SAN FRANCISCO–Lucas Cruikshank is to user-generated video what Tiger Woods was to golf or what Bobby Fischer was to chess when they were teenagers.
The 15-year old creator of the YouTube series Fred has become Internet video’s hottest prodigy since last month, when the Fred channel amassed the most subscribers (585,506) on YouTube. He now has more than 645,000. Since launching six months ago, Fred clips have been watched more than 125 million times.
The series is a goofy satire of some YouTube video bloggers that Cruikshank considers self important. Fred is a fictitious teen with anger management problems, a strange voice, and a father serving time in jail. Cruikshank, a high school freshman in Nebraska, has parlayed his Web success into cash.
He agreed to slip products, including the Zipit text-messaging gadget, into his videos as part of product-placement deals. An aspiring actor, the teen has appeared in commercials for the device and will appear in an upcoming Nickelodeon show. “I’ve had meetings with movie studios,” he told me. “Some people even want to turn Fred into a TV show or movie.”
Walking through the NewTeeVee Live conference venue here Thursday, Cruikshank was approached by numerous executives who asked to exchange cards with him. He is barely old enough for acne but Cruikshank appears the user-gen generation’s version of a Hollywood player.
Talk to Cruikshank and one gets the impression his success is no accident. He’s sharp and witty and isn’t intimidated by adults in suits. During an interview with NewTeeVee’s Chris Albrecht in front of hundreds of conference attendees, Cruikshank got some laughs after he was asked by a man about what kind of CPM, or advertising revenue, his clips were generating.
“I bet you would like to know that,” Cruikshank said. He waited a beat before adding: “But I’m not going to tell you.”
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.
The star of the NewTeeVee Live conference in San Francisco: Fred.
Lucas Cruikshank, the hyper, screeching 15-year-old Internet sensation from Omaha who created the “Fred” series on YouTube, won over the adult audience at a conference that contained dry themes and language that would have bored most kids his age.
Since he created his video channel on YouTube, Cruikshank has become one of the biggest hits in YouTube history. His videos all get more than 1 million views. He has a die-hard base of teens and tweens who can’t wait for Thursdays when he releases the latest episode. He’s gearing up for season three, which will contain some real grown-up stuff: product placement and celebrity cameos.
Drawing envy from the cheap seats: Cruikshank is making money. He won’t say how much. And don’t ask him what his CPM is (that’s advertising speak, cost-per-thousand impressions). But he has been successful enough to buy himself a Mac laptop and a BlackBerry.
The real upside of being an online video star while a freshman in high school? “Seniors talk to me,” he said. And he recently closed a licensing deal so he hopes to soon go to the mall with his friends and see “Fred stuff.”
His ambitions don’t end there. Cruikshank wants to be a movie star. He called “Fred” his “Hollywood calling card.” He dreams of making comedies in the vein of Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell.
So far he has taken “meetings,” but he’s not sure Hollywood gets him yet. “Most movie people are like 40-year-old men,” Cruikshank said.
We can safely say that 15-year-old Lucas Cruikshank, creator of the wildly popular Fred character on YouTube, is the youngest innovator that Giga Omni Media has had on its stage. Cruikshank, who has a Mac laptop and a blackberry, says one secret is to launch videos on Thursday around the time that kids get out of school. The buzz will pick up on Friday during school hours and on Saturday the show will often get the most views.
This is SOOOOOOO not fair!!!! Kevin and Judy went around and ruined all my campaign posters to try to get the other kids not to vote for me!!!!! He’s such a stupid jerk.
My mom says I should fight fire with fire. My grandma says that only makes a bigger fire and is a bad idea. My mom is usually right about these things thought I think.
