Every year NMR goes to VidCon, we learn a little bit more about our industry, ourselves and the trends that are up and coming. Last year we learned that gaming was gonna be HUGE, that we can’t fly off the roof of the convention center without our lucky wizard cloak (we’ll miss you, Joey), and that nobody cares about crowdfunding panels.
This year, these are the four big takeaways from the biggest party/meet & greet in YouTube:
4. Pranking Is Trending Down
Whatever the focus was this year, it wasn’t on pranking. The panel on pranking played to a crowd that was a third of its capacity, many of the prankers weren’t in high profile roles (Roman Atwood wasn’t even invited to be on the aforementioned panel) and no pranking videos from VidCon have blown up the way the Prank vs. Prank team’s skewering of Vitaly went last year. Is this a bad omen for prankers in the coming year?
3. VidCon Still Has A Ways To Go …
Simply put, while VidCon is the biggest thing in YouTube events, it still has a ways to go to sell out the Anaheim Convention Center. The convention people knew this and booked a volleyball convention the same weekend, so a large portion of the crowd was there not for YouTubers, but for kids hitting balls over a net. If YouTube wants to convince people that short-form video content is the future, it has to at least be big enough to dominate Anaheim.
2. Brits Are Sooo In Right Now
The loudest screams from the pre-teens came at the sight of the UK lads like Danisnotonfire — it gave a non-Brit the sensation of watching the Beatles arrive. I’ll admit I started talking with a British accent, hoping the girls would come begging me for autographs. It didn’t work.
1. Vine Stars Are Catching Up To YouTube Stars
In a secretish enclave in the Marriott Hotel adjacent to the Anaheim Convention Center, Vine stars like Nash Grier sat under protective watch of security guards while throngs of fans swarmed outside the door, hoping for a chance to scream and rush in. More traditional YouTube stars experienced having would-be fans rush by them in order to swarm Vine stars who a year ago were unknown. To any layperson taking in the festivities, it was pretty transparent that the flavor of the moment is Vine.
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[…] VidCon isn’t just meeting up with fans and creators, networking and food trucks — it’s also about a bunch of creative types getting together to cut loose. Every year the parties get wilder, louder and more tech awesome. In addition to the usual photo booths, they’ve also integrated those slo-mo photo booths that are all the rage. […]