All Things Video

Taryn Southern is a comedian, actress, video blogger, and digital media consultant. She has three YouTube channels with more than 500,000 cumulative subscribers and 70M views, in addition to thousands of other fans across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Taryn began her career in traditional entertainment, selling two TV shows based on digital concepts as well as acting and hosting for major outlets like FOX, G4, TVGuide, VH1, and more. We cover a lot of ground in this episode – from Taryn’s initial reluctance to start a YouTube channel to her experience with MCNs, talent agencies, and influencer marketing platforms. We discuss her skepticism about SVOD, surprise that more creators don’t take advantage of affiliate marketing to maximize audience monetization, and her predictions about the future of VR, AR, and vertical video. Finally, we debate the stratification of the video creator elite, with Taryn unsure what will happen to middle-class creators and Luke calling for an “Occupy YouTube” movemen