real-life experiences. Dawson told Forbes in 2017 that "writing and directing is my thing," and it's something he's been pursuing ever since he was a kid.

Sources: Forbes

Dawson's first foray into producing was a show called "Losin' It" about Dawson's life as a formerly overweight person. Although NBC bought the rights to the show in 2013, it was never produced.

Sources: Hollywood Reporter, Forbes

The following year, Dawson produced the rom-com "Not Cool" as part of a Starz reality show called "The Chair" that pitted the YouTuber against another aspiring filmmaker to each use an $800,000 budget to make competing movies based on the same script. Dawson's "Not Cool" was declared the winner, despite a New York Times critic saying the movie was "so poorly executed and so unfunny that no one involved with it should ever be allowed to work in the movies again."

Source: Variety, LA Times

Dawson was forced to make his first public apology video in September 2014 after some older videos were dug up showing him using blackface to portray characters in his comedy sketches. Dawson admitted his actions were "ignorant," but said that "everyone knows I'm not a racist." He likely didn't know this would only be the first in a line of apology videos he would have to make throughout his controversial YouTube career.

Source: Bustle

Dawson has published two memoirs about his life in 2015 and 2016: "I Hate Myselfie: A Collection of Essays," followed by, "It Gets Worse: A Collection of Essays." Dawson told Variety he hoped to reach the older demographic "even if they find my YouTube videos annoying."

Source: Variety

The YouTuber has also used the platform to share and discuss deeply personal matters with fans. Dawson opened up in 2014 about having body dysmorphia, a disorder in which you can't stop obsessing over perceived flaws in your appearance. "I’m talking about this because I know a lot of you guys out there might be dealing with the same type of thing and I want you to know that you’re not alone," Dawson said in his video.

Source: Distractify

Dawson also released a video on YouTube to publicly come out as bisexual in 2015. Dawson said that while he was "scared" to come out, there's no reason to "be afraid of who you are." Reactions from fans and the YouTube community were overwhelmingly supportive.

Source: IB Times

A little more than a year after coming out, Dawson announced he was dating fellow YouTuber Ryland Adams. In his first Instagram about Adams in October 2016, Dawson said Adams is "sweet, caring, and makes me so incredibly happy."

By 2018, Dawson's YouTube channel had switched gears dramatically. Dawson switched to multi-part series investigating conspiracy theories and documenting the lives of scandalous YouTubers, including Tana Mongeau, Jake Paul, and Eugenia Cooney.

Dawson's controversial comments from the past caught up to him in early 2018 when a clip from an old "Shane and Friends" podcast episode resurfaced. "Having sex with children, touching children or anything of that nature is terrible and you should not do it," Dawson says on the 2013 episode. "But ... here’s my thing. People have foot fetishes, people have fetishes of everything." After his comments went viral, Dawson was forced to make another apology video on his channel.

Source: Washington Post

Criticism was again heaped on Dawson amidst his docuseries on YouTuber Jake Paul. One of the episodes heavily features conversation between Dawson and a therapist where they discuss sociopaths, and speculate whether Paul is one himself. People reamed Dawson for his facetious treatment of mental health, and Dawson later apologized to anyone who was offended.

Source: Polygon

Among the conspiracy theories that Dawson has investigated is a claim that kid's chain Chuck E. Cheese saves uneaten slices of pizza, and recycles these leftovers into pies served to new customers. After Dawson went to a Chuck E. Cheese himself and declared that the conspiracy theory is legit, the restaurant chain was forced to respond and call his viral claims "unequivocally false."

Source: Insider

Dawson's rapt attention to conspiracy theories has started discussion about the role that YouTubers play in spreading disinformation on the platform. Additionally, YouTube has revised its policies this year to recommend fewer conspiracy theories, which could potentially have an adverse effect on content like Dawson's.

Source: WaPo, Business Insider

Dawson also caught heat for remarks he made on his podcast — yet again — in March. Dawson backtracked on the story of his "first sexual experience," which he said during a 2015 podcast involved activities with his cat. Dawson has insisted that the story was fabricated, and tweeted out: "It's embarrassing and I f---ing hate myself for it."

Source: Insider

Just two days after apologizing for these cat remarks, Dawson proposed to Adams just as the couple celebrated their three-year anniversary. Some speculated that Dawson proposed in an attempt to draw attention away from the controversy regarding his cat comments.

Source: Insider

On Tuesday, Dawson dropped the first episode of his latest docuseries, "The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star." The episode offers a glimpse into the life of beauty YouTuber Jeffree Star, which includes armed security guards, private jets, and shrieking fans.

Source: Insider

• In early August, a landmark deal was announced: The world's most well-known streamer, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, signed a deal to move from Amazon's Twitch streaming platform to Microsoft's Mixer streaming platform.
• No price on the deal was announced, and it's impossible to know what Blevins received — the deal is literally unprecedented. 
• Whatever Microsoft paid for Blevins is assuredly less than it expects to reap from the benefits of his exclusivity.
• "It's hard to put a price on it," Nielsen head of games Joost van Dreunen told Business Insider. "But the value that someone like that creates can run it up to hundreds of millions, if not billions."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In a fake press conference in early August, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins announced his intention to switch from Amazon-owned Twitch to Microsoft-owned Mixer.

"I know this may come as a shock to many of you," he says, "but, as of today, I will be streaming exclusively on Mixer." 

The announcement itself was lighthearted and silly, but the news was anything but — the world's most popular, well-known video game streamer was switching from Amazon to Microsoft. We're talking about a guy who makes hundreds of thousands of dollars each month streaming himself playing "Fortnite" to tens of thousands of viewers, a guy who was reportedly paid $1 million for a single day of playing EA's "Apex Legends."

With those kinds of numbers being thrown around, it's easy to start imagining Microsoft shelling out tens of millions to Blevins for his exclusivity.

That may very well be the case, but it's impossible to know: Neither Microsoft nor Blevins is saying. His wife Jessica Blevins isn't saying either.

"Money was the last thing on our mind,"she told Business Insider in an interview published this week.

Moreover, it's a completely unprecedented move in the world of video game streaming, just like Blevins is a completely unprecedented star in that world.

"It's so disproportionate when it comes to spending and the amount of audience someone like Tyler Blevins attracts," Neilsen head of games Joost van Dreunen told Business Insider in a recent phone interview. "There's absolutely no way say, 'Oh [Microsoft] paid 10 or 20 million. It could be either of those."

It could also be more than that or less. What's clear is that the price was assuredly high, but Microsoft expects to recoup whatever it paid many times over.

Read more:Electronic Arts took a huge gamble by paying the world's most popular gamer $1 million to play its new game for a day. Here's why it was worth every penny

"The value that someone like that creates can run it up to hundreds of millions, if not billions," Van Dreunen said.

On paper, the deal looks straightforward: Microsoft is paying the most popular video game streamer to exclusively stream on its platform, Mixer.

In reality, Microsoft is locking in an important influencer who can both increase the value of Mixer and bring eyes to Microsoft's entire gaming platform — a platform that's expanding greatly in the next year with a new Xbox console ("Project Scarlett") and a major new game streaming platform. 

"It's sort of like a linchpin for a much broader strategy around interactive content and entertainment," Van Dreunen said. "Within that context, having celebrity gamers makes sense, right? Then all of a sudden it becomes worth a lot more than whatever they paid."

In so many words, the exclusivity deal with Blevins likely cost a lot — not unlike Microsoft's very expensive acquisition of the game "Minecraft"— but it's part of a bigger strategy that will pay dividends down the road. Not only does Blevins bring attention to Mixer, but he helps endear an entire generation to Microsoft's gaming platforms: Mixer, Xbox, and Windows 10.

SEE ALSO: Ninja is leaving Amazon's Twitch for an exclusive deal with Microsoft's video-game-streaming platform, Mixer

DON'T MISS: Jessica Blevins, the 27-year-old manager and wife of the most popular video game player in the world, reveals the inside story of Ninja's move to Microsoft's Mixer

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch SpaceX's 'most difficult launch ever'

• On Saturday, Elon Musk showed off SpaceX's new details of the rocket company's planned super-heavy launch system called Starship.
• SpaceX posted a new animation to YouTube that shows the 39-story rocket launching from Boca Chica, Texas, where the company is developing the system — including a prototype called Starship Mark 1.
• The animation underscores SpaceX's interest in using Boca Chica as one of two bases of operations for Starship launches. Musk said launches could be as frequent as 1,000 times per year.
• However, SpaceX may face a down-to-Earth hurdle — a neighborhood called Boca Chica Village — before Starship missions can fly to the moon or Mars.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by tech mogul Elon Musk, has posted a new vision for launching Starship: a notional 39-story steel rocket system designed to help build moon bases and populate Mars.

On Monday, SpaceX uploaded a nearly two-minute-long video to YouTube that paints a futuristic portrait of how the company plans to get people into space on the cheap with Starship.

The video is technically unlisted on the video-sharing site, but it appeared on a new website that SpaceX created to promote Starship and its aspirational capabilities. Importantly, the clip details an aspirational base of operations for Starship: SpaceX's private but as-yet nascent launch site at Boca Chica, a relatively remote yet inhabited area at the southeastern tip of Texas.

You can watch the video using an embedded player below:

Read more: New documents reveal SpaceX's plans for launching Mars-rocket prototypes from South Texas

Musk debuted the video during a highly anticipated talk on Saturday at the launch site while he stood between two rockets: one from SpaceX's past, called Falcon 1, and a towering prototype, called Starship Mark 1, of its forthcoming rocket system.

"There are many troubles in the world, of course, and these are important, and we need to solve them. But we also need things that make us excited to be alive," Musk said on Saturday. "Becoming a space-faring civilization — being out there among the stars — this is one of the things that I know makes me be glad to be alive."

Before the animation was shown this weekend, it was unclear if and how SpaceX planned to expand its operations in South Texas to support operational Starship launches. But the video clearly shows expanded launch activities in South Texas, which Musk backed up with his own words.

"This is gonna sound totally nuts, but I think we want to try to reach orbit in less than six months," Musk said. "I think [it's] definitely possible that the first crewed mission on Starship could leave from Boca."

What SpaceX's new Starship launch sequence animation shows

For years, Musk has said the key to making humans an interplanetary species able to settle Mars — the "ultimate goal" of SpaceX — is making spaceflight as affordable as possible.

Right now, even the Falcon-class rockets that SpaceX builds, despite having reusable fairings and 16-story boosters, are not fully reusable. With each flight, multimillion-dollar hardware crashes back to Earth or is lost to space. With all other rocket systems, no parts are saved at all.

Musk thinks Starship could be the first fully reusable launch system. If his vision pans out, SpaceX may need only pay for fuel, minor refurbishment, and the system's development costs, which he told Rachel Crane of CNN Business on Saturday may be about $2-3 billion — not $10 billion, as he said in September 2018. The cost of sending one pound of stuff into orbit may, as a result, drop 100- to 1,000-fold, Musk has previously said.

Read more: Elon Musk just revealed who's going to fly to the moon on SpaceX's new rocket ship

"The critical breakthrough that's needed for us to become a space-faring civilization is to make space travel like air travel," Musk said on Saturday.

SpaceX's new animation, though it doesn't contain many new basic details — Musk first detailed the core concept in 2016— nonetheless illustrates the company's latest plans.

The Starship system would have two stages: a 164-foot-tall Starship spaceship, proper, and a roughly 223-foot-tall booster, called Super Heavy.

Each Super Heavy booster would use up to 37 car-size Raptor rocket engines to heave itself and a Starship on top toward space. Once high enough, the Starship — a crewed vehicle, a cargo-carrying spacecraft, or a fuel tanker variant — would detach and fire its six engines to reach orbit.

Meanwhile, the animation shows, the Super Heavy would plummet back to Earth, re-fire its engines, and land back on the concrete pad it launched from.

Depleted of much of its fuel, the Starship would then await a second Starship launch to refill its tanks. The two spacecraft would connect end-to-end in space, perform a refilling operation, and then disconnect. The fueled-up Starship would then have enough fuel to blast on its way to deep space, perhaps a higher orbit, the moon, or even Mars.

Although the animation doesn't show this, it's presumed the mostly empty Starship would scream back to Earth, using a skin of heat-resistant tiles lining its belly to deflect and absorb the searing-hot plasma generated by returning to Earth at around 25 times the speed of sound. The Starship would then land near a Super Heavy, receive an inspection, get craned back onto the booster, and be fueled up with methane and oxygen for its next flight.

The video suggests SpaceX's and Earth's future in deep space

Musk has for months said SpaceX's plan is to build and launch Starship systems from two locations: Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Boca Chica, Texas.

"Both sites will make many Starships. This is a competition to see which location is most effective. Answer might be both," Musk tweeted in May.

During his nearly two-hour appearance on Saturday, Musk firmly asserted that notion.

"We are going to be building ships and boosters at both Boca and the Cape as fast as we can," he said. "It's going to be really nutty to see a bunch of these things. I mean, not just one, but a whole stack of them. And we're improving both the design and the manufacturing method exponentially."

But the animation released by SpaceX, as well as other statements Musk made, suggest Boca Chica is seen as a likely base of operations for Starship.

Unlike the company's launch sites at Cape Canaveral, which are leased from NASA and the US Air Force, Boca Chica is privately owned — and has less red tape, no adjacent competitors (such as Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance), and has room for expansion.

When asked about plans for the site's future by Chris Davenport of The Washington Post, Musk said there will be "a lot more buildings and a lot more stuff — way more stuff than is currently here," including plants to produce liquid oxygen and methane using solar energy and carbon dioxide from Mars.

Musk said a single Starship site, if the vehicle is launched at its maximum rate, could see three of four launches a day — or more than 1,000 launches a year.

SpaceX is trying to buy out Boca Chica Village 

SpaceX first gained permission to build out a commercial spaceport in Boca Chica area in July 2014. It has since radically revised that plan, with tweaks approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, though it has encountered some hurdles along the way.

One of them is Boca Chica Village. As first reported by Business Insider, SpaceX — citing safety issues and increasing disruptions — recently offered to privately buy out the owners of about 35 residences there that sit amid its spaceport in a small residential neighborhood. Though SpaceX has offered three times an appraised value, many of the residents (most of whom are retiree-age) have told Business Insider they do not plan to accept the offer.

"I don't see any fundamental obstacles. We are working with the residents of Boca Chica Village because we think oh, it's time, it's going to be quite disruptive to their — to living in Boca Chica Village. Because it'll end up needing to get cleared for safety a lot of times," Musk said Saturday, in response to a question that Jeff Foust of Space News asked. "I think the actual danger to Boca Chica Village is low but is not tiny. So therefore, we want super-tiny risk. Probably over time, better to buy out the villagers."

Read more: Elon Musk is building SpaceX's Mars rockets in a tiny Texas hamlet. But getting them off the ground there may be harder than he imagined.

It's unclear if villagers are barreling toward a standoff with SpaceX over their properties. Not-yet-published reporting by Business Insider suggests the company may let residents who don't mind the disruptions stay for now.

However, the Cameron County Spaceport Development Corporation, which was created to support SpaceX, does have eminent domain authority and can, with the vote of local commissioners, initiate a condemnation process. (SpaceX previously declined to comment on the matter.)

"I'm sure that authority was put in place for a reason. I'd be willing to explore it," Nicholas Serafy Jr., the chairperson of the corporation, previously told Business Insider. "I wouldn't say it's been an elephant in the room, but it may become an elephant in the room."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch Elon Musk unveil his latest plan for conquering Mars

• Every week, YouTube shares its music chart toppers, including a list of songs that made it into YouTube's top 100 in the US for the first time.
• This week, DaBaby's "Intro" made its YouTube chart debut at No. 6, and Bryson Tiller — who was featured on DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts" in 2017 — earned his own spot at No. 98.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Green Day's hit "Wake Me Up When September Ends" experienced its annual return to fame on YouTube this week, with views on the last day of the month reaching over 395,000, according to the video-sharing platform.

But that's not the only song that experienced a spike in popularity.

YouTube shared a list of the latest entries into its US top songs chart, which includes several rappers as well as a K-pop group and a country singer. 

YouTube calculates its top songs chart by combining views on all official versions of a song. This includes the official music video, user-made videos with the official song, and lyric videos, although paid advertising views are no longer counted.

YouTube had over 2 billion monthly active users as of earlier this year.

Here are the eight songs that broke YouTube's top 100 for the first time this week:

SEE ALSO: The top 9 shows on Netflix and other streaming services this week

8. "No Bap Freestyle" by Young M.A

Chart ranking: 99

Views: 1.52 million

Brooklyn-born rapper Young M.A rose to fame with her 2016 viral hit "OOOUUU," although her debut album "Herstory in the Making" didn't drop until last month. Sheldon Pearce, a contributing writer to Pitchfork, called her "one of the best [rappers] anywhere," and she's also one of very few female rappers who speaks openly about being gay.

7. "Don't" by Bryson Tiller

Chart ranking: 98

Views: 1.52 million

Bryson Tiller, who was featured on DJ Khaled's popular song "Wild Thoughts" in 2017 along with Rihanna, has broken into the top charts.

6. "Homemade" by Jake Owen

Chart ranking: 89

Views: 1.6 million

Jake Owen, the "Homemade" country singer, recently inked a worldwide publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music, Billboard's Annie Reuter reported. Owen released his latest album, "Greetings from… Jake," in March. 

5. "Gummo (Snitch Remix)" by Toronto Guy Cody

Chart ranking: 75

Views: 1.81 million

Toronto Guy Cody, a hip-hop and rap singer with almost 35,000 subscribers on YouTube, entered the top 100 chart for his song "Gummo (Snitch Remix)." The new song plays on rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine's song "Gummo" and his recent reputation for his role in the federal trial of two alleged members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.

4. "Feel Special" by TWICE

Chart ranking: 51

Views: 2.59 million

K-pop group TWICE, which features nine female members, released its "Feel Special" album Sept. 23. When the group posted a teaser video for the album on YouTube, it garnered over 2 million views within 24 hours, Tamar Herman reported for Pitchfork.

3. "Heartless" by Polo G featuring Mustard

Chart ranking: 36

Views: 3.34 million 

Polo G, a 20-year-old rapper from Chicago, quickly rose to fame in 2019 after being released from Cook County Jail in May of 2018, according to Pitchfork's Alphonse Pierre. "Die a Legend," Polo G's debut album, dropped on June 7 and he's currently on tour around the US.

2. "Satish" by Tee Grizzley

Chart ranking: 14

Views: 5.65 million

Tee Grizzley's "Satish" shot to No. 14 for its first week on YouTube Music's US top 100 chart.  The rapper lost his aunt and manager Jobina Brown in August when she was shot to death in the backseat of Tee Grizzley's car, Pitchfork's Matthew Strauss reported. "Satish" addresses the tragedy and features footage of Brown in the music video.   

1. "Intro" by DaBaby

Chart ranking: 6

Views: 7.78 million

DaBaby's "Intro" from the album "Kirk," his second in a year, made its first appearance on YouTube Music's top 100 in the US at No. 6. The "Intro" video debuted at number one in the US and 34 worldwide.

• Actress and influencer Daniella Monet, known for her role as Trina Vega on the Nickelodeon show "Victorious," shares her daily life on YouTube and Instagram with her followers. 
• "I'd say the benefit to YouTube, or any place where you can create your own content, is the control that you have," she told Business Insider.
• She is part of a trend of traditional actors becoming social-media stars.
• She has also invested in several eco-conscious companies, which she often features on her social-media accounts. 
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Actress and influencer Daniella Monet took the momentum from her traditional TV role at Nickelodeon and built a business she had more control over on YouTube and Instagram. 

"I'd say the benefit to YouTube, or any place where you can create your own content, is the control that you have," she told Business Insider. "That's the one thing you don't 100% have when you're in a traditional acting job." 

The 30-year-old is best known for her role as Trina Vega on the Nickelodeon show "Victorious," which ended in 2013.

With 3 million followers on Instagram and 260,000 subscribers on YouTube, Monet shares her experience as an actress, influencer, and entrepreneur in the beauty, lifestyle, and wellness space on these platforms.

Monet has also invested in several "eco-conscious companies," which she promotes on her social-media accounts, like the beauty subscription box cofounded with Harry Potter actress Evanna Lynch, Kinder Beauty; Outstanding Foods "Pig Out Chips"; and the Los Angeles-based vegan restaurant, Sugar Taco.

As the lines between Hollywood and social-media stardom blur, many actors have become influencers, building their own direct connection with their audiences. That comes with its set of challenges.

From playing a part on Nickelodeon to sharing her everyday life on YouTube. 

Monet has worked with Nickelodeon for over 12 years, she said. And although she has no plans to stop working in TV, she does enjoy the freedom that comes with YouTube. 

"I think the real reason I got involved with YouTube was because I just wanted a place to have longer-form content that told more of a story," she said. 

If you're on TV, people feel like they already know you. But Monet said fans are really more familiar with the character you've played, and not who you actually are. 

Coming from a traditional acting background, Monet always had a team behind her producing the content she appeared in. That changed with YouTube. At first, she tried outsourcing the editing, but she said she preferred the way a video came out when she edited it herself.

"It was a learning curve for me to not only create the content, but to finish the content and promote the content," she said. 

Monet shares life announcements in vlog-style videos on her YouTube channel, like when her boyfriend proposed (2.6 million views) and when she found out she was pregnant (2 million views).

Monet is one of a slew of traditional actors — like Will Smith, Jennette McCurdy (iCarly), and Jack Black— who have started sharing their everyday lives on YouTube.

Investing in eco-conscious and vegan companies.

Because of her acting career, Monet didn't attend traditional school. She finished her GED online and took business classes later in life at a local college. But she started investing early, she said.

"I was a young kid, making pretty decent money for my age," she said. "I wanted to learn about different ways of saving your income, so I started investing at about 16 years old."

Monet has invested in several eco-conscious companies. Outstanding Foods was her first significant investment, with lead investor and fellow actor Rob Dyrdek, as well as other influencers, actors, and athletes as investors. 

Recently, Outstanding Foods "Pig Out Chips" went viral on social media and was featured in Whole Foods Market's top 10 trends for 2019.

Her beauty investment, Kinder Beauty Box, is a cruelty-free and vegan monthly subscription box. It ships with 100% recycled and eco-friendly materials — even the ink used to print the logo is soy-based, not made from petroleum. She often features it on her Instagram.

Monet has also invested in the female-owned Los Angeles vegan taco shop, Sugar Taco — which she said will plant a tree for every meal sold.

'It's a part of my daily life.'

Monet has been vegan for 17 years and said she chooses only to share and invest in companies that align with her lifestyle.

This is an especially important topic for influencers, who don't want to alienate their audience by promoting products that don't fit their personality.

"Anything that I have invested in or cofounded, I have truly tried and tested everything, it's a part of my daily life," Monet said. "People want to know that they can trust you. It's not worth it to take those easy campaigns for X amount of money if it's not something you stand by."

YouTube star Alisha Marie, who has eight million subscribers, echoed this sentiment in a recent interview with Business Insider.

"The audience knows, you can't trick them," Marie said. She also said she turns down more brand deals than she accepts.

Monet said she sees her platform both as an opportunity to promote her investments and also to spread the "eco-conscious" message she is passionate about.

"If I can influence anyone just by the way that I live my life, and be a role model, then I've done my job," she said. 

SEE ALSO: YouTube music star Madilyn Bailey describes her career rise and how years of making minimal money led to a viral hit with 100 million views

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How to choose between IMAX, 3D, and Dolby Cinema at the movie theater

• Hannah Hart has been one of the most recognizable figures on YouTube since she rose to early internet stardom with her "My Drunk Kitchen" series. 
• Hart, 32, has since gone on international tours, published two best-selling books, appeared in three feature films, and hosted multiple web and TV series since. 
• Right now, Hart is preparing to launch a new cookbook, her new show on Ellen DeGeneres' digital network aired its first episode, and she's hosting a web series with BuzzFeed's Tasty. 
• She also premiered a YouTube series, where she and other LGBTQ stars discuss coming out, and made a cameo in Taylor Swift's "You Need to Calm Down" music video.
• Here's a look at how Hart turned viral fame into a successful career in entertainment. 
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Back when the word "YouTuber" was becoming a household term, Hannah Hart was one of the platform's most prominent stars. Upon launching her "My Drunk Kitchen" series – which was originally created for an audience of one – Hart went from a normal 9-to-5 post-graduate job to a sudden career in online entertainment.

Since the early days of her internet fame, Hart has continued to build her career both on YouTube and off of it. She has also launched a volunteer program and is an outspoken member of the LGBTQ community, including on YouTube.

"I would describe my career as a wonderful co-occurrence of pioneering and perseverance with just the right amount of opportunity," Hart, 32, told Insider.

Read on for a full look at Hart's journey, from the first generation of YouTubers to a career in movies, TV shows, webseries, books, activism, and more. 

Read more: The life and controversies of YouTuber Trisha Paytas, from public feuds and breakups to identifying as 'a chicken nugget'

Eight years ago, Hart made her first YouTube video but had no idea what "My Drunk Kitchen" would become.

Today, "My Drunk Kitchen Ep. 1: Butter Yo S---" has over 4.3 million views on YouTube. At the time it went viral, it only had 100,000. But in 2011, that was enough to capture mainstream media attention and propel Hart into becoming one of the platform's emerging stars. 

Hart told Insider she had just moved to New York from San Francisco and gotten a Macbook. She shot her first video with Photobooth and edited it together on iMovie.

"I actually didn't quote-on-quote start a channel, I posted a video on the internet, because back in 2011, I had no idea what starting a channel even really meant," Hart said. "So I made my first video just as a joke for a friend of mine, to send some love her way."

In the video, Hart narrates herself drinking wine she found in her sister's kitchen and making a grilled cheese – without cheese. From the very beginning, "My Drunk Kitchen" found an enthusiastic audience, eager to see more of Hart's inebriated culinary adventures.

At the time, she worked as a proofreader for a translation firm in New York after graduating college.

Hart attended the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated in 2009 with degrees in English literature and Japanese language. Initially, she dreamed of writing screenplays, but worked as a proofreader up until starting her YouTube channel.

"I always wanted to write, I wanted to write books or novels, that was always my passion," Hart said. "In a parallel universe, I know that seven or eight years down a career path I would be making a shift. I'd probably be going to graduate school."

After the early success of "My Drunk Kitchen," Hart was able to take her career in a different, unexpected direction.

Being a YouTuber wasn't a career path at the time that Hart's videos started taking off.

"Unbeknownst to me, at the time, there was this subculture of media that was growing on YouTube," Hart said. "I was really fortunate enough to be able to start my career on YouTube long before there would be an idea of being a YouTube star. That was a real blessing." 

Her first video was uploaded in March 2011, and she kept creating new installments of "My Drunk Kitchen," which she told Insider were popularized by media outlets like The Huffington Post. She also answered viewer questions and opened up about her life more in her series "Advice from the Hart."

By July 2011, her channel had enough views to qualify her for a YouTube partnership, which allows creators to make money from ads that run on their videos.

"My Drunk Kitchen" became her most popular series, with other YouTubers and celebrities appearing in videos over the years.

Hart still uploads episodes of "My Drunk Kitchen" to this day, and she's had a number of guest appearances. Those include the UK chef Jamie Oliver, who she made sandwiches with, "Weeds" star Mary-Louise Parker, who she baked brownies with, and comedian Sarah Silverman – who she made cannabis-infused pot pie with.

A number of other YouTubers and internet stars have also appeared on the channel, such as Jenna Marbles, John Green, and Tyler Oakley. 

Hart's friends and frequent collaborators Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart also made appearances in her early videos.

The trio of Hart, Mamrie (no relation), and Helbig has been a constant presence in the YouTube community and culture. Fans refer to them as the "Holy Trinity."

The three have appeared in each other's videos, taking part in different YouTube trends and challenges over the years, and have embarked on numerous creative ventures together to this day.

Hart won a Streamy Award for "My Drunk Kitchen" in 2013 and hosted the awards show the year after with Helbig.

Hart has received two Streamy awards for comedy, winning "Best Female Performance: Comedy" in 2013 and "Best Comedy" in 2014, both for "My Drunk Kitchen."

She also won the 2016 "Best in Food" Shorty award and has been nominated for three Shorty awards total. Her other Shorty nominations include "Creator of the Decade."

Read more: Caroline Calloway's story is a Fyre Festival-like drama playing out in real time, and we can't stop paying attention to see how far it goes

Hart embarked on her first world tour in 2013, called "Hello Harto: The Tour Show," after raising $50,000 on Indiegogo in just a few hours.

In January 2013, Hart announced that she would fundraise a possible world tour through the fundraising site Indiegogo. Initially, she hoped to raise $50,000 within a month.

But her fans raised $50,000 within just a few hours. Hart decided to keep the length of the fundraiser the same, and was eventually able to raise over $220,000. The "Hello Harto" tour show was able to travel to locations in Canada and the US, and later internationally. 

She also vlogged her traveling adventures on her vlog channel, YourHarto.

The "Hello Harto" tour included meet-ups in various cities, along with random travel videos uploaded to "YourHarto" and dedicated city vlogs uploaded to "MyHarto," Hart's main channel. She also did "My Drunk Kitchen" videos in the different cities.

After some fans complained that there were too few cities on the tour, Hart uploaded a documentary explaining the work that went into the "Hello Harto" tour. Hart also told Insider she balances her personal and professional life by maintaining healthy boundaries. 

"My life isn't for sale and it's not for consumption," she said. "I share things when I'm ready to share them because I feel like I've made my peace and I'm ready to stand proudly in it."

Hannah, Mamrie, and Helbig also performed a collaboration show called the "#NoFilterShow," and took it on tour.

After the trio performed the "#NoFilterShow" in LA in 2013, encouraging audience members to tape it on their phones and post it on social media, another "#NoFilterShow" was performed at the PlayList Live 2013 convention. Then, Hannah, Mamrie, and Helbig took it on the road, syncing up with the "Hello Harto" tour.

"The generation I grew up in, you know, it took us years to be like 'You know what? Let's plan a comedy tour," Hart told Insider, reflecting on how much the YouTube industry has changed, and the phenomenon of internet stars touring the country.

"We said 'Okay, what's gonna be our content of our comedy tour? Okay, let's make an hour and a half show, let's go to these cities,' as opposed to today, where kids can get scooped up into these big meet and greet tour things."

In 2013, the trio produced a feature film, "Camp Takota."

"Camp Takota" was released via digital download in 2014, and was later picked up by Netflix. The plot follows Helbig's character as she leaves a city job to return to her old summer camp, where she's joined by her old friends, played by Hannah and Mamrie.

Hart told Insider that there are some elements of working on big projects, like feature films, that she prefers to YouTube creation.

"When I'm on set I'm just so phenomenally relieved and happy and excited, because it's much more collaborative to be on set than be alone and carry all this responsibility," Hart said.

"I think what always surprises people about content creators when you go to work with them is I'm used to running every element of the production, I'm used to being the person who sets up the lights and handles the edits, or runs the team."

Hart also released her first cookbook, described as a 'self-help parody-meets-drunk cooking' book, which hit The New York Times bestsellers list.

"My first book was really a testament to life in your twenties, that budding adulthood, adjusting to being independent," Hart said. 

Her first cookbook is titled "My Drunk Kitchen: A Guide to Eating, Drinking, and Going with Your Gut," and it debuted at no. 6 in its category on the New York Times bestsellers list in 2014, staying on for two weeks. 

In 2014, Hart met President Barack Obama.

In Feburary 2014, as part of an initiative to reach the YouTube generation, Obama met with Hart and several other notable YouTubers to open a dialogue with the platform's biggest stars. 

Tubefilter reported that the Affordable Care Act and its then-impending deadline for open enrollment, were on the agenda, and that the YouTubers discussed how to disseminate unbiased information about it.

And in 2016, Hart's second book, a memoir, also hit the bestsellers list.

"Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded" debuted on the Times bestsellers list again, this time at spot no. 4 on the print hardcover category.

In reflecting on her career now, a few years further down the road, Hart told Insider she's surprised that it exists.

"I was never brave enough to pursue entertainment, I really wasn't," she said. "And so, when this door of opportunity opened up, it was the entrepreneurship, running my own company, being my own boss, that helped me push past that fear."

In 2016, Hart and Helbig co-starred in a reboot of "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl," a 70s superhero TV series.

Eight episodes were released starring Hart and Helbig, first through the digital entertainment company Fullscreen's website, and later on all major platforms by Sony Pictures.

The series followed Hart as Dyna Girl and Helbig as Electra Woman as they fought crime in Akron, Ohio, and then LA. The two received praise for their on-screen chemistry, with IGN reviewing Hart as a "fully capable actor."

Read more: Christine Sydelko, a YouTuber with 1.3 million subscribers, decided to quit the internet for good because being an influencer is 'such a trivial job'

Hart has been involved with activism throughout her career.

Hart started a volunteer movement called "Have a Hart Day," where her fans around the world participate in local food drives. Fans even organized their own special "Have a Hart Day" events in cities like LA and Auckland, New Zealand in 2015.

That isn't the only activism Hart has participated in. She coordinated volunteer events at some of her "Hello Harto" tour stops, and has worked with celebrities like Mary Louise Parker to raise awareness of charitable causes in "My Drunk Kitchen" videos and beyond.

Hart also identifies as a lesbian and has spoken extensively about sexuality and LGBTQ issues.

She noted to Insider that YouTube panders to LGBTQ people during Pride Month, in June, but said the company has to take a stance on LGBTQ rights and treatment"one way or another."

"When you look at a network like NBC, they have a caliber, they have what they stand for as universal principles," Hart said. "I think YouTube will have to figure out, as a platform, what those principles are to them."

The trio of Hannah, Mamrie, and Helbig returned to the big screen for the movie "Dirty 30."

Lions Gate Entertainment premiered another feature film starring Hannah, Mamrie, and Helbig called "Dirty 30," which the LA Times reviewed as the trio showcasing their "rapid-fire, quippy personalities."

The film stars Mamrie as a character about to turn 30 who is wanting to turn her life around, and the ensuing birthday party planned by her friends, Hannah and Helbig's characters.

Hart had her own show on The Food Network, "I Hart Food," where she tasted the cuisine in six states.

After a stint as a guest judge on season 12 of "Food Network Star," Hart had her own series "I Hart Food" in 2017. She traveled to New Mexico, North Carolina, Maine, Oregon, Minnesota, and Montana, to sample local cuisine and learn how to cook different local meals. 

In 2018, Hart announced her engagement to her girlfriend Ella Mielniczenko.

"I'm just out here to create content that is authentic to myself and my experience," Hart said. "I am a queer person, so those are just the stories I have to tell. It's not 'I tell queer stories,' I am a queer person who tells stories."

The first episode of her show "A Decent Proposal" on Ellen DeGeneres' online video platform aired in 2019.

After an appearance on "The Ellen Show," Hart premiered an episode of her series "A Decent Proposal," in which she helps a couple make their dream proposal come true, in situations where they might otherwise not be able to do so. Hart told Insider that there are hopes of making more episodes.

She also hosts a series called "Edible History" for BuzzFeed's food video series Tasty.

"There are a lot of people who have watched that show and don't know 'My Drunk Kitchen' at all," Hart said. "They know me as the host of 'Edible History,' which is kind of wild to me. I love it."

Hart is currently filming season 2 of "Edible History." She told Insider that it's nice to have a supportive team behind her, especially now, as YouTube becomes more oversaturated. 

"People like me who've been on their channel for a long time, the platform doesn't really cater to or service us," Hart said. "Having bigger partners kind of really helps getting phenomenal content that you're really excited about out there, as opposed to having an old YouTube channel that nobody gets notifications about."

And she made a cameo in Taylor Swift's music video for "You Need to Calm Down," which featured a star-studded LGBTQ cast.

Swift's latest album included the single "You Need to Calm Down," an anthem about LGBTQ rights and standing up to internet bullies. 

"It was a total honor," Hart said, on making a cameo in the music video. "I think that one of the wonderful things about that video is that everyone in it comes from a totally different background."

The music video won "Video of the Year" at the Video Music Awards, and Hart appeared onstage alongside Swift to accept the prize. 

Read more: The VSCO girl is taking over the internet — here's the ultimate starter kit for becoming the latest 'it' girl

Hart has also kept making YouTube videos throughout her career in mainstream entertainment, including a series about coming out.

"For me, the show is really like a testament to the trust I've been granted by these amazing people," Hart said.

She plans to do at least three more episodes and described it as the rough draft of what she'd like to make into a bigger project in the future, such as a podcast.

"Coming from a space of 'Hey, I work in this industry, you work in this industry, let's have a chat. Tell me about your journey,'" Hart said. "And I feel like the level of trust and authenticity with it, that we establish there, is one that you don't really see a lot of."

The episode featuring the Try Guys' Eugene Lee Yang debuted in June and received more than 1.3 million views.

"It was Pride Month that month, all of the algorithms, you could really see the difference," Hart said. "The difference between Eugene's episode and everyone else's is a really great example of how platforms pander to LGBT content during June."

Hart also has a podcast with her best friend, who she made her original "My Drunk Kitchen" video for.

The "Hannahlyze This" podcast features Hart and Hannah Gelb, and is, as Hart describes it, "the self-help podcast that just can't help itself." The two invite experts from wide-ranging disciplines onto the show, including the business and entertainment fields, and experts on mental health.

"She's the reason 'My Drunk Kitchen' exists and it's kind of nice that now, I get to share a little bit of what that has meant to me with her," Hart said, on making the podcast with her best friend and the original intended audience of "Butter Your S---."

Up next, Hart has her second cookbook, a holiday-themed "My Drunk Kitchen" sequel, coming out.

"It's really about thriving," she said. "For me, it's about the perspective of being in your 30s, being in charge of your life, and figuring out what it is from your past you want to carry with you and what it is you want to leave behind."

The second cookbook is titled "My Drunk Kitchen Holidays! How to Savor and Celebrate the Year."

"Every time I write a book I'm like 'God d---, this is hard,' and every time it's very exhausting," Hart said. "I think it really kind of shows Hannah Hart, the young adult today, as opposed to Hannah Hart, the post-college kid, the early twenties version of myself that got started online."

Hart says she's keeping her options open for wherever her career takes her.

Hart said the process of balancing everything she's working on amounts to "blood, sweat, and tears," but that she hopes to make things easier for herself soon.

"I'm excited to relieve some of the pressure from myself and figure out what projects I really want to streamline and focus on," she said. "Under the unique umbrella of my position I'm thinking 'Okay, what do I want to do with this?' I'll let you know when I get there."

• You don't need fancy equipment or industry connections to start a YouTube or Instagram influencer career.
• In fact, some successful influencers use just a smartphone and a few popular apps.
• Influencers make money by promoting products on social media, earning directly from platforms like YouTube, and through other avenues like merchandise.
• We spoke to top influencers and industry execs on their tips and tricks to getting started with little more than a smartphone. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

You might think the millions of followers that popular social-media influencers have come from expensive equipment and years of experience.

But some of the internet's top creators say one of the best tools to use, especially starting out, is simply your smartphone. 

Although many smartphones today, like some of the latest Apple iPhones at an upwards of $1,000, can cost as much as a fancy DSLR camera, 81% percent of Americans already own a smartphone, according to the Pew Research Center. And it's likely the smartphone you already own is good enough to start with. 

We spoke to top influencers ranging from Benji Travis, who has been creating content online for over a decade, to recent internet stars like Jennelle Eliana Long, who rose to fame in just under a month, on what tools they used to get started.

They debunked the misconception that you need tons of money to begin and shared their personal experiences building a business empire online.

From using the camera on your phone and a $30 video editing app to get started on YouTube, to utilizing popular apps like Instagram to get in touch with your favorite brands and build a potential sponsorship, here's how to start an influencer career from your smartphone. 

To read the full posts, subscribe to Business Insider Prime.

How to start without spending tons of money

• Entrepreneur Benji Travis shares tips on how to grow an audience online on the YouTube channel Video Influencers, which he runs with Sean Cannell, a fellow creator. 
• Travis said a creator doesn't need fancy equipment to be successful, and said his wife Judy Travis, who is popular in the beauty-vlogger community, filmed her first few YouTube videos with a camera that cost less than $50 propped on a stack of shoe boxes. 

Read the full post here: How to start a YouTube career without spending tons of money, according to a creator with millions of subscribers

Getting your first 1,000 subscribers on YouTube

• Travis also shared tips on how to get your first 1,000 subscribers. 
• He said he supports himself by running four YouTube channels with a combined 3.8 million subscribers, and that gaining those first 1,000 subscribers on YouTube allows creators to apply for YouTube's Partner Program and start earning ad revenue.
• But he said it isn't easy and shared tricks on how to build a career online fast. 

Read the full post here: 4 tips to getting your first 1,000 YouTube subscribers, according to a creator with millions of them

How to edit Instagram photos like a professional influencer, using your phone

• The Instagram influencer Tessa "Tezza" Barton and her husband, Cole, developed a photo-filter app inspired by Tezza's popular Instagram page, which has 776,000 followers.
• The app was launched a year ago and has 2 million downloads, Tezza said. 
• She shared her tips on how to edit Instagram pictures on your phone so they will stand out. 

Read the full post here: How to edit Instagram photos like a professional influencer, according to the creator of a photo app with over 2 million downloads

How to edit a YouTube video using your phone

• YouTube phenomenon Jennelle Eliana Long, who gained 1.6 million subscribers on YouTube within a month of posting her first video, uses only her iPhone X to film and edit them, she told Business Insider. 
• Long is a perfect example of why you don't need fancy equipment to be successful on YouTube. She had no prior editing or filming experience and spent little money to start. 

Read the full post here: A rising YouTube star with 1.6 million subscribers uses her iPhone and a $30 app to make her videos

How to use Instagram direct messaging to land brand deals

• The YouTube star Alisha Marie, who has 8 million subscribers, said she's landed brand-sponsorship deals by reaching out to the brand using the direct-message feature on Instagram. 
• She shared what messages she's sent to brands and land deals, and other industry insiders, like Ian Borthwick, SeatGeek's director of influencer marketing, agreed that messaging brands on Instagram was a good way to express your interest in a company. 

Read the full post here: YouTube star Alisha Marie uses Instagram direct messages to land brand deals. Here are the DMs she sends.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• The second episode of Shane Dawson's 9-part "documentary" series with Jeffree Star dropped Friday. 
• Despite much-anticipated drama and tea, the first two episodes have largely been underwhelming.
• It appears that most of the series will be oriented around the launch of Dawson's own makeup line, rather than about the highly watched beauty wars that rocked YouTube in the spring of 2019. 
• The coverage of the launch is a departure from Dawson's previous feature-length videos, which have typically focused on giving an inside look into the lives of other YouTubers. 
• Read more stories like this on Insider.

The second installment of Shane Dawson's nine-part "documentary"series with Jeffree Star was released Friday, and the tea was only lukewarm. 

Despite much anticipation and buildup for the series following Dawson's previous insider portrayals of the lives of YouTubers — and a full-blown war involving Jeffree Star and major players in the YouTube beauty community — the series has yet to illuminate much that drama-hungry viewers don't already know.

What's worse is the series appears to be largely a giant advertisement for Dawson's upcoming makeup line, which is seemingly being made in collaboration with Star. 

Despite nearly two hours of new content, little of substance has been delivered. 

Unlike most of Dawson's previous "documentaries" spotlighting other YouTubers, little new information has been revealed in his second series covering Jeffree Star. 

The first episode of the series followed the pair as they took a trip on Star's private jet and helped open a Morphe makeup store, attracting a true mob to a local mall. The video felt similar to Star and Dawson's other videos that compare their individual wealth — Star is worth an estimated $75 million dollars compared to Dawson's $12 million.

It's an old trick for the duo that now seems a little out-of-touch. Beyond that, the video also failed to deliver the expected dramatic revelations that viewers have become used to with Dawson's longer, feature-length projects.

The series' second episode, titled "The Secrets of the Beauty World," was at least more informational about the makeup industry. But, again, it revealed little that wasn't already known.

For most of the second episode, Dawson and Star are seen in Star's business compound of warehouses, where he shows off a new building and arcade. Star reveals some select figures about his business — for instance, that he made over $23 million from his Blood Sugar palette, which costs around $20 apiece to manufacture. He also discusses profit margins and contracts with Dawson.

Star says he believes that many personalities have been ripped off in negotiations with makeup companies, and specifically cited a 2016 collaboration between the brand Too Faced and the YouTuber Nikkie de Jager, known to her subscribers as NikkieTutorials. Star accused Too Faced of only cutting de Jager $50,000 for a product that would go on to make over $10 million. Estee Lauder, the company that owns Too Faced, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

After Star and Dawson's discussion of makeup profits and merch, Dawson is seen having a brief self-reflective moment where he once again compares his own wealth and capitalization to other YouTubers, and breaks down in the bathroom.

The moment precedes what appears to be the set-up for the rest of the series: Dawson's self-empowerment through the creation of his own makeup line with Jeffree Star. 

In the rest of the episode, the tone is markedly more upbeat as the duo brainstorms ideas for Dawson's own makeup line and merchandise, with names like "My Uber's Here,""My Pills," and "Jeffree What The F-ck?"

While a look at the process of how YouTubers actually make money is fascinating, the departure from Dawson's typical subject matter onto the creation of his own makeup line — an arena in which he has zero experience — feels much more like a nine-hour infomercial-turned-marketing stunt. 

The series has yet to touch the elephant in the room: the beauty wars.

But so far, the series has yet to touch upon a major beauty YouTuber controversy — sometimes known as Dramageddon 2.0 — that hemorrhaged the community this past spring. That gives the first two episodes the feeling of a bait-and-switch, since the preview for the series used copious footage from the controversy.

In fact, the first episode of Dawson's series barely cites the key Dramageddon 2.0 players besides Star, who is the subject of the series.

The second episode, however, seems to provide some foreshadowing — or is at least a clever bit of PR.

Star, who would later throw beauty YouTuber James Charles under the bus and publicly accuse him of predatory behavior, is seen mentioning Charles as a current successful client multiple times, even calling him a "little brother." 

The footage was clearly shot before their relationship imploded and they severed business ties. 

On the one hand, the inclusion of the footage suggests that the coverage of the beauty wars that was seemingly promised may still be coming. From another vantage point, the "documentary" appears to allow Star to portray his side of the story that everyone is watching for. 

Two hours into the nine-part series, it's difficult to say definitively where it will go and why it was produced in the first place. But from the current vantage point, the focus is squarely on Dawson's new product line. 

While that isn't inherently a bad thing, it may leave some scratching their heads over what happened to that unspilled tea.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• The new Shane Dawson docuseries about his makeup collaboration with Jeffree Star touched on a YouTube controversy involving Nikkie Tutorials and the brand Too Faced, including new details about a contentious contract.
• Back in 2016, one of the most popular beauty YouTubers, Nikkie de Jager (better known as Nikkie Tutorials), announced she would be debuting an eyeshadow and face powder palette with the brand Too Faced, along with a bundle of other products.
• The collaboration was called"The Too Faced Power of Makeup by Nikkie Tutorials Collaboration," and hinged on de Jager's wildly popular series of makeovers that show, aptly, the power of makeup.
• In 2017, Star accused Too Faced CEO Jeremy Johnson of underpaying de Jager, after the two makeup moguls and brand competitors started feuding publicly about who originated which makeup concepts.
• In Dawson's latest video, Star again dredged up the accusation, confirming earlier speculation that de Jager recieved a flat fee of $50,000 for the palette, which Star said made over $10 million. 
• On Twitter, de Jager then responded with a brief explanation of why she signed the low-balling contract, calling herself "naive" at the time, and said the biggest loss via the product was not the money, but her reputation, given the quality of the product. 
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Jeffree Star has revived an extinct beauty drama about Nikkie Tutorials' collaboration with the brand Too Faced, revealing new details and prompting a response from the YouTuber herself in the process.

Nikkie de Jager, better known as her channel name Nikkie Tutorials, was one of the first beauty YouTubers to cross over into collaborative marketing and product creation with Estée Lauder's Too Faced brand in 2016, when she announced her wildly popular"Power of Makeup" YouTube series would become a palette and product bundle.

The palette included eyeshadow shades, two blush colors, a bronzer, and a highlighter, and it sold for $56. Drama first cropped up when fans who purchased the palette claimed it was poorer quality than what de Jager's own swatches and reveal suggested. 

Then, in 2017, as Star embarked on a public feud with Too Faced CEO Jeremy Johnson. Johnson suggested that other brands were ripping off a "unicorn makeup" trend he started, and Star responded to say that the "unicorn" trend started before Too Faced capitalized on it. Star also revealed that Johnson had underpaid de Jager.

At the time, speculation ran wild from anonymous sources that said de Jager only made between $40,000 and $60,000 on the product, which had sold at least 150,000 units – netting over $8 million.

Star revived the old drama in his latest video with Shane Dawson, causing de Jager to respond again to his accusations on Twitter

In "The Secrets of the Beauty World," Star tells Dawson that a fair split of earnings from their makeup collaboration would be giving Dawson 30 percent, due to the size of his audience and how it would impact sales. Star predicts that Dawson could make $5 million from the collaboration. 

He goes on to explain that other makeup brands have been less than fair with YouTubers who create and market makeup collaborations. Star's example is Nikkie Tutorials, who he says made a $50,000 flat fee from her Too Faced palette and bundled products, called the "The Too Faced Power of Makeup by Nikkie Tutorials Collaboration."

"I've seen YouTubers and other influencers take dirt because they didn't know," Star said, noting that everything he revealed in Dawson's video was already on the record – when the controversy first emerged, anonymous sources confirmed to drama YouTuber Sanders Kennedy that de Jager only made between $40,000 and $60,000. 

"When she told me, I was so horrified," Star continued on to say in the video. "And when I kind of let that secret out it turned really ugly."

Read more:Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star have yet to prove that their 9-part 'documentary' is more than just an advertisement

Dawson's video already has almost 12 million views and is the top trending video on the platform. De Jager responded to the rehashing of her Too Faced collaboration on Twitter on Saturday, calling herself "naive" for signing the contract – and suggesting that the real drama at play involved Too Faced changing the quality of the product without her knowledge.

"I signed my contract with TF back then because I was naive & didn't know better," de Jager wrote on Twitter. "At the end of the day, I signed it, it's my own fault – but what I'll never forgive is that 'allegedly' they changed the palette's quality behind my back. 1000's of negative reviews & I was clueless."

She went on to say, "I had to see all these negative reviews, while the palettes I had were outstanding. 'they lying in their videos to get views' is what I was told. I don't care about the money.. but I had to fight YEARS to prove my authenticity and gain your trust again."

Neither Too Faced, its parent company Estée Lauder, or de Jager immediately responded to Insider's request for comment.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Victoria Beckham has given up on her YouTube channel because it wasn't making enough money, according to The Mail on Sunday.
• Beckham was reportedly bringing in just £25 ($30) a day, making five-figure losses on her videos as a result.
• "While Victoria enjoyed the filming and had lots of fun doing it, there were production costs that were not being covered by its income," a source told the Mail.
• Many channels on YouTube have spoken out about how their videos are monetized on the platform. Ad revenue doesn't tend to be where creators make the most money.
• However, a spokesperson for Beckham told Insider the channel is not closing, the "rhythm and type of video content shared" has just changed.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Victoria Beckham has given up on making YouTube videos because they don't make enough money, according to The Mail on Sunday.

The Mail reported Beckham was bringing in just £25 ($30) a day, and making five-figure losses on her videos as a result.

The channel, Victoria Beckham, has over 100,000 subscribers and posts videos that follow Beckham as she shows behind the scenes footage of fashion shows and gives makeup tips. Her most popular video has over 600,000 views, but numbers seem to have been inconsistent over the past few months.

Due to struggling with the financials, Beckham has decided to focus on other parts of her business instead, according to the Mail. For example, she reportedly had to let 60 staff go last year — a third of the total workforce.

"The YouTube channel has been impossible to monetize, and it was very time-consuming so the decision was that it would be pulled," a source told The Mail.

"While Victoria enjoyed the filming and had lots of fun doing it, there were production costs that were not being covered by its income ... The decision was made to concentrate everyone's time and efforts on something that is going to benefit her business."

However, a spokesperson for Beckham told Insider the channel has not in fact closed and the reports about production making losses was incorrect.

"Victoria is not currently posting further 'fly on the wall' content due to focus on our new World of VB platform and the recent beauty launch, both of which have shifted the rhythm and type of video content shared," they said. "For example the forth coming beauty tutorial with Lisa Eldridge created for YouTube."

They added that the brand "continues to post relevant fashion content to the YouTube channel in line with other fashion brands."

Read more: YouTubers have identified a long list of words that immediately get videos demonetized, and they include 'gay' and 'lesbian' but not 'straight' or 'heterosexual'

Monetization on YouTube has been a huge conversation on the platform recently, with channels seeing their videos being labelled as not advertiser friendly for seemingly inconsistent reasons. Even if videos are fully monetized, many creators are more likely to make consistent money from their merchandise, brand deals, and sponsorships.

In August, Business Insider reported on how some YouTubers have lost thousands of dollars when their channels were mistakenly demonetized for months.

One experiment by channels Nerd City, Sealow, and Analyzed identified a long list of words that immediately got videos demonetized, including "gay" and "lesbian" but not "straight" or "heterosexual."Some words on the list seemed incredibly random like "countryside,""Indonesia,""Missouri," and "leisure."

YouTube has denied the existence of such a system, but has remained secretive about how its content management bots work.

Julia Alexander, a reporter at The Verge, pointed out on Twitter that the monetization problem has gotten so bad, even big creators and celebrities are struggling.

"Lol, when even Victoria Beckham can't really monetize her shit on YouTube I mean," she said.

Read more:

A YouTuber with 13 million followers surprised his friend with a brand new $290,000 Lamborghini he was gifted by EA Sports

How YouTube star David Dobrik and SeatGeek created one of the most effective influencer marketing partnerships

'Like you've been fired from your job': YouTubers have lost thousands of dollars after their channels were mistakenly demonetized for months

The world's biggest YouTube stars told us they're burning out because of the unrelenting pressure to post new videos

Why the beauty community on YouTube is one of the most turbulent and drama-filled places on the internet

Join the conversation about this story »

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