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His Channel is weird
The human brain gets attracted to whatever is new, novel, unexpected, weird and bizarre. The information explosion that happened since the advent of the internet made people almost immune to most conventional stuff including conventional sense of humor. (See Why unexpected things attract our attention?)
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Pewdiepie is unpredictable
Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg ,the real name of pewdiepie , has very unexpected reactions. Predictable people are considered boring since the mind can guess their next step. pewdiepie laughs in the middle of his talk, appears with weird masks and does so many unexpected things.
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He is very controversial
Controversy is one of the factors that makes things more popular. While so many people love Pewdiepie so many people also don’t like him. Debates between lovers and haters including coverage from people who wonder how he got popular increased his popularity.
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Reviewing games in a Funny way
All game channels are goal oriented and almost similar to each other. They guide you through the game as serious as possible and help you complete it. Pewdiepie’s channel on the other hand has one main goal which is making fun of the game environment while playing. This made the channel stand out.
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Felix understands what thumb nails appear to the human brain
Pewdiepie usually uses thumbnail images for his videos that are bizarre, twisted and that spark curiosity. In many cases the images aren’t included in the video and are just there to draw attention. Pewdiepie understands that novelty attracts the human brain and that’s why he uses those images.
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He plays popular games
PewDiePie usually plays popular games and that’s why fans of those games , who are usually large in number, might get attracted to his videos to find out what he is saying about them. (See Why are mobile games popular?)
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He created a Loyal community of Bros
PewDiePie has successfully made his viewers believe that they are a part of a bigger community called Bros. And since human beings like to belong to tribes the idea of being a bro Appealed to many of PewDiePie’s fans.
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PewDiePie targets popular trends
In a smart move PewDiePie started making videos about popular trends in addition to the gaming videos he does. By moving out from the gaming zone and diversifying his channel PewDiePie started appealing to a larger number of audience.
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The watch time theory
Some people claim that a channel on Youtube gets more popular if its watch time was increased which is the number of hours people have watched videos on it. According to this theory PewDiePie’s channel became more popular because his videos are long (10-20 mins) and interesting to many people.
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He is being himself
PewDiePie seems to be displaying his real life personality. He is not trying hard to be somebody nor he is desperate to sell anything to people. Those facts the channel appear so sincere and genuine to many of his fans.
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Sense of humor is changing from a generation to generation
According to Wikipedia Millennials and Generation Z are more likely to subscribe to PewDiePie’s channel where as older people are less likely to do it. The sense of humor of the younger generations was altered by the internet and became more bizarre, twisted and unconventional.
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Some fans think he is really funny
Bros or fans of PewDiePie find him very funny. It’s believed that young children and teens started finding unconventional things interesting as a result of the information explosion on the internet which made every conventional thing boring.
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Some people like his looks
Many people believe that PewDiePie is handsome young guy. While looks might only contribute to a fraction of his success still its believed that it helped him a lot.
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He has a story to tell
PewDiePie didn’t have much money. He dropped out of college, worked at a hot dog stand to finance his youtube then eventually it became very successful and he made millions. PewDiePie has the kind of story that appeals to so many of his fans.
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His style resonates with kids
PewDiePie is loud, unexpected , laughs a lot and does lots of strange things. His style and the personality he presents on his show appeals a lot to children who find him very interesting.