One in three teens claim they could make money by creating YouTube videos. The success of social media stars like Bethany Mota shows that celebrity endorsements aren't influential as they used to be. Today's teens want inspiration from cool kids who could easily be their mates.

PewDiePie is the most subscribed channel on YouTube, and its creator makes more than £2 million a year on ad sales. He's one of YouTube's elite – a new generation of hyper-influential media moguls. But why are 30 million teens watching a stranger play video games?

After 200 hours of gameplay, Grayson the fish has chosen his own name, gained his first Pokémon (a Charmander named AAAABBK) and defeated an opponent. Live-streamed on Twitch.tv, millions are tuning in to spectate on what could turn out to be the longest Pokémon game ever.

With over 100 hours of video footage uploaded to YouTube every minute, and over 6 billion hours of video watched and discussed on the site each month, it's a thriving community. Now, Google has brought fan funding to YouTube in the form of a Tip Jar function.