PewDiePie

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (born 24 October 1989), better known as PewDiePie, is a Swedish YouTuber. Best known for his gaming videos, he is also recognised for his satirical commentary, comedy-sketches and lifestyle vlogging. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage have made him one of the most noted online personalities and content creators. Media coverage of him has cited him as a figurehead for YouTube, especially in the gaming genre.

Born and raised in Gothenburg, Kjellberg registered his YouTube channel "PewDiePie" in 2010, primarily posting Let's Play videos of horror and action video games. His channel gained a substantial following and was one of the fastest growing channels in 2012 and 2013, before becoming the most-subscribed on YouTube on 15 August 2013. From 29 December 2014 to 14 February 2017, Kjellberg's channel was also the most-viewed on the platform. After becoming the platform's most-popular creator, he diversified his content, shifting its focus from Let's Plays and began to frequently include vlogs, comedy shorts, formatted shows, and music videos. For its first foray into original programming as part of the relaunch of its subscription service, YouTube also enlisted Kjellberg to star in a reality web series.

Kjellberg's content was already noted for its polarizing reception among general audiences online, but in the late 2010s, it became more controversial and attracted increased media scrutiny. Most notably, a 2017 article by The Wall Street Journal alleging his content included antisemitic themes and imagery prompted other outlets to write further criticism of him and companies to sever their business partnerships with Kjellberg. Though he acknowledged the content which garnered media ire as inappropriate, he defended it as humor taken out of context and vehemently rebuked the Journal's reporting in particular.

In late 2018 and early 2019, Kjellberg engaged in a public competition with Indian record label T-Series, before his channel was ultimately overtaken by the label's as the most-subscribed on YouTube. Shortly following this, he returned to making regular gaming uploads, with a focus on Minecraft, generating record viewership for his channel. In the 2020s, Kjellberg became more reserved online, uploading less consistently and taking frequent breaks from Internet use. Meanwhile, in his personal life, he moved to Japan with his wife, Italian Internet personality Marzia. He has since semi-retired from YouTube, choosing to upload less frequently and for his enjoyment rather than as a career. His content has since centered on his family life and personal interests. As of August 2026, his main YouTube channel has earned over 109 million subscribers and 29.51 billion views, which still made his channel rank as one of the most-subscribed on YouTube.

Kjellberg is widely considered a pioneer and ambassador of YouTube's platform and culture, as well as largely influential to Internet culture in general, particularly its gaming subculture. His popularity online has been recognized to boost sales for the video games he plays, especially the ones developed independently. This has allowed him to stir support for charity fundraising drives. Some media outlets have opined that Kjellberg promoted hateful ideologies or described him as adjacent to them, while others have called such descriptions unfair. Noted as YouTube's most-popular creator for much of the 2010s, Time magazine named him as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2016.

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg was born on 24 October 1989 in Gothenburg, where he was also raised. He was born to Lotta Kristine Johanna (née Hellstrand, born 1958) and Ulf Christian Kjellberg (born 1957), and grew up with his older sister, Fanny. His mother, a former chief information officer (CIO), was named the 2010 CIO of the Year in Sweden. His father is a corporate executive.

During his childhood, Kjellberg was interested in art and has detailed that he would draw popular video game characters such as Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as playing video games on his Super Nintendo Entertainment System, such as Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. During high school, he frequently played video games in his bedroom and would skip classes to go to an Internet café with friends. During his last year of high school, he bought a computer with the money he made selling artwork through his grandmother's gallery.

Kjellberg then went on to pursue a degree in industrial engineering and management at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, but left the university in 2011. While it has been reported that he left Chalmers to focus on his YouTube career, Kjellberg clarified in 2017 that he had left due to a lack of interest in his course of study. He further expressed that, in general, leaving university to pursue a YouTube career would be "fucking stupid".

Kjellberg has also discussed an enjoyment of Adobe Photoshop, wanting to work on photo manipulation art using the program rather than be in school. Following this passion after he departed from Chalmers, he entered Photoshop contests and almost earned an apprenticeship at a prominent Scandinavian advertising agency. He was also interested in creating content on YouTube; after not earning the apprenticeship, he sold limited edition prints of his photoshopped images to purchase a computer to work on YouTube videos.

Kjellberg originally registered a YouTube account under the name "Pewdie" in December 2006; he explained that "pew" represents the sound of lasers and "die" refers to dying. After initially forgetting the password to this account, he registered the "PewDiePie" YouTube channel on 29 April 2010. Following his exit from Chalmers, his parents refused to support him financially, so he funded his early videos by working as a harbor captain, selling prints of his Photoshop art, and working at a hot dog stand. Kjellberg stated that the ability to make videos was more important to him than a prestigious career. Five years later, Kjellberg recalled, "I knew people were big at other types of videos, but there was no one big in gaming, and I didn't know you could make money out of it. It was never like a career that I could just quit college to pursue. It was just something I loved to do."

In his early years as a YouTube creator, Kjellberg focused on video game commentaries, most notably of horror and action video games. Some of his earliest videos featured commentaries of mainstream video games including Minecraft and Call of Duty, although he came to be particularly noted for his Let's Plays of horror games such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent and The Last of Us. On these videos, Kjellberg has stated "I was so shy back then," and added, "It was so weird to me, sitting alone in a room talking into a microphone. That was unheard of back at the time. No one really did it." Kjellberg's oldest video available for viewing is titled "Minecraft Multiplayer Fun". Uploaded on 2 October 2010, the video contained mainly Swedish commentary from Kjellberg, rather than the English language he employed in later videos.

Starting on 2 September 2011, he also began posting weekly vlogs under the title of Fridays with PewDiePie. The series was a weekly deviation from the Let's Play videos that formed most of his content output at the time, and often featured Kjellberg completing viewer requests.

By December 2011, Kjellberg's channel had around 60,000 subscribers, before rapidly increasing in 2012. Around the time his channel earned 700,000 subscribers, Kjellberg spoke at Nonick Conference 2012. July 2012 saw his channel reaching 1 million subscribers. In October, OpenSlate ranked Kjellberg's channel as the No. 1 YouTube channel. Kjellberg signed with Maker Studios in December, a multi-channel network (MCN) that drives the growth of the channels under it. Prior to his partnership with Maker, he was signed to Machinima, a rival of Maker's. Kjellberg expressed feeling neglected by Machinima; frustrated with their treatment, he hired a lawyer to free him from his contract with the network.

Early in his YouTube career, Kjellberg used jokes about rape in his videos. Michael "Slowbeef" Sawyer, a fellow Let's Play YouTuber, created a video mocking Kjellberg's content and highlighting his usage of such jokes. Shortly after, Kjellberg attracted criticism and controversy for the jokes, and in October 2012, he addressed the issue through a Tumblr post, writing, "I just wanted to make clear that I'm no longer making rape jokes, as I mentioned before I'm not looking to hurt anyone and I apologise if it ever did." The Globe and Mail stated "unlike many young gamers, he listened when fans and critics alike pointed out their harmful nature, and resolved to stop making rape jokes."

By 2013, Kjellberg became "ubiquitous" on the platform. On 18 February, his channel reached 5 million subscribers, and in April, he was covered in The New York Times after surpassing 6 million subscribers. In May 2013, at the inaugural Starcount Social Stars Awards in Singapore, Kjellberg won the award for "Swedish Social Star". Nominated alongside Jenna Marbles, Smosh, and Toby Turner, he also won the award for "Most Popular Social Show". In June, Kjellberg published "A Funny Montage", an entry in his series of compilations of clips from previous uploads. Many of his most-viewed videos are such compilations, and the specific June 2013 entry spent a considerable amount of time as Kjellberg's most-viewed video overall, with publications citing it as such through 2018.

In July, he overtook Jenna Marbles to become the second most-subscribed user, and shortly thereafter surpassed 10 million subscribers. On 1 August, Kjellberg signed with Maker's gaming sub-network, Polaris. Polaris functioned as a relaunching of The Game Station, Maker's gaming network. On 15 August, Kjellberg became the most-subscribed user on YouTube, surpassing Smosh. For the achievement, Kjellberg received a certificate from Guinness World Records. In November, YouTube's Spotlight channel overtook Kjellberg's as the most-subscribed. Later in the month, Kjellberg proclaimed his dislike of YouTube's new comment system, and disabled the comment section on all of his videos. After a brief back-and-forth in December, his channel firmly supplanted the YouTube Spotlight on 23 December to once again become the most-subscribed on YouTube. Throughout 2012 and 2013, Kjellberg's channel was one of the fastest-growing on YouTube, in terms of subscribers gained. Billboard reported that the channel gained more subscribers than any other channel in 2013.

In 2014, Kjellberg's commentaries, then best known for featuring horror video games, began to actively feature games that interested him regardless of genre. That September, Kjellberg again announced he would disable comments on his YouTube videos, intending for this to be a permanent change. He reasoned that most comments were either spam and self-advertisements. Though he disabled his YouTube comments, Kjellberg continued interacting with his audience through Twitter and Reddit. On 13 October, he decided to allow comments on his videos once more, albeit only after approval. However, he expressed that he toggled his comment settings this way so that he could redirect viewers to instead comment on the forums of his Broarmy.net website. Kjellberg stated in a later video that disabling comments made him happier.

Also in October, Kjellberg hinted at the possibility that he would not renew his contract with Maker Studios upon its expiration in December. He expressed his frustrations with the studio's parent company, Disney, and mulled the option of launching his own network. However, in light of news outlets reporting his disinterest with Maker, he tweeted, "I feel like I was misquoted in The WSJ, and I'm really happy with the work that Maker has been doing for me." Kjellberg ultimately continued creating videos under Maker. His relationship with Maker saw the network launch an official PewDiePie website and online store to sell merchandise, in addition to an official PewDiePie app for the iPhone that released earlier that August, allowing audiences to view his videos, create custom favourite video feeds, and share videos with others. In return, Kjellberg promoted Maker's media interests, and gave the network a share of his YouTube ad revenue.

According to Social Blade, Kjellberg's channel became the most-viewed channel on the website on 29 December 2014, having amassed over 7 billion views by that date.

The New York Times retrospectively noted that around 2015, Kjellberg's video content experienced a change in style: "He began to take more risks. He continued playing video games, but he started experimenting. He did viral challenges, made fun of other YouTubers, and reviewed meme submissions from his fans." Kjellberg has attributed his content around this time as a result of immaturity, boredom with playing video games, YouTube's platform incentives, and the belief that his channel's growth had plateaued. One video cited as being representative of this change featured Kjellberg reading erotic fan fiction about characters from the Disney film Frozen. Bob Iger, then the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, was reportedly angered by the video, putting Kjellberg's deal with Maker in jeopardy.

On 6 September 2015, his YouTube account became the first to surpass 10 billion video views. Later in the month, Kjellberg teased about having a role in a web television series, stating that he was in Los Angeles for the show's shooting. It was later announced that the series would be a YouTube Red original series, titled Scare PewDiePie. The series premiered the following February.

In January 2016, Kjellberg announced a partnership with Maker Studios to produce Revelmode, a sub-network of Maker, that would showcase Kjellberg and his friends on YouTube in original series. After the deal, the head of Maker Studios, Courtney Holt, stated, "we're thrilled to be doubling down with Felix." Along with Kjellberg, eight other YouTubers signed to the network upon its creation: CinnamonToastKen, Marzia, Dodger, Emma Blackery, Jacksepticeye, Jelly, Kwebbelkop, and Markiplier. Three YouTubers – Cryaotic, KickThePJ, and Slogoman – would later join the sub-network after its launch.

Throughout 2016, Kjellberg's video style change became more apparent. While producing fewer Let's Play videos about horror games, his style of humour changed; he commented that he had shifted to drier humour, which was often not understood by younger viewers. He examined his older videos, and while noting the stylistic changes he had undergone, he expressed specific regret for his casual use of words like gay or retarded in a derogatory sense.

On 2 December 2016, he uploaded a video discussing his frustration with the issue of YouTube accounts experiencing an unexplained loss of subscribers and views. Kjellberg stated that many people working with YouTube "have no idea of the struggles that came with being a content creator." A Google representative issued a statement to Ars Technica, stating that no decreases in subscriber numbers were out of the ordinary. Kjellberg's video was uploaded as his channel approached 50 million subscribers, and he stated he would delete his channel once it reached the milestone. On 8 December, his channel reached 50 million subscribers, becoming the first YouTube channel to do so. He shortly thereafter received a custom Play Button from YouTube as a reward for reaching this milestone. Ultimately, Kjellberg did not delete his PewDiePie channel, and instead deleted a smaller second channel he had then-recently created. His threat to quit was also reported to be "in fact, a promotional stunt" for Scare PewDiePie.

In September 2018, Kjellberg uploaded a LWIAY video discussing Indian record label T-Series' YouTube channel being projected to surpass his in subscribers. On 5 October, Kjellberg uploaded "Bitch Lasagna", a diss track against the label in response to their YouTube channel being projected to surpass his in subscribers. The video went on to become Kjellberg's most-viewed video, a title formerly held by "A Funny Montage". It included some lines mocking the Indian background of T-Series, which were described as racist in media publications. On the prospect of being surpassed by T-Series in terms of subscriber count, he stated he was not concerned about T-Series, but feared the consequences a corporate channel surpassing him would have for YouTube as a video-sharing platform. Online campaigns to "subscribe to PewDiePie" greatly assisted Kjellberg's subscriber growth; his channel gained 6.62 million subscribers in December 2018 alone, compared to the 7 million subscribers gained in all of 2017.

On 12 March, Kjellberg uploaded an episode of his show Pew News in which he mentioned the 2019 Pulwama terrorist attack, where 40 Indian paramilitary troops were killed by a member of a Pakistan-based jihadist group. Following the attack, T-Series removed several songs by Pakistani artists on its YouTube channel after being pressured by political party MNS to isolate Pakistani artists, a course of action that Kjellberg disagreed with. The outlet Zee News reported that Kjellberg "faced strong criticism for his comments on the heightened tension between Pakistan and India in [the] March 12 issue of Pew News". Kjellberg issued a clarification on Twitter, expressing that he was not attempting to speak on the broader India–Pakistan relations, but rather on the more specific context of T-Series removing artists' songs from its YouTube channel.

On 15 March, the perpetrator of the live-streamed Christchurch mosque shootings said "remember lads, subscribe to PewDiePie" before carrying out the attacks. In response, Kjellberg tweeted his disgust after having his name associated with the attack, and offered condolences to those affected by the tragedy. Various journalists covering the shooting reported that Kjellberg was not complicit with the shootings. The New York Times suggested that Kjellberg's mention in the shootings was a ploy for the news media to attribute blame to Kjellberg, and to otherwise inflame political tensions.

After briefly gaining the title several times in early 2019, on 27 March, T-Series surpassed Kjellberg in subscribers to become the most-subscribed channel on YouTube. On 31 March, Kjellberg posted another diss track music video, titled "Congratulations", sarcastically congratulating T-Series for obtaining the title. In the music video, Kjellberg mocked T-Series and its actions, alleging T-Series was founded to sell pirated songs and mocking them for sending him a cease and desist letter after "Bitch Lasagna". Following the video's release, Kjellberg temporarily regained the most-subscribed position over T-Series.

On 11 April, T-Series started to seek court orders to remove Kjellberg's "diss tracks" from YouTube. The alleged court order was ruled in favor of T-Series. It was allegedly stated that the complaint against Kjellberg claimed that his songs were "defamatory, disparaging, insulting, and offensive", and noted that comments on the videos were "abusive, vulgar, and also racist in nature." Access to the music videos on YouTube was later blocked in India. The two parties were reported to have come to a settlement later that July, although Kjellberg's videos remained blocked in India. On 28 April, Kjellberg uploaded a video entitled "Ending the Subscribe to Pewdiepie Meme" in which he asked his followers to refrain from using the phrase "Subscribe to PewDiePie", due to incidents such as the phrase being graffitied on a war memorial, and its mention by the Christchurch mosque shooter. While live streaming the following day, Kjellberg showed a plane flying over New York City with a banner attached saying "Subscribe to PewDiePie", and called it "a nice little wrap up" to the meme.

In November 2020, Kjellberg uploaded a Q&A video, reflecting on his YouTube career. During the video, he expressed that he views himself as "retired" from YouTube, having felt so internally since earlier in the year. He continued to upload videos fairly frequently on the platform afterwards, albeit, inconsistently. He also "committed to posting more unstructured content, like vlogs."

On 14 February 2021, Kjellberg uploaded a diss track titled "Coco" about Cocomelon, a kids-oriented channel which had been rising in subscribers for several years, and was growing by nearly two million subscribers per month. Kjellberg clarified that the children appearing in the music video were provided with a clean version of the lyrics to mime to while they were being filmed, and that their parents allowed them to participate in the video. The video was later taken down by YouTube who claimed that it violated their policies on harassment and child safety. Kjellberg stated he "[didn't] actually care about Cocomelon" and did not want the pretend-rivalry with the channel to "get out of control", as his rivalry with T-Series had previously.

In May 2022, Kjellberg and his wife Marzia moved from England to Japan. Much of his content following the move consisted of "vlogs about daily life around Tokyo." In September, Kjellberg explained the shift his upload philosophy underwent when he announced his "retirement" from the platform: he opted to share videos for fun, as he did when he first began uploading videos. On 14 November, MrBeast surpassed Kjellberg as the most-subscribed individual creator on YouTube. The two have been noted as contemporaries and friends, with MrBeast having previously supported the "Subscribe to PewDiePie" campaign during Kjellberg's competition with T-Series. Previously, Kjellberg answered a viewer question relating to whether MrBeast would surpass his subscriber count, replying "He definitely will ... He definitely deserves it, I hope he does it."

On 29 June 2023, Kjellberg announced he would be taking an indefinite hiatus from YouTube due to his imminent fatherhood. He would shortly thereafter return to making videos in August. In May 2024, Kjellberg expressed discontent with what he described as an "infestation" of YouTubers visiting Japan to create "obnoxious" content for attention and "hate clicks".

Heading into 2025, Kjellberg's channel was "adapted into more lifestyle blogging and the occasional hobby vlog". In November 2025, Kjellberg announced in a mail newsletter that he was done making content about video games for the time being. In April 2026, Kjellberg announced he would stop featuring his son in his family vlogs, expressing that he would like his son to decide for himself if he wants to appear in such videos in the future.

Early in his career, Kjellberg's content mainly consisted of Let's Play videos. His commentaries of horror games made up his best-known content during this early stage, although he eventually expanded into other genres. Unlike conventional walkthroughs, Kjellberg devoted his Let's Play videos to communicating more personally with his audience. Variety detailed that Kjellberg "acts like he's spending time with a friend. He begins each video introducing himself in a high-pitched, goofy voice, drawing out the vowels of his YouTube moniker, then delves into the videos."

Known for his idiosyncratic sense of humor, the nature of his video content has been described by various outlets as goofy, energetic, and obnoxious, yet genuine and unfiltered. Lev Grossman of Time noted that "he's totally unpolished, but at the same time his timing is consistently spot-on," adding that "most of the critical literature about PewDiePie focuses on the bad language and crude physical humor–and admittedly there are a lot of both–and the fact that he is, at the end of the day, just a guy playing video games and yelling." Rob Walker of Yahoo! wrote Kjellberg's "chosen mode of sharing his critique happens to be ribald entertainment, an unmediated stream of blurted jokes, startled yelps, goofy voices, politically incorrect comments, and pretty much nonstop profanity." Occasionally, Kjellberg was emotional or silent in his commentary, having his Let's Plays resort to just gameplay. His playthrough of The Last of Us was detailed to leave the usually vocal gamer speechless at its ending.

With his channel's growth, Kjellberg's content has become more diverse; in addition to traditional Let's Play videos, he has uploaded content including vlogs, comedy shorts, and formatted shows. As aforementioned, media writers noted this change in Kjellberg's content in the mid-2010s, stating his content began to embrace and touch on meme culture, while also describing his videos as more experimental. In December 2016, Kotaku's Patricia Hernandez wrote about his stylistic changes, explaining that "over the last year, the PewDiePie channel has also had an underlying friction, as Kjellberg slowly distances himself from many of the things that made him famous. He's doing fewer Let's Plays of horror games like Amnesia," and adding, "the PewDiePie of 2016 can still be immature, sure, but [...] a defining aspect of recent PewDiePie videos is existential angst, as he describes the bleak reality of making content for a machine he cannot fully control or understand." In 2017, Justin Charity of The Ringer stated, "PewDiePie isn't a comedian in any conventional sense," but described his "hosting style [as] loopy and irreverent in the extreme: He's a little bit stand-up, a little bit shock jock, a little bit 4chan bottom-feeder."

Toward the end of the 2010s, he began uploading much reaction-style content, such as his late 2018 and early 2019 videos reacting to various compilations of TikTok videos. Kjellberg has also uploaded music onto his channel, often accompanied by animation, fan art, or live footage. Oftentimes, music videos uploaded onto his channel are collaborative in nature, as he has worked with artists such as The Gregory Brothers (also known as Schmoyoho), Boyinaband, Roomie, and Party In Backyard.

During the early portion of his YouTube career, Kjellberg did not hire any editor or outside assistance to help with his video output, stating he wanted "YouTube to be YouTube." While his early videos would simply feature raw footage, he later began to dedicate time to edit his videos. Swedish magazine Icon noted his use of the Adobe Premiere Pro editing software. On separate occasions, he later sought an editor and a production assistant to help with his content creation. Although now having an editor for his videos, in a 2017 video, he maintained that "I'm just a guy. It's literally just me. There's not a producer out there [...] there's no writer, there's no camera guy." In July of that same year, Kjellberg commented that a couple of months prior, he had an office and a limited number of employees assisting him with his content creation.

Kjellberg has been noted by both himself and media outlets as prolific on the platform, having uploaded videos with a high frequency. In March 2012, Swedish newspaper Expressen reported that Kjellberg had uploaded at least one video per day for the seven months preceding their report. In March 2014, he adjusted his video production output, announcing he would be scaling down the frequency of uploads. By early 2017, he had uploaded almost 3,500 videos to his channel, around 400 of which have been made private. As a result, Kjellberg has made videos and statements expressing his feelings of burnout from frequently creating content for the platform and its effect on his mental health. In March 2017, Kjellberg commented that his channel was running on a daily output, stating, "[there's] a lot of challenges in doing daily content, [...] but I still really, really love the daily challenge—the daily grind—of just being like, 'hey, I'm gonna make a video today, no matter what.' And sometimes it really works, and sometimes it doesn't."

Media writers have noted that Kjellberg's content has been largely built up "methodically," as opposed to him having risen to fame through a viral video. At the same time, the growth of Kjellberg's channel has been described as rapid by various sources; Douglas Holt of the Harvard Business Review commented that "the power of crowdculture propelled [Kjellberg] to global fame and influence in record time." Many close to Kjellberg have described him as "steadfastly loyal to his YouTube audience," with one calling him "a little spectrumy" in this regard.

By December 2011, Kjellberg's channel had around 60,000 subscribers, and on 9 May 2012, it reached 500,000 subscribers. Expressen noted that Kjellberg's channel accumulated 71 million total video views by March 2012, with 25 million coming in February 2012 alone. The channel reached 1 million subscribers in July, and 2 million subscribers in September.

Throughout 2012 and 2013, Kjellberg's channel was one of the fastest-growing on YouTube, in terms of subscribers gained. On 18 February, Kjellberg's channel reached 5 million subscribers, and in April, he was covered in The New York Times after surpassing 6 million subscribers. In July, he overtook Jenna Marbles to become the second-most-subscribed YouTube user, before reaching 10 million subscribers on 9 July. Kjellberg's subscriber count then surpassed that of the leading channel, Smosh, on 15 August. On 31 October, his channel became the first to reach 15 million subscribers. Shortly after, PewDiePie was surpassed by YouTube's Spotlight channel in subscribers. After jostling for the top position during the next month, PewDiePie's channel took firm hold of the most-subscribed title on 23 December. Ultimately, in 2013, the channel grew from 3.5 million to just under 19 million subscribers. By the end of the year, it was gaining a new subscriber every 1.037 seconds, with Billboard reporting that Kjellberg's channel gained more subscribers than any other in 2013. The year also proved to be successful for Kjellberg's viewership. In June, Tubefilter began a monthly listing of the most-viewed YouTube channels, which Kjellberg consistently topped, ranking #1 in June, July, August, October, and December of that year. Analyzing Tubefilter's data, The Guardian reported that Kjellberg's channel earned 1.3 billion video views in the second half of 2013. The channel had two of the ten most-viewed gaming videos in 2013: the sixth part of his Mad Father Let's Play was the third-most viewed of the year, earning 27 million views, and an entry in his Funny Gaming Montage series ranked as the eight-most viewed gaming video of 2013.

On 9 January 2014, the channel reached the 20 million subscriber milestone. During that year, Kjellberg's channel was the most-viewed in January, and then for seven consecutive months from March to September, according to Tubefilter. According to Social Blade, Kjellberg's channel surpassed emimusic on 29 December 2014, at over 7.2 billion views, to become the most-viewed channel on the website. According to Tubefilter and The Guardian, the channel amassed nearly 14 million new subscribers and around 4.1 billion video views in 2014; both figures were higher than any other user. The latter figure was a reported 81% increase from the channel's video views in 2013; the channel was the most viewed in that year, as well.

During July 2015, Kjellberg's videos were documented to receive over 300 million views per month. It eclipsed the 10 billion video view milestone on 6 September, becoming the first channel to do so. At that time, "A Funny Montage" (then-titled "Funny Montage #1") was Kjellberg's most-viewed video, with approximately 68.8 million views; a partial reason it accumulated many views was due to its status as the PewDiePie channel trailer.

Beginning in April 2014 and spanning into August, Kjellberg, along with his then-girlfriend Marzia, began a marketing campaign for the Legendary Pictures film As Above, So Below. Kjellberg's videos for the marketing campaign included a miniseries featuring him participating in the "Catacombs Challenge". The challenge involved Kjellberg searching for three keys in the catacombs to open a container holding "the Philosopher's stone". The couple's videos were able to earn nearly 20 million views. Maker Studios, which both Kjellberg and Marzia were represented by, brokered the ad deal between the two and Legendary Pictures. In January 2015, Mountain Dew partnered with Kjellberg to launch a fan fiction contest, in which winning fan fiction will be animated into video formats and then uploaded onto his channel.

While he entered partnerships early in his YouTube career, Kjellberg maintained that he worked with few brands and conducted few promotions. He stated he felt he made enough money from YouTube and found endorsing too many brands to be disrespectful to his fans. On this topic, Kjellberg has expressed disappointment when a sizable portion of people misinterpret his intentions; he stated, "if I mention on Twitter that I find this or that Kickstarter project cool, people immediately start to ask what economical interests I might have in it." Eventually, Kjellberg began to work with more brands, stating that he wanted to have a genuine relationship with brands and added he was lucky to not be dependent on working with them to support his career. In January 2019, Kjellberg announced a partnership with energy drink company G Fuel.

In April 2019, "Congratulations" and "Bitch Lasagna" were banned in India when the Delhi High Court granted an injunction in favor of T-Series. The complaint against Kjellberg allegedly stated that his songs were "defamatory, disparaging, insulting, and offensive," and noted that comments on the videos were "abusive, vulgar, and also racist in nature." Although both parties came to a settlement later in the year, Kjellberg's videos remain blocked in India.

On 16 October 2019, Kjellberg uploaded an episode of his Meme Review series, in which he reacted to memes about the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. The video also featured his commentary on the then recent China–NBA and Blitzchung controversies, as well as memes comparing Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping to Winnie-the-Pooh. As a result, Kjellberg's channel and content were reportedly censored in China. Kjellberg stated that content related to him on other websites, such as Reddit, had also been blocked. The BBC wrote that instead of a complete ban, only "some content related to the YouTuber has indeed been made inaccessible online," and that "there is no evidence to suggest this was done on the orders of the government." The BBC suggested that Baidu seemingly removed PewDiePie-related messages on a forum out of caution, but that "a [Baidu] search for his name still returns more than eight million results." Vox wrote that "access to reposted PewDiePie videos and music" appeared to be available to some regional users.

According to Business Insider, "For years, critics of Pewds have been campaigning for YouTube to bar him from the platform to no avail."

Since breaking through on YouTube with his Let's Play-styled videos, Kjellberg has emerged as one of the most noted, influential, and controversial online personalities. He has also been cited by various publications as largely influential for digital content creation and Internet culture, particularly relating to video gaming subcultures. Eurogamer noted that Kjellberg was cast by media reports as a "figurehead" of YouTubers, and for being nearly synonymous with gaming YouTubers in general. In 2016, Douglas Holt of Harvard Business Review wrote of Kjellberg as "YouTube's greatest success", and regarded him, about gaming subcultures, "the star of this digital art world—just as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Patti Smith had done in urban art worlds back in the analog days". Lev Grossman of Time wrote that Kjellberg dominated "an entire medium single-handed," and pioneered "a new form of fame not controlled or manufactured by a studio or a network."

Kjellberg has stated that he dislikes being called "famous". In a 2014 interview with The Wall Street Journal, he called the influence he has "kind of scary". In a Rolling Stone article, Kjellberg admitted to being shocked by his fame; he recalled a gaming event near his hometown, stating "I remember there were five security guards yelling at a crowd to back up – it was out of control. It was shocking to find myself in that situation, where I was that celebrity person." In a 2019 interview with the New York Times, Kjellberg commented on his influence stating, "it's weird for me to be in this position because I don't really want to be in this position." He went on to express feelings of nostalgia for his early YouTube career, when he had fewer subscribers, and admitted to periodically thinking about giving up the platform altogether. Colleagues and media have referred to Kjellberg as "normally press shy", "quiet", and "much more reserved in real life." After moving to Japan, Kjellberg expressed enjoying a lack of recognition while in public.

In September 2014, Walker called Kjellberg's popularity "insane", writing that it "strikes me as considerably more curious – I mean, you know who Rihanna is, but would you recognize this kid if he was standing in line behind you at the bank?" Walker, among other reporters, questioned and analysed reasons for his popularity. Nevertheless, Walker commented positively on Kjellberg's intelligence, stating the YouTuber is "clearly" smart based on when he speaks directly to his audience. Other writers have shared similar sentiments; Grossman described Kjellberg as "articulate", while The Verge's Ben Popper has noted Kjellberg as being "self conscious". In 2015, Ross Miller of The Verge wrote, "Love it or hate it, his success – like so many other YouTube personalities – isn't just in playing games but actually connecting and talking directly to an audience. No agent, press release, or any other intermediary. He just hit record." Profiling Kjellberg and analyzing the YouTuber's career through 2019, Kevin Roose of The New York Times wrote that during the period in which Kjellberg had the most-subscribed channel but still prior to his alleged antisemitism controversy, he "was not just the YouTuber with the biggest channel. To many Inner YouTubers, he represented the values of the platform — lo-fi, authentic, defiantly weird."

In the wake of the Wall Street Journal controversy, John Herman of The New York Times commented that "[Kjellberg] bemoaned [YouTube's] structure and the way it had changed; he balked at its limits and took joy in causing offense and flouting rules. Over time, he grew into an unlikely, disorienting, and insistently unserious political identity: He became YouTube's very own populist reactionary." YouTube's chief business officer Robert Kyncl stated Kjellberg "underestimated the responsibility he had as the platform's most popular ambassador, even if he himself is not a hateful person."

Kjellberg's influence has ranked highly on various lists. Subtitled as the "King of YouTube" on The Verge's 2014 "Verge 50" list—the outlet's "definitive list of the most interesting people building the future." On his listing's blurb, The Verge wrote that "Kjellberg's real talent is finding the human within games. He's just a normal person, finding the authentic in games for an audience that are desperate for a little more humanity." In 2015, Kjellberg was included on Time's list of the 30 most influential people on the Internet, with the publication writing that his channel "broadcasts some of the most-watched programs in pop culture." Later in 2015, Kjellberg was featured on the cover of Variety's "Famechangers" issue, with the magazine ranking him as the "#1 Famechanger", or "those whose influence stands head and shoulders above the rest".

The following year, Time included him on their Time 100 list, with South Park co-creator Trey Parker writing in his entry, "I know it might seem weird, especially to those of us from an older generation, that people would spend so much time watching someone else play video games [...] But I choose to see it as the birth of a new art form. And I don't think anyone should underestimate its most powerful artist." In 2017, Forbes did not rank Kjellberg as the top gaming influencer, citing that his "overall brand suffered earlier this year when he included antisemitic content in nine of his videos". Nevertheless, the publication still included Kjellberg in the gaming category of their June 2017 "Top Influencers" list. In September 2019, The Sunday Times ranked him first on their list of the UK's 100 most influential people online.

In 2015, ESPN noted that Kjellberg typically performed a "Brofist" gesture at the end of his videos, and often referred to his fan base as the "Bro Army", addressing his audience as "bros". Likewise, media outlets also adopted the name when referring to Kjellberg's fan base. Later in his YouTube career, Kjellberg stopped using the term "Bro Army", and began to refer to his audience as "Squad Fam", "9 year olds", and later "19 year olds", in his videos. The fan base has been subject to criticism; in July 2018, Wired published an article, referring to Kjellberg's fan base as "toxic", stating that "it's not just that they've stuck with the Swedish gamer/alleged comedian as he peppered his videos with racial slurs, rape jokes, antisemitism, and homophobia for nearly a decade (though that's bad enough). It's also that they insist that PewDiePie somehow isn't being hateful at all."

At the 2013 Social Star Awards in Singapore, Kjellberg greeted his fans personally despite security warning him against doing so. Kjellberg also mentioned this event to Rolling Stone, stating, "I didn't even understand they were screaming for me at first." Kjellberg has commented on fans from Malaysia and Singapore; during a trip to Kuala Lumpur in 2016, fans entered his hotel to search for him, which he expressed annoyance with. In a 2019 vlog, Kjellberg expressed that fans in Malaysia and Singapore can be "very hectic and scream-ish and crazy, and they lose their minds when they see you." He later apologized to fans from the two countries, stating that seeing the effect he had "on fans back then [during his 2013 trip to Singapore] was cool" and that he would "be lying" if he claimed to hate this initial experience with fans, although added that he has grown to not enjoy being treated as more than a person. Business Insider Singapore reported that some fans took offense to Kjellberg's comments, but that "most netizens accepted the YouTuber's apology and admitted that fans had gone overboard in invading his privacy."

Kjellberg's audience has been reported to provide positive remarks about him; some of his viewers created and contributed to a thread expressing that he has made them happier and feel better about themselves. Conversely, during an informal Twitter poll conducted by one Kotaku reporter, respondents described him as "annoying" and an "obnoxious waste of time." Additionally, Rolling Stone has documented the existence of several Reddit threads dedicated to sharing disparaging views of Kjellberg.

Relating to his responsibility to his audience, Kjellberg has stated, "many people see me as a friend they can chill with for 15 minutes a day," adding, "The loneliness in front of the computer screens brings us together. But I never set out to be a role model; I just want to invite them to come over to my place." Media writers have concurred with Kjellberg's sentiments; Rob Walker of Yahoo! commented on Kjellberg's interaction with his audience, writing, "While he can be raucous and crude, it always comes across as genuine. He constantly addresses his audience as a bunch of peer-like friends, as opposed to distant, genuflecting fans. He's certainly more than willing to make fun of himself in the process." Writing retrospectively in 2025, about Kjellberg's fan base around 2013, Tubefilter's Sam Gutelle stated that Kjellberg's "middling" gaming skills "was part of his appeal", allowing for him to be seen by viewers as a "big brother" figure.

After initially announcing his $50,000 donation to the ADL, Kjellberg mentioned that he had come to terms with his "responsibilities" as a creator. He received backlash from portions of his fan base for the donation, with some sharing conspiracies that the ADL was blackmailing Kjellberg. After Kjellberg ultimately withdrew the donation, Ohlhesier opined that "the episode shows just how difficult it will be for Felix Kjellberg, maturing adult, newly married, to untangle himself from PewDiePie, young Internet antihero, and the army that has grown to encircled him and salute him as their general.

During Kjellberg's run as the most-subscribed YouTuber, his channel strongly appealed to younger viewers, a group Google referred to as "Generation C" for their habits of "creation, curation, connection and community". This generational cohort has been more commonly referred to as Generation Z by researchers and popular media. In a 2017 video, Kjellberg shared a screenshot of data provided by YouTube regarding his channel statistics, which suggested his largest demographic was among the 18–24 age group, followed by the 25–34 age group. Surveys conducted throughout the 2010s highlighted that favorable opinions of Kjellberg, as well as his name recognition and online influence within these age ranges, was comparable to that of mainstream figures such as Jennifer Lawrence, Justin Bieber, and LeBron James.

The New York Times published results of an online reader poll the publication held, showing that only 17% of their digital readers correctly identified Kjellberg after seeing an image of him; the outlet wrote that the poll's results "probably reflect the fact that Times readers are older than a representative sample of Americans, citing that "in 2015, the median digital Times subscriber was 54 years old." In 2016, Maker Studios' international chief content officer was cited in The Guardian as comparing "the average parent's bafflement at their teenage children's passion for stars like PewDiePie, KSI, and Zoella to past generations' inability to comprehend punk rock or gangsta rap."

Studies of the gaming community on YouTube have shown that 95% of video game players engage in watching online videos related to gaming, which has been linked to being an important reason for Kjellberg's popularity.

Kjellberg has been noted to support video games from indie developers, often having played through such titles in his videos. His commentaries have had a positive effect on sales of indie games, with The Washington Post writing that "gamemakers have observed a kind of Oprah effect." The developers of the indie game McPixel stated, "The largest force driving attention to McPixel at that time were 'Let's Play' videos. Mostly by Jesse Cox and PewDiePie." Kjellberg has also been confirmed to have driven the popularity of Yandere Simulator during that game's development, and positively influenced the sales of Slender: The Eight Pages and Goat Simulator. Although games being featured on Kjellberg's channel have reportedly contributed to their commercial success, he has stated, "I just want to play the games, not influence sales."

In 2019, Kjellberg's Minecraft videos led a surge of interest towards the game, which saw an increase in players. It also registered the largest-trending score on YouTube since January 2017 and surpassed Fortnite as the most-searched game on YouTube, with the searches for Minecraft on Google almost doubling since previous months. Video game media outlets, such as Polygon and The Verge, largely credited this newfound success to Kjellberg, with The Verge suggesting that the surge "proves that the 'PewDiePie Effect' is still real" (about the Oprah effect-like success enjoyed by games Kjellberg has played). Several other popular YouTubers followed suit by focusing on Minecraft content. Polygon also noted that in the wake of Kjellberg's focus on Minecraft, YouTubers focused on Fortnite began to shift towards making Minecraft videos instead.

Kjellberg, along with characters from Amnesia: The Dark Descent, were referred to by a McPixel level designed in his honour. Additionally, in the video game Surgeon Simulator 2013, the Alien Surgery stage features an organ called "Pewdsball" in honour of Kjellberg. Kjellberg agreed to allow the developers of Surgeon Simulator 2013 to use his likeness in GOTY IDST, a showering simulation video game. Kjellberg was also included as an NPC in the indie game Party Hard, and had a voice acting role in Pinstripe, a puzzle adventure game.

In March 2014, Kjellberg made an estimated $140,000–$1.4 million from YouTube revenue, according to Social Blade. In June 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported that Kjellberg earned $4 million in 2013; Kjellberg confirmed on Reddit that the figures were somewhat close to what he actually earned. In July 2015, the Swedish newspaper Expressen reported that Kjellberg's production company, PewDie Productions AB, reported earnings of 63.7 million SEK ($7.5 million) in 2014. In 2015, outlets described Kjellberg's income as sizeable, and even "remarkable"; Kjellberg appeared at the top of Forbes' October 2015 list of the richest YouTube stars with a reported $12 million earned in 2015.

In December 2016, Forbes named Kjellberg as the highest-earning YouTuber with his annual income reaching $15 million. This was up 20% from 2015, largely due to his YouTube Red series Scare PewDiePie and his book This Book Loves You, which sold over 112,000 copies according to Nielsen Bookscan. Kjellberg relies on external revenue sources rather than YouTube's ad model, which he has stated is common for most YouTube content creators; Kjellberg commented that YouTube's ad revenue model is inefficient, unstable, and insecure. According to Forbes, Kjellberg's income dropped to $12 million in 2017, which made him the sixth highest-paid YouTuber during that year. Forbes commented that Kjellberg's income would have been higher had he avoided the pushback from advertisers resulting from the controversies surrounding his videos in 2017.

Extensive media coverage on his earnings has been met with frustration by Kjellberg, who has stated that he is "tired of talking about how much [he makes]", and suggested that media outlets should rather report on the money he raised for charity. The Guardian commented that the reason the media was so captivated by Kjellberg's earnings is that the topic "offers a rare insight into the money being made at the top end of YouTube stardom," adding "it's very rare for any YouTube creator to talk about their earnings publicly, not least because YouTube itself does not encourage it."

Though mostly known for his YouTube content, Kjellberg has at times streamed on other platforms. In September 2014, Kjellberg began streaming BroKen onto MLG.tv. He co-hosted the series with Kenneth Morrison, better known as CinnamonToastKen, who is also a video game commentator.

In April 2017, while still continuing to upload new content onto YouTube, Kjellberg created Netglow, a crowdsourced channel on the livestreaming service Twitch. On Netglow, he started streaming Best Club, a weekly live stream show. Best Club premiered on 9 April, with its first episode featuring Brad Smith alongside Kjellberg. Kjellberg commented that his decision to create Netglow was in the works prior to the aforementioned allegations of antisemitic themes in his videos. Business Insider detailed that Kjellberg's first stream amassed around 60,000 viewers, and that Netglow had accumulated 93,000 subscribers to that point.

On 9 April 2019, shortly before officially ending his competition with T-Series, Kjellberg announced that he would live-stream exclusively on streaming service DLive, as part of a deal with the company. Upon Kjellberg's 2020 signing to stream exclusively on YouTube, he had amassed over 800,000 followers on DLive, but due to his deal with the former, and not having streamed on the latter in four months, Tubefilter noted that it was unclear if Kjellberg was still affiliated with DLive. Kjellberg's DLive channel was eventually deactivated.

In January 2021, Kjellberg signed a distribution deal with Jellysmack, a content creation company. The deal entails Jellysmack optimizing and then distributing Kjellberg's content for a Facebook Watch audience, though Kjellberg would continue to debut his content on YouTube.

After years of inactivity, Kjellberg's "PewDiePie" Twitch account began streaming episodes of the Canadian sitcom Trailer Park Boys in March 2023. This was part of a test by the distribution and monetization service CoPilot Media, as they were on the verge of rolling out "PewDiePie Infinity", "essentially an endless loop of [Kjellberg]'s videos." On 9 May, Kjellberg's Twitch account received a ban despite only streaming this previously aired content. Kjellberg's Twitch account has received further temporary bans in July 2023 and October 2024, for ambiguous reasons.

On 24 September 2015, Kjellberg released his own video game, PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist, on iOS and Android. The game was developed by Canadian game developer Outerminds in collaboration with Kjellberg. On 29 September 2016, he released another game developed by Outerminds, PewDiePie's Tuber Simulator. It was released as a free app on iOS and Android devices and reached the number one spot on the App Store within a few days of its release. On 31 October 2017, former Goat Simulator developer and lead designer Armin Ibrisagic announced his partnership with Kjellberg for his video game Animal Super Squad. Kjellberg helped Ibrisagic with the core concept of the game and provided him with feedback and creative direction. In 2019, Kjellberg released two more video games: PewDiePie's Pixelings on 15 November and Poopdie on 12 December. The latter game was rejected from the App Store due to its "crude imagery and sound effects which may disgust users", but is available on Android.

Penguin Group's Razorbill imprint released Kjellberg's This Book Loves You, a parody of self-help books, on 20 October 2015. The book is a collection of anti-proverbs paired with visuals. It was number-one on The New York Times Best Seller list for two weeks in the Young Adult Paperback category. Kjellberg and his wife Marzia launched Tsuki, a unisex clothing brand which they announced in a YouTube video.

Aside from his own YouTube channel, Kjellberg has made appearances in the videos of other YouTube creators. In April 2013, he made a cameo in an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, portraying Mikhail Baryshnikov. In July 2013, he starred alongside Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox of Smosh, as well as Jenna Marbles, as guest judges on the second season of Internet Icon. Kjellberg also appeared in YouTube's annual year-end Rewind series each year from 2013 to 2016; he once again appeared in YouTube Rewind in 2019.

On 3 June 2014, Sveriges Radio announced that Kjellberg was chosen to host his own episode of the Swedish radio show Sommar i P1. Due to his international popularity, the episode was recorded in both Swedish and English. The Swedish version was broadcast on 9 August 2014 on Sveriges Radio P1, and when the broadcast started the English version was published online. The link to the Swedish version of the broadcast was shared over 3,500 times, and the link to the English version was shared about 49,000 times.

In December 2014, Kjellberg guest-starred in two episodes of the 18th season of South Park. The two episodes served as a two-part season finale. The first part, titled "#REHASH" aired on 3 December, while the second part, titled "#HappyHolograms", aired on 10 December. In the episodes, he parodied himself and other Let's Play commentators, providing commentary over Call of Duty gameplay in an overly expressive way.

In July 2015, Kjellberg was announced as a voice actor in the Vimeo fantasy series, Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures. In October of the same year, he appeared as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where Colbert referred to him as "Emperor of the Internet". In February 2016, he appeared on Conan, playing Far Cry Primal as part of the show's Clueless Gamer segment. In 2019, he was a guest on the Cold Ones YouTube podcast.

Kjellberg's popularity has allowed him to garner support for fundraising drives. In February 2012, Kjellberg ran for King of the Web, an online contest. He lost the overall title, but still became the "Gaming King of the Web" for the 1–15 February 2012 voting period. During the following voting period, Kjellberg won and donated his cash winnings to the World Wildlife Fund. He has raised money for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and began a "Water Campaign" charity, where his fans could donate money to Charity: Water, in celebration of reaching ten million subscribers. Kjellberg contributed one dollar to the charity for every 500 views the video announcing the campaign accumulated, up to a maximum of $10,000. Kjellberg had the stated goal of raising US$250,000, but at the end of the drive, the amount raised was $446,612. Kjellberg organized another charity drive for Charity: Water in February 2016. The drive raised $152,239, surpassing a $100,000 goal.

In celebration of reaching 25 million subscribers in June 2014, Kjellberg announced another charity drive for Save the Children. It raised over $630,000, surpassing a $250,000 goal. In an interview with the Swedish magazine Icon, he has expressed a desire to continue these drives as time goes on, and also credited John and Hank Green as two individuals who gave him the idea of making unique videos for charity. These videos are purchased by game manufacturers and advertisers, for prices ranging up to $50,000.

In December 2016, he hosted Cringemas, a livestream held across two days (9 and 10 December, both at around 6 pm–10 pm GMT), with other Revelmode creators. During the livestream, they helped raise money for RED, a charity committed to helping eliminate HIV/AIDS in Africa. After the first day, the fundraiser raised over $200,000, after YouTube doubled their goal of $100,000, and at the end of the livestream, they had raised a total of over $1.3 million with help from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

On 3 December 2018, Kjellberg announced that he had started a fundraiser on GoFundMe for Child Rights and You (CRY) to help Indian children, partially in response to racist comments left on his videos directed toward Indians. Kjellberg also hosted a livestream on 4 December, donating all of its proceeds to CRY. He raised over $200,000.

On 21 July 2019, Kjellberg started a fundraiser on GoFundMe with American actor Jack Black for National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), in the wake of the suicide of the internet personality Etika in June 2019. Kjellberg and Jack Black streamed themselves playing Minecraft together to raise money for their fundraiser. Kjellberg donated $10,000 to his fundraiser and managed to raise over $30,000 for NAMI. Kjellberg has previously spoken on the topic of mental health, including his struggles with his own, and as part of the UK's Mental Health Awareness Week in 2017, he highlighted various resources to help one's mental health in a video.

Kjellberg married his long-term Italian girlfriend Marzia Bisognin on 19 August 2019. The couple have one son, born 11 July 2023.

Kjellberg and Bisognin were introduced to each other through a friend of Bisognin's in 2011, and after establishing an online relationship, Kjellberg flew to Italy to meet her. The pair shuffled between Sweden and Italy, before settling in Brighton, England. Kjellberg explained that they moved to the UK in July 2013 for preference to live close to the sea and for better Internet connectivity. He said he enjoyed the general anonymity that living in Brighton granted him.