'Awakened wonders' Smaller, loyal audience can still prove lucrative

During the 2000s Russell Brand was ubiquitous in the British media, adopting a scattergun approach that saw him host his own Radio 2 show, present Big Brother spin-offs, work the chatshow circuit, tour his live comedy act, present documentaries, write a bestselling autobiography and even write football blogs for the Guardian before heading off to Hollywood to briefly achieve global fame.

- Hibaq Farah, Jim Waterson

Nowadays the comedian has a much smaller but still profitable media empire of his own, built on a set of online platforms that barely existed when he was at the peak of his fame. As a result he retains direct access to his loyal audience, unlike in a previous era where he could be taken off air by an employer pending an investigation into allegations of sexual assault and rape - which Brand has denied.

Core to Brand's media operation is his YouTube channel, which has undergone a number of reinventions since the then-Labour leader, Ed Miliband, made a latenight dash to appear on Brand's channel in a desperate attempt to win over youth voters during the 2015 general election.

His YouTube output now ploughs a vaccine-sceptic and Trumpian furrow, seemingly aimed at a rightwing audience in the US, where interviews with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson sit alongside grabby headlines such as "So, Trump Just Said THIS About Vaccines And It Changes EVERYTHING".

Sara McCorquodale, the chief executive of the social media analysis agency Corq, said Brand's YouTube channel would be making a healthy sum for the comedian and self-styled wellness guru, based on an influencer marketing calculator. "He is most likely making £2,000 to £4,000 per video, not taking into account any affiliate deals and brand sponsorships that might be running in the background," she said. Based on five videos a week, this could easily produce the best part of a fim a year.