In the midst of the furore, Kjellberg – who had previously deflected such accusations by insinuating "old-school media" held prejudices against successful vloggers and didn't understand their approach and appeal – said he did not support hate-based groups and understood that his "jokes were ultimately offensive". In February 2017, he lost partnerships with Disney's Maker Studios – a platform that produces videos and mobile apps – and YouTube, which axed Kjellberg's YouTube Red show and pulled him from its Google Preferred advertising program, after the Wall Street Journal published a report into nine instances of anti-Semitic comments and imagery in his work over a six-month period, including a video featuring two men holding an anti-Semitic sign. PewDiePie's success can't be discussed without reference to his controversies, of which there are many, from using the n-word in an outcry against another online gamer to flexing his muscle against his platform bosses and threatening to leave YouTube over site changes. The magazine says gamers, of which PewDiePie is the most notable, remain the site's top money-earners thanks to clips that can be produced, edited and posted quickly, with the going advertising rate for top online talent "about $US5 per thousand views". According to Forbes, Kjellberg last year earned around $US15.5 million ($22 million), with advertisers "shelling out up to $US450,000 for a sponsored video". Credit:YouTube What does having 100 million subscribers actually mean?įor starters, there's the glory: for comparison's sake, PewDiePie's subscriber reach embarrassingly outpaces the world's top pop stars including Justin Bieber (46 million), Ed Sheeran (41 million) and Ariana Grande (37 million).īut also, there's more money. And he has turned passive gaming into active, enjoyable entertainment," South Park creator Trey Parker, who featured PewDiePie in one of the cartoon's storylines in 2014, wrote when Time named the YouTuber one of the World's 100 Most Influential People in 2016.Ī subscribe message from PewDiePie. "He's charming and funny, and he knows how to edit himself. Despite his frenzied content, the through line has remained Kjellberg's irreverent authenticity: an off-handed personal approach that, in typical online style, blurs the line between playful and obnoxious. In August 2019, he made headlines after becoming the first individual YouTuber to surpass 100 million subscribers. While those "Let's Play" videos have remained his core offering, he's also branched out into casual, talking-head commentary and comedy skits.īy August 2013, he was already the most subscribed-to personality on YouTube, and in 2015 he became the first person to have his videos seen 10 billion times on the site. ![]() Specifically, Kjellberg made his name posting video games content: "walk-through" clips of himself playing horror and indie games (made by smaller independent producers), and razzing other people's gameplay, which his fans pay to watch him do. To be fair, he did become immensely successful and rich – as a vlogger, a person who posts videos online (it's a play on blogger, early internet users who posted words on blogs). A uni dropout, he launched his YouTube account on April 29, 2010, giving up his studies in industrial engineering to play games on the video platform – a decision that he's said, understandably irked his parents, both corporate executives. The name is typical of his absurdist tone and provocative approach: it's derived from a mix of the sound a gun makes, the word die and, well, pie. PewDiePie, rhyming with "cutie pie", is the online moniker of Felix Kjellberg, born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1989. So who exactly is PewDiePie and how has he amassed such a dedicated YouTube following?įelix Kjellberg, better known by his online pseudonym PewDiePie. Perennially in headlines over his outsized influence among his streaming audience, he's also courted controversy, accused of anti-semitism and racism and, to his horror, was name-checked by an Australian far-right extremist before the extremist gunned down worshippers in Christchurch in March. But to those outside his online fanbase, the bizarre success of PewDiePie remains confounding. He's YouTube's most successful personality, having just surpassed 100 million subscribers to his online channel, the first individual vlogger to do so. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size
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