23-year-old SA YouTuber lands plum job

South African YouTube sensation Caspar Lee has cracked the nod as head of innovation of a new London-based social media marketing agency.

The YouTube personality and vlogger stole South Africans’ hearts after creating his YouTube channel in 2011‚ and has since amassed a following of over nine million followers across his two channels. He also boasts a whopping 3.7 million followers on Instagram and 4.67 million on Twitter.

At 23‚ Lee will lead the strategic and business direction for Influencer’s clients which include Uber and Badoo.

The company‚ Influencer‚ is a new‚ unique data-driven platform that uses big data to connect brands with content creators with a high social media following.

Lee told TimesLIVE: “For the last seven years I've been building my YouTube channel and learning how this whole world works.

“I've learnt a whole lot about what works and what doesn't and I can't wait to bring the experience to Influencer.

“It's such an exciting time.... and I couldn't be more excited‚” he said.

CEO Ben Jeffries said of Lee: “As someone who is extremely respected within the social media space‚ his involvement and investment in the agency is a huge step in our plans to becoming the largest influencer marketing company in the world.”

While his career took off on social media‚ Lee has also tried his hand at acting‚ featuring in Laid in America (2016)‚ the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2015) and Spud 3: Learning to Fly (2014)‚ to name but a few.

Lee has long since been recognised for his contributions within the social media and entertainment industries.

Most notable was his invitation by the Queen of England to support the Queens Young Leaders in June 2017.

He has no plans to give up his YouTube channels.

"My YouTube channels are always going to be a part of me and what I do. I'll never stop making videos.”

He believes social media locally "will only grow as Internet prices come down".

"South Africans just need access to cheaper data to allow them to fully harness the tool that is social media‚" he said.