The young vloggers and their fans who are changing the face of youth culture

The popularity of independent young video bloggers, the "vloggers" who film their thoughts and observations for thousands of followers to enjoy online, is already setting the future shape of marketing and advertising. But it is also becoming an important route into traditional careers in print publishing or television, according to Alfie Deyes, the vlogger with more than three million subscribers who was mobbed by 8,000 fans at his book launch earlier this month.

Speaking to the Observer after the publicity furore surrounding the publication of his first volume, The Pointless Book, which already tops the Amazon bestsellers list, Deyes, 21, said he would consider moving into the world of conventional, networked television and radio if he was in charge of the content.

"Having creative control, as well as carrying out the whole process myself – shooting, editing and post-production – of all my videos is important," he said, "but I would not completely reject TV. If something were to come up where I had enough control and it was suitable for my fanbase, I would consider it."

Television might seem like a step up from YouTube, but Deyes sees it as a completely different public platform, though one where you may be no more than a face or a voice to someone else's script. The vlogger from Brighton made his name on the YouTube channel Pointless Blog, on which he and his friends set each other silly challenges. He began his videos, which included titles such as Girls Are Confusing, when he was 15.

Deyes is also the boyfriend of one of the most influential vloggers in the young female market, Zoe Sugg, known as Zoella, and the couple sometimes vlog together under the name of Zalfie.

With a relaxed, chatty style, young vloggers such as Sugg, who has more than six million YouTube followers, and the beauty expert Tanya Burr, 25, who has around 10 million views per month on her channel, are now seen as the key to reaching younger audiences, not just for commercial advertising but for the orthodox broadcasting and book publishing businesses.

Sugg's book about the life of a young girl who has a blog is published by Penguin this November and on Thursday she will also launch her beauty range at a party venue filled with pink balloons. She set up her blog and YouTube channel in 2009 from her Brighton bedroom and quickly specialised in shopping advice. Now she has a line of beauty products with packaging bearing images of her beloved guinea pigs, Pippin and Percy.

Some high-profile video bloggers are thought to earn up to £4,000 for mentioning a specific product on one of their entries and may be paid up to £20,000 for advertisements on their YouTube sites, according to an estimate from the digital marketing firm eight&four.

While Deyes says he has no plans to move into television for the moment, he does have a one-hour slot on BBC Radio 1, on which he appears alongside other vloggers including TomSka, Tyler Oakley and Caspar.

"Social Talent is definitely the new celebrity," said Dominic Smales, Managing Director of Gleam Futures, a company that manages emerging digital celebrities such as Deyes and Sugg. "Far from being a 'flash in the pan' this is the result of a total shift in the way a whole generation consumes their entertainment and selects their influences."

But Deyes is determined to counter the idea that vloggers have an easy life and just got lucky. The notion they shoot a video, post it online, go to the beach and then watch the click statistics fly high is wrong, he feels.

The pressure is intense because a dedicated vlogger has to keep watching the sites. "Everything changes so fast and there are always opportunities coming up on YouTube, you just have to be there when it happens," he said.

The scale of the reception to his book signing at Waterstones in Piccadilly was overwhelming, Deyes added, but vlogging is not a way to get famous quickly. "It's a powerful outlet in itself," he said. The drawbacks include the prolific internet trolls who attempt to undermine vloggers who are trying to make a living online, but Deyes says that he is surrounded with so much positivity that negative comments do not bother him.

He was also keen to point out that this new breed of lifestyle "mega vloggers" are not all school drop-outs. Deyes studied science at A level he said and the psychology graduate Lily "Superwoman" Singh, who hit six million followers on her YouTube channel on Wednesday, is a case in point. "Education is essential as a way to give you every opportunity to explore what you may love to do in the future. For me it was was YouTube," Deyes said.