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7 July 2015
- From the section Technology
YouTube’s most popular star earned $7m (£4.5m) in 2014, according to Swedish newspaper Expressen.
Felix Kjellberg, 25, known to fans as PewDiePie, records himself playing video games and uploads his reactions online.
He has 37 million followers on the video-sharing website – more than One Direction and Taylor Swift.
“He appeals to an attractive demographic of teens and young adults,” said Ian Maude, from Enders Analysis.
“It’s strange to imagine that somebody can earn so much from YouTube, but the equivalent of half the UK is watching his videos,” he said.
Mr Kjellberg’s latest video, in which he plays online game called Agario, has clocked up 1.5 million views in 18 hours.
Expressen looked at dividends paid by Mr Kjellberg’s companies to work out how much he had earned.
In July 2014, Mr Kjellberg confirmed to an audience on Reddit that he had earned “roughly” $4m in 2013.
Responding to critics, he posted: “I still spent far more money on charities than anything I’ve ever spent for myself.”
YouTube continues to be a profitable enterprise for its top tier stars, who earn money from advertisements placed around their videos.
The site’s terms and conditions forbid creators from disclosing how much they earn, but on Monday gamer Olajide Olatunji, known as KSI, told the newspaper Metro he had earned enough money to buy his parents a house.
Although some stars supplement their income with product placement deals, Mr Kjellberg says he does not do very many.
“I make more than I need from YouTube,” he wrote on Reddit. “With that freedom, but also to respect my fans for making that possible, I don’t end up doing many endorsements.”
Mr Maude has a word of caution for anybody eyeing up YouTube with dreams of becoming a millionaire.
“As with many things, a few people at the top do exceptionally well but there’s a long tail of people who don’t make any money at all,” he said.
“People have to see something special in you. It doesn’t happen for everyone.”
Mr Kjellberg has not commented the Expressen article posted on Sunday, but did retweet game critic Jim Sterling, who wrote: “It’s that time of the year where people find out how much money PewDiePie makes and they get real salty over it.
“Good for him, I say.”
