When you’ve ever searched on YouTube for a evaluation of the newest iPhone or electrical automotive, you then’ve in all probability encountered Marques Brownlee. Since he began his channel MKBHD as a youngster in 2009, Brownlee has amassed 15.8 million subscribers for his in-depth, but approachable tech movies. He’s even scored interviews with Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Invoice Gates and Barack Obama, and to high all of it off, he’s an expert final frisbee participant (the former president even complimented his “unbelievable hops.”)

However maybe Brownlee’s most spectacular accomplishment is his potential to stay related over 10 years into his on-line video profession with out dropping his viewers’s belief. And as short-form video content material turns into a necessity for any creator, Brownlee has seamlessly transitioned to TikTok, the place he made one in all the solely good April Fools’ Day pranks.

We caught up with Brownlee at VidCon, the place he was serving to Discord promote the beta check of its server subscriptions (be careful, Patreon). In a dialog with maybe the most well-known tech reviewer — sorry, different TechCrunch writers — the 28-year-old web star instructed us about transitioning to TikTok, his views on the metaverse and why Google Glass deserves a redemption arc.

This interview has been condensed for readability.

TC: It’s not straightforward to make TikToks or YouTube shorts while you made it huge on YouTube with 20-ish-minute movies. How do you go about making shorter content material on these new platforms? 

MB: I take into consideration this lots. I see ways in which I don’t like doing it, like individuals repurposing different content material and turning it into short-form content material. I might a lot reasonably make native content material for every platform. After we first began making shorts, it was a problem. I used to be like, how do I actually minimize this down to 60 seconds or much less? I feel my first three shorts are 59.8 seconds lengthy. We discovered that after particularly deciding to spend time on TikTok, then getting to know what works properly, helped us make stuff native to the platform higher.

With so many new creator applications throughout platforms, what does the pie chart of your revenue as a creator appear like?

I’d say it’s about 50% YouTube’s built-in advert mannequin and 50% all the pieces else — that features our merch retailer, different offers we do and issues like that. However the bread and butter for therefore lengthy has been the movies. It’s only a well-oiled machine. We don’t actually take into consideration overhead, we simply know that movies can and can carry out, which is … thanks, YouTube!

Although short-form video has grow to be extraordinarily well-liked, no one’s actually found out how to monetize it but — do you’ve got any ideas on how that may work?

I don’t have a solution, and anybody who claims to have a solution might be mendacity. It makes a lot sense that short-form video can explode. The numbers that we see usually are not the identical as the numbers elsewhere. , 20 million views on TikTok may be very totally different from 20 million views on YouTube. After we discuss monetizing movies, monetization on YouTube is tied to the video since you made the selection [to watch the video]. You noticed the thumbnail, you frolicked there, that was on you. That transaction works. However shorts are simply completely totally different. I don’t know the way to tie that collectively and make {that a} good, neat monetization resolution.

You’ve stayed related as a tech reviewer for over 10 years — how do you stability staying true to your perspective whereas additionally remaining accessible?

I strive to be as clear as doable about what I like and don’t like. It’s subjective. However whether or not somebody agrees with my desire in a chunk of tech virtually doesn’t matter. I strive to put myself into the footwear of the viewer and say what I might need them to know in the event that they had been going to purchase the factor.

What developments in know-how are you most enthusiastic about?

I feel AR/VR is one all of our eyes are on proper now. It’s enjoyable as a result of for me, the most attention-grabbing beginnings of latest tech are while you get a product that really is meant to assist individuals or ship a brand new expertise, and I feel we’re proper about to begin seeing merchandise which are like, the killer app, like actually attention-grabbing and bringing individuals in. We had Google Glass, we had loopy stuff in the previous, however I feel we’re about to see a bunch of cool stuff.

What do you concentrate on the concept of the metaverse?

I get what individuals see in it. I get why Fb — or, Meta — desires to have an enormous stake in it. However at the identical time, it has to have a function. We’ve to need to do the new factor for a motive, and I’m nonetheless in search of that motive.

Yeah, enjoying video video games in VR is one factor, however hanging out with buddies in VR and going to work in VR is a more durable promote.

There’s some “Prepared Participant One”-type vibes generally the place it’s like, “what would it not imply if we didn’t have to go to the assembly?” Nevertheless it’s additionally not that onerous to simply do the factor we usually do. I’m in search of a motive to really need to do that stuff. I give new stuff a shot, as a result of that’s my job. I give it an opportunity. However I feel we’re possibly on the brink of getting a bunch extra attention-grabbing solutions to that query.

Meta’s VR {hardware} is enjoyable to play with, however I don’t need to reside in it.

It’s simply one other cool piece of tech to play with, and there’s a number of cool tech to play with already. It’s not going to get that mass adoption that I’m positive Meta is hoping for.

Do you assume AR can be extra accessible to individuals than VR?

That’s the place I discover it best to see helpful use instances. I keep in mind the Google Glass days, and as loopy as that product was, having turn-by-turn navigation directions simply in the nook of your imaginative and prescient when you’re strolling by means of an unfamiliar metropolis may be very helpful. Little stuff like that, I truly discovered actually useful, at its core. The {hardware} was outdated, and that’s 10 years in the past, so clearly tech has gotten lots higher since then. However I feel AR is simpler for me to see as a future.

What firms do you assume are doing AR properly?

Clearly the iPhone and lidar. Functionally, it’s actually good, however it doesn’t do something helpful. Yeah, I can put a sofa in a room and see what it appears to be like like, however I’m nonetheless in search of that “gotta have it” factor.

Is there any tech that you just assume was helpful, however didn’t make it? 

Google Glass is the good reply. Ten years in the past, strolling right into a bar with a digital camera in your face was insane, and now Snapchat simply made a pair of glasses with the digital camera proper on it. It’s far more acceptable.

There are a number of privateness debates round wearable tech — do you’ve got any moral considerations round this type of tech?

Nicely, you at all times hope it comes from a accountable firm that does accountable issues, which is why there’s concern with Meta. That’s all I’ll say about that! However yeah, it’s the identical as along with your cellphone — when you’re doing essential stuff in your cellphone, there can be a number of essential information there, so privateness can be essential. We hope that the firms do the proper factor with that information.

Is there any piece of tech that you just assume extra individuals must be speaking about?

Non-Tesla EVs. They’re virtually there.