The flipside of the YouTube-driven mayoral candidates is Brian Rose, a 49-year-old American whose heavy spending on paid adverts has made him ubiquitous on the video site. O’Reilly said her client would next week use his audience to promote other younger political voices from diverse backgrounds and step up his criticisms of the mainstream political media: “This is the beginning of a content series that will see Niko throw his weight behind causes he cares about – what better way to start than a mayoral run?” In an economy built on attention, the democratic process can provide a shortcut to media success.Ī video of Omilana “pranking” the BBC by demanding an interview outside their headquarters – the BBC says it was always happy to interview him but he turned up unannounced – has attracted more than 5m views in a week, many more eyeballs than watch leading BBC news bulletins. What is different about the new crop of YouTubers is that standing for election can be just another piece of content to engage the public with other projects. They thrived on being the quirky “and finally” feature on local news coverage of byelections, enjoying their 15 minutes of fame by standing alongside a major party candidate as the results were read out on television. The UK has a long history of no-hope electoral candidates running in the knowledge they will lose, ranging from Lord Sutch to Bill Boakes and the recently revived Lord Buckethead. He said YouTubers were always on the lookout for unique content that their rivals find it hard to offer: “Anyone can replicate a YouTube video eating spicy noodles, but not anyone can replicate running for mayor.”

This is him just extending this into a long project,” said Hussein Kesvani, who hosts the Ten Thousand Posts podcast about online culture. “Niko has always been very good at knowing what his audience like watching him do. In return, they could choose to use the mayoral run as the backdrop for a series of prank videos for loyal viewers, to gain subscribers for their YouTube channel that can later be monetised through advertising, or to gain an endorsement deal.

Dr seuss horton hears a who mayor