- Alyte Mazeika, a law-focused YouTuber, has 64,000 subscribers on LegalBytes.
- About a month ago, he made a prophetic call to broadcast live every day of the Depp vs. heard.
- His streams have had over 10,000 concurrent viewers and he earned around $5,000 on YouTube in a week.
Alyte Mazeika, the lawyer and commentator behind the LegalBytes YouTube channel, is having a moment.
About a month ago, Mazeika made a prophetic call: to broadcast live every day of the six-week libel trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, which is currently in its second week of testimony in Fairfax, VA.
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which he said he had been a victim of domestic abuse; Heard’s $100 million countersuit alleges that Depp waged an online harassment campaign against her.
Mazeika currently hosts 24-hour broadcasts from an undisclosed location overseas, where her days come in a kind of nocturnal haze, punctuated by meals that seem to float across the screen from her husband and loving nudges to walk and eat from her Labrador. Indy and two cats, Astra and Holmes.
“Endurance-wise, it’s routine, but I also run half marathons and full marathons,” Mazeika said. “So in a lot of ways, mental rigor is a similar thing because you know what the end goal is. So you think, ‘I’m going to push myself because this is important.'”
Recent streams have been about 10 hours long, during which time Mazeika welcomes a bevy of regular guests, including Nate The Lawyer (180,000 subscribers) and Hoeg Law (60,000). It’s a bit like Court TV, but with no-frills analytics and a flood of prankster user comments that come via Super Chat, a YouTube tipping feature that lets viewers highlight their comments on the live stream.
When he steps down, Mazeika sifts through his day’s notes and records a video summary on demand, sending the footage to his editor before collapsing around 3 am Fortunately, court doesn’t sit on Fridays, he said.
But the hard work is paying off. Since he began covering the case, his channel has grown from approximately 40,000 subscribers to a current count of 64,000. Wednesday’s test broadcast peaked at more than 11,000 concurrent viewers and racked up 158,000 total views. His summaries have garnered up to 100,000 views.
And your earnings are peaking.
Mazeika said she made around $5,000 on YouTube last week, with most of it coming from Super Chats. Insider verified his earnings with the documents he provided.
The lawtube community is skyrocketing thanks to a slew of high-profile lawsuits
Mazeika is just one creator within a thriving community known as “lawtube,” made up of professional lawyers turned commentators who offer expert views – and subjective reflections – on the high-profile cases of the day. The genre has been supercharged by a host of defendants who have grabbed headlines in recent months, including Derek Chauvin, Kyle Rittenhouse, Elizabeth Holmes, Ghislaine Maxwell and Jussie Smollett.
Depp’s trial against Heard marks something of an anomaly in that it not only involves high-profile figures airing the gory details of a marriage gone wrong, but also allows cameras inside the courtroom.
This is not Mazeika’s first rodeo. His channel first hit a bump in November, when he began appearing on the 24-hour Rittenhouse trial broadcasts hosted by attorney Nick Rekieta, a Minnesota lawyer with 350,000 subscribers.
“We were watching live broadcasts during Kyle Rittenhouse’s testimony where the simultaneous audience was over 100,000 viewers,” Mazeika recalled. “It was absolutely unreal. I had to take photos of stadiums to see what a hundred thousand people look like.”
Throughout the lawtube community, there is an unspoken agreement that whoever is hosting the stream gets to keep all associated revenue. However, Mazeika said there is a collaborative sensibility, and something of an open-door policy, when it comes to inviting each other’s channels.
Still practicing law, but aspires to become a full-time YouTuber
Mazeika, a self-proclaimed introvert who speaks with an airy and comforting cadence, is something of a newcomer to YouTube. She launched her channel two years ago after she was laid off from the DC law firm where she worked full time at the start of the pandemic. She continues to practice independently to supplement her income, but her goal is to become a full-time YouTuber.
She also earns money on subscription platforms.
patreon
and Locals, and sells merchandise in Spring, including T-shirts emblazoned with concise quotes from the trial. Mazeika has also begun to dip into brand deals, currently offering the 10% off promo code “Amber Turd” – a nod to Depp’s allegation that Heard defecated on his bed – for a small company called Dragon’sTreasure. teas
Despite her legal experience, Mazeika is not impartial. She is open about being in the “Justice for Johnny” camp, and believes that all lawtubers inevitably view each case through their own individual lenses. But she said that she tries to keep an open mind.
“When you base your analysis on facts, you allow yourself to change whenever more facts come in,” he said. “Based on what I’ve seen, this is what I’ve concluded. If I see anything that changes my mind, I’ll let you know.”