'Wild child' rules on YouTube

17 September 2014 - 02:19 By Andile Ndlovu
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Nadav Ossendryver, of Latest Sightings at Kruger has the most Youtube visits at 80 million.
Nadav Ossendryver, of Latest Sightings at Kruger has the most Youtube visits at 80 million.
Image: Ilan Ossendryver/ ic-creations - ossendryver photography and web design

An 18-year-old matric pupil has been named this country's Social Media Star of the Year after his Kruger Sightings channel on YouTube reached over 80 million views this week.

Nadav Ossendryver developed the website Latestsightings.com - which allowed people to track animals in the Kruger National Park in real time - in 2011, when he was just 15.

That innovation led to his meeting US President Barack Obama and adventurer and humanitarian Kingsley Holgate. He was invited into the boardrooms of Microsoft and Nokia.

He then started uploading to YouTube.

Popular YouTube videos generate advertising revenue and uploaders can make a significant amount of money. According to Socialblade, which compiles YouTube data, local comedian Caspar Lee earned R5-million a year from his uploads.

Although preparing to write his matric exams, Ossendryver is already contemplating using 2015 as a gap year to focus on his growing business.

He has attributed much of his success to the online fans who share their videos with him, which he then edits and uploads.

His love of wildlife extends deep into his childhood.

"When I first went to Kruger, aged eight, I got an adrenaline rush. I fell in love with it. You never see the same thing twice. It's amazing. Even if I miss on one or two hours of studying, it's worth it."

The latest SA Social Media Landscape study, released by World Wide Worx yesterday, showed that YouTube is now the second-most popular social media platform in the country, with 7.2million active users, after Facebook with 11.8million users.

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