This. I also think another reason why ChannelAwesome became so popular, has to do with the "nerd mentality" around 2008.
Lets face it: 10-12 years ago, with youtube emerging, suddenly there was a plattform for nerds to exchange information not just by post, but also video. And I am not just talking like comic, or videogame nerds, but just in general fans of anything. I think one reason why many of these reviewers managed to get some sort of popularity out of it was, because for the audience they were some sort of surrogate. You know: Someone you can listen and who assumingly shares similar interests than you and can tell you something about a certain movie you heard of and make fun of it.
I think this "surrogate friend" mentality is what made some of these reviewers popular with the audience. And then when channelaweosme came along and made their crossover shit, they also conveyed like this image of comradery between reviewers, which people may have hoped they can also find when doing the same shit as them, leading to some degree to the reviewer boom (incombination with others thinking, internet reviewing makes a lot of money) but now the sad truth is out: This "community" is sterile, everyone was pretty much forced to do what Doug and Michaud wanted, the "heroes" of some of these fans are pretty shit when you dig deep enough and there are too many reviewers as that something interesting really comes out.
The reviewer bubble is finally bursting and ChannelAwesome is just the beginning.
