YouTube Creators Are Working Outside Of The Old-School System To Become The New TV Stars

Kareem Rahma was frustrated.

Riding high on the success of Subway Takes, a show that has seen the likes of Cate Blanchett, Lil Nas X and Ramy Youssef give hot takes on a train, he was supposed to be taking a victory lap after he scored a major television deal for his other show, Keep the Meter Running.

But CNN had kept that show — in which Rahma asks New York cab drivers to take him to their favorite places — in development for three years, with no sign of making it to their final destination.

“I did the whole rigmarole with television, and it was a disaster,” Rahma says. “I don’t want to wait anymore. I walked away from the deal and decided to do it independently on YouTube.”

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