The emergence of Web 2.0, along with online video platforms, and the widespread of social networks, have enabled new forms of creation where content makers no longer need a reputation, funding, broadcasting apparatuses, marketing deals, or distribution systems to reach their audiences. The ability to dispense with mediators upends the traditional hierarchy and leads to what is often perceived as a pluralistic free market where artists connect directly with the viewers, whose approval/disapproval impacts straightforwardly their careers. The revolution does not have to do with mere logistics. The new abilities freed the creators from the need to conform to the norms in aspects such as storytelling, genre, humor, and aesthetics. The artistic output generated by these new technologies has revolutionized typical strategies in the substructure of the entertainment industry and imposed radical changes on the cultural and social superstructure. Today we may be witnessing no less than a fundamental paradigm shift in the notion of art itself.

In Israel, which stands at the center of this research, such names as Sugar Zaza, Bne-El, Nitza and Lechem, Dudu Faruk, Messiah, Arutz Hakibud, and Tutit have enjoyed a broad loyal fan base and garnered the enthusiastic attention of the traditional media. After they achieved their fame online, in the last few years, this first generation of online content creators has made a transition to prime-time television and cinema. Their careers have a strong inseparable connection to social networks, especially Facebook, which has been the most popular one in Israel. A few years before the age of social networks, there have already been a handful of successful artists who started their careers by creating on and for the internet. However, unlike them, the Facebook-launched creators form a consolidated group. They share distinct style, aesthetic, humor, and artistic agenda. Therefore, their works can even be seen as a new digital wave. There is another significant difference - the earlier individuals who began their careers on the web were spotted by talent agents from traditional media that sponsored and assisted them to reach the mainstream. However, the independent creators from the social networks era became well known among the general public by themselves, through organic viral spread, before traditional platforms opened their gates to them. Now that their path to glory has reached an embrace by mainstream culture, the time is right to examine this phenomenon in depth.

In this dissertation, a thorough analysis of prominent works by various new media creators will expose significant changes in culture in general and Israeli culture specifically. It will shed light on a new generation whose groundbreaking works have not yet received scholarly attention, despite proving themselves as highly influential. It will present and explain how they are reforming and designing the aesthetics, business models, and typical themes of moving images. It will identify how they set an alternative to traditional media, but also where they fail to do so. This examination enables to deduce substantial socio-anthropological processes which Israel has been going through in the 21st century, and how they manifest in the arts. It might even allow to speculate more precisely about the consequences for the industry and the culture in general.

I claim that there is a strong connection between youth culture, specifically of the Millennials (Generation Y, who were born in the 1980s-1990s), and the unique characteristics of the first generation of independent online content creators in Israel. Through an in-depth analysis of several case studies, I will articulate the fresh concepts that make these examples stand out. I will highlight the brilliant innovations that led to their success, but I will also place warning signs around obstacles and mistakes that failed them. I will present and analyze the artistic developments in these creations. This pioneering research aspires to provide the next generation of content creators and scholars with valuable knowledge and set a framework for future researchers and practitioners.