Wall Street Journal reports top YouTuber making $4MM

YouTube's Biggest Draw Plays Games, Earns $4 Million a Year

Cussing, Comic Videogame Reviewer PewDiePie Has 27 Million Subscribers

 

By SVEN GRUNDBERG and JENS HANSEGARD

Updated June 16, 2014 7:09 p.m. ET

 

Felix Kjellberg aka PewDiePie has almost 30 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. He says he avoids the spotlight and even claims to be uncomfortable with success, but has decided to share his thoughts on fame and (computer) games with the WSJ. Photo: Ellen Jervell

 

 

STOCKHOLM— Felix Kjellberg doesn't play a very convincing megastar. The seemingly modest Swede avoids the spotlight, has no entourage and is uncomfortable with success.

 

But put Mr. Kjellberg in front of a Web-camera and he transforms into PewDiePie, by far YouTube's biggest draw. He has built a base of 27 million subscribers using a decidedly unorthodox approach to playing video and mobile games.

 

His videos aren't traditional game reviews. "Pewds," as he is often called, simply plays games and allows his audience—mostly teenagers—to peer in on his experience and hear random opinions interspersed with odd behavior. He contorts, screeches, swears, sings and even "twerks" to portray his feelings.

 

The 24-year-old Mr. Kjellberg, who created PewDiePie five years ago, has parlayed his persona into a brand name that pulls in the equivalent of $4 million in ad sales a year, most of it pure profit. In December 2012, PewDiePie signed on with Maker Studios, a producer of online content that takes a cut of ad sales. Maker Studios—which counts on PewDiePie as its most important personality—sold itself to Walt Disney Co. DIS -0.18% earlier this year in a deal that could be worth close to $1 billion, depending on certain performance targets.

 

His following is so big that even games he criticizes get coveted publicity.

 

Earlier this year, he made a clip headlined "Flappy Bird—Don't Play This Game," in which he curses a blue streak while he tries to conquer the then-unknown mobile app. Before long, millions of people had downloaded the game. It helped propel "Flappy Bird" and its Vietnamese developer from obscurity into a world-wide sensation.

 

Mr. Kjellberg also is inadvertently helping to shape the industry, as developers have started making games that aren't just fun to play, but also to watch others play on YouTube, like indie horror games.

 

"It's cool to have this kind of influence, but at the same time it's kind of scary," said Mr. Kjellberg, speaking in a rare interview. He routinely turns down media requests, citing a busy schedule that includes publishing multiple clips a day of himself playing obscure games from an apartment south of London.

 

While his subscriber base creates unparalleled reach on Google Inc. GOOGL +0.24% 's YouTube, his success reflects broader momentum for the trend in watching other people play videogames.

 

One of his peers is Jordan Maron, a 22-year-old American known as "Captain Sparklez" who has attracted 7.5 million subscribers with videos related to Mojang's popular Minecraft building-block game.

 

Production quality isn't a key selling point.

 

Mr. Kjellberg's creation process is quick, dirty and done mostly solo.

 

"Unlike many professionally produced shows, I think I've established a much closer contact with my viewers, breaking the wall between the viewer and what's behind the screen," he said. "What I and other YouTubers do is a very different thing, it's almost like hanging around and watching your pal play games. My fans care in a different way about what they are watching."

 

YouTube is playing a more integral role in the experience of gamers. Last week, Sony Corp. 6758.TO -1.41% announced an update to PlayStation 4 that integrates the online video service into the console so clips of game play can be easily shared.

 

Mr. Kjellberg's career took flight while attending college in Gothenburg, on Sweden's southwest coast. He attended few classes, spending more time at home playing games and uploading to YouTube. After dropping out, he started selling hot dogs. To pad the number of views on his channel during those early days he would repeatedly hit F5 on his keyboard to refresh the browser.

 

As for the name PewDiePie, he said that his original YouTube account was for PewDie—"pew" to sound like a laser gun, and die for death—but he lost the password and had to create a new account under a new name, so he added Pie.

 

With growth comes a level of attention that makes Mr. Kjellberg uncomfortable.

 

"I'm so central to YouTube now, and that puts me in the spotlight and raises a lot of questions like 'Why is he so big?'" he said. "I'd much rather prefer to have something like 5 million subscribers."

 

Kevin Lin, the chief operating officer of San Francisco-based Twitch TV—an online community for videogamers with live streams of game competitions— said PewDiePie's "strong personality and unique character" helped him achieve a level of success that is hard to crack in traditional forms of media.

 

PewDiePie's ability to draw viewers is valuable to game developers, said Anton Westbergh, chief executive of Sweden's Coffee Stain Studios AB. Coffee Stain developed "Goat Simulator," a game that is wildly popular and profitable, but unpolished and buggy.

 

Mr. Westbergh jokingly describes it as "the world's dumbest game." But PewDiePie's willingness to make videos about Goat Simulator legitimized its existence.

 

"Having guys like PewDiePie playing our game has been tremendous marketing," Mr. Westbergh said. "And for us, there have been no costs involved."

 

PewDiePie's foul language and silly antics can be confusing or offensive to the uninitiated. Mr. Kjellberg said, "I just let go and have fun."

 

Jens Orjeheim, 44, has an 11-year-old son who is a big fan of PewDiePie, but he fails to appreciate the appeal. "I think there are things in society that can be seen as contributing to a positive development," he said. "PewDiePie isn't one of them." He is critical of the fact that Mr. Kjellberg makes money from encouraging children to spend more time in front of screens and elevating the importance of videogames.

 

But Vigor Sörman, founder of a YouTubers network in Sweden, said, "PewDiePie is like a cool friend you have and subscribing to him is almost like Skypeing with him—that's why viewers are such dedicated fans."

 

Write to Sven Grundberg at [email protected] and Jens Hansegard at [email protected]

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie/videos

http://online.wsj.com/articles/youtube-sta...year-1402939896

Read the whole thing. My reaction = lulz wtf lol

What's poignant about this is we have a bona fide source reporting a number. There's been wild speculation through the years about how much these guys make, finally we've got what many would consider a reputable source giving us a number. Is it gospel? No. Is it likely? Probably.

 

Seems like a lot of money to me, then again if he's somehow entertaining 30 million people, maybe he's relatively cheap on a per capita basis.

What's poignant about this is we have a bona fide source reporting a number. There's been wild speculation through the years about how much these guys make, finally we've got what many would consider a reputable source giving us a number. Is it gospel? No. Is it likely? Probably.

 

Seems like a lot of money to me, then again if he's somehow entertaining 30 million people, maybe he's relatively cheap on a per capita basis.

 

True.

 

I also wonder if they get paid when someone chooses "skip ad" or not?

I recently came across this page after trying to figure out how high a few big pages I watch are ranked. I really do not understand what he is doing. I wont be subscribing.

Seems like a lot of money to me, then again if he's somehow entertaining 30 million people, maybe he's relatively cheap on a per capita basis.

 

It's twice as many people as watched the Baseball World Series last year, and you know the big companies spent way more than $4m in advertising for 30 second time slots. This is a full year of ad revenue, so yeah it's fcuking dirt cheap and in a prime demographic.

True.

 

I also wonder if they get paid when someone chooses "skip ad" or not?

 

I think they only get paid for completed video views, at least that's how it works for the video ads I serve on mobile and I think YT is the same way.

Pretty good money for a single 24 year old kid. Clearly it won't last forever, however if he has a good run he's set for life.

 

Other articles state that there are dozens of other YouTubers making a million or more per year, Jenna Marbles, Shaytards, Ray William Johnson, Smosh, etc.

 

 

A buddy of mine works at Maker, was just over there a few weeks ago. So crazy to see that many people working there just to help create content for YouTube!

My take away is who lets their 11 year old kid watch his channel????

that kid clearly needs to put a lawyer on retainer... cough.

 

An interesting insight into something I knew nothing about - thanks for posting

 

Incidentally, after reading I felt compelled to look up: 'Goat Simulator' and this is the description from their website:

 

'Goat Simulator is a small, broken and stupid game. It was made in a couple of weeks so don’t expect a game in the size and scope of GTA with goats. In fact, you’re better off not expecting anything at all actually. To be completely honest, it would be best if you’d spend your $10 on a hula hoop, a pile of bricks, or maybe a real-life goat.'

 

 

I've seen his video before.. a chick I slept with once told me I look like this guy and she was hot about him. Next morning she tried to play a video and after 20 seconds I told her we better go.

 

 

We live in the world where people crave distraction and entertainment. It used to be that you had to be good enough to bypass a gatekeeper or you needed an investment, so there were some quality controls in place. Now the floodgates are open. youtube, self publishing, barriers to entry are non existent. Still you have to be good at what you do to get to the top - unfortunately to me it seems we now live in the world where 'good enough + distraction' is preferable to the choice of 'good entertainment vs no entertainment and time spent better elsewhere', hence less useful or intellectually stimulating content and more CGI.

I've seen his video before.. a chick I slept with once told me I look like this guy and she was hot about him. Next morning she tried to play a video and after 20 seconds I told her we better go.

 

 

We live in the world where people crave distraction and entertainment. It used to be that you had to be good enough to bypass a gatekeeper or you needed an investment, so there were some quality controls in place. Now the floodgates are open. youtube, self publishing, barriers to entry are non existent. Still you have to be good at what you do to get to the top - unfortunately to me it seems we now live in the world where 'good enough + distraction' is preferable to the choice of 'good entertainment vs no entertainment and time spent better elsewhere', hence less useful or intellectually stimulating content and more CGI.

 

Very well said. This is 100% correct in my view. It's a sad indicator of where our society is going.

I enjoy quite a few gaming channels on youtube, but I can't stand 10 seconds of pewdiepie. But what he does obviously work for a huge crowd.

Very well said. This is 100% correct in my view. It's a sad indicator of where our society is going.

 

 

I agree totally. It's wierd bc each previous generation claimed not to understand young people in subsequent generations but I honestly believe the internet created an all time low that is genuine and not just perceived. People have 1000X the information available they ever did before but are they any better informed? Do they use this information productively? No, they watch crap like this to pass the day.

I agree totally. It's wierd bc each previous generation claimed not to understand young people in subsequent generations but I honestly believe the internet created an all time low that is genuine and not just perceived. People have 1000X the information available they ever did before but are they any better informed? Do they use this information productively? No, they watch crap like this to pass the day.

 

My 9 year old watches some of these you tube mine craft play commentator vids. I watch the news channels.

 

When I was 9 I watched Scooby doo and my dad watched the news.

 

It is what it is and congrats to pewdiepie for figuring out what kids today want.

Congrats to him and his success.

 

 

A buddy of mine works at Maker, was just over there a few weeks ago. So crazy to see that many people working there just to help create content for YouTube!

 

I'm sure Disney is taking a large cut of his revenue through Maker ?

barriers to entry are non existent....

 

Do you think that is a bad thing?

 

Don't get me wrong: I don't understand / can't stand that pewdiepie nonsense - but if that's what passes as entertainment today and he's exploited it to it's fullest potential, then good luck to him!

 

 

Do you think that is a bad thing?

 

Yes and no. It has given a chance for those who wished they could do something creative but couldn't find the path to the $... it has helped me personally too. Look, I'm Russian, so I have this silly idea that one should have a self imposed quality control before putting it out for others to see. I respect creators who had walked away from their successful projects when they knew the product quality would suffer if they kept going - Seinfeld, that Calvin and Hobbes guy.

 

We need LESS mindless entertainment, and more emphasis on entertainment that would curate thought, (stand up for example) ignite curiosity, will one to get up and create, design, engineer, code and LIKE doing those things. In a context of benefiting society, I think entertainment fails in the US.

 

 

Who cares? There is so something for everyone, if you don't like it use your remote and switch the channel

I'm obviously in the wrong profession.