PewDiePie
Who was PewDiePie?
Swedish YouTuber Felix Kjellberg who became the first individual creator to reach 100 million subscribers, primarily through gaming content and commentary.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on PewDiePie (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, was born on October 24, 1989, in Gothenburg, Sweden. He went to Göteborgs Högre Samskola and then attended Chalmers University of Technology, studying industrial economics and technology management. However, he decided to leave university to focus entirely on his YouTube career, which turned out to be a game-changer for both him and the online video world. He started his channel in 2010 with Let's Play videos of horror and action games, quickly gaining followers thanks to his lively and funny commentary.
His channel grew rapidly in 2012 and 2013, becoming one of YouTube's quickest-rising. On August 15, 2013, his channel became the most-subscribed on the platform, a title he held for years. From late 2014 to early 2017, he also had the most-viewed channel. As his fanbase grew, he expanded his content to include vlogs, comedy sketches, formatted shows, and music videos. YouTube featured him in the reality web series Scare PewDiePie, part of the launch of its subscription service, one of the company's first big moves into original content.
In the latter part of the 2010s, some of Kjellberg's content stirred controversy. In 2017, The Wall Street Journal published an article claiming his videos had antisemitic elements. This led to more media criticism and caused several companies, like Disney's Maker Studios and YouTube, to end their business relationships with him. Kjellberg admitted some content was inappropriate but argued it was humor taken out of context and disputed the Journal's portrayal. The incident was widely discussed as an example of how creators on platforms interact with mainstream media and corporate sponsors.
In late 2018 and into 2019, Kjellberg engaged in a much-publicized race for subscribers with the Indian music label T-Series. The competition gained global attention with fans rallying to keep him in the lead. T-Series eventually surpassed him, although Kjellberg had already made history by becoming the first individual creator to reach 100 million subscribers in 2019, earning YouTube's Red Diamond Creator Award. He also released This Book Loves You, a comedic self-help parody, in 2015.
In 2019, Kjellberg married Italian YouTuber and entrepreneur Marzia Bisognin, now known as Marzia Kjellberg, after being together for nearly ten years. The couple moved to Japan, highlighting Kjellberg's well-known love for Japanese culture. Over the years, he received numerous awards including the Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star in Gaming in 2014, multiple YouTube Play Buttons, and the Guldtuben Award. He remains one of the most recognized figures in online video content creation.
Before Fame
Felix Kjellberg grew up in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he got into video games and art at a young age. He went to Göteborgs Högre Samskola for high school before studying industrial economics and technology management at Chalmers University of Technology. While he was at university, he started uploading gaming videos to YouTube in 2010, paying for his initial gear by selling prints of his artwork. As his channel gained popularity, he decided to leave his studies and focus entirely on creating content.
Kjellberg's rise happened just as YouTube was changing from a casual video-sharing site into a place where people could work full-time. Let's Play videos, where people record themselves playing video games, were becoming more popular and were finding big audiences online. His funny and often unpredictable reactions to horror games struck a chord with viewers, and his subscriber count grew quickly in 2011 and 2012, setting the stage for what would become the most-subscribed individual channel in YouTube history.
Key Achievements
- Became the most-subscribed YouTube channel on 15 August 2013, holding the position for several years.
- First individual creator on YouTube to reach 100 million subscribers, earning the Red Diamond Creator Award in 2019.
- Starred in Scare PewDiePie, one of YouTube's first original productions under its subscription service.
- Published This Book Loves You in 2015, which became a New York Times Best Seller.
- Won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star in Gaming in 2014, among numerous platform and industry awards.
Did You Know?
- 01.Kjellberg funded his earliest YouTube equipment by selling prints of his own artwork at a hot dog stand in Gothenburg.
- 02.His channel name PewDiePie combines the sounds of gunfire ('pew'), the word 'die,' and 'pie,' which he has described as a somewhat arbitrary combination from his gaming days.
- 03.Scare PewDiePie, the YouTube Premium series he starred in, was cancelled after its first season following the 2017 Wall Street Journal controversy.
- 04.He authored a comedic book titled This Book Loves You, published in October 2015, which parodied motivational self-help literature and reached the New York Times Best Seller list.
- 05.Kjellberg and his wife Marzia relocated to Japan, and he has frequently shared content about Japanese culture, food, and daily life, making him a notable Western voice on the country for his audience.
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Shorty Awards | 1989 | — |
| Silver Play Button | 2012 | — |
| Gold Play Button | 2012 | — |
| Diamond Play Button | 2013 | — |
| Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star - Gaming | 2014 | — |
| Custom Play Button | 2016 | — |
| Red Diamond Creator Award | 2019 | — |
| Guldtuben Award | — | — |