Last night was a big night for the YouTube community and Gleam Futures (who represent the world's biggest digital talent) - it was the launch party of Zoella's new beauty range in Superdrug, which goes on sale today.
The event was a rather intimate affair, considering that Zoella has SIX MILLION fans on YouTube and a few hundred people attended the event, including her family and old school friends. The hashtag #CongratulationsOn6MillionZoe which was globally trending for 24 hours yesterday. These fans give the #Directioners a run for their money.
We're not even joking - there were a groups of teenagers camping outside of the event doors in central London, hoping to catch just a small glimpse of the YouTube star. We spoke to fans who had said they'd travelled down from Manchester just to catch a Zoella sighting: 'we've got snacks and cushions and we're planning on staying here all night if we have to', said one. There are thousands of equally as dedicated fans like these Twitter feeds solely dedicated to Zoe, and normally using her profile photo. Their Twitter bios read things such as 'Suggs not drugs' or 'Living the Sugg life', or #Zalfie, the portmanteau of Zoe and Zoe's boyfriend Alfie.
When we caught up with Zoe just before her speech (refreshingly, she seemed just as nervous as we'd be) she was 'proud of what we have all achieved, we never expected any of this.' By 'we' she's referring to herself and her fellow 20s-something YouTubers, - they come as a group and rarely refer to themselves individually. They are also widely credited with transforming the site from the go-to network for anonymous trolls to a thriving, engaged community. And they really seem to like each other 'people think that our friendships are staged, but we really are best friends IRL.'
For example, it seems that it's not widely know that Marcus Butler and Niomi Smart, two other YouTube superstars, started going out 'a week after we posted our first video' six years ago. They are know one of the most followed couples on the Internet, with an average Instagram selfie of the two of them garnering 192,000 likes.
We also spoke to Jim Chapman who is known for his friendly videos, opinion on men's fashion and generally being everyone's 'internet friend'. He admitted that in YouTube terms, he feels 'quite old' at the age of 26. But there's no denying the reach and power if his personal brand. He has recently branched out into doing lots of TV work, such as ViralTap fronted by Caroline Flack and on the #frow at top shows like Burberry, and the red carpet for GQ. As it stands, it's clearly Jim's profile that drives the most viewers to TV shows. The small screen is now driving to the big screen - traditional media is massively relying on these guys.
Even in the book world, which is as old-school as you can get, Zoella's boyfriend Alfie Deyes is a best-selling author, currently at the top of the Sunday Times list. He translated his Pointless Blog into a Pointless Book and had the most EVER signings in one single Waterstones store last week with over 6,000 people turning up to greet him.
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If you needed any more proof of the power of the YouTubers, as of 7am this morning, all but one product on the Superdrug website had sold out. This is yet another example of the YouTube selling power with fans literally waiting up all night long to buy the products. And don't foret that Zoe's book 'Girl Online' has topped the Amazon charts with pre-orders - *the book is a best-seller and it hasn't even been written yet. *Fans have faith in Zoe, and clearly that's what counts. We just know we're going to like it.
From Monday 29th September, the collection will also be available exclusively in 102 Superdrug stores nationwide - it features make-up bags of Zoe's eyes, taken from an old photo, and her guinea pigs Pippin and Percy - who also have their own fan-created Twitter feed. Because as Dom, founder of Gleam Futures told us, 'these fans are highly engaged.' Understatement of the century?
Follow Emma on the Twitter @GirlLostInCity
Pictures: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.