At 8 am, Mr. Trieu Nguyen Dinh (Xuan Lap commune) and his wife started going to the fields for a day of work. In addition to the farming tools, Mrs. Dinh’s basket also had a Sony camera and a tripod. The work on the fields, such as harvesting corn, cutting bananas, and feeding pigs and chickens, continued as usual and everything was recorded on the camera. At 4 pm, the couple packed up their tools and returned home. After having dinner and finishing their meal, Mr. and Mrs. Dinh transferred the recorded videos to their computer for editing and uploading to YouTube. The process of selecting and editing the photos could last until midnight. <\p>
Mr. Trieu Nguyen Dinh and his wife sharing their life-changing experience through YouTube
In recent years, the YouTube videos have helped Mr. and Mrs. Dinh, as well as many young people in Xuan Lap commune, become visibly wealthy. The Simple Life DH channel of Mr. and Mrs. Dinh now averages 700,000 views per video, with more than 70,000 channel subscriptions and the number continues to grow every day.
Mr. Giang Van Chien, Vice Chairman of the Xuan Lap Commune People’s Committee, stated that with the YouTubers in the area, the commune has requested all of them to attend a meeting and sign a commitment not to produce any illegal or culturally inappropriate videos. After that, there will be soft management measures to ensure that the content of the YouTube channels is clean and does not affect the local security and order.
Mr. Dinh said that in 2017, like other young people in the village, he worked as a factory worker in Bac Ninh province, earning more than 6 million VND at that time. After deducting the living expenses, he managed to send 2 million VND back to his family.
“In 2019, I heard that it was possible to make money from YouTube, so I quit my job and returned to the countryside. I borrowed money to invest in a camera and a computer for the editing work. Although I didn’t know English, I chose to make the channel in English and learned video editing on the internet. The beginning was very difficult,” Mr. Dinh shared.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Dinh only completed secondary school education and initially only wanted to have a higher income than working as factory workers. They are now a relatively wealthy family in the locality, not only renovating their house but also purchasing a car.
Mr. Dinh said that starting from 2021, their family began to have income from YouTube, earning about 6 million VND per month. From that point on, they became determined to produce regular videos and release one video every two days to serve the viewers. When asked about the content and script for producing such videos, Mr. Dinh honestly replied, “We don’t have any specific scripts. We simply capture our daily activities. Herding goats, raising chickens and pigs, picking vegetables to sell at the market, these are what people enjoy watching.”
Every household is a YouTuber
The profession of a YouTuber is spreading widely in the communes of Lam Binh district. Some communes even have nearly 50 YouTube channels of varying sizes. From being a poor commune, Xuan Lap commune now has individuals who have become millionaires thanks to YouTube. Mr. Giang Van Chien, Vice Chairman of the Xuan Lap Commune People’s Committee, said that many young people in the commune have been able to build houses and buy cars through their YouTube activities.
There are channels like Trieu Toan Luu and Ly Thi Ca’s, which have received the YouTube Silver Button, with over 1 million subscribers. The monthly income from these channels can reach 600-700 million VND. Everyone wants to become a YouTuber and change their lives, but it is not easy to achieve success in this field.
There are YouTubers who have been producing videos for 2 years but still have very few subscribers. On the other hand, there are lucky ones who suddenly become famous and earn hundreds of millions in just 3-4 months. According to Mr. Chien, luck plays a role here as well.
The YouTube trend is not only seen in Xuan Lap commune but also in other communes such as Phuc Yen, Hong Quang, Minh Quang, and Thuong Lam… Along the inter-communal roads, there are occasional groups of 2-3 people setting up cameras to shoot their YouTube videos.
Along the way, the reporters encountered 2 girls who were filming a video. Ms. Nguyen Thi H (Lang Can town, Lam Binh district) said that she has been making videos for 6 months now and still has low viewership. Initially, she invested 30 million VND to buy a camera and a tripod.
The topics for her videos are diverse, ranging from chopping firewood, cooking and eating meals, doing laundry, to catching fish at the stream and working in the fields. She also tried some more “exciting” scenes, such as being chased by a stranger into the forest, but these did not attract many viewers. Still, Ms. H is determined to continue shooting videos, hoping to catch a lucky break. Currently, she is the “main actress” while her cousin helps with filming.
A representative from the Lam Binh district People’s Committee stated that the YouTube trend has truly spread to the communes of the district, and even young people from other neighboring districts such as Na Hang have come to learn how to make videos. In Lam Binh district alone, many communes have become wealthier thanks to YouTube.
Besides the positive aspects of spreading the local people, culture, and tourism, there are still some issues with the content on YouTube that need to be addressed. Some content is inappropriate and does not align with the local culture. “Therefore, in the future, adjustments need to be made to ensure that the uploaded videos have clean and culturally appropriate content,” said the representative.
