THESE INFLUENCERS AT THE HEAD OF A SMALL EMPIRE (4/6) – The videographer has 23 million subscribers to his networks and is multiplying projects in all cultural industries.
Stars of social networks or YouTube, their influence has gone beyond the first circle of their community of fans. Notoriety and media exposure have enabled them to build veritable small empires and sign marvelous contracts with major brands.
Given the progress of his career and the speed with which he clears new playing fields, we will not take the risk of talking about consecration. At nearly 30 years old, influencer Yvick Letexier, alias Mister V, has nonetheless had a strange year in 2023. A vintage rich in success, and crowned by a dubbing role in one of the blockbusters of the ‘year, Transformers 3: Rise of the Beasts . In this American blockbuster with a budget of 200 million dollars, the 30-year-old plays the voice of a transformable robot in a crazy role. This new installment of a franchise, which has seven, has not left an imperishable memory to film critics. The performance at the box office, with 495 million dollars in revenue for the moment, has been there.
With this third dubbing role after Project X in 2012 and Space Jam in 2021, Mister V continues to cling to his lucky star. And confirms his protean talent, at ease on all playing fields, celebrated by the public and the consumer with each incursion into a territory which was then unknown to him.
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Carrefour and Auchan can attest to this. Eighteen months ago, in partnership with Universal Music, Mister V’s record company, distributors marketed on their shelves two models of frozen pizza from the Delamama brand, inspired by a sketch by the videographer. In three months, Delamama pizzas had settled into the top 10 of the best 2022 launches by panelist NielsenIQ, generating 1.42 million euros in turnover. This isn’t his first foray into the business. A previous collaboration with Asics for a sneaker model resulted in 5,000 sales in two weeks.
One of the first web comedians
The native of the Grenoble area has had time to build a solid community of fans, which has 23 million subscribers by aggregating YouTube, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat. For fifteen years now, he has been spreading his caustic humorous videos and parodies of everyday life on the web, where he tackles the clichés of rappers, schooling, parent-child relationships, the police. In the company of Norman makes videosCyprien or even Hugo Tout Seul, he is one of the first so-called “web” comedians, who broke through at the turn of the 2010s via the explosion of social networks and in particular the YouTube platform.
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Arriving in Paris, YvickLetexier joined the collective of youtubers Studio Bagel. This laboratory, which offers videographers greater means of production to express their talents, explodes the view counters. Two years after its creation, the platform has 6 million subscribers and 40 million videos read by Internet users each month. Mountains of views that catch the eye of the TV channels. In 2014, Canal+ acquired Studio Bagel, when M6 acquired another talent platform, Golden Mustache. A way for the two groups to diversify on the web. It is also a way for Canal+ to capitalize on these comic figures that the channel tries to expose as much as possible on the air. All in the hope of unhooking young people from their smartphones and laptops and putting them back on the small screen. Mister V will thus multiply the passages, in thematic programs or sketches of the channel. Like many of his peers, the videographer has ants in the legs and is not satisfied with his share of Bagel.
Its financial capacity allows it to accept certain projects free of charge, and to refuse others that are nevertheless financed. A rare luxury in this globally uncertain industry
Within another collective, Woop, but especially in solo, he continues his incursions into other cultural industries. Cinema first, with half a dozen comedies under its belt (Pattaya, Camping 3, All Inclusive ) where he plays supporting roles. Some commercials, too, like for dairy products. But it’s by far the music that takes this Internet star the most bandwidth.
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From 2013, when the jack-of-all-trades from Grenoble already had a few rap parodies on his video counter – the best known “Rap vs Réalité 2”, was the most viewed YouTube France video (excluding music) in 2019 -, he embarked on a full-fledged musical approach. First with the launch of a YouTube channel dedicated to his clips. Then with an album unveiled in 2017, followed by a second in 2020. Again, the success was immediate. Some critics and purists of the musical genre reproach him for his lack of authenticity and a more commercial than artistic approach. The customers, it is true, jostle each other. Double V et MVPwhich are full of «featuring» with French rap stars, quickly went platinum, exceeding 100,000 sales. A third album is in preparation.
Asked by Le Figaro, his agent for twelve years refuses to give the income drawn from the small empire of influence that Mister V has constituted. Just, she recalls, that he employs between 10 and 15 intermittent workers on each project. And above all, that its financial capacity allows it to accept certain projects free of charge, and to refuse others that have been funded. A rare luxury in this globally uncertain industry.
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