2010–2012: early years

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.^[12][16][17] After initially forgetting the password to this account, he registered the "PewDiePie" YouTube channel on 29 April 2010.^[16] Following his exit from Chalmers, his parents refused to financially support him,^[16] so he funded his early videos by working as a harbor captain, selling prints of his Photoshop art, and working at a hot dog stand.^{[‡ 3][18]} Kjellberg stated that the ability to make videos was more important to him than a prestigious career.^[18] 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 was just something I loved to do."^[18]

In his early years as a YouTube creator, Kjellberg focused on video game commentaries, most notably of horror and action video games.^[19][20][21] 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.^[22][23] On these videos, Kjellberg has stated "I 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."^[13] Kjellberg's oldest video available for viewing is titled "Minecraft Multiplayer Fun".^[22] 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.^[22] The video has amassed over 21 million video views as of August 2022.^{[‡ 4]}

Starting on 2 September 2011, he also began posting weekly vlogs under the title of Fridays with PewDiePie.^[13] 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.^[13][24]

Fan art of Kjellberg from 2012, depicting him as a character from Happy Wheels

By December 2011, Kjellberg's channel had around 60,000 subscribers,^[16] before rapidly increasing in 2012. Around the time his channel earned 700,000 subscribers, Kjellberg spoke at Nonick Conference 2012.^[25][26] July 2012 saw his channel reaching 1 million subscribers,^[8] and it reached 2 million subscribers in September.^[19] In October, OpenSlate ranked Kjellberg's channel as the No. 1 YouTube channel.^[27] Kjellberg signed with Maker Studios in December, a multi-channel network (MCN) that drives the growth of the channels under it.^[16] Prior to his partnership with Maker, he was signed to Machinima, which operates as a rival to Maker.^[28] Kjellberg expressed feeling neglected by Machinima, and frustrated with their treatment; he hired a lawyer to free him from his contract with the network.^[28]

Early in his YouTube career, Kjellberg used jokes about rape in his videos.^[29] A satirical video, created by Let's Play YouTuber Michael "Slowbeef" Sawyer, mocking Kjellberg's content highlighted his usage of such jokes.^[30] 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."^{[‡ 5]} 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."^[29]

2013–2014: becoming the most-subscribed user and continued growth

On 18 February 2013, Kjellberg's channel reached 5 million subscribers.^[16] In April, he was covered in The New York Times after surpassing 6 million subscribers.^[31] In May 2013, at the inaugural Starcount Social Stars Awards in Singapore, Kjellberg won the award for "Swedish Social Star".^[32] Competing against Jenna Marbles, Smosh, and Toby Turner,^[33] he won the award for "Most Popular Social Show".^[34] In July 2013, he overtook Jenna Marbles to become the second most-subscribed YouTube user,^[35] and reached 10 million subscribers on 9 July 2013.^[16][36] In August, Kjellberg signed with Maker's gaming sub-network, Polaris.^[37] Polaris functioned as a relaunching of The Game Station, Maker's gaming network.^[38]

Kjellberg's subscriber count surpassed that of the leading channel, Smosh, on 15 August.^[39] Kjellberg received a certificate from Guinness World Records for becoming the most subscribed YouTuber.^[40] In November, YouTube's Spotlight channel overtook Kjellberg's as the most-subscribed.^[41] Later in the month, Kjellberg proclaimed his dislike of YouTube's new comment system, and disabled the comment section on all of his videos.^[42] On 23 December 2013, his channel overtook the YouTube Spotlight channel, to once again become the most-subscribed on YouTube.^[43][44] Throughout 2012 and 2013, Kjellberg's channel was one of the fastest-growing on YouTube, in terms of subscribers gained.^[45] Billboard reported that the channel gained more subscribers than any other channel in 2013.^[46]

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 is now actively playing more things that interest him."^[22]

In March 2014, he updated his video production output, announcing he would be scaling down the frequency of uploads.^[48] 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.^[49] Later in the month, Kjellberg uploaded a video, announcing he would permanently disable comments on his YouTube videos.^[50] He cited most comments being spam and self-advertising and was not what he wanted to see.^[51] After disabling comments, Kjellberg continued interacting with his audience through Twitter and Reddit.^[52]

On 13 October, he decided to allow comments on his videos once more, albeit only after approval.^[53] However, he expressed that he toggled his comment settings this way so that he could redirect viewers to instead comment on the forums of his Broarmy.net website.^[54] He stated in a later video that disabling comments made him happier.^[55] In the same year, Kjellberg began streaming videos of his co-hosted series, BroKen, onto MLG.tv.^[56] He co-hosted the series with Kenneth Morrison, better known as CinnamonToastKen, who is also a video game commentator.^[57]

In October 2014, Kjellberg hinted at the possibility that he would not renew his contract with Maker Studios upon its expiration in December 2014.^[58] He had expressed his frustrations with the studio's parent company, Disney.^[28] Kjellberg mulled the option of launching his own network.^[59][60] 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."^[61] 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 the network a share of his YouTube ad revenue.^[13]

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.^[62][63] 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.^[64][65]

2015–2017: YouTube Red, Revelmode, and style change

Kjellberg at PAX in 2015

The New York Times retrospectively noted that around 2015, Kjellberg's video content experienced 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."^[66] 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.^[66] One video cited as being representative of this change featured Kjellberg reading erotic fan fiction about characters from 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.^[66]

On 6 September 2015, his YouTube account became the first to surpass 10 billion video views.^[11][67] Later in the month, Kjellberg teased about having a role in a web television series, stating that he was in Los Angeles for the show's shooting.^[68] 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.^[69] The series premiered the following February.^[70]

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.^[71] After the deal, the head of Maker Studios, Courtney Holt, stated, "we're thrilled to be doubling down with Felix."^[71] Along with Kjellberg, eight other YouTubers signed to the network upon its creation: CinnamonToastKen, Marzia, Dodger, Emma Blackery, Jacksepticeye, Jelly, Kwebbelkop, and Markiplier.^[71] Three YouTubers – Cryaotic, KickThePJ, and Slogoman – would later join the sub-network after its launch.^[72][73]

Throughout 2016, Kjellberg's video style change became more apparent.^[74] 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 was often not understood by younger viewers.^[75] 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.^[76] 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 the things that made him famous. He's doing fewer Let's Plays of horror games like Amnesia,^[75] 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."^[75]

On 2 December 2016, he uploaded a video discussing his frustration with the issue of YouTube accounts experiencing an unexplained loss of subscribers and views.^{[‡ 6][77]} Kjellberg stated that many people working with YouTube "have no idea of the struggles that came with being a content creator."^[75] A Google representative issued a statement to Ars Technica, stating that no decreases in subscriber numbers were out of the ordinary.^[77] Kjellberg's video was uploaded as his channel approached 50 million subscribers, and he stated he would delete his channel once it reached the milestone.^[78] On 8 December, his channel reached 50 million subscribers, becoming the first YouTube channel to do so.^[79] He shortly thereafter received a custom Play Button from YouTube as a reward for reaching this milestone.^[2] Ultimately, Kjellberg did not delete his PewDiePie channel, and instead deleted a smaller second channel he had then-recently created.^[80] His threat to quit was also reported to be "in fact, a promotional stunt" for Scare PewDiePie.^[47]

Kjellberg nevertheless continued to express discontent with the platform, aiming further criticism at YouTube's changing algorithm negatively affecting viewership for content creators.^[80][81] 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."^[47] Kjellberg later recounted to The New York Times that the platform's boundaries were widely unknown to creators.^[47] 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".^[47]

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 the new algorithm.^[80][82][83] 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.^[82][84][85] The videos were successful, promptly achieving the goal Kjellberg requested from viewers;^[82] the dislike video accumulated over 5 million dislikes before YouTube made such figures private in November 2021, becoming one of the most-disliked on the entire platform.^[86]

2017–2018: media controversies, streaming, and formatted shows

In a video posted in January 2017, Kjellberg featured two paid individuals on Fiverr, asked to hold 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.^[47][87][88] 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.^[89][90][91]

The Wall Street Journal alleged that this was not the first time Kjellberg had used antisemitic language and imagery in his videos.^[92][93] Kjellberg and the two individuals later apologised,^[87] 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.^[94][95] Ultimately, Kjellberg apologised, but strongly rebuked media coverage of the event, with particular criticism aimed at The Wall Street Journal for how their reporting portrayed references to Nazis in some of his videos.^[96] 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.^[96]

According to Social Blade, his channel's total view count was surpassed by the Indian record label T-Series at the top of YouTube's view rankings on 14 February.^[97][98]

In April, while still continuing to upload new content onto YouTube, Kjellberg created Netglow, a crowdsourced channel on the livestreaming service Twitch.^[99] On Netglow, he started streaming Best Club, a weekly live stream show.^[99] Best Club premiered on 9 April, with its first episode featuring Brad Smith alongside Kjellberg.^[99] Kjellberg commented that his decision to create Netglow was in the works prior to the aforementioned allegations of antisemitic themes in his videos.^[99] Business Insider detailed that Kjellberg's first stream amassed around 60,000 viewers, and that Netglow had accumulated 93,000 subscribers to that point.^[100]

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 the game.^[87] The video clip of the incident quickly went viral despite Kjellberg deleting it, and garnered widespread criticism across the internet.^[101] Kjellberg later apologised for the incident in a short video uploaded to his YouTube channel.^[102] 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 the studio's game Firewatch, and encouraged other game developers to do the same.^[103][104] 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.^[105] He later deactivated his Twitter account and unfollowed everyone he 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."^[106]

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.^[107] 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 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.^[107] Kjellberg began a book club-styled series,^[107] with his own enjoyment with the series also being noted.^[107] 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.^[108] Pew News parodies both mainstream news channels, such as CNN, and YouTube news channels, such as DramaAlert.^[108] Topics covered by Kjellberg on Pew News included culture war topics he previously avoided.^[66]

In May 2018, Kjellberg attracted controversy for using the term "Twitch thots" in a video that featured him watching a compilation of female Twitch streamers.^[109][110] 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.^[110] 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.^[109][111] In July, Kjellberg posted 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.^[112] Kjellberg later deleted the meme, and apologized for the incident.^[112]

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 was "E;R", whom Kjellberg highlighted for a video essay on Netflix's Death Note.^[113] Shortly thereafter, The Verge's Julia Alexander said that the video in question used imagery of the Charlottesville car attack, and that the channel made frequent use of racial and homophobic slurs.^[113] 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.^[114] Kjellberg said he 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.^[113][114]

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.^[115]

2018–2019: subscriber competition with T-Series

In September 2018, Kjellberg uploaded a LWIAY video discussing Indian record label T-Series' YouTube channel being projected to surpass his in subscribers.^[116] On 5 October, Kjellberg uploaded a diss track against the label titled "Tseries Diss Track", stylized in all caps and later renamed "Bitch Lasagna"^[117] in response to their YouTube channel being projected to surpass his in subscribers.^[118] The video went on to replace "A Funny Montage" as Kjellberg's most-viewed video.^[119] It included some lines mocking the Indian background of T-Series, which were described as racist in media publications.^[120] 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.^[121] 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 the 7 million subscribers gained in all of 2017.^[122]

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, a course of action that Kjellberg disagreed with.^[123][124] 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".^[125] 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.^[125]

On 15 March, 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.^[126] Various journalists covering the shooting reported that Kjellberg was not complicit with the shootings.^[127] The New York Times suggested that Kjellberg's mention in the shootings was a ploy for the news media to attribute blame to Kjellberg, and to otherwise inflame political tensions.^[128]

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.^[129] On 31 March, Kjellberg posted another diss track music video, titled "Congratulations", sarcastically congratulating T-Series for obtaining the title.^{[130][131][132]} 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".^[130] Following the video's release, Kjellberg temporarily regained the most-subscribed position over T-Series.^[133]

On 9 April, Kjellberg announced that he would live-stream exclusively on streaming service DLive, as part of a deal with the company.^[134]

On 11 April, T-Series started to seek court orders to remove Kjellberg's "diss tracks" from YouTube.^[135][136] 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."^{[137][138][139]} Access to the music videos on YouTube was later blocked in India.^[139] The two parties were reported to have come to a settlement later that July, although Kjellberg's videos remained blocked in India.^[139]

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 a war memorial, and its mention by the Christchurch mosque shooter.^[140][141] 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.^[142]

2019: Nimses, Minecraft series, and milestones

The remainder of 2019 saw further controversies for PewDiePie. In early June, Kjellberg uploaded a video on YouTube sponsored by social media application Nimses.^[143] 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 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.^[143] The Pirate Party Germany criticized his promotion of Nimses, warning that Kjellberg was promoting a potentially harmful app to a large audience.^[143] Andrey Boborykin, the head of marketing and communications at Nimses, published a blog post denying the allegations that the app is privacy-invasive.^[143] 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.^[143]

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 the first time in several years. Among the games played was Minecraft, which he was openly surprised by how much he enjoyed playing it. Kjellberg largely centered his videos around Minecraft in the following months, with the content featured in his series Meme Review and LWIAY also becoming focused on the game. Although he had played Minecraft earlier in his YouTube career, he had very rarely played it in 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.^[144][145]

This transition was largely successful for Kjellberg, who received a large increase in views, achieving over 570 million views during the month of July, the most views received by the channel in a month since at least October 2016. His daily number of new subscribers grew from 25,000 to 45,000 during that month.^[144] Despite this success, Kjellberg insisted that he played 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."^[145]

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.^[146] YouTube tweeted a congratulatory post to note the occurrence,^[147] and awarded him a Red Diamond Play Button.^[3] In December, Kjellberg was acknowledged as the most-viewed creator of the year, with more than 4 billion views in 2019.^[148]

2019–2020: China ban, brief breaks, and content deals

In October 2019, Kjellberg stated in a video that his YouTube content, as well as content related to him on other websites such as Reddit, had been blocked in China.^[149] He explained that this was due to his comments about the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, and an image of Chinese president Xi Jinping being compared to Winnie the Pooh shown in a previous video.^[149]

In November, Business Insider reported Kjellberg as a client of Re6l, a Toronto-based influencer media and ecommerce company.^[150] In December, Kjellberg announced that he would take a break from YouTube the following year, and deleted his Twitter account because of his dissatisfaction with the site.^[151][152]

Kjellberg's hiatus ultimately proved to be brief, lasting a little over a month during early 2020.^[153] Taking short breaks from creating online content proved to become a behavior he would repeat throughout the following years.^{[154][155][156]}

In his first video uploaded following his 2020 hiatus, Kjellberg made jokes about the COVID-19 pandemic, and spoke in mock-Chinese phrases. After receiving criticism for these jokes, Kjellberg uploaded another video in which he made more jokes about COVID-19, and defended the jokes he made in his previous video.^[157]

Kjellberg signed an exclusive deal to stream on YouTube in May, as the platform was enrolling high-profile streamers to rival competitors like Twitch and Mixer.^[158] At the time of signing with YouTube, Kjellberg had amassed over 800,000 followers on DLive, but due to his deal with the former, and not having streamed on the latter in four months, Tubefilter noted that it was unclear if Kjellberg was still affiliated with DLive.^[159] Kjellberg's DLive channel was eventually deactivated.^[160]

In October, Kjellberg's fans began to suspect his channel was shadowbanned, after noticing it and his recent uploads failed to appear in YouTube's search results.^[161] YouTube responded to the shadowban allegations on Twitter, claiming that the reason for the problems was due to search results being influenced by YouTube's system somehow flagging his recent uploads, and that due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, YouTube was taking longer to review videos, including Kjellberg's.^[161] YouTube apologized for the situation and stated they were "working on fixing the issue."^[161]

2020–present: soft retirement and move to Japan

In November, Kjellberg uploaded a Q&A video, reflecting on his YouTube career. During the video, he expressed that he views himself as "retired" from YouTube, having felt so internally since earlier in the year.^{[‡ 8][162]} He continued to upload videos fairly frequently on the platform afterwards, albeit, inconsistently.^[162] He also "committed to posting more unstructured content, like vlogs."^[163]

In January 2021, Kjellberg signed a distribution deal with Jellysmack, a content creation company.^[164] The deal entails Jellysmack optimizing and then distributing Kjellberg's content for a Facebook Watch audience.^[164] Although now having his content released onto the Facebook platform, Kjellberg continued to debut his content on YouTube.^[164]

On 14 February, Kjellberg uploaded a diss track titled "Coco" about Cocomelon, a kids-oriented channel which had been rising in subscribers for several years, and was growing by nearly two million subscribers per month.^[165] Kjellberg clarified that the children appearing in the music video were provided with a clean version of the lyrics to mime to while they were being filmed, and that their parents allowed them to participate in the video.^[166] The video was later taken down by YouTube who claimed that it violated their policies on harassment and child safety.^[166] Kjellberg stated he "[didn't] actually care about Cocomelon" and did not want the pretend-rivalry with the channel to "get out of control", as his rivalry with T-Series had previously.^[166]

In May 2022, Kjellberg and his wife Marzia moved from England to Japan. Much of his content following the move consisted of "vlogs about daily life around Tokyo."^[167] In September, Kjellberg explained the shift his upload philosophy underwent when he announced his "retirement" from the platform: he opted to share videos for fun, as he did when he first began uploading videos.^[162]

On 14 November, MrBeast surpassed Kjellberg as the most-subscribed individual creator on YouTube.^[168][169] The two have been noted as contemporaries and friends, with MrBeast having previously supported the 'Subscribe to PewDiePie' campaign during Kjellberg's competition with T-Series.^[163] Previously, Kjellberg answered a viewer question relating to whether MrBeast would surpass his subscriber count, replying "He definitely will ... He definitely deserves it, I hope he does it."^[163][170]

After years of inactivity, Kjellberg's Twitch account began streaming episodes of the Canadian sitcom Trailer Park Boys in March 2023. This was part of a test by the distribution and monetization service CoPilot Media, as they were on the verge of rolling out "PewDiePie Infinity", "essentially an endless loop of [Kjellberg]'s videos."^[171] On 9 May, Kjellberg's Twitch account received a ban despite only streaming this previously aired content.^[171] On 29 June, Kjellberg announced he would be taking an indefinite hiatus from YouTube due to his imminent fatherhood.^[172]

Style

Early in his career, Kjellberg's content mainly consisted of Let's Play videos.^[173] His commentaries of horror games made up his best-known content during this early stage, although he eventually expanded into other genres.^[22] Unlike conventional walkthroughs, Kjellberg devoted his Let's Play videos to communicating more personally with his audience.^[174] Variety detailed that Kjellberg "acts like he's spending time with a friend. He begins each video introducing himself in a high-pitched, goofy voice, drawing out the vowels of his YouTube moniker, then delves into the videos."^[173]

Known for his idiosyncratic sense of humor, the nature of his video content has been described by various outlets as goofy, energetic, and obnoxious,^{[29][175][176][177]} yet genuine and unfiltered.^[70][175] Lev Grossman of Time noted that "he's totally unpolished, but at the same time his timing is consistently spot-on," adding that "most of the critical literature about PewDiePie focuses on the bad language and crude physical humor–and admittedly there are a lot of both–and the fact that he is, at the end of the day, just a guy playing video games and yelling."^[177] Rob Walker of Yahoo! wrote Kjellberg's "chosen mode of sharing his critique happens to be ribald entertainment, an unmediated stream of blurted jokes, startled yelps, goofy voices, politically incorrect comments, and pretty much nonstop profanity."^[175] Occasionally, Kjellberg resorts to just gameplay, resulting in silent or emotional commentary;^[175] his playthrough of The Last of Us was detailed to leave the usually vocal gamer speechless at its ending.^[178]

With his channel's growth, Kjellberg's content has become more diverse; in addition to traditional Let's Play videos, he has uploaded content including vlogs, comedy shorts, and formatted shows.^[13] Toward the end of the 2010s, he began uploading much reaction-style content, such as his late 2018 and early 2019 videos reacting to various compilations of TikTok videos.^[179][180] Kjellberg has also uploaded music onto his channel, often accompanied by animation, fan art, or live footage. Oftentimes, music videos uploaded onto his channel are collaborative in nature, as has worked with artists such as The Gregory Brothers (also known as Schmoyoho), Boyinaband, Roomie, and Party In Backyard.^{[181][182][183]}

Production and output

During the early portion of his YouTube career, Kjellberg did not hire any editor or outside assistance to help with his video output, stating he wanted "YouTube to be YouTube."^[48] While his early videos would simply feature raw footage, he later began to dedicate time to edit his videos.^[74] Swedish magazine Icon noted his use of the Adobe Premiere Pro editing software.^[59] On separate occasions, he later sought an editor and a production assistant to help with his content creation.^[184][185] Although now having an editor for his videos, in a 2017 video, he maintained that "I'm just a guy. It's literally just me. There's not a producer out there [...] there's no writer, there's no camera guy."^{[‡ 7]} In July of that same year, Kjellberg commented that a couple of months prior, he had an office and a limited number of employees assisting him with his content creation.^{[‡ 9]}

Kjellberg has been noted by both himself and media outlets as prolific on the platform, having uploaded videos with a high frequency.^[48] By early 2017, he had uploaded almost 3,500 videos to his channel, around 400 of which have been made private.^{[‡ 10]} As a result, Kjellberg has made videos and statements expressing his feelings of burnout from frequently creating content for the platform and its effect on his mental health.^[186][187] In March 2017, Kjellberg commented that his channel was running on a daily output, stating, "[there's] a lot of challenges in doing daily content, [...] but I still really, really love the daily challenge—the daily grind—of just being like, 'hey, I'm gonna make a video today, no matter what.' And sometimes it really works, and sometimes it doesn't."^{[‡ 11]}

Subscribers and viewership

Media writers have noted that Kjellberg's content has been largely built up "methodically,"^[176] as opposed to him having risen to fame through a viral video.^[177][176] At the same time, the growth of Kjellberg's channel has been described as rapid by various sources; Douglas Holt of the Harvard Business Review commented that "the power of crowdculture propelled [Kjellberg] to global fame and influence in record time."^[188] Many close to Kjellberg have described him as "steadfastly loyal to his YouTube audience," with one calling him "a little spectrumy" in this regard.^[47]

By December 2011, Kjellberg's channel had around 60,000 subscribers,^[16] and on 9 May 2012, it reached 500,000 subscribers.^[189] In March 2012, Swedish newspaper Expressen reported that Kjellberg had uploaded at least one video per day for the seven months preceding their report. Additionally, the publication noted that Kjellberg's channel accumulated 71 million total video views to that point and 25 million video views in February 2012 alone.^[190] The channel reached 1 million subscribers in July 2012,^[8] and 2 million subscribers in September.^[19]

Throughout 2012 and 2013, Kjellberg's channel was one of the fastest-growing on YouTube, in terms of subscribers gained.^[45] In 2013, the channel grew from 3.5 million to just under 19 million subscribers,^[191] and by the end of 2013, it was gaining a new subscriber every 1.037 seconds.^[192] Billboard reported that the channel gained more subscribers than any other channel in 2013.^[46] In June 2013, Tubefilter began a monthly listing of the most viewed YouTube channels. In 2013, Kjellberg was consistently toward the top of this listing, ranking #1 in June, July, August, October, and December of that year.^[193] Analyzing Tubefilter's data, The Guardian reported that Kjellberg's channel earned 1.3 billion video views in the second half of 2013.^[194] The channel had two of the ten most-viewed gaming videos in 2013: the sixth-part of his Mad Father Let's Play was the third-most viewed of the year, earning 27 million views, and an entry in his Funny Gaming Montage series ranked as the eight-most viewed gaming video of 2013.^[195]

On 18 February 2013, Kjellberg's channel reached 5 million subscribers,^[16] and in April, he was covered in The New York Times after surpassing 6 million subscribers.^[31] Many of Kjellberg's most-viewed videos are highlight compilations of his Let's Play videos.^[182][196] One of these compilations, "A Funny Montage", was uploaded in June 2013, and spent a considerable amount of time as Kjellberg's most-viewed, with publications citing it as such through 2018.^[197][198]

In July 2013, he overtook Jenna Marbles to become the second-most-subscribed YouTube user,^[35] and reached 10 million subscribers on 9 July.^[16][36] Kjellberg's subscriber count surpassed that of the leading channel, Smosh, on 15 August 2013.^[39] On 31 October 2013, his channel became the first to reach 15 million subscribers.^[199] Shortly after, PewDiePie was surpassed by YouTube's Spotlight channel in subscribers.^[41] After jostling for the top position during the next month, PewDiePie's channel took firm hold of the most-subscribed title on 23 December.^[200] On 9 January 2014, the channel reached the 20 million subscriber milestone.^[201]

In 2014, Kjellberg's channel was the most-viewed in January, and then for seven consecutive months from March to September.^[202] In August 2014, Tubefilter reported that the channel surpassed the Rihanna VEVO channel on 19 July as the most-viewed on YouTube at around 5.2 billion video views.^[203] Data from Social Blade, however, shows that the channel still had less video views than the emimusic channel.^[204] According to their data, the channel surpassed emimusic on 29 December 2014, at over 7.2 billion views, to become the most-viewed channel on the website.^[205][206] According to Tubefilter and The Guardian, the channel amassed nearly 14 million new subscribers and around 4.1 billion video views in 2014; both figures were higher than any other user.^[62][63] The latter figure was a reported 81% increase from the channel's video views in 2013; the channel was the most viewed in that year, as well.^[62]

During July 2015, his videos were documented to receive over 300 million views per month.^[207] It eclipsed the 10 billion video view milestone on 6 September 2015, becoming the first channel to do so.^{[11][67][208]} At that time, "A Funny Montage" (then-titled "Funny Montage #1") was Kjellberg's most-viewed video, with approximately 68.8 million views; a partial reason it accumulated many views was due to its status as the PewDiePie channel trailer.^[67] In 2016, the channel experienced decreased viewership, which was similarly experienced by other content creators across the platform, due to changes in YouTube's algorithm.^[83] On 8 December, it reached 50 million subscribers, becoming the first YouTube channel to do so.^[79]

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 the 7 million subscribers gained in all of 2017.^[122] Renewed interest in Kjellberg's videos due to his subscriber competition with T-Series resulted in his channel earning over 500 million video views in December 2018, which was then the channel's single-highest monthly view count.^[209] 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.^[129] The day after "Congratulations" was uploaded, Kjellberg temporarily regained his lead over T-Series as the most subscribed channel.^[133]

In July 2019, in large part due to Kjellberg's Minecraft gameplay videos, his channel surged in video views. The Verge noted that it was Kjellberg's most successful month in years, in terms of viewership.^[141] Data from Social Blade^{[lower-alpha 4]} shows the channel received 573 million video views, a then-single-month record amount of views for Kjellberg's channel.^[210] Kjellberg was the most-viewed creator of 2019, with his channel receiving over 4 billion views during the year.^[148]

Along with T-Series, the PewDiePie channel is one of only two on YouTube to receive all five tiers of YouTube Creator Awards: Silver, Gold, Diamond, Custom, and Red Diamond Creator. These awards are earned upon surpassing the 100,000; 1 million; 10 million; 50 million; and 100 million subscriber milestones, respectively.^[211] Kjellberg nicknamed his Custom Creator Award the Ruby Play Button, which he received in 2016.^[2] In 2019, Kjellberg's channel became the second overall, and the first run by an individual creator, to receive the Red Diamond Creator Award.^[212]

Critical reception

Kjellberg's YouTube content has been met with mixed critical reception. Media outlets write that he is one of the most popular creators online, despite being involved in multiple media controversies.^{[213][214][215]} His content has been described by various outlets as goofy, energetic, and filled with profanity,^{[29][175][177][176]} and his on-camera personality has been generally received as genuine, unfiltered, and self-aware by various outlets.^[70][175] Kjellberg's content has also been received negatively by the media, with detractors describing it as "obnoxious" and often reporting his popularity as an "inexplicable phenomenon".^[22][176] Rob Walker of Yahoo! has commented positively on Kjellberg's intelligence, stating Kjellberg is "clearly" smart based on when he speaks directly to his audience.^[175] Other outlets, such as Time and The Verge, have written similar sentiments, describing Kjellberg as "articulate" and "self conscious", respectively.^[70][177] In contrast, Andrew Wallenstein of Variety heavily criticised Kjellberg, following his channel becoming the most-subscribed on YouTube, describing his videos as "aggressive stupidity" and "psychobabble."^[176]

Lev Grossman of Time noted that "he's totally unpolished, but at the same time his timing is consistently spot-on," adding that "most of the critical literature about PewDiePie focuses on the bad language and crude physical humor–and admittedly there are a lot of both–and the fact that he is, at the end of the day, just a guy playing video games and yelling."^[177] Walker wrote Kjellberg's "chosen mode of sharing his critique happens to be ribald entertainment, an unmediated stream of blurted jokes, startled yelps, goofy voices, politically incorrect comments, and pretty much nonstop profanity."^[175] Justin Charity of The Ringer stated, "PewDiePie isn't a comedian in any conventional sense," but described his "hosting style [as] loopy and irreverent in the extreme: He's a little bit stand-up, a little bit shock jock, a little bit 4chan bottom-feeder."^[216]

In regards to his early Let's Play content, Swedish columnist Lars Lindstrom commented positively, stating that "Felix Kjellberg [having] a comic talent is indisputable. It is both amazingly awful and amazingly funny when a father bikes around with his son in the game Happy Wheels and both get crushed and bloody again and again and PewDiePie improvises absurd comments as the game continues. The secret is that he loves to play these games and that he has fun doing it."^[15] As his content went through changes in style in 2016, Patricia Hernandez of Kotaku wrote, "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."^[75]

Following the controversy regarding alleged antisemitic content in his videos, many media publications both in and outside of the gaming and tech industries severely criticised Kjellberg's content. These outlets suggested that Kjellberg's content contained and promoted fascist, white supremacist, and alt-right ideologies.^{[89][90][217]} A Wired article covering the controversy referred to him as a "poster boy for white supremacists".^[217] Charity opined that Kjellberg's "occasional, reactionary irreverence has become a core component of his appeal. Likewise, for critics and fans who value inclusivity — and among outside observers who view [Kjellberg]'s conduct as inexplicably frequent in the news — [Kjellberg] represents all that is wrong and alienating about games culture."^[216]

Censorship

In April 2019, "Congratulations" and "Bitch Lasagna" were banned in India when the Delhi High Court granted an injunction in favor of T-Series.^[136][137] The complaint against Kjellberg allegedly stated that his songs were "defamatory, disparaging, insulting, and offensive," and noted that comments on the videos were "abusive, vulgar, and also racist in nature."^{[137][139][218]} Although both parties came to a settlement later in the year, Kjellberg's videos remain blocked in India.^[139]

On 16 October 2019, Kjellberg uploaded an episode of his Meme Review series, in which he reacted to memes about the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.^[219] The video also featured his commentary on the China–NBA issue and the Blitzchung controversy, as well as memes comparing Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping to Winnie-the-Pooh.^[219][220] As a result, Kjellberg's channel and content were reportedly censored in China.^[219][220] The BBC wrote that instead of a complete ban, only "some content related to the YouTuber has indeed been made inaccessible online," and that "there is no evidence to suggest this was done on the orders of the government."^[221] The BBC suggested that Baidu seemingly removed PewDiePie-related messages on a forum out of caution, but that "a [Baidu] search for his name still returns more than eight million results."^[221] Vox wrote that "access to reposted PewDiePie videos and music" appeared to be available to some regional users.^[219]

According to Business Insider, "For years, critics of Pewds have been campaigning for YouTube to bar him from the platform to no avail."^[157]

As a YouTube personality

Media lists and rankings

Kjellberg's influence has ranked highly on various lists. Subtitled as the "King of YouTube" on The Verge's 2014 "Verge 50" list—the outlet's "definitive list of the most interesting people building the future." On his listing's blurb, The Verge wrote that "Kjellberg's real talent is finding the human within games. He's just a normal person, finding the authentic in games for an audience that are desperate for a little more humanity."^[227] In 2015, Kjellberg was included on Time's list of the 30 most influential people on the Internet, with the publication writing that his channel "broadcasts some of the most-watched programs in pop culture."^[228] Later in 2015, Kjellberg was featured on the cover of Variety's "Famechangers" issue, with the magazine ranking him as the "#1 Famechanger", or "those whose influence stands head and shoulders above the rest".^[229]

The following year, Time included him on their Time 100 list, with South Park co-creator Trey Parker writing in his entry, "I know it might seem weird, especially to those of us from an older generation, that people would spend so much time watching someone else play video games [...] But I choose to see it as the birth of a new art form. And I don't think anyone should underestimate its most powerful artist."^[230] Forbes wrote that "[Kjellberg's] overall brand suffered earlier this year [2017] when he included antisemitic content in nine of his videos," when citing their reason for not ranking him as the top gaming influence.^[231] Forbes still included Kjellberg in the gaming category of their June 2017 "Top Influencers" list.^[232] In September 2019, The Sunday Times ranked him first on their list of the UK's 100 most influential people online.^[233][234]

Channel demographics

Kjellberg's channel appeals strongly to younger viewers, a group Google refers to as "Generation C" for their habits of "creation, curation, connection and community".^[17][174] This demographic has been more commonly referred to as Generation Z by researchers and popular media. In a 2017 video, Kjellberg shared a screenshot of data provided by YouTube regarding his channel statistics, which suggested his largest demographic was among the 18–24 age group, followed by the 25–34 age group.^[225] Surveys conducted throughout the 2010s highlighted that favorable opinions of Kjellberg, as well as his name recognition and online influence within these age ranges, was comparable to that of mainstream figures such as Jennifer Lawrence, Justin Bieber, and LeBron James.^[235][236]

The New York Times published results of an online reader poll the publication held, showing that only 17% of their digital readers correctly identified Kjellberg after seeing an image of him; the outlet wrote that the poll's results "probably reflect the fact that Times readers are older than a representative sample of Americans, citing that "in 2015, the median digital Times subscriber was 54 years old."^[237] In 2016, Maker Studios' international chief content officer was cited in The Guardian as comparing "the average parent's bafflement at their teenage children's passion for stars like PewDiePie, KSI, and Zoella to past generations' inability to comprehend punk rock or gangsta rap."^[238]

Studies of the gaming community on YouTube have shown that 95% of video game players engage in watching online videos related to gaming, which has been linked to being an important reason for Kjellberg's popularity.^[239]

Fan base

Fans demonstrate in Tallinn during the PewDiePie vs T-Series subscriber competition.

ESPN noted in 2015 that Kjellberg typically performed a "Brofist" gesture at the end of his videos,^[16] and often referred to his fan base as the "Bro Army", addressing his audience as "bros".^[240] Likewise, media outlets also adopted the name when referring to Kjellberg's fan base.^{[16][241][242]} Later in his YouTube career, Kjellberg stopped using the term "Bro Army", and began to refer to his audience as "Squad Fam", "9 year olds", and later "19 year olds", in his videos.^[243] The fan base has been subject to criticism; in July 2018, Wired published an article, referring to Kjellberg's fan base as "toxic", stating that "it's not just that they've stuck with the Swedish gamer/alleged comedian as he peppered his videos with racial slurs, rape jokes, antisemitism, and homophobia for nearly a decade (though that's bad enough). It's also that they insist that PewDiePie somehow isn't being hateful at all."^[242]

At the 2013 Social Star Awards in Singapore, Kjellberg greeted his fans personally despite security warning him against doing so.^[17][244] Kjellberg also mentioned this event to Rolling Stone, stating, "I didn't even understand they were screaming for me at first."^[13] Kjellberg has commented on fans from Malaysia and Singapore; during a trip to Kuala Lumpur in 2016, fans entered his hotel to search for him, which he expressed annoyance with.^[245] In a 2019 vlog, Kjellberg expressed that fans in Malaysia and Singapore can be "very hectic and scream-ish and crazy, and they lose their minds when they see you."^[245] He later apologized to fans from the two countries, stating that seeing the effect he had "on fans back then [during his 2013 trip to Singapore] was cool" and that he would "be lying" if he claimed to hate this initial experience with fans, although added that he has grown to not enjoy being treated as more than a person.^[245] Business Insider Singapore reported that some fans took offense to Kjellberg's comments, but that "most netizens accepted the YouTuber's apology and admitted that fans had gone overboard in invading his privacy."^[245]

Relating to his responsibility to his audience, Kjellberg has stated, "many people see me as a friend they can chill with for 15 minutes a day," adding, "The loneliness in front of the computer screens brings us together. But I never set out to be a role model; I just want to invite them to come over to my place."^[59] Correlating with this note, his audience has been reported to provide positive remarks about him; some of his viewers created and contributed to a thread expressing that he has made them happier and feel better about themselves.^[22] Conversely, during an informal Twitter poll conducted by one Kotaku reporter, respondents described him as "annoying" and an "obnoxious waste of time."^[22] Additionally, Rolling Stone has documented the existence of several Reddit threads dedicated to sharing disparaging views of Kjellberg.^[13]

Influence on video games

Kjellberg has been noted to support video games from indie developers, often having played through such titles in his videos.^[19][246] His commentaries have had a positive effect on sales of indie games, with The Washington Post writing that "gamemakers have observed a kind of Oprah effect."^{[11][239][247]} The developers of the indie game McPixel stated, "The largest force driving attention to McPixel at that time were 'Let's Play' videos. Mostly by Jesse Cox and PewDiePie."^[248] Kjellberg has also been confirmed to have driven the popularity of Yandere Simulator during that game's development,^[249][250] and positively influenced the sales of Slender: The Eight Pages and Goat Simulator.^[22][59] Although games being featured on Kjellberg's channel have reportedly contributed to their commercial success, he has stated, "I just want to play the games, not influence sales."^[251]

In 2019, Kjellberg's Minecraft videos led a surge of interest towards the game, which saw an increase in players. It also registered the largest-trending score on YouTube since January 2017 and surpassed Fortnite as the most-searched game on YouTube, with the searches for Minecraft on Google almost doubling since previous months.^[144][145] Video game media outlets, such as Polygon and The Verge, largely credited this newfound success to Kjellberg, with The Verge suggesting that the surge "proves that the 'PewDiePie Effect' is still real" (about the Oprah effect-like success enjoyed by games Kjellberg has played).^[144] Several other popular YouTubers followed suit by focusing on Minecraft content.^[144] Polygon also noted that in the wake of Kjellberg's focus on Minecraft, YouTubers focused on Fortnite began to shift towards making Minecraft videos instead.^[145]

Kjellberg, along with characters from Amnesia: The Dark Descent, were referred to by a McPixel level designed in his honour.^[252] Additionally, in the video game Surgeon Simulator 2013, the Alien Surgery stage features an organ called "Pewdsball" in honour of Kjellberg.^[253][254] Kjellberg agreed to allow the developers of Surgeon Simulator 2013 to use his likeness in GOTY IDST, a showering simulation video game.^[255][256] Kjellberg was also included as an NPC in the indie game Party Hard,^[257] and had a voice acting role in Pinstripe, a puzzle adventure game.^[258]

Income

In March 2014, Kjellberg made an estimated $140,000–$1.4 million from YouTube revenue, according to Social Blade.^[259] In June 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported that Kjellberg earned $4 million in 2013;^[260][261] Kjellberg confirmed on Reddit that the figures were somewhat close to what he actually earned.^[59] In July 2015, the Swedish newspaper Expressen reported that Kjellberg's production company, PewDie Productions AB, reported earnings of 63.7 million SEK ($7.5 million) in 2014.^[262][263] In 2015, outlets described Kjellberg's income as sizeable, and even "remarkable";^[264] Kjellberg appeared at the top of Forbes' October 2015 list of the richest YouTube stars with a reported $12 million earned in 2015.^[265]

In December 2016, Forbes named Kjellberg as the highest-earning YouTuber with his annual income reaching $15 million.^[266] This was up 20% from 2015, largely due to his YouTube Red series Scare PewDiePie and his book This Book Loves You, which sold over 112,000 copies according to Nielsen Bookscan.^[267] Kjellberg relies on external revenue sources rather than YouTube's ad model, which he has stated is common for most YouTube content creators; Kjellberg commented that YouTube's ad revenue model is inefficient, unstable, and insecure.^[268] According to Forbes, Kjellberg's income dropped to $12 million in 2017, which made him the sixth highest-paid YouTuber during that year.^[269] Forbes commented that Kjellberg's income would have been higher had he avoided the pushback from advertisers resulting from the controversies surrounding his videos in 2017.^[270]

Extensive media coverage on his earnings has been met with frustration by Kjellberg, who has stated that he is "tired of talking about how much [he makes]",^[271] and suggested that media outlets should rather report on the money he raised for charity.^[272] The Guardian commented that the reason the media was so captivated by Kjellberg's earnings is that the topic "offers a rare insight into the money being made at the top end of YouTube stardom," adding "it's very rare for any YouTube creator to talk about their earnings publicly, not least because YouTube itself does not encourage it."^[18]

Video games, authorship and fashion design

On 24 September 2015, Kjellberg released his own video game, PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist, on iOS and Android. The game was developed by Canadian game developer Outerminds in collaboration with Kjellberg.^[273][274] On 29 September 2016, he released another game developed by Outerminds, PewDiePie's Tuber Simulator.^[275] It was released as a free app on iOS and Android devices and reached the number one spot on the App Store within a few days of its release.^[241][275] On 31 October 2017, former Goat Simulator developer and lead designer Armin Ibrisagic announced his partnership with Kjellberg for his video game Animal Super Squad.^[276] Kjellberg helped Ibrisagic with the core concept of the game and provided him with feedback and creative direction.^[276] In 2019, Kjellberg released two more video games: PewDiePie's Pixelings on 15 November and Poopdie on 12 December.^[277][278] The latter game was rejected from the App Store due to its "crude imagery and sound effects which may disgust users", but is available on Android.^[278]

Penguin Group's Razorbill imprint released Kjellberg's This Book Loves You, a parody of self-help books, on 20 October 2015.^[69] The book is a collection of anti-proverbs paired with visuals.^[279] It was number-one on The New York Times Best Seller list for two weeks in the Young Adult Paperback category.^[280][281] Kjellberg and his wife Marzia launched Tsuki, a unisex clothing brand which they announced in a YouTube video.^[282]

Sponsorships

Beginning in April 2014 and spanning into August, Kjellberg, along with his then-girlfriend Marzia, began a marketing campaign for the Legendary Pictures film As Above, So Below.^[283][284] Kjellberg's videos for the marketing campaign included a miniseries featuring him participating in the "Catacombs Challenge". The challenge involved Kjellberg searching for three keys in the catacombs to open a container holding "the Philosopher's stone".^[285] The couple's videos were able to earn nearly 20 million views.^[286] Maker Studios, which both Kjellberg and Marzia were represented by, brokered the ad deal between the two and Legendary Pictures.^[285] In January 2015, Mountain Dew partnered with Kjellberg to launch a fan fiction contest, in which winning fan fiction will be animated into video formats and then uploaded onto his channel.^[287]

While he entered partnerships early in his YouTube career, Kjellberg maintained that he worked with few brands and conducted few promotions.^[59][288] He stated he felt he made enough money from YouTube and found endorsing too many brands to be disrespectful to his fans.^[289] On this topic, Kjellberg has expressed disappointment when a sizable portion of people misinterpret his intentions; he stated, "if I mention on Twitter that I find this or that Kickstarter project cool, people immediately start to ask what economical interests I might have in it."^[59] Eventually, Kjellberg began to work with more brands, stating that he wanted to have a genuine relationship with brands and added he was lucky to not be dependent on working with them to support his career.^{[‡ 13]} In January 2019, Kjellberg announced a partnership with energy drink company G Fuel.^{[‡ 14]}

Appearances in other media

Aside from his own YouTube channel, Kjellberg has made appearances in the videos of other YouTube creators. In April 2013, he made a cameo in an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, portraying Mikhail Baryshnikov.^[290] In July 2013, he starred alongside Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox of Smosh, as well as Jenna Marbles, as guest judges on the second season of Internet Icon.^[291] Kjellberg also appeared in YouTube's annual year-end Rewind series each year from 2013 to 2016;^{[292][293][294][295]} he once again appeared in YouTube Rewind in 2019.^[296]

On 3 June 2014, Sveriges Radio announced that Kjellberg was chosen to host his own episode of the Swedish radio show Sommar i P1.^[297] Due to his international popularity, the episode was recorded in both Swedish and English. The Swedish version was broadcast on 9 August 2014 on Sveriges Radio P1, and when the broadcast started the English version was published online.^[298][299] The link to the Swedish version of the broadcast was shared over 3,500 times, and the link to the English version was shared about 49,000 times.^[300]

In December 2014, Kjellberg guest-starred in two episodes of the 18th season of South Park. The two episodes served as a two-part season finale. The first part, titled "#REHASH" aired on 3 December, while the second part, titled "#HappyHolograms", aired on 10 December.^[301][302] In the episodes, he parodied himself and other Let's Play commentators, providing commentary over Call of Duty gameplay in an overly expressive way.^[301]

In July 2015, Kjellberg was announced as a voice actor in the Vimeo fantasy series, Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures.^[303] In October of the same year, he appeared as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,^[304] where Colbert referred to him as "Emperor of the Internet".^[305] In February 2016, he appeared on Conan, playing Far Cry Primal as part of the show's Clueless Gamer segment.^[306] In 2019, he was a guest on the Cold Ones YouTube podcast.^[307]

Television

Web

Music videos

Video games

Citations