Biggest YouTubers: Perth’s Logan Paul frenzy unearths enduring power of YouTube from Mr Beast to PewDiePie

It’s safe to say Perth officially lost it over the arrival of legendary YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI, with unprecedented crowds forcing the internet personalities turned wrestlers to cancel meet and greet events across the country. The content creators, who boast a mind-blowing combined YouTube following of 47.7M people, were in Australia to watch Sunday’s UFC fight between Australian Alexander Volkankovski and Islam Makhachev, as well as to promote their new energy drink. While the number of social media platforms creating influencers and celebrities has grown in recent years, the chaos in WA was a reminder of the power YouTube still holds in the online space. In the face of the exploding popularity of the video-sharing platform TikTok during the pandemic, YouTube has maintained a surprising level of relevance, having birthed the careers of many young stars, including Emma Chamberlain and Zoe Sugg, who have both built empires off the back of their personal brands. Many content creators still choose to stay on the Google-owned platform, favoured for its topical and stylistic diversity. The early stage platform, having come out in the mid-2000s, has been credited with the discovery of A-list celebrities such as Justin Bieber and has catapulted previously-unknown influencers into fame and eye-watering wealth. Perth-based social media expert Meg Coffey said YouTube’s initial success was credited to its “democratisation of distribution”, where everybody with access to the internet suddenly had an opportunity to publicise their content. “For a long time we had Funniest Home Videos which was the highlight of network programming, suddenly you can upload your videos to these platforms and instantly share them with the world,” Ms Coffey said. “That quickly transformed into a place for young musicians where historically you’d have to send demo tapes to labels — this was how Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes were found.” Ms Coffey said YouTube also has a cultural aspect to it that feeds our “thirst for knowledge”, with the platform hosting popular videos that range from several minutes to several hours long. “If the content is right then people will watch it — there is different lengths and types, anything you want to do in the world there’s a tutorial on it,” she said. “Longer videos are where you’re invested, maybe in the creator or in wanting to learn something, but you’re willing to take that long-form context. “People say we’ve lost our attention spans, but we haven’t… we’ll sit down and binge an entire series if the content is good.” Some might be surprised to hear longer videos remain popular, considering the surge in popularity of short-form video-sharing platform TikTok. While YouTube has introduced ‘Shorts’, in response to the growing popularity of TikTok and Instagram Reels as video-sharing platforms, Ms Coffey said the move doesn’t suggest there is waning demand for long videos. “We like short videos because it’s snackable content, it’s easy to consume and it’s quick,” Ms Coffey said. “You can watch a couple of videos in five minutes or on the train, and also it’s an escape from reality. “I truly believe TikTok wouldn’t have risen as fast as it did if not for the pandemic – when the world was scary and intense and deep, these fun videos were a break from that.” In perhaps another nod to YouTube, TikTok is also now allowing some creators to host longer videos on its platform. As for what makes a content creator popular, Ms Coffey said it boils down to connection and authenticity, with those who showed a genuine passion for their niche more successful than those putting on an act. “Good looks can get people to buy in, but whether you’re a makeup influencer, a toy reviewer or a chef, it comes down to whether you can tell a story that people want to listen to,” she said. DARK SIDE OF THE ALGORITHM While many viewers have learned things, made friends and discovered new artists on these platforms, experts are calling for tighter regulations around how they use and collect user data. Professor Uri Gal researches ethics in digital technologies and says that while algorithms help put videos in front of us that we enjoy, “no one knows” exactly how they work and it’s likely for more sinister reasons than you’d think. “It’s like the formula for Coca-Cola, no one knows,” he said. “It’s a dynamic code that keeps changing and I doubt many engineers at Google themselves would know how it works.” While platforms like YouTube historically generated the vast majority of their revenue through ads it’s unknown how much comes from selling user data. “They’re all playing the same game, they want to keep us on the platform as long as possible to extract as much information as they can,” Mr Gal said. “Then they buy data from other data brokers, such as supermarket rewards programs or airlines, then cross-reference the two things and sell them to an insurance company or bank.” While Mr Gal believes there’s no way to avoid this altogether, at the end of the day there’s the need for “much tighter regulation for how the data is taken and used”. “People oftentimes have these naive views that if they don’t have anything to hide then they don’t care what data is taken,” he said. “That can be both simplistic and naive because different data that is harvested from the internet can be cross-referenced to find things about us that we have no idea about and have never agreed to divulge.” They uploaded hundreds of hours of content, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but who are YouTube and Australia’s biggest stars? MrBeast 24-year-old Jimmy Donaldson is the most-subscribed YouTuber on the platform and is often considered to be a pioneer of the expensive stunt genre on YouTube. Mr Donaldson began posting computer game play-throughs (‘Let’s Play’) and wealth guessing games in 2017 at the tender age of 13. He went viral in 2017 after posting a video where he counted to 100,000 over 40 uninterrupted hours. Last year he was declared YouTube’s highest-paid YouTube star ever. Forbes magazine estimated Mr Beast’s income in 2021 was more than $54 million. Donaldson also earned a reputation as the platform’s top philanthropist, beginning his Beast Philanthropy channel which helps tackle food insecurity, homelessness and unemployment. Content-wise the creator still posts hours-long stunts and challenges as well as attention-grabbing donation and charity stunts, all of which posted in the last two years have amassed at least 10 million views each. PewDiePie Swedish YouTuber Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg rose to fame through his Let’s Play videos and is one of the most recognisable faces on the platform. Mr Kjellberg began posting play-throughs of video games in 2010 and later diversified to post vlogs, music videos and comedy shorts. He became the most-viewed channel on the platform in 2014 but was overtaken in 2019 by Indian record label T-Series, after which time he semi-retired and moved to Japan with his wife, with whom he is now expecting his first baby. Markiplier Hawaiian-born 33-year-old Mark Edward Fischbach is a prolific Let’s Play YouTuber and co-owner of apparel company Cloak with fellow YouTuber jacksepticeye. Mr Fischbach began uploading his first videos, sketch comedies, to YouTube in early 2012, before earning a reputation as a gamer in the horror genre, loved for his commentary and collaboration with fellow YouTube gamers. Forbes Magazine listed him as their third-highest earning YouTube star, with his estimated gross revenue an eye-watering $38 million in 2021. Ryan’s World The envy of children the world over, 11-year-old Ryan Kaji is most famous for his toy reviews and ‘unboxing’ videos where he tries out the coolest and latest playthings. With the help of his mother, Ryan began uploading toy reviews in 2015 and has since become an incredibly influential figure in the toy industry, sometimes affecting sales. Raking in millions through the family’s merchandise and toy line, Ryan’s World was listed by Forbes as the highest-earning YouTube channel in 2018 and 2019. jacksepticeye Irish YouTuber Seán William McLoughlin is another vlogger and Let’s Play content creator. As well as co-founding Cloak with Markiplier, Mr McLoughlin is the owner of Top of The Mornin’ Coffee company and often participates in charity fundraising events. He began uploading voice impression videos in late 2012 before transitioning to gaming content — his channel gained significant traction after he was mentioned in a PewDiePie video in 2013. Since 2018 he has taken a step back from YouTube and has focused on other ventures, such as his coffee company which launched mid-2020. Sidemen/KSI The Sidemen is a UK YouTube group made up of KSI, Behzinga, Miniminter, TBJZL, Vikkstar123, W2S and Zerkaa. Operating five channels on the platform, the group posts diverse content including video game commentaries, challenges and sketches. The group also sells its own Sidemen Clothing merchandise and has published a best-selling book in the UK, as well as other ventures. Co-founder KSI has since become a rapper and boxer and co-owns the energy drink Prime with fellow YouTuber Logan Paul. The drink, released in 2022, reportedly had fans fighting in shops as they tried to get their hands on it. The beverage is already has an estimated value of more than $AU31 million. Logan and Jake Paul 27-year-old Logan and 26-year-old Jake Paul are YouTuber creators turned professional wrestlers and boxers. The Ohio-born brothers originally rose to fame by posting mostly prank content on Vine, a now discontinued TikTok-like video posting platform. After stints in music and television Jake became a professional boxer and as of 2023 has begun a transition into mixed martial arts (MMA). Logan has attracted much controversy over his influencer career, most notably his visit to Japan’s ‘suicide forest’ in 2017 in which he filmed and published a video containing footage of a man who had died by suicide. Other scandals include insensitive tweets, releasing a non-functional NFT-based game after accepting millions of dollars from investors, and being accused of abandoning his pet pig Pearl with a life-threatening illness. Logan began his boxing career in 2018 and made his WWE wrestling debut in 2021. Logan has used his profile to launch a number of businesses, including Maverick Apparel, which he claims generated up to $AU57 million in sales during its first nine months of operation. His net worth is estimated to be $45 million, while Jake, who was 2018’s second-highest-paid YouTube star in the world, is reportedly worth $30 million. Emma Chamberlain 21-year-old Emma Chamberlain is a vlogging pioneer and internet personality who in 2019 launched a highly successful podcast Anything Goes. Known for her authentic and self-deprecating humour, Ms Chamberlain rose to YouTube fame for posting everything from fashion hauls to cooking videos. She has since launched coffee and fashion ventures, becoming a face in the fashion industry and attending the 2022 MET Gala as a video host for Vogue, gracing the cover of the magazine’s Australian September issue the same year. Chloe Ting Chloe Ting, who quit her job as a corporate statistician to share workout routines on YouTube, boasts 24 million subscribers on the video platform. Born in Brunei and now based in Singapore, the YouTuber started uploading videos to the platform in 2016 and is best known for her workout programs and ‘shred’ challenges which were especially popular during the pandemic. LazarBeam 28-year-old Lannan Neville Eacott is a professional gamer who is most recognisable for his game commentary and reviews. After dropping out of high school at age 15, Mr Eacott began working at his family’s construction business where he would make slow-motion demolition videos and post them to YouTube. He switched to video game commentaries one year later in 2015 and became the second Australian content creator to reach 10 million subscribers in 2019. He has previously claimed to have made $AU1.6 million in one month, and in September 2022, his net worth was estimated to be about $AU40 million. HowToBasic The anonymous creator of this comedy channel never speaks or shows his face, he only plays out strange and hilarious visual jokes disguised within how-to tutorials. Videos on the channel, which has amassed more than 17.2 million subscribers, first gained popularity in 2013 and its anonymous host is rumoured to be from Perth. A clip shared to the channel in 2019, titled Face Reveal, has amassed 41 million views. It did not reveal the owner’s identity. Wengie Wendy Jie Huang, whose Chinese name is Wenjie, rapidly shot to YouTube fame by posting beauty, fashion and DIY videos. She began her YouTube channel in 2013 and by 2018 was the most popular YouTuber from Australia. Ms Huang quit her full-time job when she hit one million subscribers, and revealed in an interview with Forbes that she was making less than $3000 a month at the time. She has since used her platform to launch a clothing product line, fund her own album, and recently released a blockchain-based game, Nyan Heroes — a company she says has been valued at $100 million.