The landscape for consuming entertainment media has changed. Traditionally, we have been enamored with Hollywood movie starts and actors or actresses on popular television shows, but YouTube and Vine are providing a more unique and relatable form of entertainment media.

Rae Votta, one of the panelists for “YouTube Grows Up: Community and Culture,” writes for an internet news site called The Daily Dot about YouTube and its impact on the entertainment scene. She explains that the growth of YouTube and Vine as a popular source of entertainment stems from a wide range of entertainers that “have something to say or share with the world, and that message connects with viewers.”

In our conversation, I asked Votta which entertainers are seen as the pioneers for YouTube and Vine success.

“I think pioneer wise you look back to some of the people who’ve been on the platform for a long time — The Vlogbrothers, iJustine, WheezyWaiter, MichaelBuckley, PewDiePie — and who’ve continued to thrive in the space to this day.”

So what has made these entertainers so wildly successful? I was curious if there was a specific person or type of content that brought out the realization of YouTube and Vine as a sustainable and profitable form of entertainment. Votta claimed that “it’s hard to pinpoint a specific kind of content that made the medium sustainable for stars, because they are all doing different kinds of work. I think it’s the variety of potential YouTube offers and the fact that millions of people flocked to a variety of stars. That makes it work.”

The success of these mediums comes from its variety of content and vastly differing personalities. As the panelist explained, there are people who provide content about science, history, sex and health, sports and fitness, comedy and much more, casting a wide net for a potential audience.

Though these entertainers might not be seen in the same light as A-list Hollywood actors and actresses, Votta believes that over the next 10 years there will be a shift in entertainment media consumption.

“I think we’re seeing more and more that people are willing to go to digital to consumer entertainment media, and so in the next 10 years I can see them becoming the goal instead of a stepping stone to a broader media career…what will need to change in the next 10 years is where the money is centered. [With more money], it will become a more sustainable long-term option for a wider variety of creators.”

It has long been the dream of every entertainer to make it to Hollywood, but will the new dream be YouTube?