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Roula Khalaf, editor of the FT, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Hollywood has a star problem. The latest generation of leading men and women are all blessed with beauty, talent and elegance that evokes public adoration. Yet 20-somethings like Zendaya, Paul Mescal and Sydney Sweeney are struggling to open movies on the strength of their names alone. They’re just not famous enough.
You won’t find stars with cross-generational appeal on YouTube either. or any other online platform. Can you identify Kai Senat, the most subscribed-to esports commentator on Twitch? Or Bella Poarch, who got more than three-quarters of a billion views with a TikTok video? Even Jimmy Donaldson (aka MisterBeast), who has 338 million YouTube followers, could probably travel unrecognized by the average 45-year-old.
The inability to identify new pop culture heroes has long been a symptom of middle age. But there’s usually a point where these stars break through to a wider audience. Over the past decade, however, finding this broad audience has become difficult. As viewers gravitate towards content they like, popularity has declined. It is possible to have a hundred million online fans and still be unknown to people in your home
This breakdown of reputation is exacerbated by the fact that even viewers on the same platform may not see the same content. red notice, A heist thriller starring The Rock, Hall Most Watched Movies on Netflix. Yet the film, described by one critic as an empty bid to create a franchise, never made it to the top of my recommended viewing list. It’s almost as if the algorithm knew that I’d skip straight past.
One online builder is currently trying to overcome this hurdle. In December, Donaldson launched his first game show on Amazon Prime. Beast Games will look familiar to anyone who watches his YouTube channel. The stunts, which have a semblance of a Depression-era dance marathon to them, have just gone on a bigger stage. Donaldson, dressed in a smart-casual black hoodie, shouts encouragement while offering an extravagant $5 million cash reward for those willing to put themselves through unusual pain. The vibe is 2010s The X Factor Technology makes sense.
Reviews of the show were poor (according to the British press it was “undignified” and “unattractive”). It has partnered with a fintech company criticized. And there have been uncomfortable complaints about the set being an unsafe environment – as some contestants have claimed case filed this summer against Donaldson and the show’s production companies Still, Donaldson says the show is number one in more than 50 countries.
If anyone can change their audience, it should be Donaldson. Now in his mid-20s, he has been uploading videos since his teenage years and is known for studying formats and tweaking content to maximize viewership.
Nevertheless, Amazon is one streaming site among many. It has over 200 million Prime subscribers (i.e. fewer than Mr. Beast’s own channel) and video service recommendation feeds may prevent Donaldson from being seen by new viewers who don’t already know him. His chances of becoming a globally recognized superstar are slim.
Screenwriter William Goldman once explained how they were created. It was not enough to be talented or good-looking, he wrote, something else was needed. In Adventures in Screen TradeHe describes watching this transformation happen for Robert Redford. Redford did not calm down when he entered the theater actor’s room. after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidthey did A screen and a mass audience were needed for change to occur. (He also suggested that it was the speed of the change and it had nothing to do with the actors that sent so many stars into a frenzy of insecurity.)
The curtain still exists. But the mass audience is scattered. The ultimate proof that celebrities are anyone and no one, comes courtesy of celebrity video app Cameo. In late 2024, it launched CameoX — a service that allows users to self-document and sell videos made to fans.
In the past, cameos had to be agreed upon by someone who was famous enough to be on the platform. Admittedly the bar was fairly low. But CameoX drops it on the floor. Chief executive Steven Galanis said the change had to happen because the amount of fame in the world was “growing rapidly.” It’s true. It’s easier than ever to be seen by a large number of people online. But it’s also true that it’s harder to be seen by a truly global audience. Apart from that there is no fame.
