Having been a sleight of hand close-up magician for most of my life (and even made my living performing for several years a very long time ago), you'll be happy to know that in the past decade close-up magic has become orders of magnitude more popular than it ever was - thanks to YouTube and video streaming. The perception stage magic is more popular is simply because performing for large live audiences is the main way to build a sustainable business able to support the high costs of big props, assistants, travel, advertising, etc which that style of magic requires.

There are only a few hundred magicians consistently making a full-time living performing stage magic and only a couple dozen consistently making a really good living. Whereas there are hundreds of thousands of hobbyists who've discovered learning and performing magic can be really fun.

Watching Teller do the cups and balls trick with transparent cups is mesmerizing.