
YouTube gaming star PewDiePie 'earned $7M in 2014' - merah
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33425411
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ljk
> _" I make more than I need from YouTube," he wrote on Reddit. "With that
> freedom, but also to respect my fans for making that possible, I don't end
> up doing many endorsements."_

never watched a single video of his, but from this article he seems like a
nice guy, hopefully he's being a good role model for the kids who watch him

~~~
y2bd
In the past he's been criticized for making a lot of extremely juvenile and
bad taste jokes (the biggest one people complain about is that he often
screams that the monsters in horror games are going to "rape" him). I've heard
though that he's gotten better about the kind of jokes he makes, and most of
the indie game developers I follow on Twitter seem to respect him.

~~~
revelation
How dare he, quick, we need to make YouTube into the same "bleep every bad
word out" medium!

If we just make it into another TV, we won't need to change! We will not be
challenged!

~~~
homulilly
Shrieking "It's raping me! raaaaaaapppppppppe!!!!!!" isn't exactly challenging
speech. It's just stupid.

~~~
oldmanjay
Stupid speech is just as protected as the things you want to hear. More so, in
my particular POV, although it seems pretty clear there are many groups of
people who believe that that things they don't want to hear should be
prohibited.

~~~
matthewowen
I don't think anyone here is saying that he _shouldn 't be allowed_ to say it:
merely that he _shouldn 't_ say it.

You're still allowed to think that people are idiots/assholes for saying
things. You're still allowed to put pressure on them to change. None of these
things are at odds with the speech being legally protected.

------
InclinedPlane
If he had a conventional TV show nobody would be surprised. The number of
people that watch his content is astronomical, every one of his videos has
over a million views. He's much more heavily viewed than, say, cable news
networks like CNN. Indeed, more people watch him than NBC, ABC, or CBS.

~~~
fl0wenol
And what I can't understand is why _exactly_ is he so viewed? He doesn't seem
to be particularly anything-- off-the-cuff witty, insightful, skilled, voice
is slightly obnoxious (but not enough to be unintentionally funny).

There are a lot of other let's play/game reviewers out there which are fun for
various reasons (in each case) but they don't reach nearly the same
viewership.

Is it just momentum? What am I not getting?

~~~
pluma
It's mostly momentum. I think he was one of the first let's-players to do
shrill voices and gained popularity when there just wasn't much competition
for the kind of audience he attracted.

I'd love to say he's only popular with children, but I know people in their
twenties who enjoy his videos. I'm not sure I get it, but he's found something
that works and it doesn't show any signs of dying off.

EDIT: I'm also convinced he's part of the reason "LeFloid" is having so much
success compared to other German YouTubers. It's the same formula, except with
"facts"/"news" videos instead of let's-plays (and thus a lot more face time).
No matter what I think of them, their success proves them right.

EDIT2: For PewDiePie I think a big part of his success are also his looks. He
looks like the kind of actor teenage girls obsess about. Good looking + funny
= instant crush.

~~~
Spellman
Plus he has moved to 3 different countries, picking up viewers from them all.
And how YouTube's Recommended Videos system works.

Here's someone's analysis of why he got so popular. Looks, editing skills, and
personality also helped build him a niche.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgMqhEMhVV8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgMqhEMhVV8)

