We have figured out why PewDiePie, the highest subscribed Youtube channel of Felix Kjellberg keeps getting bigger and bigger, day by day even though Felix who is also known as PewDiePie or Pewds is surrounded by many controversies.
It wouldn’t be wrong to call PewDiePie the King of Youtube as he currently stands on the highest subscribers’ number of 60 million on his channel. It is almost double the number of the second highest youtube channel ‘HolaSoyGerman’ who is currently entertaining 33 million subscribers from his platform. But Pewds has certainly got something special as by the speed his ranking goes up on Youtube, we can tell how incomparable he is.
But how is he doing it? If you’re a new viewer on his channel or visit him after reading this article, chances are that you might not find something beyond your expectations or WOW, but it doesn’t change the fact that PewDiePie gains subscribers 10x times faster than any of the other youtubers.
So what’s the secret behind his success? I am sure, not just the viewers but a lot of Youtubers as well wonder the same thing. So let’s start from the basic one;
Gaming Commentary
When Pewdiepie dropped out of his university in 2010, he decided to focus on building up his Youtube channel. At first, it was a vent out for Felix to do whatever he does the best and upload it. Gaming has always been fun for Felix and passing funny comments while playing video games didn’t require him to put much efforts on; it was just something he could do naturally.
Felix made the idea of game commentary go viral on Youtube. People loved watching Felix play all sort of video games and making montages on them. It happened at the time when there were no such people around to compete against Pewdiepie; call it a luck or whatever, Felix marked his place on Youtube for years to come with his game commentary and now he still stands on a place which only belongs to him and no one else.
By the time, Felix’s channel PewDiePie surpassed one million subscribers in 2012, the young gaming commentator knew that this was going to be his present and the future. He worked hard day and night to produce the genuine content, which, due to its unfiltered trait, tangles up in controversies sometimes. But this doesn’t stop Pewdiepie and his popularity to grow as his fan following see no boundaries when it comes to support him on every level. The online Fam he calls “Bro Army” is the second reason why Pewdiepie would never fall!
Who is this “BRO ARMY”?
Pewdiepie’s followers are not just a big group of random online people, No! A true fandom isn’t built just like that; rather it takes you to first have a sense of belonging in between, which gradually turns into a bond that can’t be broken. That’s what happened between Pewdiepie and his fans, it took time for Felix to connect with his type of people from all over the world and he successfully gathered a huge number of a homogeneous group of people who share same interest on the same level as he’s on.
Gamers! Who are these people?…. By the rate the video game industry has grown, you could tell that gaming and the amount of people who are into it is enormous. As observed, true gamers spend most of their time in the gaming world, rather than posting day to day update on Instagram or ranting on Twitter. And even if they make some time for their social media appearance, they choose to go to the places where they could find people like them; social websites like Youtube or Reddit have a prominent amount of gamers lurking around.
Bro Army is one such enormous group of Pewdiepie’s fans, consisting 80% of gamers. Since Felix is a gamer himself, his entertaining gaming commentary on almost all types of games made him famous among all levels of gamers; be it casual gamers or experts, everybody follows Pewdiepie. Even though Felix has stopped using the term Bro Army or making hand gesture of Bro fist in his videos, his fanbase is still known as Bro Army more, instead of Felix’s newly constructed term “Squad Fam”.
Bro Army combating Pewds’ controversies
Pewdiepie’s fanbase is pretty serious protecting his image on social media; whenever there’s a controversy emerging from Felix’s IDGAF-humor and mainstream media outlet making a fuss out of it, Bro Army always reaches on time to defend its King. This is what happened when Felix in his flow used one of the racial slang “Nigger” in one of his videos, receiving worldwide criticism, causing a hashtag #PewDiePieIsOverParty trending on twitter.
But at the same time, we got to see a huge amount of people coming up at his defense, saying “We all use all sorts of slang when we are hanging among our friends, meaning offence to no one. Since Pewds takes hi viewers as “Fam” and “Bros”, he just doesn’t pay a second thought to what he is saying in the video. He is just being himself around his people and it’s totally okay.” (This statement is a summary of what was being said in defense of Felix on Twitter and Youtube by his Bro Army).
In another serious case, an act of fun turned out offensive to an extent where Felix was labeled as anti-Semitic. It happened when he made a duo on Fiverr to make a poster of ‘Death to all Jews” and they actually did and posted it. But then Felix right there apologized in the end of the video realizing the gravity of the situation.
However, the mainstream media didn’t let the chance go off their hands to use the name of the most subscribed Youtuber and spice up his story for readership and rating but that caused Pewds to lose many projects and partnerships. For a moment, everything seemed like abandoning him, except one thing, his Bro Army!
You go into PewDiePie’s channel and check the comment section on each video flooding with Pewds lovers and no one else. If any outsider dares to show up with harsh comments for the King, the Bro Army leaves no mercy on him. This is how it goes with Bro Army, now the Squad Fam standing in between Felix and his controversies, supporting him in literally everything he does.
If you are wondering what is this Bro Army made up of? We might get a little help from Sociology in finding the answer to that.
Introvert Gamers
You may disagree with what I am about to state right now but give it a thought and you would understand why Pewdiepie and his bro army is so different from rest of the fanbase of other Youtubers or celebrities. I wouldn’t hesitate calling Bro Army or Squad Fam a bunch of Introverts.
You get to see or meet all ‘woke’ people on social media whose personality type is either Extroverts or Ambiverts, while Introverts probably having not much from the day to share on social media and talk about it to their friends. Introverts could be talkative and rich with ideas and opinions but they choose to do it with only their selective people. Which is what bring them to the social platforms where they could meet the people of their kind.
In the gaming world, you could pretend to be anyone or anything and survive without having to pressurize yourself to socialize. Not all introverts are anti social but still, being an introvert feels like to have your own space for your own things and Games are one of the best spots for that.
Bro Army could have a rather prominent amount of Introvert gamers or simply introverts in it who are both intellectual and witty but choose to show their skills only when they feel comfortable doing so and find the right place. Pewdiepie is someone they can relate with as Felix has also a tendency to shy away from limelight, crowd and fame if its outside the online world.
So these are the reasons I find solid in keeping the Pewdiepie and his fame on top. If you agree or disagree with any or you know any other reason of Felix’s fame, do share with us in the comments below.