YouTube in East Anglia
From his spare bedroom, Dan Middleton has created a gaming empire through YouTube. He created his main channel, DanTDM, in 2012 alongside working in his local Tesco in Northamptonshire. Since then, he has amassed a subscriber count of 25 million; has generated over 18 billion video views; uploaded over 3,400 videos and created an £18m fortune. The focus of his channel? Inspiring his viewers with commentaries and playthroughs of popular video games, most prominently Minecraft. Dan also uses Minecraft’s game mechanics to create stories to entertain his broad audience: showing his skill at building within the game, but also his setbacks along the way. Described by The Times as having twice as many channel views as there are people on Earth, Dan has also developed the success of his channel beyond videos; releasing a graphic novel set within the Minecraft universe that topped The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover graphic books, whilst also touring the world in 2016/2017, selling out 97 shows.
I love the community and the fact that you can upload whatever you want. I would never have been able to have this amount of creative control in another industry or have been able to be so reactive. I also love being my own boss and that I can evolve and improve every day, always learning new skills.
The stresses of modern life can get to us all, but thankfully there are things we can do to unwind that no longer require pricey memberships or even leaving the house! Meet Cat Meffan, a yoga instructor on a quest to help viewers feel better connected to themselves on a deeper, more meaningful level. Cat’s channel is dedicated to yoga, meditation and mindful movement, with accessible videos that cater for all abilities. By providing everyone the opportunity to connect with their spiritual side, Cat helps people feel restored through the medium of yoga. Thanks to YouTube, Cat was able to set up a monthly membership service, My Soul Sanctuary. Each month, members can access new Yoga classes, a newsletter and a bit of solace on the go. Her success with clients is clear, leading Cat’s channel to build up a solid fan base of nearly 250,000 subscribers.
I love that YouTube allows me to share the practice of yoga, movement, meditation and mindfulness to a global audience. As a yoga teacher, it's so important to give back to the yoga community, to share this incredible practice far and wide, to allow people to show up for themselves and to be a guide for people wanting to work on their mental and physical health.
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