Content creators are crossing over into the traditional film and TV space in a major way, and YouTube is a key driver. Deadline spotlights the established and emerging European creators to keep your eye on.

This past summer the global independent box office was set alight thanks to two twentysomething YouTubers: Curry Barker’s microbudget horror Obsession and Kane Parsons’ low-budget psychological thriller Backrooms took a combined near $1 billion from cinemas worldwide. Finally, it seemed that Hollywood had succeeded in wooing Gen Z — and older generations — back into theaters.

Not only did Barker and Parsons become the two youngest directors in cinema history to top the U.S. box office during their opening weekends — Barker is 27 while Parsons is just 21 — but the tallies proved something more concrete: YouTube really is fertile ground for crossover talent that can deliver big returns.

“Top creators are already operating as next-generation studios,” says Pedro Pina, YouTube’s VP for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Just a few weeks ago we saw creators walking down red carpets and premiering their work in prestigious film festivals in Venice and Cannes. These storytellers are showcasing their work on the big screen alongside the very best of traditional cinema, proving that great storytelling is great storytelling, wherever it starts. A big shift is that talent no longer needs to wait in boardrooms for permission. On YouTube, creators greenlight themselves.”

Creators benefit from a direct, two-way relationship with their audience, something that is incredibly valuable and, adds Pina, this “authentic, personal connection” is what is driving the world of entertainment.

“Beyond authenticity, creators have an agile, data-driven approach to production that doesn’t match traditional television cycles,” he says. “A creator is essentially a storyteller and data scientist rolled into one. Once the camera turns off, they dive into YouTube Studio to analyze retention curves second-by-second, read community feedback and iterate format, tone and pacing for the very next upload. Forward-thinking broadcasters willing to experiment and embrace this agile approach are seeing the benefits for their reach and revenue.”

But YouTube is vast and it can be hard excavate the right talent, so we’ve pooled together a bespoke selection of established and emerging European talents who are navigating the crossover into the traditional film and TV space and we hear them weigh in on why it’s a good time to be in the content creation space right now.

Max Fosh

U.K.

British YouTuber and comedian Max Fosh, who first launched his channel in 2017, is best known for his viral stunts, cheeky pranks and large-scale social experiments. Some of his most famous work includes placing a “Welcome to Luton” sign near Gatwick Airport — two U.K. airports that are more than 50 miles apart — to confuse landing passengers, as well as infiltrating and competing in the Mr. Universe bodybuilding contest by exploiting a lack of strict entry qualifications.

In 2025, he finished a worldwide standup comedy tour dubbed Loophole, performing 72 shows across 13 countries. His YouTube channel has amassed 5.2 million followers. When he speaks to Deadline, he’s just wrapped shooting BBC’s quiz game show Mastermind, where he was a contestant and he’s also appeared on Celebrity MasterChef in the U.K.

When pressed about the shift of power YouTubers are now seeing in more traditional media spaces, Fosh says that “we’ve seen this coming for years.”

“This is not a new thing for creators,” he says. “There have been waves of creators who have come in and out of the space and made millions of dollars and have retired, but now it’s within the cultural zeitgeist. YouTube is being taken more seriously.”

Pointing to the success of Barker and Parsons, Fosh says their success is down to the fact that “they have had the opportunity to fail and to make stuff through trial and error on YouTube.” “It’s the only place that is a training ground for new talent in the U.K. Back in the day it used to be kids’ TV or radio, but now — with the cutting of local radio and broadcasting budgets — you have to have a name attached to something big now. There’s no other way for new talent to come through other than online. You are the master of your own destiny, and you can fail and you can try things.”

Léna Mahfouf

France

French-Algerian content creator Léna Mahfouf, aka Léna Situations, is perhaps one of the most well-known YouTubers to come out of France. She turned her lifestyle channel Lena Situations, which she launched in 2017, into a broader entertainment and fashion business. Her videos, which covered fashion, travel, friendships and everyday life, saw her earn a loyal fanbase, and her YouTube channel currently has 3.2 million subscribers. Her signature Vlogs d’août series became a defining part of her online profile — she wrapped the 10^th and final season of that series in August.

In 2021, Forbes France included her in their annual 30 Under 30 list for Cinema & Entertainment and the following year she began hosting a podcast dubbed Canapé Six Places. She’s partnered with Adidas and released a collection of sneakers, written a bestselling book titled Always More, has been a guest judge on Drag Race France and launched her own lifestyle and fashion brand Hôtel Mahfouf. In 2022, she made history as the first French content creator invited to the Met Gala.

Torge Oelrich

Germany

German comedian Torge Oelrich, better known as Freshtorge, started making videos on YouTube two decades ago from his hometown in Wesselburen, Germany. His comedy sketches and wide range of fictional characters has seen him become one of the most successful German-speaking YouTube creators.

Before becoming a full-time entertainer, Oelrich trained and worked as teacher. He has since worked as an actor, writer and voice artist, making appearances in German projects such as Look Who’s Back in 2015 and 2020’s Potato Salad 3: The Musical.

Citing his favorite comedy show as Little Britain, he admits that the show probably couldn’t be made today due to its borderline offensive humor, with the BBC recently removing some sketches from the iPlayer. He stresses the need to be mindful of content given that audiences are often quick to respond in the comments section.

“For me, as a comedian and when I’m writing my scripts, I have to think about making sure my humor is not offensive,” he says. “You have to be really careful that you don’t hurt anyone.”

He’s been working with German pubcaster ZDF on Battle of the Flags, an adventure-reality competition program which he created and stars in. Belgian distributor Primitives is presenting the format to buyers in MIPCOM this year. Developed in collaboration with production company Roses Are Blue to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his YouTube channel, the show blends an expansive outdoor game world with strategy, technological innovation and immersive visual storytelling.

But outside of TV, Oelrich admits he loves the freedom and speed of being able to connect directly to his audience via YouTube and other forms of social media.

“In the traditional space it takes sometimes years to see your idea come to life, whereas when I’m uploading my own content and sketches, I can do it right from my home.

“The great thing is I can wake up in the morning, have an idea and upload the video in the evening so I can react to things happening in the world faster,” he adds. “With big TV companies it can take years.”

Yes Theory

Sweden-U.S.-Canada-Egypt

Although founded in Montreal, Canada, Yes Theory members have diverse cultural backgrounds, with its founders hailing from Sweden, Egypt, the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 2015 by Thomas Brag, Matt Dajer, Ammar Kandil and Derin Emre, the group gained traction through their videos about travel, adventure and, in the wake of terror attacks in Beirut and Paris, inclusivity.

Content often involves spontaneous trips, unusual challenges and interactions with strangers over the world. They became known for their motto “Seek Discomfort”, which encourages people to step outside their comfort zones and embrace new experiences.

Over time the channel has grown into a large online community, and it’s seen members expand into the documentary space as well as live events. In 2022, Kandil directed Project Iceman, which followed extreme athlete Anders Hofman as he attempted the world’s first full-distance triathlon in Antarctica. They have more than 10 million subscribers on YouTube.

“Creators can move so much faster than traditional TV and stay relevant to culture, which is evolving at an increasing speed,” Brag tells Deadline. “Creators have also learned to tell high-quality stories with much smaller budgets, often wearing many hats — from talent, to producer, director and editor. Serving as a jack-of-all-trades means that they’re able to add personal touches to every part of the process, ultimately making their stories feel more personal and approachable.”

Francesco Oggiano

Italy

After working as a reporter at Vanity Fair Italia for nine years, Italian journalist Francesco Oggiano decided to go it alone with the launch of his own digital newsletters in 2019 before joining startup Will Media in 2020. He eventually launched his own YouTube channel in 2024. His content, which he also posts on Instagram, focuses on current affairs, seeing him weigh in on stories such as the recent Macklemore and Ed Sheeran fallout, Prince Harry and Megan and the ICE shootings in Minneapolis earlier this year.

While his subscriber base sits in the mid-tier (on YouTube he has 57,400 subscribers and 298,000 on Instagram), Oggiano believes that what matters is the “quality of the interaction — how much the audience responds, shares, returns and trusts you.”

“That is where the strength of a community is measured,” he says. “A vertical niche of 20,000 passionate people is much better than a less focussed project with 200,000 followers.”

He continues: “What I like most about YouTube is choosing topics, formats, duration and tone with a freedom that is hard to find elsewhere. I would love to combine this freedom with the resources and expertise of entities like Netflix or major studios to think bigger when it comes to production, writing, and formats. I see those entities as amplifiers of creativity.”

Anna Cramling

Sweden

Swedish-Spanish chess player Anna Cramling is one of Sweden’s largest and most internationally successful YouTubers. She holds the title of Woman FIDE Master, having represented Sweden in multiple Chess Olympiads. She boasts more than 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube and 500,000 on Twitch, and she regularly features in chess competitions, in interviews, where she plays with other chess champions, as well as travel vlogs.

“Traditional media doesn’t always fully understand the storytelling that goes behind each video,” Cramling says. “A video on YouTube is essentially one story, and the better it performs, the more compelling the story probably is. I also think that traditional media, and people in general, underestimate the thinking that goes behind each title, thumbnail, and concept. It is all carefully thought through, to create the best packaging for the story as possible.”

Natalia Sisik

Poland

Prominent Polish internet personality Natalia Sisik has grown to become one of the top content creators in Poland. Initially building her presence on TikTok, she focused on lip-syncing, dancing and music cover videos with an ambition to break into the music industry. Her boyfriend and manager Jarek Kostrzewa, who was working at Universal Music at the time, helped her experiment with comedy and different types of content before the pair came up with News na dziś, a now highly successful daily news format aimed at younger audiences.

“During the pandemic, we saw how much misinformation was spreading online, and we felt that it was the perfect moment to use what we had learned over the years and create something more meaningful,” she says. “That’s when we came up with the idea for News na dziś.” She continues: “We don’t think it’s really about competing with traditional media. We’re doing something different. Creators understand the audience on a very personal level. We’re in direct contact with our audience every day, so we can quickly see what they care about, what they don’t understand and what makes them stop scrolling. Traditional media sometimes forgets that people don’t consume information the same way they did 10 or 20 years ago.”

Elena Herraiz Medina

Spain

Elena Herraiz Medina, whose online handle is Linguriosa, started creating content on YouTube in 2019. Initially, videos were geared towards people looking to learn Spanish as a foreign language and understand grammar topics. After uploading videos that were more about breaking down different Spanish dialects, she got a huge influx of native Spanish-speaking followers.

She has since co-hosted the revived Spanish public television game show Cifras y letras — the Spanish version of the long-running U.K. quiz show Countdown, on the La 2 channel — and she’s also co-hosted science and humanities podcast Tú de ciencias y yo de letras (literally “You’re a scientist, and I’m a humanities specialist”).

“The main difference between traditional media and content creators is that traditional outlets always link professionalism with rigid seriousness,” she says. “Normally, there are strict rules on how you should dress, speak, and behave, it’s all far more formal than the authenticity expected on social platforms.

“With the rise of AI, content that feels raw and human, proving that what you’re watching came directly from a real person and not a machine, has become immensely valuable. The less polished the content feels, the deeper it connects with a real audience. That’s why social media is so powerful: People relate much more to creators being themselves than to traditional media personalities.”

EXCLUSIVE: Toronto-based genre specialist Raven Banner Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights to Polish director Marta Giec’s feature directorial debut Òpi ahead of its international premiere at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival later this month.

Rooted in the ancient beliefs and dark folklore of Poland’s ethnocultural Kashubia region, the film follow follows eighteen-year-old Trina as she struggles to escape a suffocating relationship with her mother and a household steeped in tension, buried secrets and generational trauma.

When her aunt Helena and paralyzed grandmother Regina arrive, the fragile boundaries between everyday life, ancestral superstition and Trina’s increasingly disturbing nightmares begin to collapse.

Blending psychological drama with raw folk horror steeped in the West Slavic mythology of Kashubia, Òpi explores violence, repression and the horrors inherited from one generation to the next. As long-buried truths claw their way to the surface, Trina must fight to reclaim her voice in a world where the supernatural may be far more than folklore.

The cast features Wiktoria Kruszczyńska as Trina, alongside Gabriela Muskała, Magdalena Boczarska, Iwona Bielska and Pitry.

The film, which world premiered in the 51st Polish Film Festival in Gdynia in September, is already creating buzz in Poland with the local trailer racking up close to 400,000 views in less than three weeks.

“Òpi is the kind of horror that gets under your skin and stays there,” said Michael Paszt, Managing Partner of Raven Banner.

“It taps into something ancient and deeply unsettling, drawing on Polish Kashubian folklore to create a world where family trauma, superstition and genuine terror collide. We’re always hunting for bold genre films with a distinct cultural identity, a filmmaker’s vision and the ability to leave a lasting impression. Òpi delivers on all three fronts and we’re stoked to introduce it to audiences.”

With past sales titles including The Sadness, Deathstalker and Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon, Raven Banner is also at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival with Sundown, Rebekah McKendry’s IFC/Shudder horror feature starring Olwen Fouéré, Camille Sullivan and Summer H. Howell.

Raven Banner is a producing partner on the supernatural horror, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, and also handles sales.

The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, running October 15–22.