After months of memes, videos, tweets, songs, stunts and hacked printers, the YouTube subscriber war between T-Series and PewDiePie is finally over.
Indian music record label and film production company, T-Series, is officially now the most-subbed-to channel on the platform, and aside from upsetting literally millions of nine-year-olds, it’s a sad occasion for content creators in general.
A content creator having the biggest YouTube channel is a lot more of a big deal than a company having one, and it seems to highlight the many issues that YouTube has faced over the past few years.
The platform’s YouTube Rewind 2018 video became the most-disliked YT vid of all time as it was heavily criticised for forgoing individual creators in favour of celebrities and brands.
YouTube has also come under fire for its algorithm, which many people have claimed shows bias to a lot of creators (including PewDiePie).
When PewDiePie hit his first million subscribers back in 2012 it was a huge milestone for both YouTube and Felix himself. Known for his horror Let’s Plays and off-the-wall comedy, Pewds rocketed to success and became the face and inspiration for a lot of future creators.
Pewds’ success helped to shape the idea that social media could be used to make some serious money, with thousands upon thousands of people picking up a camera and hoping to emulate his success.
It’s not been a smooth ride to fame for the Swedish star though. He’s been frequently criticised for taking his comedy too far, and has been accused of racism, anti-semitism and all the other bad isms you can think of.
Despite the backlash he’s faced over the years, PewDiePie has contributed massive amounts to charity, and even used the subs war against T-Series to raise nearly £180,000 for Indian charity, CRY.
Although it’s disappointing to see the big dogs take the crown from an individual content creator, we all knew this was coming.
You had a good run, Pewds. Maybe you’ll find the solution in Happy Wheels?
Featured Image Credit: PewDiePie/Instagram.