SXSW: Who’s Making Money From Their YouTube? Not Black People

YouTube was celebrated as the great equalizer for marginalized groups in the media but the video sharing platform is not that much different than old media.

By Jorge Rivas Mar 11, 2013

YouTube’s slogan is "broadcast yourself" and it’s been celebrated as the new media platform that will revolutionize how marginalized groups are presented in the media. But the network is not much different than old media–90 of the top 100 YouTube video creators are white and mostly male. In 2009 YouTube launched what they call the Partner Program that allows some of the popular content owners to make money from the videos they uploaded to the video sharing site. YouTube will not say how much people are paid for their content but according to earning reports there are [thousands of video content creators on YouTube who are making more than $100,000 a year. ](http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/08/26/some-youtube-stars-are-made-massachusetts/rHSziBWLpVd5RBIGHCQMJJ/story.html) Only two of YouTube’s top 100 personalities are black (DeStorm, Kingsley), according to Chase Hoffberger at[ DailyDot.com](http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/youtube-troll-franchesca-ramsey-itrubslotion/) who organized a panel at South by SouthWest called ["YouTube and Racism." ](http://schedule.sxsw.com/2013/events/event_IAP3950) In the Colorlines.com video above YouTube stars [Franchesca Ramsey](http://www.youtube.com/user/chescaleigh) and [Andre Meadows](http://www.youtube.com/user/BlackNerdComedy) along with scholar [Jenny Ungbha Korn](https://twitter.com/JennyKorn) discuss YouTube Racism and how black video content creators have to work much harder to be seen.