March 28, 2024

New Media

Florida's Top YouTube Stars

Four Floridians are among those making a living from YouTube.

Mike Vogel | 2/27/2018

Tpindell

For an introduction to the paths to YouTube stardom, you won’t do better than Tpindell’s parody “Types of YouTubers.” In its first 24 hours online, it drew 81,688 views. Within a month, it was up to 240,556 views. Troy Pindell covers the basic genres along with the necessities to success, such as constantly reminding people to subscribe, sign up to be notified of new uploads and to hit the like button.

See a sample video
Tpindell

Boyce Avenue

Attention to those details, skill at skit comedy and knowing what draws laughs propelled Pindell to 2.25 million subscribers on his namesake channel and 173,686 subscribers on a separate channel where you can watch him play video games. He has 77,000 subscribers on his fitness channel and 420,000 on TpindellTV.

Pindell, a Maryland native who came to Florida as a teenager, played football as a defensive back for one of Broward’s high school football powers, American Heritage School in Plantation. He went on to play under the legendary Howard Schnellenberger at Boca Raton-based Florida Atlantic University, where Pindell studied criminal justice. He spent “2½ hours” with Canada’s Edmonton Eskimos and then cast about for a living. He was a substitute teacher (a good source of material for future videos) in Broward schools and then worked as a school behavioral specialist dealing with troubled teens.

Bored and missing the days when he made teammates laugh, he made videos in his spare time. He went at it full time three years ago. It took 2½ years, he says, to reach 100,000 subscribers. By year three, he hit 1 million. Like other YouTube stars, he’s self-taught. Unlike others, now that he’s made it, he remains largely a one-man operation. A night owl, he sleeps in, but then works to nearly dawn.

His YouTube stardom has enabled him to travel the world. He’s moved into merchandise, personal appearances, entertaining at high school and college events. He’s branched into short films. He cites artist Issa Rae, whose web series

“Awkward Black Girl” graduated into a well-received HBO series. “There’s going to be more people that are going to do that in the future,” he says.

Pindell says the keys to YouTube success are quality content, responding to the audience (70% of his viewers are 13 to 24) and uploading consistently to keep the audience engaged and the revenue flowing. He creates two to three videos a week for his main channel and as many as six for his gaming channel.

“You can’t really take a break,” he says. “It never stops.” Then again, he says later, “I wouldn’t ever want to stop what I’m doing now.”

Income: Pindell could be earning between $5,000 to $20,000 a month on YouTube ad revenue alone, according to Social Blade.

 

See other stories from Florida Trend's March issue.

Get Florida Trend's March magazine – print or digital. Select from these options:

EXISTING
DIGITAL
SUBSCRIBERS

Access Article Now!

DIGITAL
SINGLE
ISSUE

Get a single DIGITAL copy of this issue

$4.95

PRINT
SINGLE
ISSUE

Get a single PRINT copy of this issue

$4.95
plus $3 postage & handling

PRINT SUBSCRIPTION

One year in PRINT

$14.98*
plus a FREE gift!

DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION

One year DIGITAL

$14.98*
plus a FREE gift!

ALL ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION

One year Combo
PRINT + DIGITAL

$24.95*
plus a FREE gift!


CURRENT  PRINT  SUBSCRIBERS

If you are already a print subscriber,
ADD DIGITAL EDITION ACCESS
to your existing subscription here!
(or call our office at 727-892-2643)

* offer valid for new subscribers only

Tags: Trendsetters, Lifestyle, Arts & Entertainment, New Media

Florida Business News

Florida News Releases

Florida Trend Video Pick

Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices
Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices

Central Floirda chocolate shops are left with a bitter taste as cocoa prices hit an all-time high earlier this week.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

Ballot Box

Should Congress ban the popular social media app TikTok in the U.S.?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Need more details
  • What is TikTok?
  • Other (Comment below)

See Results

Florida Trend Media Company
490 1st Ave S
St Petersburg, FL 33701
727.821.5800

© Copyright 2024 Trend Magazines Inc. All rights reserved.