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95-454: Matthew Robert Patrick (born November 15, 1986), better known as MatPat , is an American semi-retired YouTuber and internet personality. He is the creator and former host of the YouTube series Game Theory , and its spin-off series Film Theory , Food Theory , and Style Theory , each analyzing various video games, films alongside TV series and web series, food, and fashion respectively. Each of
190-471: A LWIAY video discussing Indian record label T-Series' YouTube channel being projected to surpass his in subscribers. On 5 October, Kjellberg uploaded a diss track against the label titled "Tseries Diss Track", stylized in all caps and later renamed " Bitch Lasagna " in response to their YouTube channel being projected to surpass his in subscribers. The video went on to replace "A Funny Montage" as Kjellberg's most-viewed video. It included some lines mocking
285-445: A YouTube career would be "fucking stupid". Kjellberg has also discussed an enjoyment of Adobe Photoshop , wanting to work on photo manipulation art using the program rather than be in school. Following this passion after he departed from Chalmers, he entered Photoshop contests and almost earned an apprenticeship at a prominent Scandinavian advertising agency. He was also interested in creating content on YouTube; after not earning
380-528: A blog post denying the allegations that the app is privacy-invasive. Kjellberg responded to the allegations in a video, dismissing them as "rumors", and claimed that Nimses was no more invasive than other social media apps. Despite being surpassed by T-Series and the aforementioned controversy, Kjellberg continued to achieve high viewership on the site, mainly propelled by a return to consistent gaming uploads. On 21 June, Kjellberg launched Gaming Week , where he focused on uploading Let's Play videos every day, for
475-449: A career. Meanwhile, in his personal life, he moved to Japan with his wife, Italian Internet personality Marzia . With over 110 million subscribers and 29.4 billion views, his channel still ranks as one of the most-subscribed and viewed on YouTube. His popularity online has been noted to boost sales for the video games he plays, and has allowed him to stir support for charity fundraising drives. In 2016, Time magazine named him as one of
570-539: A change in style: "He began to take more risks. He continued playing video games, but he started experimenting. He did viral challenges, made fun of other YouTubers, and reviewed meme submissions from his fans." Kjellberg has attributed his content around this time as a result of immaturity, boredom with playing video games, YouTube's platform incentives, and the belief that his channel's growth had plateaued. One video cited as being representative of this change featured Kjellberg reading erotic fan fiction about characters from
665-559: A computer with the money he made selling artwork through his grandmother's gallery. Kjellberg then went on to pursue a degree in industrial engineering and management at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, but left the university in 2011. While it has been reported that he left Chalmers to focus on his YouTube career, Kjellberg clarified in 2017 that he had left due to a lack of interest in his course of study. He further expressed that, in general, leaving university to pursue
760-485: A course of action that Kjellberg disagreed with. The outlet Zee News reported that Kjellberg "faced strong criticism for his comments on the heightened tension between Pakistan and India in [the] March 12 issue of Pew News ". Kjellberg issued a clarification on Twitter, expressing that he was not attempting to speak on the broader India–Pakistan relations , but rather on the more specific context of T-Series removing artists' songs from its YouTube channel. On 15 March,
855-421: A creative role and making occasional appearances on the channels, along with GTLive, until mid-2024. While he joked that his decision was inspired by Tom Scott , who had recently ended his decade-long run of posting weekly videos, MatPat said that he and his wife had been working towards the change for years. They also chose a ten-week timeframe when announcing his retirement. He additionally revealed that following
950-432: A deal with the company. On 11 April, T-Series started to seek court orders to remove Kjellberg's "diss tracks" from YouTube . The alleged court order was ruled in favor of T-Series. It was allegedly stated that the complaint against Kjellberg claimed that his songs were "defamatory, disparaging, insulting, and offensive", and noted that comments on the videos were "abusive, vulgar, and also racist in nature." Access to
1045-565: A double major in theater and psychology with a concentration in neuroscience . To fulfill his dream of becoming an actor, MatPat moved to New York after graduating and performing in theater productions to little success, spending two years unemployed. His first YouTube videos were auditions for stage plays. In 2011, he decided to revamp his channel as a "portfolio" which could demonstrate to potential employers his ability to write, research, and edit videos online. Inspired by an Extra Credits episode on tangential learning , MatPat uploaded
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#17329195351141140-550: A fourth Theory channel, and fifth overall, was announced on the Game Theory channel, along with the purchase of their company Theorist Media by startup Lunar X. On February 18, 2023, The Style Theorists was launched. Like the other channels, it focuses on the science, math, history, psychology, and mystery of fashion. It reached a million subscribers three days later. MatPat also made cameo appearances in multiple installments of YouTube Rewind . On August 27, 2023, MatPat hosted
1235-437: A harbor captain, selling prints of his Photoshop art, and working at a hot dog stand. Kjellberg stated that the ability to make videos was more important to him than a prestigious career. Five years later, Kjellberg recalled, "I knew people were big at other types of videos, but there was no one big in gaming, and I didn't know you could make money out of it. It was never like a career that I could just quit college to pursue. It
1330-501: A meme with singer Demi Lovato 's face; the meme jokingly referenced Lovato's struggles with addiction . The meme was posted around the same time Lovato was hospitalized after suffering an opioid overdose. As a result, he received criticism from online users. Kjellberg later deleted the meme, and apologized for the incident. In a video uploaded in early December, Kjellberg promoted several small content creators on YouTube, recommending his viewers to subscribe to them. Among those creators
1425-401: A new show, MatPat's Game Lab , on Google 's paid subscription service, YouTube Premium . The show mainly focused on placing video game players in real-life scenarios mimicking scenarios that occur in video games, such as bomb defusing , parkour , survival and military training . Despite MatPat's interest in developing a second season, YouTube did not announce any further development into
1520-869: A parody and homage to Jack Douglass ' Yesterday I Asked You (YIAY) , where he challenges his audience to create content and reviews the output; and Meme Review , in which he reviews popular Internet memes . Kjellberg began a book club -styled series, with his own enjoyment with the series also being noted. Kjellberg began Pew News , a satirical series where he presents and discusses recent news stories while in-character, often as fictional characters named after CNN hosts, such as Gloria Borger , Poppy Harlow , or Mary Katharine Ham and sometimes, an amalgamation of these names. Pew News parodies both mainstream news channels, such as CNN, and YouTube news channels, such as DramaAlert. Topics covered by Kjellberg on Pew News included culture war topics he previously avoided. In May 2018, Kjellberg attracted controversy for using
1615-589: A platform for the series. MatPat, alongside Cordato, Sundman, Hourigan, and Edwards, also contributed their likeness and voices for self-parodied opponents in the video game adaptation. The game was released on Steam on September 9, 2021. A character based on MatPat was included in The Walking Dead: Road to Survival (2015). In 2017, MatPat and his wife Stephanie participated in Nintendo 's Pokkén Tournament DX Invitational , an event held during E3 2017. He
1710-470: A promotional stunt" for Scare PewDiePie . Kjellberg nevertheless continued to express discontent with the platform, aiming further criticism at YouTube's changing algorithm negatively affecting viewership for content creators. The site's algorithm began to focus on watch time statistics and "favor videos that drew daily viewers, higher engagement (more likes and comments) and cleaner 'ad-friendly' fare." Kjellberg later recounted to The New York Times that
1805-448: A relaunching of The Game Station, Maker's gaming network. Kjellberg's subscriber count surpassed that of the leading channel, Smosh, on 15 August. Kjellberg received a certificate from Guinness World Records for becoming the most subscribed YouTuber. In November, YouTube's Spotlight channel overtook Kjellberg's as the most-subscribed. Later in the month, Kjellberg proclaimed his dislike of YouTube's new comment system , and disabled
1900-970: A show starring Ryan Kaji, the then-seven-year-old host of the toy review and vlog channel Ryan's World , began airing on the Nick Jr. Channel ; later that year, NBC debuted A Little Late with Lilly Singh in its 1:35 am ET time slot. Singh's digital prominence was cited as a reason for her selection as host by then-NBC Entertainment co-chairman George Cheeks. In 2024, Canadian YouTuber Jasmeet Singh Raina , otherwise known as JusReign, released his half-hour comedy series titled Late Bloomer . In addition to expanding into other forms of media, several YouTubers have used their influence to raise money for charity or speak out on social issues . Notable examples include James Stephen "MrBeast" Donaldson and Mark Rober , who helped raise over $ 20 million with their Team Trees campaign, and Felipe Neto , who publicly criticized Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro for his response to
1995-508: A sign that read "Death to all Jews ". He alleged his intent was not against Jews, but to showcase how "crazy" the modern world and website were. The video received negative attention and caused a media backlash, with various publications writing critically of Kjellberg's defense of his controversial content as jokes taken out of context, and opining that his content helps normalise ideologies such as fascism , neo-Nazism , and white supremacy . The Wall Street Journal alleged that this
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#17329195351142090-431: A substantial following and was one of the fastest growing channels in 2012 and 2013, before becoming the most-subscribed on YouTube on 15 August 2013. From 29 December 2014 to 14 February 2017, Kjellberg's channel was also the most-viewed on the platform . During this period, his content shifted focus from Let's Plays and diversified to include vlogs , comedy shorts, formatted shows, and music videos. Kjellberg's content
2185-699: A war memorial, and its mention by the Christchurch mosque shooter. While live streaming the following day, Kjellberg showed a plane flying over New York City with a banner attached saying "Subscribe to PewDiePie", and called it "a nice little wrap up" to the meme. The remainder of 2019 saw further controversies for PewDiePie. In early June, Kjellberg uploaded a video on YouTube sponsored by social media application Nimses. The app spiked in popularity after he promoted it on his YouTube channel. Controversy ensued when Nimses' location features and privacy settings led fans of Kjellberg and fellow YouTubers to believe that he
2280-530: Is a Swedish YouTuber known for his comedic videos. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage has made him one of the most noted online personalities and content creators. He has been portrayed in media as a figurehead for YouTube, especially in the genre of gaming. Born and raised in Gothenburg , Kjellberg registered his YouTube channel "PewDiePie" in 2010, primarily posting Let's Play videos of horror and action video games. His channel gained
2375-508: Is a co-producer of the Broadway play Grey House . MatPat's videos about the video game series Five Nights at Freddy's have made him prominent within the series' fandom , which is known for its dedication to theorizing about the underlying narrative of the series. He made a cameo appearance in its 2023 film adaptation as a waiter. In 2024, he collaborated with the series for a Youtooz figure and pins. In total, he made 68 theory videos on
2470-574: Is a corporate executive. During his childhood, Kjellberg was interested in art and has detailed that he would draw popular video game characters such as Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog , as well as play video games on his Super Nintendo Entertainment System , such as Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest . During high school, he frequently played video games in his bedroom and would skip classes to join at an Internet café with friends. During his last year of high school, he bought
2565-510: Is a type of content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube , typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006, and subsequently appeared in the 2006 Time Person of the Year issue. Influential YouTubers are frequently described as microcelebrities . Since YouTube
2660-622: Is now actively playing more things that interest him." Around 2014, as YouTube began to invest more deeply in creators, the company developed a classification system for its stable of stars. Either they followed the SNL model, using YouTube to springboard into TV or film, or they took the Oprah path, building empires of fervent audiences right on YouTube. PewDiePie was one of the best Oprahs. He lived and breathed YouTube. In March 2014, he updated his video production output, announcing he would be scaling down
2755-427: Is widely conceived as a bottom-up social media video platform, microcelebrities do not appear to be involved with the established and commercial system of celebrity culture; rather, they appear self-governed and independent. This appearance, in turn, leads to YouTubers being seen as more relatable and authentic, also fostered by the direct connection between artist and viewer using the medium of YouTube. In 2014,
2850-721: The COVID-19 pandemic . In 2020, Time named Neto and fellow YouTuber JoJo Siwa to its annual list of the world's 100 most influential people. Due to this level of influence, in 2013, University of Michigan associate professor Robert Hovden argued for the creation of a new index similar to the g-index and h-index to evaluate a person's output and impact on YouTube. YouTubers can earn revenue from Google AdSense . Additionally, they can supplement their income through affiliate links , merchandising , and 3rd party memberships using platforms such as Patreon . Popular channels have garnered corporate sponsors, who pay to be included in
2945-603: The Indian background of T-Series, which were described as racist in media publications. On the prospect of being surpassed by T-Series in terms of subscriber count, he stated he was not concerned about T-Series, but feared the consequences a corporate channel surpassing him would have for YouTube as a video-sharing platform. Online campaigns to "subscribe to PewDiePie" greatly assisted Kjellberg's subscriber growth; his channel gained 6.62 million subscribers in December 2018 alone, compared to
MatPat - Misplaced Pages Continue
3040-543: The Streamy Awards , which scored 15 million views across digital platforms in its first 48 hours, beating the 2021 record of 9.7 million views as the most-watched show in its 13-year history. On January 9, 2024, MatPat announced in a video titled "Goodbye Internet" that he would step down from hosting the channels on March 9, and would be replaced by a different member of the Theorist team for each channel, while still retaining
3135-708: The University of Southern California surveyed 13–18-year-olds in the United States on whether ten YouTube celebrities or ten traditional celebrities were more influential; YouTube personalities took the first five spots of the ranking, with the YouTube duo Smosh ranking as most influential. The survey was repeated in 2015, and found six YouTubers on the first ranks, with KSI ranked as most influential. Several YouTubers and their influence were subjects for scientific studies, such as Zoella , and PewDiePie . Numerous studies in
3230-519: The most-disliked on the entire platform . "I've made some jokes that people don't like. And you know what? If people don't like my jokes, I fully respect that. I fully understand that. I acknowledge that I took things too far, and that's something I definitely will keep in mind moving forward, but the reaction and the outrage have been nothing but insanity." In a video posted in January 2017, Kjellberg featured two paid individuals on Fiverr , asked to hold
3325-448: The 7 million subscribers gained in all of 2017. On 12 March, Kjellberg uploaded an episode of his show Pew News in which he mentioned the 2019 Pulwama terrorist attack , where 40 Indian paramilitary troops were killed by a member of a Pakistan-based jihadist group. Following the attack, T-Series removed several songs by Pakistani artists on its YouTube channel after being pressurised by political party MNS to isolate Pakistani artists,
3420-520: The Disney film Frozen . Then-CEO of The Walt Disney Company Bob Iger was reportedly angered by the video, putting Kjellberg's deal with Maker Studios, a Disney subsidiary, in jeopardy. On 6 September 2015, his YouTube account became the first to surpass 10 billion video views. Later in the month, Kjellberg teased about having a role in a web television series, stating that he was in Los Angeles for
3515-530: The Monday streams became part of YouTube Gaming Primetime, and were therefore scheduled for 3 pm to 5 pm PST. It also included a voting mechanism, which can be used by MatPat to conduct quick polls. As of March 2022, GTLive had 2.94 million subscribers and over 649 million views. As of 2022, the GTLive channel continues to upload mostly unedited, pre-recorded content. On June 8, 2016, MatPat posted via his YouTube channel
3610-449: The No. 1 YouTube channel. Kjellberg signed with Maker Studios in December, a multi-channel network (MCN) that drives the growth of the channels under it. Prior to his partnership with Maker, he was signed to Machinima , which operates as a rival to Maker. Kjellberg expressed feeling neglected by Machinima, and frustrated with their treatment; he hired a lawyer to free him from his contract with
3705-543: The Partner Program, which allows channels that meet certain metrics (currently 1000 subscribers and 4000 public watch hours in the past year) to run ads on their videos and earn money doing so. The Partner Program allowed for the first time YouTube personalities to make a living from the platform. During the 2010s, the ability for YouTubers to achieve wealth and fame due to success on the platform increased dramatically. In December 2010, Business Insider estimated that
3800-837: The Pope to encourage others to "fight for what's right" and gifted him a copy of Undertale (2015), saying that its recurrent theme of mercy fits the Pope's proclamation that 2016 would be the "year of mercy for the Catholic church ". In 2019, The Game Theorists held a 9-hour charity livestream that generated $ 1.3 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital . The stream included guests Markiplier , TheOdd1sOut , Rosanna Pansino , Scott Cawthon , and others. Two other charity streams were held for St. Jude in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The third Theory channel, and fourth overall; The Food Theorists, began releasing videos in July 2020. The Food Theorists, using
3895-558: The apprenticeship, he sold limited edition prints of his photoshopped images to purchase a computer to work on YouTube videos. Kjellberg originally registered a YouTube account under the name "Pewdie" in December 2006; he explained that "pew" represents the sound of lasers and "die" refers to dying. After initially forgetting the password to this account, he registered the "PewDiePie" YouTube channel on 29 April 2010. Following his exit from Chalmers, his parents refused to financially support him, so he funded his early videos by working as
MatPat - Misplaced Pages Continue
3990-613: The channels as a regular host in March 2024, although he continued to make minor appearances and host GTLive until October. Matthew Robert Patrick was born on November 15, 1986, in Medina, Ohio . He has Polish , Czech and Slovak ancestry. He was nicknamed "MatPat" by his friends in sixth grade. An only child, MatPat was interested in video games, theater and school early on. He was the valedictorian of his high school and received an academic scholarship to Duke University , graduating in 2009 with
4085-682: The comment section on all of his videos. On 23 December 2013, his channel overtook the YouTube Spotlight channel, to once again become the most-subscribed on YouTube . Throughout 2012 and 2013, Kjellberg's channel was one of the fastest-growing on YouTube, in terms of subscribers gained. Billboard reported that the channel gained more subscribers than any other channel in 2013. In 2014, Kjellberg's commentaries, originally best known for featuring horror video games, began to feature games that interested him regardless of genre. Kotaku wrote: "Instead of limiting himself to horror games, Pewdiepie
4180-629: The deal, the head of Maker Studios, Courtney Holt, stated, "we're thrilled to be doubling down with Felix." Along with Kjellberg, eight other YouTubers signed to the network upon its creation: CinnamonToastKen, Marzia , Dodger, Emma Blackery , Jacksepticeye , Jelly, Kwebbelkop, and Markiplier . Three YouTubers – Cryaotic, KickThePJ , and Slogoman – would later join the sub-network after its launch. Throughout 2016, Kjellberg's video style change became more apparent. While producing fewer Let's Play videos about horror games, his style of humour changed; he commented that he had shifted to drier humour, which
4275-407: The departure, he would continue to pursue creative projects. One such project includes a lo-fi mystery series entitled LoreFi ; its channel was launched in summer 2024. MatPat was involved in the web series Terrain of Magical Expertise . He gained the series more attention and exposure by uploading a remastered version of the first episode on the channel on October 1, 2013, and then providing
4370-608: The different series is posted on individual channels, each named after the respective series. In addition to the creation of his channels, MatPat narrated the majority of the videos that are presented on his channels before his departure on March 9, 2024. MatPat has also created the gaming channel GTLive and hosted the YouTube Premium series MatPat's Game Lab and the 2023 Streamy Awards . As of May 2024, MatPat has amassed over 40 million subscribers, as well as over nine billion total views across all five of his channels. He departed
4465-606: The entire platform at once. When the ads were introduced in August 2006, YouTube CEO Chad Hurley rejected the idea of expanding into areas of advertising seen as less user-friendly at the time, saying, "We think there are better ways for people to engage with brands than forcing them to watch a commercial before seeing content. You could ask anyone on the net if they enjoy that experience and they'd probably say no." However, YouTube began running in-video ads in August 2007, with preroll ads introduced in 2008. In December 2007, YouTube launched
4560-557: The event, with particular criticism aimed at The Wall Street Journal for how their reporting portrayed references to Nazis in some of his videos. The Wall Street Journal response referred to another video with a YouTuber going by the name Jesus Christ, stating "Hitler did absolutely nothing wrong," as well as Kjellberg's response to the Fiverr suspension of the Jesus Christ account. According to Social Blade, his channel's total view count
4655-540: The first episode of "Game Theory" on April 18, 2011. It discussed the quantum mechanics in the 1995 video game Chrono Trigger . The channel slowly gained subscribers and his videos were posted on the front pages of sites such as ScrewAttack and GameTrailers . In 2012, MatPat introduced two new segments hosted by fellow YouTubers Gaijin Goombah and Ronnie Edwards, and Austin Hourigan's "The SCIENCE!". In 2015, MatPat launched
4750-410: The first time in several years. Among the games played was Minecraft , which he was openly surprised by how much he enjoyed it. Kjellberg largely centered his videos around Minecraft in the following months, with the content featured in his Meme Review and LWIAY series also becoming focused on the game. Although he had played Minecraft early in his YouTube career, he had very rarely played it in
4845-562: The following years due to his reluctance to join the trend of Minecraft YouTubers, who he felt only played the game because of its popularity rather than for their enjoyment. This lean into Minecraft was largely successful for Kjellberg, who received a large increase in views, achieving over 570 million views during the month of July, the most received by his channel in a single month since at least October 2016. His daily number of new subscribers grew from 25,000 to 45,000 during that month. Despite this success, Kjellberg insisted that he played
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#17329195351144940-520: The forums of his Broarmy.net website. He stated in a later video that disabling comments made him happier. In the same year, Kjellberg began streaming videos of his co-hosted series, BroKen , onto MLG.tv . He co-hosted the series with Kenneth Morrison, better known as CinnamonToastKen, who is also a video game commentator. In October 2014, Kjellberg hinted at the possibility that he would not renew his contract with Maker Studios upon its expiration in December 2014. He had expressed his frustrations with
5035-760: The frequency of uploads. In August 2014, Maker Studios released an official PewDiePie app for the iPhone, allowing audiences to view his videos, create custom favourite video feeds, and share videos with others. Later in the month, Kjellberg uploaded a video, announcing he would permanently disable comments on his YouTube videos. He cited most comments being spam and self-advertising and was not what he wanted to see. After disabling comments, Kjellberg continued interacting with his audience through Twitter and Reddit . On 13 October, he decided to allow comments on his videos once more, albeit only after approval. However, he expressed that he toggled his comment settings this way so that he could redirect viewers to instead comment on
5130-427: The game for his enjoyment, and did not want to become solely a " Minecraft YouTuber", stating, "If Minecraft gets boring, I can just move on to other things." On 25 August, Kjellberg became the first individual YouTuber to surpass 100 million subscribers. His channel was the second overall to reach the milestone, after T-Series, who passed the mark earlier in the year. YouTube tweeted a congratulatory post to note
5225-466: The game. The video clip of the incident quickly went viral despite Kjellberg deleting it, and garnered widespread criticism across the internet. Kjellberg later apologised for the incident in a short video uploaded to his YouTube channel. As a response to the incident, Campo Santo co-founder Sean Vanaman referred to Kjellberg as "worse than a closeted racist", announced that Campo Santo would file copyright strikes against Kjellberg's videos featuring
5320-452: The highest earner on YouTube during the previous year was Dane Boedigheimer , creator of the web series Annoying Orange , with an income of around $ 257,000. Five years later, Forbes released its first list of the highest-earning YouTube personalities, estimating top earner PewDiePie 's income during the previous fiscal year at $ 12 million, more than some popular actors such as Cameron Diaz or Gwyneth Paltrow . Forbes estimated that
5415-496: The issue of YouTube accounts experiencing an unexplained loss of subscribers and views. Kjellberg stated that many people working with YouTube "have no idea of the struggles that came with being a content creator." A Google representative issued a statement to Ars Technica , stating that no decreases in subscriber numbers were out of the ordinary. Kjellberg's video was uploaded as his channel approached 50 million subscribers, and he stated he would delete his channel once it reached
5510-503: The late 2010s found that YouTuber was the most desired career by children. YouTubers' influence has also extended beyond the platform. Some have ventured into mainstream forms of media, such as Liza Koshy , who, among other pursuits, hosted the revival of the Nickelodeon show Double Dare and starred in the Netflix dance-comedy film Work It . In 2019, Ryan's Mystery Playdate ,
5605-416: The milestone. On 8 December, his channel reached 50 million subscribers, becoming the first YouTube channel to do so. He shortly thereafter received a custom Play Button from YouTube as a reward for reaching this milestone. Ultimately, Kjellberg did not delete his PewDiePie channel, and instead deleted a smaller second channel he had then-recently created. His threat to quit was also reported to be "in fact,
5700-527: The music videos on YouTube was later blocked in India. The two parties were reported to have come to a settlement later that July, although Kjellberg's videos remained blocked in India. On 28 April, Kjellberg uploaded a video entitled "Ending the Subscribe to Pewdiepie Meme" in which he asked his followers to refrain from using the phrase "Subscribe to PewDiePie", due to incidents such as the phrase being graffitied on
5795-480: The network a share of his YouTube ad revenue. In 2014 alone, Kjellberg's account amassed nearly 14 million new subscribers, and over 4.1 billion total views. Both figures were higher than any other user. According to Social Blade , Kjellberg's channel became the most-viewed channel on the website on 29 December 2014, having amassed over 7 billion views by that date. The New York Times retrospectively noted that around 2015, Kjellberg's video content experienced
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#17329195351145890-860: The network. Early in his YouTube career, Kjellberg used jokes about rape in his videos. A satirical video, created by Let's Play YouTuber Michael " Slowbeef " Sawyer, mocking Kjellberg's content highlighted his usage of such jokes. Shortly after, Kjellberg attracted criticism and controversy for the jokes, and in October 2012, he addressed the issue through a Tumblr post, writing, "I just wanted to make clear that I'm no longer making rape jokes, as I mentioned before I'm not looking to hurt anyone and I apologise if it ever did." The Globe and Mail stated " unlike many young gamers, he listened when fans and critics alike pointed out their harmful nature, and resolved to stop making rape jokes." On 18 February 2013, Kjellberg's channel reached 5 million subscribers. In April, he
5985-495: The new algorithm. As a satirical knock on the changing algorithms, Kjellberg made several videos asking viewers to help the video reach specific engagement milestones such as one million likes, dislikes, and comments. The videos were successful, promptly achieving the goal Kjellberg requested from viewers; the dislike video accumulated over 5 million dislikes before YouTube made such figures private in November 2021, becoming one of
6080-469: The opportunity to view exclusive content by clicking on the ad. The first such ad was for the Fox show Prison Break and solely appeared above videos on Paris Hilton's channel. At the time, the channel was operated by Warner Bros. Records and was cited as the first brand channel on the platform. Participatory video ads were designed to link specific promotions to specific channels rather than advertising on
6175-462: The perpetrator of the live-streamed Christchurch mosque shootings said "remember lads, subscribe to PewDiePie" before carrying out the attacks. In response, Kjellberg tweeted his disgust after having his name associated with the attack, and offered condolences to those affected by the tragedy. Various journalists covering the shooting reported that Kjellberg was not complicit with the shootings. The New York Times suggested that Kjellberg's mention in
6270-459: The platform's boundaries were widely unknown to creators. He responded to the algorithm changes by uploading vlogs that "mixed earnest schmaltz [...] with inanity." Additionally, he "enjoyed wading into the meme culture and edgelord humor that accompanied Donald Trump 's ascent". During this late 2016 and early 2017 period Kjellberg uploaded a string of videos addressing what Kjellberg saw as negative effects to content creator viewership caused by
6365-605: The project. He was also a part of the YouTube Premium series Scare PewDiePie (2016), created by PewDiePie , and the third season of Escape the Night (2018), created by Joey Graceffa , in addition to cameo appearances in Markiplier 's YouTube Original films A Heist with Markiplier (2019) and In Space with Markiplier (2022). On May 29, 2016, MatPat and eleven other YouTubers met with Pope Francis for an hour. MatPat asked
6460-415: The same style as its predecessors, blends food science with psychology, physiology, and conspiracy. The channel was being developed for two years before its launch. As of October 2022, The Food Theorists had 4 million subscribers and over 499 million views. It had reached 1 million subscribers exactly a week after launch and had then gained another million over the succeeding 4 months. On December 20, 2022,
6555-1028: The series. In May 2024, MatPat appeared on an episode of Wired 's "Web's Most Searched Questions" series. MatPat is married to Stephanie ( née Cordato), whom he met while studying at Duke University . The two became close after creating a Legend of Zelda parody called "The Epic of Stew". They married on May 19, 2012. Their son Oliver was born in 2018, and the family currently divides their time between living in California and North Carolina . (The Warp Zone) (Random Encounters featuring Markiplier and The Completionist ) (NateWantsToBattle) (Peter Hollens) (The Warp Zone) (Random Encounters) (Random Encounters featuring various) ( Schmoyoho ) (Random Encounters) (Dad featuring Corey Graves ) (Dufixklusiv) (The Stupendium) (Random Encounters) (CG5 featuring Black Gryph0n) (The Chalkeaters featuring Black Gryph0n, DHeusta, The Stupendium, and OR3O) YouTuber A YouTuber
6650-441: The shootings was a ploy for the news media to attribute blame to Kjellberg, and to otherwise inflame political tensions. After briefly gaining the title several times in early 2019, on 27 March, T-Series surpassed Kjellberg in subscribers to become the most-subscribed channel on YouTube . On 31 March, Kjellberg posted another diss track music video, titled " Congratulations ", sarcastically congratulating T-Series for obtaining
6745-433: The show's shooting. Although not many details were revealed at the time, it was later announced that the series would be an original YouTube Red series, titled Scare PewDiePie . The series premiered the following February. In January 2016, Kjellberg announced a partnership with Maker Studios to produce Revelmode, a sub-network of Maker, that would showcase Kjellberg and his friends on YouTube in original series. After
6840-438: The spin-off channel "Film Theory", which covers movies and television. This channel reached over one million subscribers in a month. He occasionally uploaded videos commenting on the gaming market and gamers, as well as on other matters that he deemed noteworthy. MatPat started a Let's Play series called GTLive on August 26, 2015, where he posts gameplay and video reactions with his wife Stephanie. Starting on October 3, 2016,
6935-400: The studio's game Firewatch , and encouraged other game developers to do the same. Amidst the controversy stirred up by the incident, it was brought to light that Kjellberg was following several prominent far-right and white supremacist figures on Twitter, such as Stefan Molyneux , Carl Benjamin and Lauren Southern . He later deactivated his Twitter account and unfollowed everyone he
7030-590: The studio's parent company, Disney. Kjellberg mulled the option of launching his own network. However, in light of news outlets reporting his disinterest with Maker, he tweeted, "I feel like I was misquoted in The WSJ , and I'm really happy with the work that Maker has been doing for me." Kjellberg ultimately continued creating videos under Maker. His relationship with Maker saw the network launch an official PewDiePie website, app, and online store to sell merchandise, while Kjellberg promoted Maker's media interests, and gave
7125-424: The tenth-highest earner that year was Rosanna Pansino at $ 2.5 million. That year, NME stated that " vlogging has become big business." The rapid influx of wealth within the YouTube community has led some to criticize YouTubers for focusing on earnings more than the creativity and connection with their fanbase that some claim was at the heart of the platform before expanded monetization. In August 2021, it
7220-522: The term "Twitch thots" in a video that featured him watching a compilation of female Twitch streamers. Alinity, a streamer featured in the video, responded by making a copyright claim against his video, which she stated was later removed by CollabDRM, a company that strikes videos on behalf of creators. Alinity stated that her reaction was caused by "the rampant sexism in online communities ", arguing that Kjellberg's comments degraded women; she refused to accept Kjellberg's apology. In July, Kjellberg posted
7315-471: The things that made him famous. He's doing fewer Let's Plays of horror games like Amnesia ," and adding, "the PewDiePie of 2016 can still be immature, sure, but [...] a defining aspect of recent PewDiePie videos is existential angst , as he describes the bleak reality of making content for a machine he cannot fully control or understand." On 2 December 2016, he uploaded a video discussing his frustration with
7410-693: The title of Fridays with PewDiePie . The series was a weekly deviation from the Let's Play videos that formed most of his content output at the time, and often featured vlogs , and Kjellberg completing viewer requests. By December 2011, Kjellberg's channel had around 60,000 subscribers, before rapidly increasing in 2012. Around the time his channel earned 700,000 subscribers, Kjellberg spoke at Nonick Conference 2012. July 2012 saw his channel reaching 1 million subscribers, and it reached 2 million subscribers in September. In October, OpenSlate ranked Kjellberg's channel as
7505-435: The title. In the music video, Kjellberg mocked T-Series and its actions, alleging T-Series was founded to sell pirated songs and mocking them for sending him a cease and desist letter after "Bitch Lasagna". Following the video's release, Kjellberg temporarily regained the most-subscribed position over T-Series. On 9 April, Kjellberg announced that he would live-stream exclusively on streaming service DLive , as part of
7600-437: The videos. In 2018, Walmart , Nordstrom , and others sought YouTube stars as influencers . In the early days of YouTube, there was no way to monetize videos on the platform. Much of the site's content was homemade and produced by hobbyists with no plans for making money on the site. The first targeted advertising on the site came in the form of participatory video ads, which were videos in their own right that offered users
7695-458: The world's 100 most influential people . Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg was born on 24 October 1989 in Gothenburg , where he was also raised. He was born to Lotta Kristine Johanna ( née Hellstrand, born 1958) and Ulf Christian Kjellberg (born 1957), and grew up with his older sister, Fanny. His mother, a former chief information officer (CIO), was named the 2010 CIO of the Year in Sweden. His father
7790-734: Was "E;R", whom Kjellberg highlighted for a video essay on Netflix 's Death Note . Shortly thereafter, The Verge ' s Julia Alexander noted that the video in question used imagery of the Charlottesville car attack to joke about the murder of Heather Hyer, and that E;R's channel included frequent use of racist, sexist, anti-semitic, and homophobic content. In December 2018, Vox reported that "E;R" also contained white supremacist messaging. After online criticism, he described his posting as an "oopsie" and asserted that he had posted it "recommending someone for their anime review", rather than any intention to promote antisemitism. Kjellberg said he
7885-542: Was already noted for its polarizing reception among general audiences online, but in the late 2010s, it became more controversial and attracted increased media scrutiny. In 2019, following a public competition with Indian record label T-Series , Kjellberg was overtaken as the most-subscribed YouTube channel. Kjellberg also became more reserved online, uploading less consistently and taking frequent breaks from Internet use. He eventually semi-retired from YouTube, choosing to upload less frequently for his enjoyment rather than as
7980-669: Was covered in The New York Times after surpassing 6 million subscribers. In May 2013, at the inaugural Starcount Social Stars Awards in Singapore, Kjellberg won the award for "Swedish Social Star". Nominated alongside Jenna Marbles , Smosh , and Toby Turner , he won the award for "Most Popular Social Show". In July 2013, he overtook Jenna Marbles to become the second most-subscribed YouTube user, and reached 10 million subscribers on 9 July 2013. In August, Kjellberg signed with Maker's gaming sub-network, Polaris. Polaris functioned as
8075-435: Was in the works prior to the aforementioned allegations of antisemitic themes in his videos. Business Insider detailed that Kjellberg's first stream amassed around 60,000 viewers, and that Netglow had accumulated 93,000 subscribers to that point. In September, while Kjellberg was live-streaming gameplay of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to his YouTube channel, he used the ethnic slur " nigger " towards another player in
8170-453: Was just something I loved to do." In his early years as a YouTube creator, Kjellberg focused on video game commentaries, most notably of horror and action video games. Some of his earliest videos featured commentaries of mainstream video games including Minecraft and Call of Duty , although he was particularly noted for his Let's Plays of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and its related mods . On these videos, Kjellberg has stated "I
8265-513: Was largely unaware of E;R's content apart from the Death Note video essay, revoked his recommendation of the channel, and edited his video to remove the reference. On 27 December 2018, Kjellberg uploaded "YouTube Rewind 2018 but it's actually good", in response to the generally negatively-received YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind , which was originally uploaded by YouTube's Spotlight channel . In September 2018, Kjellberg uploaded
8360-567: Was not the first time Kjellberg had used antisemitic language and imagery in his videos. Kjellberg and the two individuals later apologised, but the event led Maker Studios to cut their ties with Kjellberg and Google to drop him from the Google Preferred advertising program and cancel the upcoming second season of the Scare PewDiePie YouTube Red series. Ultimately, Kjellberg apologised, but strongly rebuked media coverage of
8455-476: Was often not understood by younger viewers. He examined his older videos, and while noting the stylistic changes he had undergone, he expressed specific regret for his casual use of words like gay or retarded in a derogatory sense. In December 2016, Kotaku ' s Patricia Hernandez wrote about his stylistic changes, explaining that "over the last year, the PewDiePie channel has also had an underlying friction, as Kjellberg slowly distances himself from many of
8550-640: Was paired with Allister Singh, the only pro-Pokkén Tournament player in the event. His team eventually won the tournament. MatPat voiced Computron in the animated series Transformers: Titans Return (2017). In 2016, MatPat hosted the go90 reality series The Runner . In 2019, MatPat partnered with Nickelodeon to make the show Fact or Nicktion . In this show, MatPat examined various phenomena in Nickelodeon shows, such as SpongeBob SquarePants , Avatar: The Last Airbender , and Rugrats to determine whether they could or couldn't happen in real life. MatPat
8645-648: Was previously following, stating "What I don't like is the constant posturing that goes on there. People just can't seem to help themselves from pointing out what is good and what is bad, or how others are bad and you are good." In 2018, Paul MacInnes of The Guardian wrote about Kjellberg's YouTube content; he noted that each week Kjellberg posted videos featuring one of three series formats, comparing this uploading pattern to television programming . The three series listed were You Laugh You Lose , which features Kjellberg watching humorous video clips while trying to not laugh; Last Week I Asked You ( LWIAY ), having begun as
8740-412: Was promoting a privacy-invasive app, with some fans suspecting the app of being a pyramid scheme due to a referral program in the app that offered more in-application currency . The Pirate Party Germany criticized his promotion of Nimses, warning that Kjellberg was promoting a potentially harmful app to a large audience. Andrey Boborykin, the head of marketing and communications at Nimses, published
8835-655: Was reported Kevin Paffrath made $ 5 million in just the first 3 months of 2021 and his YouTube analytics showed he made "several million" in ad revenue within the prior 12 months. By 2021, YouTuber earnings had expanded even more, with Forbes estimating that the highest earner that year was MrBeast at $ 51 million. PewDiePie Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg ( / ˈ ʃ ɛ l b ɜːr ɡ / SHEL -burg , Swedish: [ˈfěːlɪks ˈǎrːvɪd ɵlf ˈɕɛ̂lːbærj] ; born 24 October 1989), better known as PewDiePie ( / ˈ p juː d iː p aɪ / PEW -dee-py ),
8930-581: Was so shy back then," and added, "It was so weird to me, sitting alone in a room talking into a microphone. That was unheard of back at the time. No one really did it." Kjellberg's oldest video available for viewing is titled " Minecraft Multiplayer Fun ". Uploaded on 2 October 2010, the video is noted for containing mainly Swedish commentary from Kjellberg, rather than the English language he would later employ in his videos. The video has amassed over 21 million video views as of August 2022. Starting on 2 September 2011, he also began posting weekly vlogs under
9025-549: Was surpassed by the Indian record label T-Series at the top of YouTube's view rankings on 14 February. In April, while still continuing to upload new content onto YouTube, Kjellberg created Netglow, a crowdsourced channel on the livestreaming service Twitch . On Netglow, he started streaming Best Club , a weekly live stream show. Best Club premiered on 9 April, with its first episode featuring Brad Smith alongside Kjellberg. Kjellberg commented that his decision to create Netglow
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