There’s a genre of videos on YouTube about women trying on clothes. These are generally attractive young women with full figures. And the clothes they try on are things like swimsuits, lingerie, and other skimpy outfits. They put the outfits on (off camera) and then model them while they give their impressions of the clothes.
Okay, I can obviously understand why there is an audience for these videos. Enough so, that my understanding is that men send these women clothes for them to model on videos.
But what are the women getting out of this? Free clothes but the allure of that seems thin when it’s random outfits being chosen by members of their audience. It’s on YouTube so they’re not getting paid by the viewers.
Do they make money by selling advertising? Do they encourage Patreon accounts? Do they post these free videos to encourage viewers to join some pay site? Are they doing these videos to build up an audience in hopes of moving on to something like a career in modeling or acting? Or do they just like having a fan base?
I wasn’t previously aware of these videos, so I did a quick search. The videos that came up first had a ton of views, hundreds of thousands to millions. I don’t know exactly how YouTube monetization works, but once you’re clocking that many views, you’re probably making some money from YouTube.
The one video I watched had 3.5 million views, and the presenter was pretty clearly advertising for a brand. She asked viewers to follow the links in the description to buy the clothes she was modeling. I presume she gets paid from the brand. She also had a Patreon account.
My WAG is that there are a few people like her making real money at this, and a vast number of others trying to get it on it, with varying degrees of success.
I’d imagine they are getting paid by youtube, especially if they monetize their videos. Even if they aren’t, they may just be doing it for the clothes (assume they do actually get them for free). Beyond that, it’s also entirely possible they enjoy the attention and/or are hoping to get noticed and be able to do it professionally.
I know someone that just kinda fell into that. She started a blog, just for herself, modeling clothes. One thing led to another and it’s now something she does professionally. I belive her instagram page has well over a quarter million followers.
It doesn’t sound all that different than unboxing or haul videos.
If you have kids of a certain age, you’re probably familiar with EvanTube, a kid who has made a squadrillion dollars reviewing and building Lego sets. He started when he was 5 or 6 I think.
Maybe. I’m sure there are plenty of guys busting one out to these vids.
But if you look at the comments (random sample) it’s actually all women commenting and asking for more videos.
Women of every size have a hard time picturing how clothes will fit on them. If you’ve got a big bust, belly or butt, it’s even harder to figure it out. Mannequins don’t even come close to our weird shapes, and even models on plus-sized clothing sites/catalogs are rarely representative of our shapes.
Seeing someone actually get a garment and put it on and move around is awesome! If you like to shop but don’t like going to shop and try stuff on, it’s even better to have a good model to do it for you.
Anyway, these aren’t cam girls. These are clothes models modeling clothes for other women.
The person that I mentioned earlier does exactly that. Part of the reason she got so popular so quickly is because she’s a plus size/body positive model (getting married to and divorced from a minor internet celebrity helped as well).
…well actually, they are paid by the viewers, or more precisely, by views.
At the moment the current rate is around .0015 TO .003 per view. The first haul try-on video I clicked on when I searched for it had half-a-million views: so that could mean anywhere between $750 and $1500 in terms of revenue for the video. If you keep to a release schedule of a video a week then its a pretty good revenue stream.
Youtube rules and algorithm keeps on changing. But currently the requirements to partner with them are 4000 watch hours and 1000 subscribers. So the current rules encourage longer video, which is why you’ve generally seen a trend towards longer videos.
On top of Youtube monetarization there are plenty of other ways to make money, from selling “merch” to direct sponsorship from brands.
So it comes down to running a business. If you aren’t business savvy you can’t make a youtube channel work: because you’ve constantly got to be keeping ahead of what the algorithm is going to do to your channel. Haul videos simply target a market niche, and that market has been explained by others here in this thread.
I currently have 9 subscribers. So I’m a long-way-off from earning my youtube dollars.
I’ve never posted on YouTube or had any other reason to look into the monetary aspects of it. But based on comments I’ve heard YouTubers make, there are some rules about monetizing your channel. And I believe some of them restrict overly sexual material. So you can post a video of yourself wearing lingerie but you won’t be able to collect money from it.
At least the one I watched, I wouldn’t call overly sexual. It was less sexualized than a typical Victoria’s Secret ad. But as noted above, the presenters who are making money at it are probably working multiple revenue streams.
One of those videos is from Katie Banks, who is a porn actress. I imagine she does these type of videos to promote her porn career.
The others, I dunno. I’m not well versed in YouTube’s monetization rules. Maybe the women in those videos are still trying to build an online brand in the hopes of turning it into revenue later on. I’m sticking by my theory that a small number of people are making money doing these and most everyone else is trying to do the same.
…I’m still not sure what you are questioning now. Some people are making youtube videos for money. Some people make try-on-haul videos targeted at the people ZipperJJ was taking about. Others target men. Youtube’s rules about “overly sexual material” is entirely subjective,very inconsistent, tends to target videos that are “over-reported” and can change from video to video. But none of what you posted appears to be over the line.
If those videos trouble you then can I suggest you don’t google “kids do ASMR”.
The kind of weird videos I watch sometimes, that I find entertaining despite objectively recognising they are entirely pointless and consequence-free, might surprise you. I am in no position to judge what others watch.
So I’m a long-way-off from earning my youtube dollars.