There's a reason Michelle Phan's name continues to be bandied around the beauty industry - the YouTube star is consistently breaking new ground. Her latest accomplishment? It has just been revealed Phan has the most-watched beauty video on YouTube of all time, with her Barbie Transformation Tutorial garnering over 56 million views.
Despite being uploaded in 2009, the Barbie Transformation Tutorial has continued to rack up millions of views. And it’s not the only one. Phan’s Lady Gaga Bad Romance Look and Lady Gaga Poker Face Tutorial are the second and third most-watched make-up tutorials on YouTube, with 47 million and 34 million views respectively.
While the content may be old, Phan uses clever tactics to drive viewers to previously published content. For example, it’s currently Halloween time, so Phan is directing people to her Halloween-inspired videos.
“If you look at her channel now, [Phan’s] taken advantage of the seasonality [of her content]. She has all these Halloween videos up that aren’t even new. She is resurfacing content because she knows what people are looking for,” Google head of industry, luxury and apparel Lisa Green told WWD.
From 2012 to 2013, Halloween make-up tutorial videos increased by more than four times, with these videos amounting to 57 per cent of seasonal make-up tutorial views as of August.
Phan’s business plan seems to be working - it was recently revealed her company has an $US84 million annual sales run rate.
