An interview with Sittingbourne YouTube star Ash Symes

Sonora Fields Youtuber Ash Symes has been making videos for the best part of a decade, with 11.5 thousand subscribers including 16.9 thousand Instagram followers and 19 thousand followers on Twitter.

CommunityAd caught up with him to find out more about his incredible online presence.

How did you first start getting involved with making your own videos?
I started making music videos when I used to rap about 6 years ago. This then turned into me creating behind the scenes videos of my life and challenges that were trending at the time on the YouTube platform.

Who would you say your main demographic is for your videos?
My main age range is between 14 – 21 with a 70/30 division mainly male. The majority of my traffic comes from the UK but I have a good fanbase in America too.

To those who may not have watched your videos, how would you explain what you get up to and what viewers can expect?
Carnage, laughs and editing skills to blow your cap off.

Can you inform readers of the time you realised you were achieving such a high fan base from YouTube that this could actually be a full-time career?
When my first video hit a million views and the payment was sent to me for the views, I realised I could actually turn this into a full-time income. I would never put all my eggs in one basket and will always have more than one stream of income though.

Posting regular videos is also a way of allowing viewers into your life but with this must come extremely stressful periods. How difficult is it adapting to the success and popularity from fans online and being able to separate yourself from that when you want to take a break away from it all?
There was a time in 2017 I uploaded every day for 4 weeks and it was awful, I felt myself rushing and making inorganic videos. It was good to help raise awareness of my channel but the quality not being up to scratch wasn’t a sacrifice I was willing to take again. Since this, I have removed all my videos as I am planning a whole new fresh approach to my content.

What video are you most proud of?
I recently visited America with some of my close friends and we documented the trip, it’s taken around 30 hours so far to edit but hasn’t been uploaded yet. But the amount of work and the actual clips I got are mind-blowing really.

In 2016, you helped raise funds for Teenage Cancer Trust through one of your videos; what inspired you to do this?
I have had cancer run in my family and have lost people through it, so at the time it was such a small thing for me to do that could potentially raise a good amount for the charity, it’s a no brainer in my eyes.

Can you inform readers of the time you realised you were achieving such a high fan base from YouTube that this could actually be a full-time career?
When my first video hit a million views and the payment was sent to me for the views, I realised I could actually turn this into a full-time income. I would never put all my eggs in one basket and will always have more than one stream of income though.

Posting regular videos is also a way of allowing viewers into your life but with this must come extremely stressful periods. How difficult is it adapting to the success and popularity from fans online and being able to separate yourself from that when you want to take a break away from it all?
There was a time in 2017 I uploaded every day for 4 weeks and it was awful, I felt myself rushing and making inorganic videos. It was good to help raise awareness of my channel but the quality not being up to scratch wasn’t a sacrifice I was willing to take again. Since this, I have removed all my videos as I am planning a whole new fresh approach to my content.

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