DEEP DIVE

On Sunday, there was only a 50,000 subscriber difference between the two channels. The gap has since widened and PewDiePie remains ahead by over 400,000 subscribers. However, it looks like even with these spikes in numbers, PewDiePie will eventually lose his number one spot, as T-Series is growing at a much faster rate.

For months, PewDiePie has been half-jokingly competing with T-Series for this coveted spot. He even created a diss track titled “B**ch Lasagna,” which garnered over 50 million views.

Several popular YouTubers have urged their followers to subscribe to PewDiePie. Mr. Beast launched an extensive ad campaign which included billboards, bathroom ads, and radio appearances, many of which would likely be incomprehensible to people not already familiar with PewDiePie and T-Series. Markiplier posted a 48-minute long video titled “I Literally Won’t Shut Up Until You Subscribe To PewDiePie.” Justin Roberts purchased a $1 million pro-PewDiePie billboard in Times Square. Jacksepticeye and MatPat tweeted to their millions of followers, telling them to subscribe to PewDiePie. Some people have taken advantage of the popularity of the phrase “subscribe to PewDiePie” to raise awareness about their own channels and other issues.

On Monday, a hacker accessed 50,000 printers worldwide, causing them to print propaganda telling people to subscribe to PewDiePie and unsubscribe to T-Series.

The campaign for PewDiePie to remain the most subscribed to YouTuber is largely a meme, rather than a 100% serious endeavor. It doesn’t seem to have an end goal other than for PewDiePie to retain his #1 position for as long as possible. The hype around the competition has created significant buzz around PewDiePie’s channel, bringing him more views and revenue. Recently, he used this publicity to raise money for a non-profit that helps children in India: Child Rights and You. Fans raised over $200,000 for the organization in one day.

PewDiePie and T-Series put out vastly different content for vastly different audiences. Although it may seem that Pewds is raging a war on the Indian channel, they can coexist and both remain extremely successful.

Even if T-Series does surpass PewDiePie’s record number of subscribers, he will still be the individual with the most subscribed to channel (although he is not the only person who plays a part in making his videos).

A live stream of the subscriber counts for the two channels: