In case you’re not familiar with the oeuvre of insanely popular Swedish YouTube gaming celebrity PewDiePie (real name Felix Kjellberg), know this: he’s the most subscribed YouTuber on the entire site with 45 million subscribers, and his videos have racked up over 12 billion views collectively.
Not bad for a dude whose videos are mostly him playing video games while screaming. But he does it in a way that people like, so power to him.
As with any hugely popular internet celeb, the question inevitably turns to monetisation. Kjellberg insists that while he does produce brand promotions and native content, it’s reasonably rare:
“I make more than I need from YouTube,” he said in an interview. “With that freedom, but also to respect my fans for making that possible, I don’t end up doing many endorsements.”
That said, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission came down hard the other day on a Warner Bros promotion for the Shadow of Mordor game, which PewDiePie was involved in. He copped it hard in the headlines, with many claiming that PewDiePie himself had been accused of selling ‘good reviews’ and had not disclosed his partnership with the company.
Well, he’s responded, and it’s pretty lucid:
Basically, as PewDiePie points out, the massive media attention on him failed to indicate a few things.
Firstly, he did actually disclose the partnership in the video description, though he concedes his 2014 self probably could have made it even more transparent like he does now. Secondly, he doesn’t actually do reviews – he just said that he enjoyed playing the game, which he did. Thirdly, the FTC decision was against Warner Bros for their poorly run and signposted campaign, not PewDiePie himself.
Basically, he rails against the clickbait that dragged his name through the mud, and points out a very true point: he’s got 45 million fuckin’ subscribers. He doesn’t need Vulture, or Variety, or Gizmodo. He doesn’t need PEDESTRIAN.TV (he didn’t say that, but it’s true).
Dude’s got himself a lil empire.
Source: YouTube.
Photo: YouTube.
