Creators On The Rise: Cam Casey Spent The Past Year Conquering TikTok And Snapchat. Now He’s Making His Move On YouTube Shorts.

Welcome to Creators on the Rise, the place—in partnership with international creator firm Jellysmack—we discover and profile breakout creators who’re within the midst of extraordinary development. 


Cam Casey has had a whirlwind 12 months.

And if there’s one factor the previous twelve months have taught him, it’s that getting in on the bottom ground of latest platforms is a key a part of his success.

As a excessive schooler, Casey–who’s now 19 and primarily based in Los Angeles–dreamed of being a YouTuber. He launched his channel in 2017 and crammed it with a spread of clips about journey and stylish subjects like Fortnite, however regardless of his efforts (and objectively impressive cinematography), his content material did not internet him a large following.

Then, in 2019, Casey, like many, many different Gen Z’ers, found TikTok. He promptly carried his content material to the shortform platform, the place he zeroed in on chronicling his adventures in deserted areas. Not all of his early movies took off, however the ones that did introduced lots of of hundreds and even hundreds of thousands of views. It was the sort of success Casey had hoped to search out on YouTube, however he had no qualms about hitting pause on his channel there and switching his focus to no matter platform generated probably the most traction for his movies.

Casey’s TikTok account–the place he’s settled firmly on stylish pop experiment content material like filling balloons with Mentos and Coke and testing mind-bending illusions–now has greater than 8 million followers, and he nonetheless uploads there not less than as soon as per day.

However, TikTok is not his sole focus.

Over the previous eight months, Casey has modified tack twice extra. In November 2020, he noticed potential in Snapchat’s TikTok competitor, Spotlight, which debuted with a tempting promise: it might divvy up not less than $1 million per day amongst the creators of high movies.

Casey started crossposting lots of of his movies from TikTok, and by January, his efforts had paid off–he’d made a collective $3 million from his clips. By March, he’d used a bit of that cash to buy a snazzy McLaren 620R (base worth: $300,000), and had begun investing in actual property, he says.

He nonetheless uploads to Snapchat, however like TikTok, it’s not his sole pursuit, as a result of in April, he expanded to YouTube Shorts.


Casey’s YouTube channel has amassed greater than 1.4 billion views in three months. Data from Gospel Stats.

Since April, Casey has uploaded greater than 400 movies to YouTube Shorts, and practically 20 of them have introduced greater than 20 million views every. His hottest clip, an on-brand Mentos-and-Coke explosion, has more than 200 million views.

These movies helped push Casey’s channel from 34,000 views in March to 38 million in April, then a whopping 804 million in May and 629 million in June. His subscriber depend has equally skyrocketed from 50,000 to 1.2 million.

Casey’s multiplatform technique has made content material creation his full-time job, and his success has fanned the flames of his YouTube ambitions. His new purpose, he says, is to succeed in 10 million subscribers.

Check out our chat with him beneath.

Tubefilter: Tell us somewhat about you! What’s your identify? Where are you from? What did you do in ye olde days earlier than TikTok and YouTube?

Cam Casey: My identify is Cam Casey and I’m a 20-year-old content material creator initially from Chicago, however now stay in Los Angeles. Before YouTube and TikTok, I used to be a photographer and excessive schooler!

Tubefilter: We see you’ve been importing longer-form movies on YouTube often for a couple of years. What made you begin a YouTube channel initially? Did you need YouTube to be your profession?

CC: Originally, I began my YouTube channel as a result of it appeared like enjoyable and I liked to make movies! I’ve all the time dreamed of YouTube being a profession for me! Creating enjoyable, partaking content material has been a ardour of mine for a while, and I’m lucky sufficient to have the ability to do that full-time now.

Tubefilter: When and why did you begin making content material on TikTok? Did you begin your account understanding what sorts of movies you needed to make, or did you uncover your content material area of interest alongside the way in which?

CC: I actually began to focus closely on TikTok and creating shortform video content material at the start of 2020. I began to see some success early on and stored grinding looking for what works properly and what doesn’t. I form of found my area of interest alongside the way in which, and have all the time been altering and evolving to new developments!

Tubefilter: When and why did you begin importing clips to YouTube Shorts? Do you crosspost your content material from TikTok, or make completely different content material for every platform?

CC: I began posting Shorts quickly after the beta was launched. I’ve discovered to attempt to be early to the sport when new platforms emerge. For instance, when Snapchat got here out with the Spotlight platform, I used to be actually posting movies on that platform the day it launched. I began utilizing movies I had made on TikTok and put them on Shorts, however now I do a mix of unique shorts content material and repurposed content material.

Tubefilter: Your YouTube channel has just lately seen a noticeable increase in subscribers and views. Do you realize which video or occasion triggered this enhance? What do you assume made that video notably in style?

CC: I had posted a video every day for 44 days straight, and obtained nothing. On the forty fifth day, I seen one among my movies began to choose up some respectable views! That video now has over 200M views! I believe it did so properly as a result of the watch time was over 100% and there was no English, leading to a worldwide viral video.

Tubefilter: How has YouTube Shorts modified issues in your channel? What is YouTube Shorts like by way of attracting views and subscribers versus YouTube most important? Is it simpler? What different perks does Shorts provide?

CC: Shorts has been a game-changer for my channel. I had somewhat over 50k subs earlier than Shorts, and now I’ve been gaining half a million-plus subscribers each month! The views have been nice as properly! I believe what Shorts does is create extra discoverability for creators, which is clearly enormous while you need to develop your subscriber base.

Tubefilter: What’s your manufacturing course of like? How lengthy does the common video take from conception to posting?

CC: Videos on common will take me about half-hour to make a couple of 30-second-long video! Sometimes I’ve a ton of concepts and I can crack out loads of movies, however different occasions, I actually need to brainstorm concepts and clearly execute the video properly. So, it may differ fairly a bit.

Tubefilter: What do you hope individuals take away out of your content material?

CC: I hope individuals both study one thing or attempt one thing new from my content material. At the top of the day, although, I simply hope they’re entertained and benefit from the content material.

Tubefilter: Has your current engagement uptick modified something for you? Do you’ve gotten any new plans or objectives in your content material profession?

CC: Content creation is my full-time job. I do numerous investments on the facet, however creating content material is my primary precedence! Since having success on Shorts, not an excessive amount of has modified as a result of it doesn’t pay, however as soon as YouTube begins monetizing Shorts, I imagine it would change my priorities much more!

@itscamcaseyThis practically broke my iPhone!! 🤣😭♬ Weekend – Clubhouse

Tubefilter: What’s your favourite a part of making content material as an entire?

CC: My favourite factor about making content material is the liberty it provides me and the truth that it’s all the time been one thing I’ve needed to do!

Tubefilter: What’s subsequent within the rapid future for you and your channel? Where do you see your self in 5 years?

CC: In the rapid future, I wish to proceed to make nice shortform content material and proceed to develop my numbers to hit that 10M subscriber mark with YouTube Shorts! Other than that, I’ve a really profitable present known as Cam Casey on Snapchat and proceed to grind out content material for TikTok.

Other than content material creation, I’ve an actual ardour for actual property funding and vehicles. I’ve already began to construct out a portfolio of short-term rental actual property and envision that a part of my enterprise to be a lot bigger in 5 years. That’s how I afford/justify these loopy vehicles I like!


Jellysmack is the worldwide creator firm that detects and develops the world’s most proficient video creators. The firm’s proprietary video optimization know-how and information drive social viewers development, unlocking new income streams and amplifying monetization.

Currently residence to over 150 influential Creators together with PewDiePie, MrBeastBrad Mondo, and Bailey Sarian, Jellysmack optimizes, operates, and distributes creator-made video content material to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. Jellysmack-managed content material boasts 10 billion international month-to-month video views and a cross-platform attain of 125 million distinctive U.S. customers, making it the biggest U.S. digital-first firm in month-to-month social media viewers.

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