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Horror-focused creators have racked up huge engagement on YouTube, and that popularity is now spilling into Hollywood success.
The Big Picture: Horror has become one of the most reliably successful genres of entertainment across every media format. But considering the content of the content, ad-driven online platforms may not have the infrastructure to best support these creators… making them look for opportunities elsewhere.
Behind The Scenes: YouTube has become the internet’s version of the campfire — a digital space for scary storytelling fueled by horror shorts, paranormal investigations, and found-footage content.
But its top creators are now looking for greener pastures.
- This past weekend, popular horror creators Sam and Colby (13 million subscribers) debuted Sam and Colby: The Legends of the Paranormal on 350 Cinemark screens, where it grossed $1.76 million. Cinemark is expanding it to more screens this weekend.
- Danny and Michael Philippou of RackaRacka fame (6.86 million subscribers) said they barely make any money from their viral YouTube videos… but their film Talk To Me raked in $92 million for A24 and launched their Hollywood careers.
- Wanting to mimic that success, A24 tapped 18-year-old creator Ken Parsons to make a movie from his viral Backrooms YouTube series.
Closing Credits: YouTube has been buttoning up monetizable content on its platform in an effort to attract more and more high-quality advertisers… but doing so has kept horror creators from making anywhere near as much money as other types of creators who have equally large followings. Add in age-restriction warnings, and the ability for videos to get recommended for YouTube’s discovery algorithm becomes increasingly tricky. If YouTube wants to cater to horror creators better, expect the platform to roll out specific ad strategies or content hubs that benefit the genre.
Go Deeper: YouTube has been the gateway for Hollywood to find horror talent for years — look no further than the career of Lights Out and Shazam director David F. Sandberg.
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