PewDiePie Net Worth: How Much Is He Really Worth?

PewDiePie is one of the original YouTubers who made it big having become a household name in social media. Unlike many other successful YouTubers, he is not known for his lifestyle videos or vlogs but mainly does sit down videos on his channel. The 29-year-old Swedish influencer has been making videos for over a decade and has built a loyal fan base who refer to themselves as the Bro Army. Best known for his video game commentary and viral challenges people from all over the world tune in to see what he will do next. With all of the fame and fortune he has accumulated over the years he has also built up his business and bank account. We will break down who PewDiePie really is and how much he is really worth! 

First, let’s take a look at his social media following:

Who Is PewDiePie?

Felix Kjellberg created his online alias of PewDiePie back in 2006 and is currently the second most subscribed YouTube channel in the world. Giving up his no. 1 title to record label T-Series in the past year, PewDiePie still has a lofty 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube. The 29-year-old was born in Gothenburg Sweden in 1989 but now lives in Brighton, England with his wife and two pugs. While living in Sweden he attended Chalmers University majoring in industrial econ and tech management, but after a year he decided to drop out of college to pursue his YouTube career.  A talented photo editor, PewDiePie would sell his prints to keep him afloat while he created video content, and luckily he started gaining followers very quickly. After just two years into his YouTube channel, he had gained over 1 million subscribers, something many YouTubers spend years building. Similar to his channel now, his original videos were also video game commentaries, so you could say he is one of the pioneers of the gaming influencer trend. He gained the status as the most subscribed YouTube channel starting in 2013, and over the past six years has bounced around from first and second place.

Felix started dating his now-wife Marzia Bisognin in 2011, and the couple got married in August 2019. Marzia is also a social media influencer hailing from Italy and the couple did long-distance hopping around between Sweden and Italy. Marzia, @itsmarziepie has 7.3 million followers on Instagram, so they are no strangers to living a very public life. The couple also has two Insta-famous pugs that often make cameos on their Instagram feeds named Maya and Edgar. Felix and Marzia tied the knot in Kew Gardens in London on August 19, and you can watch his video montage on his channel. 

View this post on Instagram

We are married!!! I'm the happiest I can be ♥️ I'm so lucky to share my life with this amazing woman.

A post shared by PewDiePie (@pewdiepie) on Aug 20, 2019 at 4:40am PDT

If you are wondering, “what does PewDiePie even mean,” we have the answer for you! The name PewDiePie came about when Felix first created his channel in 2006, as “pew” is the sound that a gun makes and “die” meaning…well…to die. In 2010, he forgot his password to the account and had to create his new channel PewDiePie which he still uses today.  He is most famously known for his outrageous video game commentary where he records himself playing his favorite video games and dramatic reactions. This is all under his series called “Let’s Play.” If you love watching Twitch or find video game streaming entertaining, you will love watching his videos. He gained so much popularity in record time that in 2016, Maker Studios produced a YouTube Premium video series called “Scare PewDiePie.” In this series, scenes from PewDiePie’s videos where he did commentary on horror games would be recreated in real life and viewers could see him fall to the floor in terror. The show had ten episodes and was set to renew for a second season in 2017 but was canceled due to one of his biggest scandals.

Biggest Scandals

PewDiePie has a very eccentric over the top personality which has gotten him famous but also in trouble in the past. Like many other YouTubers who have been on the platform for many years, PewDiePie has had various scandals where comments made in his videos whether they were misinterpreted or not, offended his viewers and made it on the news. In the past, he has made jokes about ISIS and rape and was known for making multiple antisemitic comments in his videos. One of his biggest scandals that cost him his show renewal was when he paid two freelancers to hold a sign that said “death to all jews” which sparked international rage and concern. This video created international outrage and put his success at risk. It created a lot of buzz and critics were determined to find out if this wasn’t the first time he had made bigoted comments in his videos. The Wall Street Journal found nine other incidents of antisemitic comments in PewDiePie’s videos alongside other inappropriate slang words in his live streams. After this incident, YouTube supposedly was not happy with PewDiePie and did not support his channel. This alongside other scandals made people believe that he may never recover. Somehow, PewDiePie has managed to continually make comebacks and is still loved by many. 

PewDiePie Net Worth Breakdown

Like many successful YouTubers, PewDiePie has utilized his popularity to grow his brand and make extra income aside from the income from his YouTube videos. In 2015, he created his own video game called Legend of the Brofist, released a book called “This Book Loves You,” a YouTube series “Scare Pew Die Pie,” and streams on DLive. As one of YouTube’s top creators and one of the most followed people in the world, many brands would love to have him promote their brands, but PewDiePie doesn’t do as many brand deals as other top influencers. Since he makes so much money off of ads, brand deals are seemingly less important to the social media mogul. With that being said, in January of 2019 PewDiePie made a big announcement as he partnered with energy drink company GFUEL. GFUEL CEO Cliff Morgan was ecstatic to have PewDiePie on board along with other famous creators posting this picture on his Twitter account.

I would like to welcome the YouTube heavy-weight champ of the world to the #GFUEL family. There can be only one @pewdiepie and there can be only one #officialenergydrinkofesports @GFuelEnergy 👊🔥 pic.twitter.com/uxZxO6D2a2

— Cliff Morgan (@CliffGammaCEO) January 12, 2019

We can only imagine how much he is making from this partnership and how that will affect his net worth. Based off of the current statistics we have on PewDiePie, it is believed that VloggerGear.com, PewDiePie makes:

• $21,000 per video
• $940,000 per month
• $11.28 million per year

Calculating to a net worth of around $30-50 million. Since PewDiePie has so many engaged followers and gets over 180 million views a month on his videos alone, his yearly income from social media comes to an astonishing $11+ million a year. Similarly to Logan Paul, even having gone through though serious scandals, both were able to make comebacks and make more money than the previous year. 

Like many other influencers, PewDiePie has a merch sold on represent.com. PewDiePie fans can buy sweatshirts, t-shirts, bags, and hats with  “hundred mil club,” “big brain anatomy,” and “Hamnkapten” amongst other sayings. Alongside his apparel and accessory line, he has come up with a secret recipe for Swedish meatballs, and fans can buy them on Shoppewdiepie.com. Sales from his websites make him around $6.8 million annually. According to Sellfy’s calculations, PewDiePie also ranks no. 1 for the most money made from merch and ads amongst all of the social media stars.^[1]https://www.prweek.com/article/1593191/study-pewdiepie-youtubes-highest-earner-8m-month 

If you are a fan of live streaming and want to watch PewDiePie, the only platform you can find him on is called DLive. In April 2019, he signed an exclusive deal with DLive that he would exclusively stream on their site. DLive is a unique platform having been built using the Lino Blockchain and PewDiePie has the ninth highest earnings on the platform making $15.5 million in 2018. 

Over the years PewDiePie has been nominated and won various awards for his content and YouTube channel such as:

Overall,  PewDiePie has an estimated net worth of up to $30 million in 2019. Through the ups and downs of being in the spotlight, he has managed to consistently be a leader in the YouTube and gaming space for thirteen years and still continues to grow his following. Whether you love him or hate him, you’ve definitely heard his name. When comparing his net worth to Logan Paul, PewDiePie beats him by $10 million, and he does significantly less business outside of streaming and YouTube. For any skeptics who question if YouTube can be a career, take a look at the success of this Swedish creator and think again! Although he may not be the best influencer for your brand deals, there are many other influencers who could be the perfect fit to promote your brand. If you are looking to find the best influencers to showcase your brand based on their engagement, viewers, and viewer demographics, connect with our NeoReach team to get an inside look at who would be best for you.