This article completely misses the point. It is not glossy fine hd quality that attracts, it is the soul and heart that youtubers put into videos. Be it Jenna Marbles showing an example of a strong woman, Shane Dawson who gives hope and inspiration to bullied kids across the country - you can't do the same if you will be just pouring dollars.
And no, they have someone to be 'good' for - Jenna has 8,785,657 highly engaged subscribers on youtube only, who value her sincerity above video quality.
I watch only a couple YouTube channels actively and there's a common thread in almost all of them: the 'host' has an interesting personality. Sometimes that personality is completely fabricated and sometimes it's real - it doesn't really matter since viewers don't care. It's a lot like how the Stephen Colbert on 'The Colbert Report' isn't really the real-life Stephen Colbert. The videos also are typically more throwaway than TV - and that's why production is so low and the comparisons don't hold up.
It's the allure of a la carte TV, where if you want some girl talk, gun videos, a let's play, or funny cat compilation video, it's all there and easily digestible at any point in the day.
