So when I was asked to host tonight's gaming section I was so excited.
I've been a gamer my entire life.
So if you want to take notice back here, that's me at five years old, in my little Mario t-shirt,
and that was shortly after my parents got me my first Nintendo console.
Now, I thought that I was the coolest kid in town, and you could imagine that if I loved
Mario this much as a child, how excited I was to actually interview the creator of Mario
25 years later.
Now, as a YouTuber, I couldn't think of two better photos to illustrate who I am, than
this.
Now, growing up, while some kids were going to the movies, they were going to the prom,
I went to PC game parties, which we called lan parties.
This was before the internet.
This is what we had to do.
We had to lug around these gigantic desktop computers and we would play Quake 3, we would
play Unreal Tournament all nights.
And my mom was a little worried, but it's all right, it all worked out.
Because I started uploading gaming and tech videos to my YouTube channel.
This was back in 2006.
My first huge hit was a video of me reviewing a 300-page phone bill that I got in the mail,
came in a box.
Some of you might remember that.
Now, I learned the hard way not to get texts every time someone commented on a social media
post.
It's a lot, it's like over 50,000 actually, in a month.
The next thing that I knew, I was being interviewed by dozens of news outlets, like CNN.
I was like, "Why are they calling me?
This is very strange."
And I think that was the moment for me, that I realized that this YouTube thing, it is
extremely powerful.
Now, you've heard people talking about engaged fans tonight.
Well gamers, they are like engaged fans on steroids.
Now, they see these gaming and spectators as sports, where thousands of people, they
show up in person to tournaments, where people are playing video games and they're watching
it like it is an arena football field.
And this is amazing because gaming-related content is so huge that on the platform in
March of 2015, YouTube saw billions of hours of watch time on just gaming content alone.
And it's not just men, adult female gamers have unseated boys under 18 as the largest
video game demographic in the U.S. Yeah, let's hear it.
And I bet when your Google salesperson talks to you about gaming, I'm probably not who
immediately comes to mind.
But that is what is so amazing about this category.
It's creators and it's audience.
It is so broad.
You've got Let's Play Content, where people like PewDiePie, all right.
He is killing it with hilarious videos that takes his fans through all their favorite
games.
And he has almost 36 million subscribers.
Like, just think about that for a second.
That's more people than the population of Canada.
He's so influential, the top game publishers use his quotes on their boxes.
There's also episodic series like RocketJump's Video Game High School, which took in over
110 million views across three seasons.
Brands like Dodge and Taco Bell came along for that ride.
And for families, there's stampylonghead.
Come on, let's hear it.
Because if your kids love Minecraft, then they've probably heard of this guy, otherwise
known as Joseph Garrett.
His new scripted series Wonderquest, that launched on Saturday on YouTube and YouTube
kids, brings audiences family friendly adventures with educational twists.
Now, there are so many other great creators in this category, Felicia Day, Markiplier
and Smosh, just to name a few.
Now, I know we've got some fans in the audience, so I know you guys love them, but you also
trust them.
And they want to know what you guys think about these games and the products that they
use.
And I had no idea that my love for gaming would not only lead to a career on YouTube
but also a chance to work with many of you guys in this room, including Activision, Nintendo,
Sharpie and Toyota.
And I'm not the only one.
Movie studios, car companies, even beauty brands are tapping into gamers because of
the incredible reach that they have.
Now, as I leave you guys here tonight, I want you to remember that the reason why this community
is so strong on YouTube is because you cannot find this content on TV.
Gaming is fundamentally interactive, and only interactive platforms like YouTube can deliver
the experience gamers want.
Thanks for having me, guys.