Fred: Media's Chew Toy

Today's Wall Street Journal article revealed the seventh grader behind "Fred," a long-running YouTube series and quite frankly the most popular, garnering over 9 million views on some episodes like "Fred Loses His Meds" (shown above). Now since Lucas Cruikshank has been revealed time and time again, will his faithful fan base increase or decrease?

The majority demographic of "Fred" viewers seems to suggest 14+, though some video comments appear more mature than the typical teen text message (I'm hoping it's just due to the extraordinary education middle-schoolers are receiving nowadays). Nevertheless, this is the type of audience who could care less about newspapers. Myself-- I read the WSJ and am now a follower of "Fred." It just goes to show the generation media gap all the more.

"Fred" is nothing but teenager ADHD creativity at its finest degree, and the boy Lucas really knows how to captivate his audience by elements of surprise and downright hilarity. What really keeps the attention of his viewers is his chipmunk voice-- produced by speeding up the taping. Screams and shrieks, zany faces, and quirky mannerisms are among the traits that make "Fred" so appealing.

Now since he's been called on to promote "Ember, an upcoming movie featuring actor Tim Robbins, will this make his follow-up YouTube videos too commercial? I'm sure he has a number of advertisers phoning his new agent, calls about Nickelodeon "Kids Choice" Awards and perhaps the role of Shaggy in a Scooby Doo Kids series. "Fred" unknowingly has become a celebrity and is destined for Hollywood stardom. Lucas, you made it, but choose wisely.