2 HN users recommended this commentary2 months2014–2017score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN commenters cite it as an analysis of PewDiePie's popularity and of how YouTube's recommendations favored gaming content.
The Game Theorists analyze how PewDiePie rose to become the most subscribed channel on YouTube. The video looks at why let's plays and gaming channels thrive on the platform.
“Here's a video with some interesting theories about how PewDiePie, and other gaming channels, are so popular” (HN, 2014)
There is an interesting theory on how that happened: [this video] Basically Google changed their algorithm to recommend videos based on time watched instead of just views. Which massively favored let's plays because they are so long. They also promote channels based on geographical location. Pewdiepie had an advantage somehow because he had a fanbase in Sweden and moved to Italy. This might also explain parent comment's problem (recommendations favoring let's plays because they are longer.)
Theory that YouTube's watch-time recommendations favored let's plays
Here's a video with some interesting theories about how PewDiePie, and other gaming channels, are so popular because they're effectively hyper-tuned for Youtube's promotion algorithms: [this video]
Theories on why gaming channels suit YouTube promotion
Plus he has moved to 3 different countries, picking up viewers from them all. And how YouTube's Recommended Videos system works. Here's someone's analysis of why he got so popular. Looks, editing skills, and personality also helped build him a niche. [this video]
[this video] (12mins) [link] (13mins) if you prefer to read instead. Online Multiplayer Video Games: Peak Daily Users 5,000,000 League of Legends (Riot Games 2009, Free / Cosmetic microtransactions) 2,552,565 PLAYER UNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS (Steam / Bluehole Inc. 2017, $30 / Cosmetic microtransactions) 727,479 Dota 2 (Steam / Valve Corporation 2013, Free / Cosmetic microtransactions) 547,883 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve Corporation 2012, $15 / Cosmetic microtransactions) -in-built audience of about 500k-5million -low barrier of entry high skill ceiling -former professional players stream their games daily and give advice -livestream audience of 10k-20k concurrent viewers -streamer can earn up to 5 million USD a year from: monthly subscription model for cosmetic chat features, ad and merchandise revenue streams There are many intersections between genres, because teenagers are interested in a lot of things, fashion, music, video-games, tv shows. There is also a certain infantisation of 20-30's due to the increasingly common choice to put off starting a family until late 30s. A good example is the two brothers Logan (22) and Jake (20) Paul. Former viners(1) who were on a Disney tv show (2) moved to youtube (3) bringing over their fans from vine and disney and adding new ones due to clever self-promotion. Any 5 to 15 year old in America knows their name and about 5-10 million watch their videos daily. What is their talent? In a post-modern twist, the story of their success
12-minute video on streamer and YouTuber economics
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.
Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed
4 Hacker News comments
From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.
Citations, criticism and jokes
Read more