US teens prefer YouTube stars to Hollywood heartthrobs

The average American teen is more likely to swoon over Smosh or PewDiePie that Johnny Depp or Jennifer Lawrence.

In a survey of 1,500 13-to-18-year-olds commissioned by Variety, respondents were asked to rank 20 well-known personalities in terms of authenticity, approachability and influence.

The list of celebrities up for discussion was compiled by using the ‘Q' score (used by advertisers to measure something or someone's consumer appeal) to pick 10 TV, film or pop stars, while the YouTube contingent was selected based on the number of channel subscribers.

And the results show that despite having little or no mainstream exposure beyond the confines of the video-sharing platform, it is YouTube stars who make up the top five. In fact the late Paul Walker (in sixth place) is the highest ranked Hollywood star with an appeal score of 75 out of 100.

Top of the list is Smosh, the two-man comedy team (with a score of 93), followed by The Fine Brothers (92) and YouTube's biggest star in terms of subscribers, Swedish video gamer PewDiePie.

The top five is rounded out by British YouTuber KSI in fourth place with a score of 84 and US YouTube celebrity Ryan Higa, who scores 81.

The highest-ranking woman on the list is Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, in seventh place with a score of 74. Katy Perry (70 points) is in ninth place and Betty White is in 12th place with a score of 66.

Interestingly, female TV and film stars did manage to outperfom their YouTube counterparts. The highest-ranked female YouTube star, Jenna Marbles, had to settle for 16th place behind Daniel Radcliffe and one ahead of fellow YouTuber Michelle Phan.

The list in full: 1 Smosh 2 The Fine Brothers 3 PewDiePie 4 KSI 5 Ryan Higa 6 Paul Walker 7 Jennifer Lawrence 8 Shane Dawson 9 Katy Perry 10 Steve Carell 11 Seth Rogen 12 Betty White 13 Vin Diesel 14 Johnny Depp 15 Daniel Radcliffe 16 Jenna Marbles 17 Michelle Phan 18 Ryan William Johnson 19 Bethany Mota 20 Leonardo DiCaprio