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What started as a conference-booking service for YouTubers and their fans is now a booming business, with original content, a growing community, and plans to subvert the Hollywood star system.
BeautyCon has just racked up $2 million in seed funding, including investments from the publishing giant Hearst Corp, Queensbridge Venture Partners, and several prominent entertainment lawyers. BeautyCon offers a means for brands to work with the people who make YouTube videos on fashion and beauty advice.
[ibimage==33278==Medium==none==self==ibimage_align-right]“This is generation connected and curated,” said CEO Moj Mahdara in a statement. “YouTube coins it as all things content, curation and community. This is all about an 18-to 24-year-old millennial who consumes all their content via YouTube and Instagram - this is the massive millennial movement and this is where all brands are coming to.” Mahdara said, the company's demographic of choice represents $4 billion a year in cosmetics, $5.7 billion on apparel and accessories and $8.2 billion in computers and electronics.
The company provides a strong alternative to going through 'real' movie stars, their agents, and the studio system. Already, the most popular YouTubers have more credibility with American teenagers than some of the most prominent film actors. The Scottish YouTuber Alfie Deyes said these young influencers are “just ordinary people who are able to brighten someone's days,” and, indeed, they are often presented less as distant celebrities than as trusted personal confidants. They're also less buffered – without a firmly established bureaucracy around them, old strategies for gaining endorsements don't work as well. BeautyCon's hopes brands will come to them for help.
Recently, BeautyCon rolled out an exclusive membership program called BeautyCon BFF. Aside from access to the products endorsed by YouTubers, the program offers discounts, a social media network, live meetups, and, of course, a designated hashtag, “#BeautyConBFF.”
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