PewDiePie – Gaming YouTuber

How does PewDiePie make money online?

Felix Kjellberg, popularly known as PewDiePie, is a Swedish YouTuber and gamer. He is primarily well-known for his Let’s Play videos and comedy-centric gaming videos.

• PewDiePie on YouTube

As of this writing, he is the most subscribed solo YouTuber with 100+ million subscribers, and a significant chunk of his earnings come from YouTube ad revenue.

However, in the video below, it is revealed that he also makes money online in other ways, including: 

• Affiliate marketing (affiliate links to Amazon in his video descriptions)
• Selling PewDiePie merchandise (shirts, sweaters, hats, etc.)
• Video sponsors (NordVPN, Happy Socks, Lootcrate, Gfuel, etc)
• Live streaming (YouTube pays him to do this exclusively on their platform).

How much does PewDiePie make a year?

PewDiePie makes a total of $58.2 million per year, which works out to $4.85 million per month, or $160,000 per day, as estimated in the above video from October 2019.

Here is the exact income breakdown:

• $1.6 million per month from YouTube ads.
• $2.75 million per month from merchandise.
• $500k per month from affiliate marketing and brand deals.

Forbes reported in December 2019 that PewDiePie makes $13 million a year from YouTube, but it’s unclear if that number includes income aside from ad revenue.

Finally, Business Insider reported in 2019 that PewDiePie earns $3,319 per minute of YouTube video.

• Related: 40+ ways to make money playing video games 🎮

How did PewDiePie get started?

Felix (PewDiePie) has an interesting story of how he became a YouTuber. His passion for video games led him to drop out of Chalmers University in Sweden. He is reported to have said:

Life is too short to focus on the things you hate, focus on what you love instead.

In the video below PewDiePie talks about his journey and struggles:

Some key insights from that: 

• He created his YouTube channel in 2010 while still in school.

• He pursued a degree in Industrial Economics at university but later dropped out.

• To earn money and support his passion for YouTube, Felix sold his artworks and worked at a hot dog stand. 

• By December 2011, he had gained 60,000 subscribers and quit his job at the hot dog stand.

• In 2012, he started the ‘Fridays with PewDiePie’ vlog series and reached his first million subscribers. 

• In 2015, PewDiePie also released a satirical self-help book called “This Book Loves You”.

• As of this writing, PewDiePie has 100+ million subscribers and 25+ billion views on YouTube.

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What kind of online business does PewDiePie have?

Felix runs a multifaceted online business. 

According to our framework it can be broken down like this:

• Authority (Level 4)
  PewDiePie primarily runs an authority business, as evidenced by his massive following on YouTube.
• Physical Products (Level 4)
  PewDiePie sells branded merch online.

Follow the links above for more info and examples for each type of business.