2013 was a very different time in KZread. Although it was already a large platform, it most definitely didn't have the audience it does today.
It's easy to forget just how much the site has changed over the years, so today we're going to take a look at 2013's biggest youtubers and where they are now. It feels like Mr Beast and KZread go hand in hand, but 10 years ago the biggest KZread channels were very, very different.
No one was really making super high budget content anything
like what Mr Beast does, and the thought of 100 million
subscribers was absolutely impossible at the time. In fact, as you're going to find out, only 2 people even managed to reach 10 million subscribers that year, let alone 100 million.
So, who was the first to reach 10 million subscribers?
I'll give you a moment to guess.
If you thought PewDiePie, you would be 100%... Incorrect. It was actually Smosh, who managed to reach the milestone 2 months before he did.
PewDiePie is still one of the most subscribed and viewed channels on KZread even 10 years on, and as you're about to find out, he is one of the rare instances where a big channel actually manages to survive.
Now he doesn't post anywhere near as frequently now that he's started a family with his wife, and he's in a sort of semi retirement, but it's very hard to argue that he isn't still a top tier KZreadr.
Every single video he uploads gets several million views within days of
uploading, and it's clear that he didn't start posting less frequently due
to falling off or anything like that. In 2013, his content was very different, being one of the pioneers of the let's play format. These videos where fairly light on editing compared to most videos published today, and were mainly focused on funny moments from popular video games, including happy wheels and Amnesia. PewDiePie was almost the face of KZread that year, and countless articles and new stories were written about him. He really was the first KZreadr who was a household name. Even people who didn't watch him would recognise his face and know his name.
PewDiePie remains as one of the most loved KZreadrs in history even well over a decade on.
Now, on to Smosh. Smosh was a comedy channel started my two friends, Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla.
Although it might seem like their content from 2013 is similar to a lot of modern KZreadrs, you have to remember - these guys were way ahead of the trend. I genuinely can't remember a single other channel which had such a high production budget, and due to the quality of their videos, they basically had no competition. These guys where the masters of widely appealing, light hearted comedy videos. They were original,
and their titles and thumbnails completely changed the KZread meta.
Block capitals and bright colours started to become the norm, and they were some of the first KZreadrs to really start to understand how to systematically grow a channel and find success.
Now Smosh has a very interesting and complex history, which would be too long to fit into this video, but here's a quick run down.
Ian and Anthony basically sold their channel to a large company,
in exchange for stock in that company in 2011. These guys brought on a ton more staff on board and helped with their output, but the channel became increasingly stressful and less enjoyable for the pair. Anthony left Smosh, and Defy Media, the parent company, went bankrupt in 2018, firing almost everyone on board. In an interesting turn of events, the Good Mythical Morning Guys bought Smosh in 2019, and then actually sold it back to Ian and Anthony earlier this year. So they went from a huge brand, to a dead channel, back to a huge channel, all over the span of nearly 20 years. The history of Smosh is super interesting and deserves a video on it's own for sure. Ian and Anthony are now both back producing content for Smosh,
but Anthony also has a very successful channel of his own, where he hosts the series "I spend a day with", where he interviews a load
of different types of people. It does make me happy to see that the pair are back in charge of Smosh, because they were one of the first channels I remember watching back in 2009, and 8 year old me thought they were the funniest thing since fart jokes.
Just like today, KZread had already began turning a bit corporate, even in 2013. Many of the biggest channels weren't really KZreadrs, and instead were musicians with channels posting music videos, and were ran by their record labels.
PSY was the third most viewed music channel that year, with 1.8 billion views, followed by One Direction, Rihanna and Justin Bieber.