Hits 50 million subscribers
YouTube’s most successful video personality will delete his channel tomorrow and, likely, start a new one.
Mr. DiePie has picked up 600,000 new followers since last week, putting him at 50 million, the number he said he needed to hit before he would delete the YouTube channel that has ballooned his net worth to nearly $80 million.
The threat worked as a publicity stunt. “DELETING MY CHANNEL AT 50 MILLION.” was his most-viewed video in four months. And the subscribers poured in, hitting his target. If Mr. DiePie follows up on his promise to delete his channel tomorrow at 5PM GMT (morning in the USA), fans will likely flock to his new channel. While he will be sacrificing raw numbers — and trickling monetization on years of past videos — he also already has more money than any average person would know what to do with, and will create a new channel that will still be incredibly profitable. The move seems like a mix of a cry for help, a protest against YouTube, and a publicity stunt. Which, hey, it worked.