[url=http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/17/5817118/how-much-does-pewdiepie-make]"The YouTuber chalks up the following to the fact that his videos are, essentially, more raw."[/url] [quote]"Unlike many professionally produced shows, I think I've established a much closer contact with my viewers, breaking the wall between the viewer and what's behind the screen," he said. "What I and other YouTubers do is a very different thing, it's almost like hanging around and watching your pal play games. My fans care in a different way about what they are watching."[/quote] Time to start a YouTube channel. Edit: just realized the [url=http://online.wsj.com/articles/youtube-star-plays-videogames-earns-4-million-a-year-1402939896]WSJ article[/url] is not available unless you're registered. Here are some highlights: [spoiler]Felix Kjellberg doesn't play a very convincing megastar. The seemingly modest Swede avoids the spotlight, has no entourage and is uncomfortable with success. But put Mr. Kjellberg in front of a Web-camera and he transforms into PewDiePie, by far YouTube's biggest draw. He has built a base of 27 million subscribers using a decidedly unorthodox approach to playing video and mobile games. ... The 24-year-old Mr. Kjellberg, who created PewDiePie five years ago, has parlayed his persona into a brand name that pulls in the equivalent of $ 4 million in ad sales a year, most of it pure profit. In December 2012, PewDiePie signed on with Maker Studios, a producer of online content that takes a cut of ad sales. Maker Studios-which counts on PewDiePie as its most important personality-sold itself to Walt Disney Co. earlier this year in a deal that could be worth close to $ 1 billion, depending on certain performance targets. ... Mr. Kjellberg's career took flight while attending college in Gothenburg, on Sweden's southwest coast. He attended few classes, spending more time at home playing games and uploading to YouTube. After dropping out, he started selling hot dogs. To pad the number of views on his channel during those early days he would repeatedly hit F5 on his keyboard to refresh the browser. ... PewDiePie's foul language and silly antics can be confusing or offensive to the uninitiated. Mr. Kjellberg said, "I just let go and have fun." Jens Orjeheim, 44, has an 11-year-old son who is a big fan of PewDiePie, but he fails to appreciate the appeal. "I think there are things in society that can be seen as contributing to a positive development," he said. "PewDiePie isn't one of them." He is critical of the fact that Mr. Kjellberg makes money from encouraging children to spend more time in front of screens and elevating the importance of videogames. But Vigor Sörman, founder of a YouTubers network in Sweden, said, "PewDiePie is like a cool friend you have and subscribing to him is almost like Skypeing with him-that's why viewers are such dedicated fans."[/spoiler]