Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg is undisputedly the king of YouTube, boasting the most subscribers out of any independent creator… so you’d think he’d be making the most money as an individual on the platform, right?
Well, according to Kjellberg himself, this assumption is dead wrong, in spite of his impressive career on the site. Kjellberg has been making videos since 2010, and was one of the first creators to rise to mainstream prominence via YouTube with his horror game playthroughs.
Since then, he’s managed to amass a whopping 110 million subscribers (in part due to his rivalry with Indian media label T-Series) and an extremely dedicated fanbase… but he’s not making as much as someone with less subscribers, it seems.
Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson is one of the hottest names on YouTube, and for good reason; his videos almost always top YouTube’s trending page due to their over-the-top nature, from his insane challenges with million dollar prizes to major cash giveaways and charitable work to help people in need.
His bombastic (and highly expensive) content has earned him a combined following nearing 100 million subscribers across his multiple channels, and according to PewDiePie, should make more than he does in ad revenue.
PewDiePie said as much while reacting to a video dissecting YouTube’s “richest” content creators, which pinned MrBeasts’ adsense revenue at about $13.8 million. The same video estimated PewDiePie’s adsense earnings as $12.2 million — something he vehemently denied.
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“Get the f**k outta here!” an incredulous Kjellberg joked. “More than MrBeast, almost? No f**king way! Bruh, no. My adsense is so f**ked. Realistically, my adsense is less than half [of that amount], probably.”
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MrBeast recently opened up about his own earnings during an episode of Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast, where he admitted that, on paper, he was the “poorest person in the room” in spite of the big bucks he shows off in his content.
He also revealed that he spends about $4 million monthly on his videos — a huge budget for content that, on average, rakes in over half a million views. While it’s unclear exactly how much each YouTuber makes, it’s clear that fans can only guesstimate their earnings… and it’s likely that they aren’t making as much as we actually think.