Olivia R. February 4, 2019
Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg is willing to do anything to protect his spot atop YouTube, even if it means doing the unthinkable.
In a desperate attempt to further surpass T-Series as the channel with the most followers on YouTube, PewDiePie live streamed Fortnite on Super Bowl Sunday, garnering more than 6.8 million views.
The Fortnite stream has gained PewDiePie over 340,000 new subscribers thus far.
Despite pulling out the big guns, the Indian music channel is not far behind. T-Series is a little over 120,000 subscribers away from overtaking the Swedish video star. PewDiePie is clinging to the title with 83.8 million subscribers.
PewDiePie’s army of nine-year-olds have been fighting to keep their favored bro at the number one spot for months, sacrificing their precious time to the "Great Subscriber War." Acts of bravery and honor include purchasing Times Square billboards that declare “Subscribe to PewDiePie” and hacking unsecure work printers to spread the same message.
Fellow YouTuber Jimmy “Mr. Beast” Donaldson continued his own efforts live at the Super Bowl by holding up multiple shirts that read “Sub 2 PewDiePie.”
These feverish acts of loyalty came about after analytics website Social Blade announced in August 2018 that T-Series would likely overtake PewDiePie within the next two months.
The Fortnite stream is PewDiePie’s most drastic tactic yet. Even though his subscriber count surpassed YouTube’s auto-generated gaming channel on January 18, PewDiePie hasn’t uploaded much gaming content in recent years despite continued demand and the role it had in his rise.
Created in 2006, PewDiePie’s channel grew in popularity when he uploaded compilations of himself playing horror games. The “Bro Army” rapidly grew to 1 million subscribers in 2012. After more than 10 years on YouTube, PewDiePie’s platform has evolved into more of a commentary channel, where he discusses YouTube trends and kills popular memes in his daily uploads.
PewDiePie stated in the live stream’s description that it was his first time playing Fortnite, but his new subscribers are hoping it won’t be his last.