From YouTube to The Ellen Show
Anyone who watches The Ellen DeGeneres Show knows that she constantly has guests that have gone viral from either a video, photo, or social media, aka anyone that has become popular from a meme. Ellen is pretty much the queen of promoting memes and exploiting the people from the memes to become stars, even if it’s just for a couple of days. She even has a complete segment dedicated to sharing memes that people have sent in. One of Ellen’s latest meme-related guest was Kalen Allen.
Kalen Allen posts videos of himself critiquing cooking videos, however, because he has a very outgoing and funny personality it made the videos entertaining to watch, and turned them into video memes. It’s considered an internet meme because it’s a “virtually transmitted cultural symbol or social idea, that is shared on social media and is spread rapidly by Internet users.” Kalen’s first video has almost 2 million views on YouTube and a little over 2 million on Facebook. I remember the first time I saw one of his videos it was on my Facebook news feed and the video already had millions of views. He quickly became viral and from his 7 videos on his YouTube channel alone he has gained around 13 million views.
So how did Kalen capitalize on his meme-status? When he appeared on The Ellen Show he actually mentions how he capitalized on it. He describes how one day he randomly decided to make a reaction video for a cornbread video for his family and friends and the next morning he woke up with 60,000 new followers on Twitters and that’s how he knew that he was onto something. So after that he started making more videos with each of them gaining millions of views. Which obviously led him to getting invited to The Ellen Show.
His first appearance on the show has over 20 million views on Facebook. Out of every meme “star,” I personally think Kalen got the best outcome from it. Not only did he get the chance to be on The Ellen Show and gain millions of views and followers, but the best part is that Ellen made a deal with him and he is now one of Ellen’s creators on her YouTube channel that specializes in web created content, EllenTube. I mean I don’t know what everyone else thinks, but I don’t think it can get any better than that for a person that got known because of a meme.
Therefore, Kalen Allen’s capitalization on his meme-status 100% succeeded. After he posted his first video which gained millions of impressions and engagements, he knew that he had to continue on this path of viral-ity so he kept posting new videos. He was right to continue because it earned him a job not just anywhere, but on The Ellen Show, where everyone only dreams to work. So far he’s been successful at his new job because his first video for Ellen gained over 50 million views. He has also gained many followers on all social media platforms. He has almost 200,000 followers on Facebook, over 300,000 subscribers on YouTube, 200,000+ on Instagram, and almost 100,000 on Twitter. Therefore, I think Kalen was able to take his meme-status and turn it into more than just a 1-week fame. Who knows how long he’ll actually last but for now I think he has at least a couple more months, especially with Ellen’s support.
