PewDiePie - will be no more as a YT Channel?

[Melbosa]

So for those whom don't know PewDiePie is the most successful YouTube channel in history based on subscribers alone, and the Swedish guy behind it has made millions from his efforts (top earner in YouTube space).  He is a vlogger of sorts, and has been credited for many things over the span of six years since he started in 2010.

Now according to him, and others, YouTube's changes from Subscriber feeds to Recommended feeds have caused a decrease in viewership to his, and other's, content.  You can see from these articles of what I am talking about:

• http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38236644
• http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/youtube-star-pewdiepie-threatens-to-shut-down-channel-over-row-a3414211.html
• http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/youtube-superstar-pewdiepie-vows-delete-9404835

He has vowed to delete his channel PewDiePie once he hits 50 Million subscribers, currently he is close at 49+ million now.  The big question is: Will he?  And the second question is: Is his claims true?  YouTube claims nothing has changed on their end, but I diffenately have noticed that my landing page for YouTube is showing content trails and click bait that is not normal for my viewing.

You can see his video about it here: https://youtu.be/6-_4Uoo_7Y4

Think he is right?

[Thorin]

Wait, he's made $15million in six years?  By posting videos of himself playing video games?  GOOD GOD.

[Mr. Analog]

PewDiePie is an interesting case because his channel and his popularity were ignited by an algorithm hiccup in the first place.

http://tubularinsights.com/how-pewdiepie-made-it-to-the-top/

YouTube is constantly playing around with their suggestion algorithms, often to the detriment of people who rely on YouTube money to keep production going and in turn many MANY YouTubers are going to livestreaming services and encouraging their fanbase to follow.

Livestreaming on Twitch is generally more profitable for video makers with an established fanbase because they get a bigger slice of the advertising dollars as well they can directly implement a donation system. They are also less subject to the whims of YouTube as there are no imposed boundaries to "suggested" streams, simply a list of streams by game sorted by the number of watchers. YouTube suggests content to you through an algorithm, so you are an English speaker but you live in Canada, you are more likely to be suggested a video from the US than Angola simply because geographically you are closer to the US and videos from that region are more likely to be Portuguese.

Interestingly enough if you begin watching videos from a specific locale on a frequent basis you will find that you get more suggested videos from that locale (for example I watch a lot of videos from the UK and Japan on my home computer vs my work computer and so my suggested videos are often vastly different between those machines / accounts)

[Mr. Analog]

Wait, he's made $15million in six years?  By posting videos of himself playing video games?  GOOD GOD.

The $15 million is a conservative estimate as well, and it doesn't include brand deals and other income sources (such as merch sales)

He became THE top YouTuber thanks to a suggestion glitch that exposed his channel to virtually every possible demographic across the globe

[Lazybones]

You also need to dig deeper in to NET vs GROSS for the top channels.

While they still take home  a lot of money many of them shoot then pass of the raw content to be produced (Intros, overlays, editing /cutting). So per episode they spend a lot on production, but once they are big enough it is worth it.