PewDiePie has a net worth of millions. How much exactly? We’re talking about 64 million USD here. The fact that you are reading this article already makes you curious about him and his journey.
In this article, you can peek into PewDiePie’s life and YouTube journey. Does that sound good to you? That’s great.
Let’s get started.
PewDiePie’s Net Worth
Let us first understand who PewDiePie is.
For those who do not know, PewDiePie is a popular Swedish YouTuber with 111 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. He posts content around video games, meme reviews, comedy content, and vlogs.
PewDiePie dominated the #1 individual channel position on YouTube for quite a long time before Mr. Beast surpassed him in November 2022 based on subscriber count.
Currently, Mr. Beast has 125 million subscribers. Interested in learning about Mr. Beast’s net worth and his journey? You will find an article dedicated to him on our site.
A fun fact – Mr. Beast’s early videos were made around and about PewDiePie and his vast subscriber count. He even has a video where he says “PewDiePie” 100,000 times.
PewDiePie’s Personal Life
Is PewDiePie his real name? Of course not. It’s the name of his YouTube channel. The channel got so popular that it became his identity. Very few people know his real name. PewDiePie’s real name is Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg.
To avoid confusion, we will refer to him as PewDiePie throughout this article.
PewDiePie was born on October 24, 1989, to Lotta Kristine Johanna (mother) and Ulf Christian Kjellberg (father) in Gothenburg, where he was raised with her elder sister Fanny.
He came from a well-established family in Sweden. His father is a corporate executive, and his mother is a chief information officer. She was also named CIO of the Year in Sweden in 2010 for her excellent contribution.
PewDiePie got married to Marzia Kjellberg in 2019. Marzia is an Italian businesswoman, and she also had a YouTube channel named “CutiePieMarzia,” where she talked about fashion, travel, and beauty but quit YouTube in 2019. The couple has moved to Japan from England and is living their fairy tale there.
PewDiePie’s Education
After finishing high school, PewDiePie went to college to pursue a degree in industrial economics and technology management at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. He did not finish his course and dropped the university, as he found the course uninterested.
How Did PewDiePie’s YouTube Journey Start?
Throughout childhood, he was always interested in creating art, particularly video game characters. He is always inclined to play video games.
He enjoyed working on Adobe Photoshop rather than attending lectures. So when he dropped out of college, he participated in Photoshop competitions and almost won an apprenticeship at an advertising agency based in Scandinavia.
During that time, he became interested in starting a YouTube channel just for fun, and when he did not win the apprenticeship, he bought a computer. He started selling his printable Photoshop graphics to get started with the YouTube channel.
In 2006, he first started his YouTube channel with the name “PewDie,” but he forgot the credential of his “PewDie” channel and created another channel in 2010 that we know as “PewDiePie.”
What does PewDiePie mean?
When he started his channel in 2006 with the name “PewDie,” what did the name refer to? Well, “pew” refers to a laser sound, and “die” refers to dying. Later, when he created his second channel, he just added the “pie” at the end.
PewDiePie’s Source of Income
He earns millions of dollars, but where does the money come from? Below are a few PewDiePie’s income sources.
From His Main Channel
This is no guess that a substantial part of his income comes from his main YouTube channel, which has 111 million subscribers. The channel has a total viewership of 28,823,350,693. Since launching the “PewDiePie” channel in its first year, he gained 60,000 subscribers.
In 2011, in the second year of his channel, he hit the 1 million subscriber mark, and since then, his earnings have been flowing in.
PewDiePie has another YouTube Channel
PewDiePie is not his only channel. He also has another channel under the name “PewDiePie Highlights.” As the name implies, he uploads highlights and short videos there. He recently created this channel in June 2020. PewDiePie Highlights has a total of 254,027,431 views.
From Affiliate Marketing
PewDiePie has a massive following, and his video content includes playing games and making comedy commentary. Gaming companies and brands reach out to him to promote their software products on his channel, and he gets rewarded in return in terms of affiliate commission.
One time he got into trouble when he promoted a social media app called Nimses, but the app was later accused of privacy invasion.
From His Book
Not many people know this, but PewDiePie has also written a book titled “This Book Loves You” that he released on October 20, 2015. The book is about inspirational sayings that can make your life easy. Though the book has good reviews, it is homophobic and racist at times. It’s another source that adds to the income.
PewDiePie’s Successful Years
From 2010 to 2011, PewDiePie’s fame rose, and he acquired 60,000 subscribers. Throughout 2012, his channel’s growth accelerated; in July, he attained 1 million members, and by September, that number had doubled to 2 million. In December 2012, he secured a contract with Maker Studios; presumably, cash began to flow.
In February 2013, he attracted 5 million followers. With an astounding 10 million subscribers, he passed Jenna Marbles to become YouTube’s second-most popular channel in June.
On August 15, 2013, PewDiePie defeated Smosh to claim the top spot on YouTube. On November 1st, 2013, he became the first YouTuber to exceed 15 million followers.
He diversified his channel in 2014, adding 14 million more subscribers. He had 50 million YouTube subscribers by 2016.
PewDiePie’s Controversies
In 2017, PewDiePie received harsh criticism for some of his non-PC (non-politically correct) remarks in his videos. The most notable controversy occurred when he hired a few people on Fiverr to put the phrase “Death to all Jews” on a banner in the background in one video.
Early in 2017, Maker Studios, owned by Disney, ended their affiliation with him, and since then, he hasn’t been a part of a multi-channel network. Google terminated his “Scare PewDiePie” campaign and removed him from their Google Preferred advertising program.
In 2018, his competition for the number one spot on YouTube with the Indian recording company T-Series caught people’s attention. In October 2018, he released a disc track against the T-Series and disparaged their Indian heritage.
Some of his controversial remarks included referring to T-Series as “bitch lasagna” and saying, “You India, You Lose,” implying that T-Series has already lost the battle because it is from India.
PewDiePie lost this subscriber battle to T-Series, and T-Series became the No. 1 channel on YouTube. Currently, T-Series has 233 million subscribers on YouTube.
PewDiePie also stepped in when T-Series removed songs by Pakistani artists from their channel due to political pressure following the 2019 Pulwama attack, in which 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers were bombed by Pakistani terrorists. PewDiePie condemned the act of T-Series removing Pakistani singers’ songs.
One of the biggest controversies surrounding PewDiePie was when his name was used in terrorist activity. In the subscription fight with T-Series, they ran a campaign called “Subscribe to PewDiePie.”
It was all over the internet, but the controversy arose when an attacker in the live-streamed Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand on March 15, 2019, held a sign board saying “Subscribe to PewDiePie.”
PewDiePie denied such allegations and conveyed his condolences to the deceased’s family.
PewDiePie’s Most Watched Youtube Video
Here are PewDiePie’s top 5 most watched videos with the most views.
- LEVEL 7 | I’M NOT CRAZY (OUTLAST IRL GAMEPLAY) – It has 132 million views
- A Funny Montage – this video has 93 million views.
- THE RUBY PLAYBUTTON / YouTube 50 Mil Sub Reward Unbox – the video has 90 million views.
- YouTube Rewind 2018, but it’s actually good – the video has 85 million views.
- FUNNY MONTAGE.. #2 – This video has been viewed 73 million times.
Sometimes, it is motivating to see the roots. One of his first videos on Youtube, on the PewDiePie channel, is Minecraft Multiplayer Fun, which was uploaded on October 3, 2010.
PewDiePie’s Social Handles
You can follow PewDiePie on Instagram. He has a massive 21.7 million Instagram followers, and while he is a video content creator, he prefers to post images of himself, his wife, his dog, and his life.
You can contact him via email. For business inquiries, get in touch with him at pdpbusiness@re6l.com.
Has PewDiePie Retired from YouTube?
In 2020, PewDiePie wanted to quit YouTube; his collaborations were getting canceled, he felt his content was being scrutinized unnecessarily, and his views were also slowing down. He almost made up his mind to quit YouTube. But he refrains from quitting YouTube. He did not want to disappoint his family and fans who supported him.
He felt he had achieved more than he expected in terms of money or fame. And he did not want to hustle, though he was expected to do so.
Therefore, he retired from YouTube. But he did not stop uploading videos. This time he did not upload videos for money but for fun.
And if you visit his channel, you can feel the difference in the types of videos he is now uploading versus what he used to upload earlier. And with this change in mindset, he is starting to enjoy uploading videos again. He did not quit YouTube but slowed his pace to enjoy his new life in Japan.
Reasons Why PewDiePie Became Successful on YouTube
We learned a lot about PewDiePie’s journey. Let’s understand what you can take away from his journey. Especially if you are planning to start a YouTube channel.
The Gaming Niche
Though he picked up this niche because he liked playing games and started sharing his gaming experiences on the channel for fun, it became a perfect niche. A niche that has seen tremendous growth over the last decade that has inspired many individuals to follow PewDiePie’s path.
Most of his subscribers were teenagers, and the craze of video games among teenagers is huge.
That explains how he hit 1 million subscribers in the very second year of his YouTube journey.
Being Consistent
In his early YouTube days, PewDiePie was very consistent about uploading videos every day. He used to upload seven videos every week and never let his subscribers forget him. This was difficult, but consistency is needed. YouTube’s algorithm requires it.
Unless and until you have a dedicated fanbase that will go to the search bar, type your channel name, and go to all that trouble to find your newly uploaded video, the YouTube algorithm requires consistency to suggest your video. And to charm the algorithm, you must make sure you are frequently posting.
Creative Thumbnails
Why do YouTubers make those crazy YouTube thumbnails that completely exaggerate a situation? To intrigue the netizen’s interest, they click on the thumbnail and watch the video. Let me tell you, it works. PewDiePie has done an outstanding job here. His thumbnails give an inside look at his video.
He makes hilarious YouTube thumbnails; the man knows how to attract attention. Your thumbnail is your packaging; create it to attract your audience’s attention.
The Actual Content Should be Dope
People may come for the thumbnail but stay for the video content. The content of the video should be dope. In PewDiePie’s case, his subscribers have loved his content and his funny, witty, and hilarious personality. They might have come for the thumbnail, but they stayed for his personality, which also comes through in his videos.
Everything Everywhere All by Him
He could connect with his subscribers through his videos because he did all the work himself. From recording, editing, and uploading, everything was done by him.
He knows his content, which is why the videos are so loved. Creating videos was his passion, and it was his only full-time job, which is why he could thrive.
But we must understand that doing everything ourselves is a big task that requires a lot of energy and is tiresome. You don’t want to take one step ahead and three steps back.
If you can do it all alone, that’s great, but if you can’t, learn to delegate tasks. A delegation is a great tool if one knows how to use it effectively.
Create a Loyal Fanbase
In one of his videos, a subscriber wrote, “been here since 5th grade, now I’m about to be a freshman in college in less than two weeks… :). Thank you for making my childhood and teenage years more bearable, fun, and colorful, pewds”
This is the key reason why PewDiePie is a big channel on YouTube. Many adults, when they come back to his channel, feel nostalgic. PewDiePie has always appreciated his fans and ensured they knew he valued them.
In his early videos, he used to make videos responding to fan comments and messages sent to him. This helps fans feel connected and valued, and more messages start pouring in.
Even now, he keeps his fans informed about him and his channel’s future goals. He prefers that they remain in the loop. All these efforts have helped him create a genuine and loyal fan base, which we also got to see in his fight with the recording label company T-Series.
Conclusion
That was it for this article. I hope you know the PewDiePie net worth and how he achieved it.
