Who are the top bloggers, ‘YouTubers’, ‘Facebookers’ and podcasters in Ireland?
The media industry has changed beyond recognition since the arrival of the smartphone and Ireland has produced its fair share of new media stars.
The question is, can people make money out of ‘new media’? Can brands use social media to increase sales? Yes is the answer to both questions. If you are interested in this type of marketing, you can learn from the people below. Also, if you know of other, ground breaking ‘new media’ broadcasters, let us know on our Facebook page.
Podcasters
Andrew Mangan
Founder of Castaway Media a podcast network, he also started the Arseblog; a blog for Arsenal FC fans. He’s the owner of Portnoy Publishing and does voiceover work. Mangan is one of several ‘new media’ stars who augments his full-time income with his part-time passions.
Jarlieth Regan
The Irish comedian and podcaster produces the ‘Irish Man Abroad’ podcast, which he started in 2013. High-profile guests have included Brian O’Driscoll, Chris O’Dowd, and Sharon Horgan. Regan (who recently donated a kidney to his brother) has sponsorship from Currency Fair. However, the podcast is mainly supported by donations from his listeners.
Shane Langan and Níal Conlan
Creators and hosts of the ‘Weekly General Meeting’ podcast. Shane Langan and Níal Conlan supplement their income from comedy and music respectively.
Second Captains (left): Eoin McDevitt, Ken Early, Mark Horgan, Ciarán Murphy and Simon Hick
Once hosted by Newstalk’s ‘Off the Ball’, the Second Captains branched out on their own and recently erected a fiver a month pay wall for their podcast. They’ve also started a new politics podcast.
Roisin Hogan
Hogan (main image, below right) once appeared on The BBC show ‘The Apprentice’. Since then she has opened her own business, Hiro by Roisin. The entrepreneur also co-hosts a business podcast by Joe.ie called The Capital B.
Snapchaters
According to a recent poll by Ipsos MRBI, 25 percent of the Irish population has a Snapchat account, with 65 percent of users checking in daily. In fact, we’re the most active Snapchat users in the world. Key stats on Snapchat in Ireland include:
- 74% have bought something based on a blogger’s recommendation. 53% say Irish bloggers aren’t transparent enough.
- 28% do not trust bloggers.
- 78% want bloggers to disclose income earned from their blogs.
- 81% want bloggers to disclose when they are given items for free.
- 70% don’t mind bloggers doing sponsored posts.
- 94% say bloggers should disclose when they are paid to mention a brand.
- 47% say that bloggers who accept sponsored posts or collaborate with brands regularly are less authentic than bloggers who don’t.
James Kavanagh (jamesksnaps)
James Kavanagh has been thrown into the public eye over the past year due to his over-active, humorous Snapchat account (JamesKSnaps). The 27-year-old entrepreneur has weekly slots on TV3’s Xposé and Spin1038 and founded food company Currabinny with his boyfriend, William Murray.
Suzanne Jackson (sosueme_ie)
The brain behind SoSueMe has developed her personal brand across social media and has a very high profile on Snapchat. Jackson is so popular on social media that she was head hunted by radio station Q106. In her words, “Twice a month for an hour I’ll be on ‘Drive at Five’ just after 6 pm chatting all things beauty/fashion and lifestyle.” New media meets radio.
Rosanna Davison (rosiedavison5)
We’ve featured Davison before on ThinkBusiness. On Snapchat the former Miss World turned nutritionist updates her followers with videos and images including recipes from her cookbook and the labels she’s currently wearing. Davison is also one of Ireland’s most followed celebrities on Twitter.
The Happy Pear – @thehappypear
The Irish twins own ultra-healthy restaurants and promote their veggie food products on social media. The ‘happy pair’ make the most out of their Snapchat channel to promote their products and lifestyle brands. The lads are also ‘huge’ on Instagram. Follow and smile.
Paddy Smyth – @paddyysmyth
The man behind ‘My Disabled Life’, Smyth uses Snapchat to tell his story of living with Cerebral Palsy. He does so in a light-hearted way that gets his message across without the usual stereotypes around people with disabilities. In his words: “I have Cerebral Palsy and walk with crutches. The reason I started using Snapchat was I wanted to showcase my life from a perspective of being gay and disabled in Dublin, and the pros and cons of it.”
Youtubers
Sinead Cady
Sinead Cady is Ireland’s top beauty ‘vlogger’ (video blogger). As Cady explains, “It was three years before I could make it my full-time job and it’s taken me all those years to get to where I am now which is good as I have been simmering away and never boiled over. I have no idea what sets me apart from the others, but I think I got in at a good time when a lot of other successful bloggers started.”
James Mitchell
James Mitchell recently had this experience after he posted a video of himself calling his granny to ask if she would vote yes in the recent marriage referendum. Mitchell posts weekly videos on his channel, James Mitchell TV, in which he discusses “whatever is on his mind”.
JACKSEPTICEYE
With nearly 11 million subscribers, it is no surprise that Jack has long sat at the top of the list as Ireland’s biggest ‘YouTuber’.
“Sh**e Irish girls say” and, “Sh**e Irish mammies say” – Clisare (main image, centre) has set a certain standard for female Irish comedy.
Chris Green and Peter Ganley (Epicnewsdaily)
These are more commonly known as the ‘two Irish lads that watch stuff’ and sarcastically comment on it. It’s like Gogglebox for YouTube clips, but they sometimes do street vox pops.
Foil Arms & Hog
The comedy trio is made up of Sean Finegan, Conor McKenna and Sean Flanagan aka Foil Arms & Hog, an Irish sketch group that performs on TV, radio, the stage and YouTube. They broadcast a new video every Thursday on YouTube. Some of their more successful sketches include ‘How to Speak Dublin’, ‘A Kerryman gives Directions’ and ‘The Ryanair Song’.
Terroriser
With nearly two million YouTube subscribers, ‘The Gaming Terroriser’ is one to watch. Good production values also.
Daithu De Nogla
With over 5.2 million subscribers, this YouTube sensation has one of the most engaged audiences we’ve seen.
Instagramers
Amy Huberman
A mix of business and pleasure from one of Ireland’s top actresses. Huberman uses her Instagram account to take random pics of her day-to-day life as well as promoting her sponsorship deals or disclosing her new acting roles.
Roz Purcell
Roz Purcell is a model turned nutritionist who has written cookbooks. She cooks and promotes her books on Instagram. She also promotes fashion brands and the modeling shoots she attends.
Allan Dixon
The Irish man who won ‘the best job in the world’ in the Australian Outback.
Twitter stars
Paul Howard AKA Ross O’Carroll Kelly
Paul Howard’s fictional characters have over 200,000 followers on Twitter between them. He uses the main characters in his books (over one million copies sold) to keep in touch with his fan base and promote his other work.
Niall McGarry
The man behind the Maximum Media family (Joe.ie, Her.ie, The Capital B) has a media firm with access to over 700,000 followers. Social media was instrumental to McGarry’s business growth, back in the good old days when social media wasn’t ‘pay to play’.
Niall Horan
The former One Direction star has over 28.5 million followers on Twitter, the highest number in Ireland. The Mullingar man uses his Twitter page to promote his music, tour dates, and personal endorsements. He is thought to be worth over €75 million.
Niall Harbison
The sometimes ‘controversial’ co-founder of Simply Zesty and the man in charge of the Lovin’ Group, ‘Harbo’ has built his career using social media since 2011. The Lovin’ Group has over 300,000 followers on Twitter.
Miriam O’Callaghan
Ireland’s most followed female personality, O’Callaghan has 131,000 followers on Twitter and will often promote her shows as well as her charity work.
Irish Mammies – Colm O’Regan
O’Regan describes himself as the “author of three Irish Mammies books, and Pure Bolloxology, a columnist for the Irish Examiner, BBC World, RTE Radio 1, The Farmer’s Journal and a stand-up comedian”. O’Regan uses his various Twitter accounts to promote his material to over 240,000 followers.
Facebookers
Colm Williamson
The man behind Waterford Whispers News, the most satirical website in Ireland (if not Europe), uses Facebook to promote his hilarious stories. Williamson left his bar manager job in November 2014 and is now working full-time in his publishing company.
Paddy Power
How did the Irish bookmaker make €180 million in profit last year? Social media played a massive part. Paddy Power has a base of over 1.5 million on Facebook. Constant content around sports and gambling as well as continuous innovation around new product launches, ‘Paddy’ leads the way on Facebook in Ireland.
Rory’s Stories
A comedy sketch artist worth a gander. With nearly 330,000 likes, Rory’s on a roll. One of our favourites is entitled ‘The lad who refuses to go to Australia’. Classic.
The Rubberbandits
The two hilarious artists and social philosophers from Limerick have built a community of over 410,000. They promote their upcoming gigs, provide commentary on social issues and important random memes and are Ireland’s most followed comedy act on Facebook.
Sandra and Cormac McKenna
The people behind SHEology whose websites include MummyPages, SHEsamazing, and MagicMum. The wife and husband team have over 1.3 million followers on Facebook combined and their media company employs over 35 people.
Jamie White
The founder of the website College Times, White has built a Facebook community of nearly 400,000. White also co-founded Youth Nation which was nominated for IBYE’s Best Young Established Business for Dublin City Centre, and IBYE’s Best Young Established Business for Dublin County.
List compiled by Barry Walsh.
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