YouTube star PewDiePie couldn’t help but laugh at fellow influencer MrBeast’s advice for up-and-coming content creators.
Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg reigned as the undisputed king of YouTube for years as the site’s most-subscribed creator before getting dethroned by Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson in 2022.
Since then, the two have enjoyed an amicable relationship, even meeting up to collaborate on a video together in early 2023 — but that isn’t stopping PewDiePie from calling things as he sees them.
In a September 30 YouTube video, PewDiePie linked up with fellow influencer CinnamonToastKen to poke fun at “bad” YouTube advice, which included some tips from MrBeast.
In one clip, MrBeast urged creators to think on a long-term, ten-year timeline, encouraging them to “work like hell” for a decade to see results.
“That’s kind of a big commitment,” Pewds laughed. “Ten years! I get the point, but damn. …Imagine you’re nine years in, and still no one gives a sh*t about your channel, and you’re like, ‘One more year, here we go!’”
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The two went on to express some speculation regarding Donaldson’s claims that creators’ first few videos likely “won’t get any views,” saying that aspiring influencers should aim to make 100 videos and “improve something every time.”
“I got views on my first video,” Ken said.
“Well, there you go!” PewDiePie laughed. “What does MrBeast know about YouTube?”
“That was a long time ago,” Ken clarified. “Nowadays it’s really hard to break through.”
“For the first time, it seems like the algorithm actually serves me new videos of smaller channels,” Pewds countered. “That would never happen before.”
After reflecting on his own come-up, PewDiePie seemed to agree with MrBeast’s advice to a point. “You just have to try really hard,” he said. “It’s like anything; if you want to stand out, there’s gonna be a million people doing it. You just have to try really f*cking hard.”
PewDiePie is still one of YouTube’s most-subscribed creators, sitting at 8th place. MrBeast is now owner of the site’s most-subbed channel after beating out T-Series in 2024 — and despite the current backlash against him, he continues to rake in tens of millions of views with each upload and even collaborates with other creators on new products.