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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite stories for this weekly newsletter.
Hollywood has a star problem. The latest generation of leading men and women have been blessed with the kind of beauty, talent and charm that breeds public adoration. However, 20-somethings like Zendaya, Paul Mescal and Sydney Sweeney are trying to open films on the strength of their name alone. They are not popular enough.
You won't find stars with cross-generational appeals on YouTube either. Or any other online platform. Can you identify Kai Cenat, the most subscribed esports commentator on Twitch? Or Bella Poarch, who has amassed more than three quarters of a billion views with a single TikTok video? Even Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast), who has over 338 million YouTube followers, can stumble past the average 45-year-old without being noticed.
The inability to identify new pop culture heroes has long characterized the middle ages. But there is always a point where these stars break through to a wider audience. Over the past decade, however, this wider audience has become harder to find. As viewers are threatened with content they will like, popularity has been reduced. It is possible to have hundreds of millions of online followers and not be noticed by people in your hometown.
This reputation fragmentation is exacerbated by the fact that viewers on the same platform will not see the same content. Red Notice, A heist thriller starring The Rock, himself the most watched movie on Netflix. Yet the film, described by one critic as an empty bid to create a franchise, did not appear at the top of my recommended viewing list. It's almost as if the algorithm knew I was going to skip right through.
One internet developer is now trying to break this barrier. In December, Donaldson debuted his first show on Amazon Prime. Beast Games will look familiar to anyone who watches his YouTube channel. The stunts, which have a tinge of Depression-era dance marathons to them, have just moved to a bigger stage. A cash prize of more than $5 million is being offered to those willing to put themselves through extraordinary pain while Donaldson, wearing a black hoodie, shouts encouragement. The vibe is 2010s X Factor meets technology finance.
Reviews of the show have been poor (“indecent” and “unlikable” according to the British press). Its partnership with a fintech company has been criticism. And there have been negative complaints about the set being an unsafe place – as some contestants say debt against Donaldson and the show's production companies filed this summer. Currently, Donaldson says the show is rated 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 youth and is known for learning formats and editing content to increase viewership.
However, Amazon is one distribution site among many. It has more than 200mn Prime subscribers (ie less than MrBeast has on his channels) and the recommendation of a video feed service can prevent Donaldson from being seen by new audiences who don't know him. The chances of him becoming a world famous star are slim.
Screenwriter William Goldman explained how the stars were created. It was not enough to be talented or beautiful, he wrote, something else was needed. In a Adventures in Screen Commercialsdescribes seeing this change happen to Robert Redford. When Redford was an actor, rooms never went silent when he entered. After that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kidthey did so. A screen and a large audience were needed to make the change happen. (He also suggested that the speed of this change and the fact that it had nothing to do with the players themselves sent many stars mad and insecure.)
The screens are still there. But most of the audience is scattered. The ultimate proof that celebrities are anyone and no one, comes courtesy of the popular Cameo video. By the end of 2024, it introduced CameoX – a service that allows users to register and sell videos made for fans.
Before, Cameo had to admit that someone was famous enough to be on stage. Admittedly the bar was fairly low. But CameoX knocks it down. Chief executive Steven Galanis says the change was necessary because the amount of fame in the world is “growing exponentially.” So true. It's easier than ever to get noticed online. But it is true that it is very difficult to be seen by a real world audience. Besides, there is no such thing as fame.