Jeremy Jones | @Saskamodie With the success of YouTube and web video in general, the age of online video is upon us. The media platform gave rise to a new breed of entrepreneur: one who uses online video marketing as its chief tool. I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight a few that you may or may not have heard of:

Tay Zonday- @TayZonday

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

When you first see Tay Zonday, you might peg him for a distant cousin of Emmanuel Lewis - but then you hear "the voice". It's a smooth baritone that is often compared to Paul Robeson, Barry White, and Brad Roberts of the “Crash Test Dummies". Zonday blasted into the worldwide spotlight with his viral hit “Chocolate Rain” and has been interviewed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Good Morning America, and G4TV’s Attack Of The Show, just to name a few. He has parlayed his talents as a music producer/singer into a lucrative career as a full-time YouTube Creator.

 

Shay Carl- @shaycarl

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8jRUrxz1mc&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Shaycarl is a popular Web-based alias, mostly known for his SHAYTARDS channel, which features adventures of Shay and the rest of his family. Shay is involved in many web series, and is often featured on other popular YouTube channels.

 

Michelle Phan- @RiceBunny

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk7-KoZFQ2Q&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Michelle Phan made her YouTube debut in late 2006, and has since been dubbed the #1 YouTube "Makeup Guru" and created over 169 videos that have been viewed over 479,000,000 times, making her the #17 rated channel on YouTube. In November 2010, Michelle reached 1 million subscribers and became the #1 most subscribed to female on YouTube. Michelle now has over 1,640,900 subscribers. She also became the online spokesperson for Lancôme.

 

Epic Meal Time- @EpicMealTime

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9FRSghXhDM&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

If MTV's "Jackass" was a cooking show, they still would have nothing on these guys. Epic Meal Time is a YouTube cooking show known for creating extremely high-calorie meals, generally out of meat products (with particular emphasis on bacon) and including alcohol (especially Jack Daniel's). It debuted in October 2010, and now releases an episode every Tuesday.

 

Machinima- @Machinima_com

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSjzy8bT8MA[/youtube]

After seeing popularity spikes solely on their YouTube channel, Machinima focused on expanding it, and now all videos featured on their website are now available via the Machinima YouTube channel. In addition to producing expansive editorial content, the company's suite of applications, tools, and technologies motivates players to be highly engaged and active with their favorite games.