Matt Santoro: From accountant to YouTube star
Matt Santoro recalls his days in St. Catharines, stuck with an accounting job he didn’t like. Punching the clock. Clinging to a pay cheque.
When he was laid off in 2012, he had a decision to make: Look for another job he’d inevitably hate, or devote all his time to his YouTube side project in the hopes it paid off. Posting skits and ‘ infotainment’ videos.
When he started in 2010, he was getting about 2,000 views a week. A huge number, he figured.
By the end of 2016, his YouTube page had more than 5.2 million subscribers and 623 million views.
“People need to understand that they don’t need to, as I like to call it, be plugged in to the matrix,” he says from his Toronto home, where he makes new videos every week which get a million views each within days.
“You go into a 9 to 5 every day, plugging in, putting your head down and working at a computer making money for someone else. I did it, I’m not preaching something I’m not familiar with it.
“I put my time in, but at the end of the day I just wasn’t happy. I’m blessed to say that after I got laid off — at the time I didn’t know what that meant for me — now I realize that’s what it took for me to really pursue my passion.”
The Welland- born Santoro, 30, is now a full- fledged YouTube star. But it didn’t happen quickly. He struggled to get by while constantly uploading videos, to the chagrin of his conservative father. Doubts started to creep in.
“There are videos on my vlog channel — which is my second channel — where I ( say) ‘ I don’t think this is going to work for me, I think I’m going to quit YouYube.’ But at the end of the day I never did.
“Every time I was ready to give up I’d be like, ‘ What else are you going to do? You love doing this.’”
After about a year, YouTube began spotlighting his videos — things like Ten Forbidden Places You’re Not Allowed to Visit and The Six Stages of Hangovers — and placed his trailer before other videos. Santoro went on tour with other content producers, promoting YouTube’s brand. Soon enough, he was getting 25,000 new subscribers a day.
The sheer volume of viewers created a new career. He earns money whenever his millions of subscribers watch the ads in front of his videos, and more if they click the links. Santoro’s success helped validate YouTube as a media powerhouse, able to create its own content and cultivate its own stars.
On Wednesday, March 2, Santoro will speak at Brock University’s David S. Howes Theatre on YouTube and the impact of social media on business.
“I got to be on the forefront of it,” he says. “What’s funny is that when I first started, I thought I was too late. Six years later I see people just starting, and I think good Lord, it’s mind- boggling to think how big YouTube has gotten.
My advice to anyone getting into YouTube is, be a good person and make content that you’d be watching and proud of showing your kids. Do things that make the world smile.”
Matt Santoro
“There’s over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. When you upload a video, it’s the equivalent of dropping a grain of sand on a beach.”
Considering the landscape, Santoro can see why people try to be shocking or offensive to stand out. But it won’t help you long term, he cautions.
“It’s not a sustainable business model,” he says. “We see that it works in the short term, and they get a lot of short- term attention, but that’s not what’s going to sustain you into the future.”
Despite its vast content, YouTube is still a “tight- knit community,” says Santoro. It’s still in its infancy and is going through its “teen years” right now, with watchdogs that weed out inappropriate content.
“My advice to anyone getting into YouTube is, be a good person and make content that you’d be watching and proud of showing your kids. Do things that make the world smile.”