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25-443: Thomas James Ridgewell (born 27 June 1990), known online as TomSka , is a British YouTuber , filmmaker, vlogger, comedian, actor, musician, and former animator. He is known for writing, directing, producing, and starring in his live-action sketch comedy YouTube videos and animated web series such as Asdfmovie ( / ˈ æ s d ə f m uː v i / AS -dəf-moo-vee ), Crash Zoom , and Eddsworld where he both provided
50-551: A secondary channel called TomSka & Friends (previously known as DarkSquidge). As of July 2024, the channel has over 1.47 million subscribers and over 239 million views. While his main channel consists of sketch comedy and animations, The "TomSka & Friends" channel shows behind-the-scenes footage of TomSka-related projects and videos, as well as vlogging . Ridgewell also engages in social commentary, covering topics like mental health, sexual health, and body positivity. From April 2016 to February 2018, he uploaded weekly vlogs to
75-599: A series of unofficial advertisements for the university which received millions of views and were also featured on the BBC . As a professional YouTuber, Ridgewell earns money from revenue from his videos on the website. He has been interviewed about this and has had this aspect of his life discussed, especially when the medium of online video was in its infancy. He has appeared as a guest on the BBC's The One Show and created short films for Comedy Central . In October 2007, Ridgewell created
100-705: The Asdfmovie series, titled Art is Dead: the asdf book , was written by Ridgewell, illustrated by Matt Ley and published by Little Brown on 22 October 2015. In May 2018, Ridgewell uploaded "The Muffin Song", a spin-off song of his Asdfmovie series, in collaboration with Schmoyoho . As of May 2024, the video has garnered over 256 million views. In 2019, Ridgewell developed a card game based on Asdfmovie in collaboration with Big Potato Games called Muffin Time: The Random Card Game . He raised over £1,000,000 for
125-721: The COVID-19 pandemic . In 2020, Time named Neto and fellow YouTuber JoJo Siwa to its annual list of the world's 100 most influential people. Due to this level of influence, in 2013, University of Michigan associate professor Robert Hovden argued for the creation of a new index similar to the g-index and h-index to evaluate a person's output and impact on YouTube. YouTubers can earn revenue from Google AdSense . Additionally, they can supplement their income through affiliate links , merchandising , and 3rd party memberships using platforms such as Patreon . Popular channels have garnered corporate sponsors, who pay to be included in
150-629: The BBC announced Ridgewell would appear as a guest presenter on the Dan and Phil Show on BBC Radio 1 . In 2016, Ridgewell filmed several sketches with the BBC for a potential sketch show on BBC Three . A book titled Sam Kills Christmas , written by Ridgewell and Eddie Bowley with illustrations by Dorina Herdewijn, was released on 8 November 2018. In 2008, Ridgewell released the first episode of Asdfmovie , an animated sketch comedy series featuring short clips of minimalist characters in surreal and occasionally darkly humorous situations. The "asdf" part of
175-543: The Partner Program, which allows channels that meet certain metrics (currently 1000 subscribers and 4000 public watch hours in the past year) to run ads on their videos and earn money doing so. The Partner Program allowed for the first time YouTube personalities to make a living from the platform. During the 2010s, the ability for YouTubers to achieve wealth and fame due to success on the platform increased dramatically. In December 2010, Business Insider estimated that
200-466: The channel in a series named Last Week . In 2012, Ridgewell founded the media production company TurboPunch Ltd., located in London . He currently works there alongside co-writer Eddie Bowley. Ridgewell also became the producer of Eddsworld after the show's creator, Edd Gould , died of leukemia . He left the series in 2016, relinquishing the show to animator Matt Hargreaves. In February 2013, Ridgewell
225-458: The death of Edd Gould in 2012, and was diagnosed with depression in 2013. In 2021, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder . On 26 December 2023, Charlie Belle, his long-term partner, announced via Instagram that they had become engaged. Ridgewell later revealed he had proposed on Christmas Day. YouTuber A YouTuber is a type of content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on
250-606: The entire platform at once. When the ads were introduced in August 2006, YouTube CEO Chad Hurley rejected the idea of expanding into areas of advertising seen as less user-friendly at the time, saying, "We think there are better ways for people to engage with brands than forcing them to watch a commercial before seeing content. You could ask anyone on the net if they enjoy that experience and they'd probably say no." However, YouTube began running in-video ads in August 2007, with preroll ads introduced in 2008. In December 2007, YouTube launched
275-621: The established and commercial system of celebrity culture; rather, they appear self-governed and independent. This appearance, in turn, leads to YouTubers being seen as more relatable and authentic, also fostered by the direct connection between artist and viewer using the medium of YouTube. In 2014, the University of Southern California surveyed 13–18-year-olds in the United States on whether ten YouTube celebrities or ten traditional celebrities were more influential; YouTube personalities took
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#1732869762900300-524: The first five spots of the ranking, with the YouTube duo Smosh ranking as most influential. The survey was repeated in 2015, and found six YouTubers on the first ranks, with KSI ranked as most influential. Several YouTubers and their influence were subjects for scientific studies, such as Zoella , and PewDiePie . Numerous studies in the late 2010s found that YouTuber was the most desired career by children. YouTubers' influence has also extended beyond
325-401: The game on Kickstarter . He was raised a Jehovah's Witness but no longer practices this faith. Despite this, he has expressed belief in a higher power. Though not primarily a musician, Ridgewell has played bass guitar in multiple videos, including "Guitar Warfare" and "Mine Turtle" as a featured artist with LilDeuceDeuce. Ridgewell has been open about his struggles with grief , following
350-452: The highest earner on YouTube during the previous year was Dane Boedigheimer , creator of the web series Annoying Orange , with an income of around $ 257,000. Five years later, Forbes released its first list of the highest-earning YouTube personalities, estimating top earner PewDiePie 's income during the previous fiscal year at $ 12 million, more than some popular actors such as Cameron Diaz or Gwyneth Paltrow . Forbes estimated that
375-425: The name originates from the first four characters of the second row of letters on the " QWERTY " keyboard layout . He has since confirmed the backronym autism spectrum disorder friendly movie . The song "Beep Beep I'm a Sheep" by Canadian musician LilDeuceDeuce with vocals by Ridgewell and Gabriel Brown, released alongside Asdfmovie10 , was featured in the dance rhythm game Just Dance 2018 . A book based on
400-533: The online video-sharing website YouTube , typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006, and subsequently appeared in the 2006 Time Person of the Year issue. Influential YouTubers are frequently described as microcelebrities . Since YouTube is widely conceived as a bottom-up social media video platform, microcelebrities do not appear to be involved with
425-469: The opportunity to view exclusive content by clicking on the ad. The first such ad was for the Fox show Prison Break and solely appeared above videos on Paris Hilton's channel. At the time, the channel was operated by Warner Bros. Records and was cited as the first brand channel on the platform. Participatory video ads were designed to link specific promotions to specific channels rather than advertising on
450-699: The platform. Some have ventured into mainstream forms of media, such as Liza Koshy , who, among other pursuits, hosted the revival of the Nickelodeon show Double Dare and starred in the Netflix dance-comedy film Work It . In 2019, Ryan's Mystery Playdate , a show starring Ryan Kaji, the then-seven-year-old host of the toy review and vlog channel Ryan's World , began airing on the Nick Jr. Channel ; later that year, NBC debuted A Little Late with Lilly Singh in its 1:35 am ET time slot. Singh's digital prominence
475-424: The tenth-highest earner that year was Rosanna Pansino at $ 2.5 million. That year, NME stated that " vlogging has become big business." The rapid influx of wealth within the YouTube community has led some to criticize YouTubers for focusing on earnings more than the creativity and connection with their fanbase that some claim was at the heart of the platform before expanded monetization. In August 2021, it
500-437: The videos. In 2018, Walmart , Nordstrom , and others sought YouTube stars as influencers . In the early days of YouTube, there was no way to monetize videos on the platform. Much of the site's content was homemade and produced by hobbyists with no plans for making money on the site. The first targeted advertising on the site came in the form of participatory video ads, which were videos in their own right that offered users
525-448: The voice and inspired the character of Tom and served as showrunner from 2012 to 2016. As of July 2024, his YouTube channel has over 7.33 million subscribers, and his videos have garnered over 2 billion views. Thomas James Ridgewell was born on 27 June 1990 in Suffolk , England . His would-be twin sister Amelia died prenatally after Ridgewell's mother was injured in a car accident. He
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#1732869762900550-647: Was cited as a reason for her selection as host by then-NBC Entertainment co-chairman George Cheeks. In 2024, Canadian YouTuber Jasmeet Singh Raina , otherwise known as JusReign, released his half-hour comedy series titled Late Bloomer . In addition to expanding into other forms of media, several YouTubers have used their influence to raise money for charity or speak out on social issues . Notable examples include James Stephen "MrBeast" Donaldson and Mark Rober , who helped raise over $ 20 million with their Team Trees campaign, and Felipe Neto , who publicly criticized Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro for his response to
575-525: Was featured on the cover of Wired UK as part of a feature titled "How YouTube Reinvented the Entertainment Business". In May 2013, he was featured in YouTube's first (and ultimately only) Comedy Week as a guest host for its Geek Week series in August. In 2014, Ridgewell, in collaboration with video game developer Pixel Spill Studios, created the game KatataK , a side-scrolling shoot 'em up for iOS and Android devices. In September 2014,
600-646: Was raised as a Jehovah's Witness , in Essex until age 4 and later Cambridge . As a child, Ridgewell made short films using his parents' video camera. Shortly after YouTube was established, Ridgewell created CakeBomb, a website where he posted his projects, including his animated web series Asdfmovie and his late friend Edd Gould 's Eddsworld . Ridgewell graduated from the University of Lincoln where he studied Media Production having previously studied at Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, and whilst studying created
625-575: Was reported Kevin Paffrath made $ 5 million in just the first 3 months of 2021 and his YouTube analytics showed he made "several million" in ad revenue within the prior 12 months. By 2021, YouTuber earnings had expanded even more, with Forbes estimating that the highest earner that year was MrBeast at $ 51 million. Sketch comedy Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include
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