Meet Tom Thurlow, rising star of online video

Tom Thurlow is developing a strong personal brand in online video, defining himself within the student space.

Tom’s story so far is an inspiring one for content creators looking for their break.

A big Bebo user – back in the day when Bebo was big, at least among the college-age audience – Tom started to create and publish his own TV show called Hollyoaks on the streets. The show would see him wandering the pavements of his hometown quizzing young people about the soap.

He had, and still has, a presenting style that makes for entertaining vox pops: quick-witted, prone to bitchy asides, yet also quite charming (perhaps it’s the suit).

Tom’s work on Bebo attracted an audience: 100,000 views were quickly notched up and Hollyoaks fans rushed to comment and join Tom’s group. Bebo took notice and heralded Tom as one of their ‘originals’ – the name given to those independent content creators defining Bebo’s appeal to its users in 2008.

They commissioned Tom to produce a series called Meet the Freshers. It was supported by various forward-thinking universities that sponsored the show to visit their campuses and report on student satisfaction. Bebo gave the show their front page and things went very well. Tom pulled in thousands of views and earned himself a second series. Then Bebo started to flag and fall away as user migration to Facebook became unstoppable.

Meanwhile Channel 4 were aware of Tom’s success and signed him up, inviting him to apply his ‘on the streets’ franchise to the subject of Big Brother. Dozens of videos were made and shown on e4′s website, featuring Tom’s adventures on the pavements of Britain quizzing BB fans. Some suggested he would be a future presenter of Big Brother’s Little Brother. Fate, again, stepped in and put the kaibosh on that idea.

Now Tom is working with MTV. As long-time admirers of his work, they have snapped him up to present The Freshers. Yes, you know the format: Tom wanders UK campuses talking to freshers about their attitudes and lifestyles, occasionally allowing them to make fools of themselves by taking their clothes off and running through the streets for £5.

The show is looking good, with the addition of MTV-friendly styling and a funky theme. It is generating some outrageous press stories (coming soon: which university has the ugliest students?) and its entrepreneurial presenter* is securing some relevant partnerships to generate student exposure, including a tie-up with heavyweight forum The Student Room.

Where next for Tom Thurlow? “I want to be the name you think of when you think of student entertainment” he told me recently.

*Tom’s first TV appearance was on Peter Jones’ ITV show Tycoon, aged 17, where he competed to get funding for his business idea, a newspaper for young people

Watch Tom Thurlow’s MTV show The Freshers.