Pewdiepie and YouTube Money, and what it means for us. Yes, this post is about money.

[Syntax Error]

With a legion of 27 MILLION subscribers (in the interest of full disclosure, yes, I'm included), it is no secret that Pewdiepie, real name Felix Kjellberg is raking in the dollars. But the real question to that is How much exactly? Well, according to this Wall Street Journal article [http://online.wsj.com/articles/youtube-star-plays-videogames-earns-4-million-a-year-1402939896] (apparently if you're not subscribed to them there's a limit to how many times you can view their articles), Felix earns $4 Million in PROFIT. Yes, that's right, PROFIT. Meaning after all is said and done, he has $4 Million lining his bank account. Having this figure is quite a rarity, given the rather heavy NDA on YouTuber earnings in their contracts.

Who IS Pewdiepie? Well, if you haven't been a follower of Let's Play culture or just YouTube in general, he does what we all dreamed of when we were kids: He plays videogames for a living. No, not as a Quality Assurance person while a game is in development. He records himself playing videogames and uploads the footage to YouTube. It's very simple in its elegance, and yet he's the most subscribed channel in YouTube, and probably the richest YouTuber at the time of this writing. He's not a particularly good gamer, has the attention span of 5 seconds, prone to swearing and juvenile antics (which expectedly earns him a lot of hate, and gets dismissed about it) but still, the man has 27 million people following his channel, so clearly he's doing something right.

Needless to say, he's a rather polarizing figure. But that is not the point of this post. The fact that he has become successful has set a precedent for us. Many are calling him a "talentless hack", which might be true in a sense, if you compare him to other "more deserving" YouTubers like TheFineBros or what have you, but there lies the precedent. If a "talentless hack" like him can rake in that kind of money, anyone of us has the potential to do so as well! I live in the Philippines and $4M/year is the kind of fortune you'd need to invest and be able to live off the interest rather comfortably (for reference, as an ETL Consultant, I was earning somewhere along $10000 per year, and that is considered a huge salary here). What happened to Pewdiepie is unique in that what he does won't fly in traditional media. Sure, you could get some flash appearance on a reality show, but that won't make a lasting impact, and it would be rather hard to leverage that appearance into something more productive (although here in the Philippines that is a rather common occurrence).

So what now? It's certain that he wasn't the first to do Let's Plays, and certainly not the best gamer, but what made him very successful? As the article put it, what he does is similar to watching a friend play the game, which is probably the key differentiating factor when you consider his level of success compared to traditional media. He's regularly addresses his fanbase and the vlogs are rather interesting. His success shows that anyone with a computer, video capture software, and an internet connection can make it big. He regularly states that he wasn't even expecting to get that big, making videos because that is what he likes to do and will only keep doing the YouTube thing until he gets burned out of it (yes, YouTube fame, like everything else has an expiration date). The traditional ways of making money (get a job or start a business) is starting to get blurred as more and more avenues get opened, YouTube being one of them. If you want to get a slice of that $4M cake, you better start cracking. Doesn't matter if you have crappy equipment, just go ahead and do it. You'll never know unless you try. But don't quit your day job just yet. Remember, this is still a heavy time investment. You will have to record footage and edit them to remove the boring parts, actually upload them and be extra careful so as to not get tagged by the Content ID Systems.

And finally, there's a great video from MatPat [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgMqhEMhVV8] about how Pewdiepie dominated YouTube. It's a rather enlightening video and the data there can be used to your advantage should you decide to start your own channel.

 

[shootthebandit]

$4m/pa is a lot of money for putting videos on youtube.

 He's not a particularly good gamer, has the attention span of 5 seconds, prone to swearing and juvenile antics 

You have basically described me. So I just have to play videogames and swear a lot and I to can make $4m a year

 

[Syntax Error]

$4m/pa is a lot of money for putting videos on youtube.

 He's not a particularly good gamer, has the attention span of 5 seconds, prone to swearing and juvenile antics 

You have basically described me. So I just have to play videogames and swear a lot and I to can make $4m a year

And that's the whole point!!! The early stages might be a bit difficult (he had to refresh his home page jsut to pad out his channel's view counts when he was starting out), but the pay off is $4M!

 

[StriderShinryu]

As much as I'm not personally into PewDiePie's content, I still see this as a good thing. It shows that there is legitimacy in online content creation as a career by finding an audience and working hard. Given how much work Pewdie likely puts into his videos, and how many people watch them (whether you're in that demographics or not), he should be making a pretty good amount of money. I have more respect for him than I do your average totally manufactured and managed pop star.

 

[stroopwafel]

Well pewdiepie is a good looking guy with a cute girlfriend who plays games for audiences to see his reaction(meaning he's someone people like to identify with and that his audience encapsulates both gamers and non-gamers alike). So he has a rather large appeal by default, much more than regular or average 'serious' LPers. It would be interesting to know but I think he has much more female subscribers than other videogame related channels as well.

So his 'market appeal' is large, then the way youtube promotes videos apparently worked in his favor and followed by the snowball effect and a regular update schedule and you get pewdiepie's success. However achieving success is one thing maintaining it is something else, and considering the fact millions of viewers still tune in to his videos means he is doing something right.

What that is however I don't know b/c I find pewdiepie pretty annoying. However he brings millions of other people a smile to their face everyday so I say success well deserved.

The traditional ways of making money (get a job or start a business) is starting to get blurred as more and more avenues get opened, YouTube being one of them.

There are only a handful of people that can really support themselves through youtube ad revenues, so I'd say the ''traditional ways of making money is starting to get blurred'' is a bit of a stretch. If you want to get rich off youtube prepare for a deception. Pewdiepie is definitely the exception here, not the rule.

 

[Rylot]

There's a really good video by The Game Theorist on how Pewdie got popular and I'd link it but youtube is shitting the bed for whatever reason. Personally I subscribe and will sometimes watch his stuff. It's not the best quality or the funniest but I'm usually entertained. I kinda like that he's not the greatest at video games. Watching someone play something scary and getting freaked out is more entertaining to me than watching someone who isn't getting immersed at all and just waltzing through the game.

 

[Syntax Error]

The traditional ways of making money (get a job or start a business) is starting to get blurred as more and more avenues get opened, YouTube being one of them.

There are only a handful of people that can really support themselves through youtube ad revenues, so I'd say the ''traditional ways of making is starting to get blurred'' is a bit of a stretch. If you want to get rich off youtube prepare for a deception. Pewdiepie is definitely the exception here, not the rule.

Well, I did say that you don't quit your day job just yet. There is still that significant risk much like starting your own business, the difference here is that you are literally marketing yourself. And you got that "people identify with him" part down pat. Getting rich off YouTube is certainly not a deception, since people are already doing it. Or rather more accurately, there are people who have proven that YouTube is a legitimate income stream. People who just up and resigns from their job to start a YouTube channel without thinking of the financial impact on their lives are the greedy ones who will end up disappointed because they thought it's a get-rich-quick scheme. Sure, it might be a faster way to get some income going, but you really have to drill it in your head that that amount of money NEEDS a large amount of effort (in the start at least) in order to get it.

 

[Syntax Error]

There's a really good video by The Game Theorist on how Pewdie got popular and I'd link it but youtube is shitting the bed for whatever reason. Personally I subscribe and will sometimes watch his stuff. It's not the best quality or the funniest but I'm usually entertained. I kinda like that he's not the greatest at video games. Watching someone play something scary and getting freaked out is more entertaining to me than watching someone who isn't getting immersed at all and just waltzing through the game.

I actually linked that video at the last paragraph. And color me surprised when I found MatPat's videos here. I'm not that active as a member of the community for a few years now even if I still do visit from time to time (which might explain why I still don't have the Neo Badge), so that was rather surprising.

 

[Rylot]

big ol snip

Oops, my bad... Not sure how I missed that... Huh... Is anybody else having trouble viewing the video? I just get an error.

 

[Syntax Error]

big ol snip

Oops, my bad... Not sure how I missed that... Huh... Is anybody else having trouble viewing the video? I just get an error.

Video works fine for me.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

News just in.

People with no talent can rake in absurd amounts of money on the internet.

Just like books, TV, music, and every other medium you can think of.

What amazing revelations will we discover next?!

 

[rofltehcat]

When talking about him you have to be careful to discern the person from the persona. Now I absolutely do not like his videos because they really seem quite stupid with elements that may seem unnecessary, like screeching.
However, to be really successful at something just being lucky really isn't enough. You also need a business plan. And of course the skill and talent needed to make good videos. It also requires much harder work than you'd expect.
There are so many people who had a few extremely successful videos on youtube but could not really repeat that success. And to actually make any money you need to repeat those successes over and over again. If he were really as strange/stupid as he seems in the few videos I watched, he would not be able to rake in that amount of money over such long a time.
Some guys in a podcast I listened to (it may have been one of the co-optional podcasts) talked about him and it seems that the ones who met him in person can actually confirm that he is very different (albeit still very open etc.) from his acting persona.

And there are so many people trying the exact same thing: Play the games people might be interested in (e.g. youtube fodder, Minecraft, AAA titles...), be very open and react to everything like one of your friends might... some are even made by groups of 2-5 people and working to further increase the impression of being included in their group.
However, very few are actually successful and the region-hopping done by pewdiepie is just further evidence that he is actually smarter than he acts.

Lots of other people doing mainly let's play content aren't doing very well and you really have to do very well to even break even with a normal salary. I really don't see someone with a bad camera and microphone sitting down in their spare time actually achieve any real monetary success. There are far too many other fish already in that tank. You either do it just as a hobby and IF you get lucky work (hard) to use that chance or you won't really be able to compete... but I guess that is true in many fields.

 

[shootthebandit]

his audience encapsulates both gamers and non-gamers alike). So he has a rather large appeal by default, much more than regular or average 'serious' LPers

Nerd[sup]3[/sup] does all right and hes obviously a self confessed nerd. He plays a lot of indie games and makes a lot of nerdy references. Im not really into LP and im not into Pewdiepie but I like nerd[sup]3[/sup]. His videos are funny and some of them he plays with his dad are great. He doesnt rely on good looks or mass appeal. I think it takes a certain person to keep it interesting and funny. You need to have skills on par with a television presenter (a good one) and you need the right accent and cadence in your speech or you will just sound monotonous. This isnt something you can really teach though its just natural

 

[Syntax Error]

...I really don't see someone with a bad camera and microphone sitting down in their spare time actually achieve any real monetary success. There are far too many other fish already in that tank. You either do it just as a hobby and IF you get lucky work (hard) to use that chance or you won't really be able to compete... but I guess that is true in many fields.

The major thing here is that he didn't start with a camera. I took a small peek at the oldest videos in his channel and the oldest ones are just video captures with commentary on the background. The high-fidelity mic and camera set up may as well be a very recent addition (can't be arsed to look for when exactly he used to capture video reactions to overlay on live gameplay).

 

[Angelous Wang]

I think they had this on a Elders React video, Pewdiepie is basically the equivalent of a professional comedian.

If he was just a stoic guy sitting there playing games and then he wouldn't be doing so well. People watch him specifically out of all the many video game youtubers out there because of his comedy.

And it the same for a good 75%+ of the 1 mil subs plus club Smosh, Fine Bros, Shaytards, CTFxC, Prank vs Prank, Philip DeFranco and so on. They all have a big comedy element added to whatever else they do.

And it not unheard of for the best (non-internet) professional comedian's to make millions.

People like comedy that's the only real secret of youtube, make people laugh get money.

 

[LobsterFeng]

Actually I made this thread a couple of days ago: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.853006-Pewdiepie-makes-4-million-a-year?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=forums_threads

But I like yours better you actually worked hard on yours unlike mine.

 

[Tiger King]

I'm not buying it, somewhere youtube MUST be cutting into that.
I read rumors that one of my fave youtubers makes 5k a month from his stuff, he is not on pie's level but is still very popular.

Is this generating revenue we are talking about or income?

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

He may have 27million subs, but how come his vids hit only 1.5million max? So most of those subs are uninterested people that have not bothered cancelling him. Tried watching Pewdiepies vids and they are fucking awful.

 

[Tiger King]

He may have 27million subs, but how come his vids hit only 1.5million max? So most of those subs are uninterested people that have not bothered cancelling him. Tried watching Pewdiepies vids and they are fucking awful.

exactly!

subs mean nothing.

 

[Darks63]

As much as I'm not personally into PewDiePie's content, I still see this as a good thing. It shows that there is legitimacy in online content creation as a career by finding an audience and working hard. Given how much work Pewdie likely puts into his videos, and how many people watch them (whether you're in that demographics or not), he should be making a pretty good amount of money. I have more respect for him than I do your average totally manufactured and managed pop star.

Wasn't this already proven by The AVGN and The Nostagia critic and other Vloggers? Granted they didnt make millions but alot of them were able to make it their jobs and quit their day jobs so to speak.