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Up Close: Utah Twins Entertain Millions On YouTube
Oct 2, 2019, 7:26 PM | Updated: Feb 13, 2023, 2:45 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Keeping up with the Mikesell twins is tough and everywhere they go, they are capturing it on video.
But these 15-year-old brothers are savvy. They know there’s money to be made and free merchandise to be had. All you have to do is get people to watch it — hundreds of thousands of people.
That’s why they started their own YouTube channel called “Brock and Boston.”
The brothers were born just two minutes apart, and right now they are pumping out four videos a week for their 237,000 subscribers. Overall, they have more than 250 videos online.
Who’s in charge? “Me — well, it’s kind of both of us,” Boston said.
“But he does more work, I guess we switch off,” Brock said.
Their most-viewed video is “Faking sick to ditch school,” which had almost 1.9 million clicks.
“We just want to have fun. We are kids,” Brock said.
But these ninth graders are making thousands of dollars a month from advertising and brand deals on their YouTube channel. It all depends on how many views and what advertisers are in their videos. During our interview, they pulled out a variety of items they got for free from companies, who are hoping they will showcase their brands on the channel.
“(It’s) pretty cool, they send us awesome stuff. We are grateful for it,” Brock said.
Of course Broke and Boston aren’t the only YouTube sensations across the Salt Lake Valley. They have also gotten to know several other families who are into it on a daily basis and also making a lot of money.
Sometimes they will hang out with The LeRoy’s, who have 1.3 million subscribers, and the family from The Shumway Show who have more than 100,000 subscribers.
“You want to make sure your viewers are enjoying what they see and what they like,” Shanna LeRoy said.
The entire Mikesell family also has a separate YouTube channel and so does Brock and Boston’s sister, Alyssa.
For these YouTubers, it’s a virtual reality life that may look like all fun and games. But in reality, it takes a constant stream of creativity, theatrical know-how and a serious business sense to bring in the views.
