YouTubers are increasingly becoming a part of the mainstream television business, so why aren’t more of them on our TV screens? Nico Franks reports.

When BBC Radio 1 boss Ben Cooper was faced with the daunting task of attracting more young listeners to the station, he did what most of them do nowadays when they go looking for entertainment. He turned to YouTube.

Now, along with Breakfast Show presenter Nick Grimshaw, 20-something YouTubers such as Dan Howell (Danisnotonfire, five million subscribers), Phil Lester (AmazingPhil, 2.8 million) and Tom Ridgewell (TomSka, 3.7 million) are the new voices of the station, post-Chris Moyles.

You may not know who these YouTubers are, but your children certainly will.

An entire industry has been created around stars such as these, many of whom specialise in sketch comedy, make-up tutorials or video game commentary.

Eight of the 10 most popular celebrities among teens in the US today are YouTubers, according to a recent survey commissioned by entertainment magazine Variety. Even print is getting in on the action – Oh My Vlog!, a magazine dedicated to online vloggers, caused a stir on social media when it launched in July.

Yet examples of YouTube talent successfully moving over to TV are few and far between. And worryingly, making the move seems to appeal less and less to those making a name for themselves online. “There’s a real resistance among YouTube creators to move to television,” says Richard Wiseman, creator of YouTube channel Quirkology, which has 1.8 million subs.

Wiseman claims to have created more viral videos than anyone else in the UK, having begun his YouTube career in 2012 when a video he uploaded of him performing an illusion spread like wildfire online.

“These creators are anarchic at heart. They prefer to be out there in the Wild West, whereas TV is the establishment,” says the psychology professor, whose videos have been watched by millions of people around the world. “Having had the experience of going to commissioners with ideas and having to change them, the beauty of YouTube is being able to film an idea and sticking it out there at low cost. Not having to fill a half-hour programme all the time feels like a brave new world,” he adds.

For most YouTube creators, the creative freedom the platform offers is undoubtedly the thing that appeals most about it. That, and being able to potentially make a lot of money for themselves.

The Google-owned company, which celebrates its 10th birthday this year, claims more than a million of its channels in dozens of countries are earning revenue from the YouTube Partner Programme and thousands are making six figures a year.

Meanwhile, professionalising its content and upskilling its creators are top priorities. YouTube has already opened centres where creators can learn production tips and collaborate with one another in LA, Tokyo, Berlin, São Paulo and London, while more are on the way.

“It’s a really exciting part of our job to see creators who have grown up and matured on YouTube get snapped up by the TV industry,” says Richard Lewis, YouTube’s head of UK content partnerships. “But what we find is that YouTube creators tend to be very loyal. They love that YouTube is their home, because that’s where they can be the most free creatively. It’s not in our remit to tell them what to do in their careers. We’re purely focused on making their YouTube experiences as good as possible for them and their audiences.”

Moreover, for many YouTubers, getting on TV was not the reason they began candidly addressing webcams in their bedrooms, adding jump cuts and a ukulele soundtrack, and inadvertently attracting a global audience.

Fleur Bell, aka Fleur DeForce (1.3 million subs), began posting videos on YouTube because she was passionate about beauty products and wanted to tell the world about it.

Five years later and she’s had a book published and appeared as a guest offering beauty advice on programmes such as This Morning. “It’s never been my main goal, but when I do get the opportunity to do some TV, it still has that traditional ‘wow’ factor,” says Bell. However, she admits making the move to TV isn’t always a possibility for creators.

“People assume that if you put yourself in front of a camera and make your own content then you’ll be a natural TV presenter, but that’s not always the case.

“A lot of YouTube creators are extremely shy and presenting in front of other people in a studio is a different dynamic. I know people who’d be terrified at the prospect of doing TV and others who would love to. I sit somewhere in the middle.”

Michael Stevens, the considerable brains behind the three VSauce-branded educational channels (which have a combined 14.9 million subs), would have made the perfect science teacher in his native Kansas. But thanks to YouTube, he’s a star of the internet and is now based in London.

Stevens’ career on YouTube began in 2010 with a channel based around video game comedy content. Since then, it has grown and now attracts Hollywood talent such as Paul Rudd and Chris Pratt, whilst answering questions such as How Much Does a Shadow Weigh?.

YouTube personalities may simply be loath to move over to a platform that they and their friends are using less and less; only half of all viewing among 16- to 24-year-olds is now through traditional scheduled TV, according to Ofcom.

There’s no point in making the move to TV if most of your audience lives online, says Stuart Ashen, whose channel, ashens, has 870,000 subs. “If a YouTuber appeals to a young demographic that they connect with directly, then TV would give them far less of an audience than they have already,” he says.

When it does make more sense, however, is if the YouTuber produces sketches and other scripted work, as Ashen does, having previously worked with BBC Online Comedy. “Traditional TV routes can potentially offer a wider viewership and far greater production opportunities than can be found online,” he says.

So what should TV producers bear in mind if they do snag a wildly popular YouTube personality? Treat them with a huge amount of respect, says Lewis. The biggest pitfall TV producers can make is failing to take into account that YouTubers are not just the presenters of their videos, they’re also the producer, director and creator.

“A lot of what makes YouTube creators really successful is their authenticity. They have a very direct, personal relationship with the viewer. So if I were a TV producer, I’d collaborate with YouTube talent, as opposed to directing them,” Lewis adds. “YouTubers will often take direction from their viewers. That two-way street is perhaps something the TV industry needs to become more open to.

“These creators run their own mini production houses. They have fantastic relationships with their audiences. Be open to their unique way of working.”

Indeed, just trying to get them to read a script might prove difficult, says fashion expert Bell. “It can be quite tricky putting YouTube talent in front of a camera and giving them a script. Most of the time that’s not the way any of us work,” she says.

Freelance producer Sabina Smitham has spent the past two-and-a-half years working with YouTubers while at FremantleMedia and ChannelFlip. In that time, she’s seen plenty of examples of new and old media butting heads. “YouTube creators are used to having a creative independence that TV can’t really offer them. And with good reason: there’s a structure of commissioners and producers in place to maintain quality,” says Smitham.

But TV firms may have to get used to handing over more creative control to the YouTuber if they want their success online to translate to TV.

“Keep in mind the fact that we are content creators as well. We’ve grown this audience for a reason, because people enjoy the content we’re making,” says Bell.

For Norwich-based Ashen, it’s important that taking a project to TV should result in something new being offered to the audience, rather than a re-hash of old material. “Listen to the YouTuber and keep an open mind. The general wisdom is that a TV project should be an expanded version of something they already do, but that’s not always the best route. Some lateral thinking can often yield the best results,” he says.

“You need to find something that stays true to the core of their work, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a direct extension of it. And don’t just try to attach them to an existing idea, as it’s unlikely they’ll be interested.”

There’s little doubt that the next great sketch teams and the next great talkshow hosts are already out there, building their audience on YouTube. And it seems TV’s biggest challenge won’t be finding them, but convincing them they can work together.