p>Two months ago, Felix "PewDiePie?" Kjellberg did something his fans wanted for years by creating an Minecraft video, and he's made more since. The result was Kjellberg's biggest successful month in years, pulling in more than 570 million views in July and kickstarting an era of new trends among some of the biggest YouTube creators.
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p>For the first time since January 2017, Minecraft has surpassed Fortnite as the game that is most searched on YouTube. Minecraft is having a moment again, and it's reminiscent of one of YouTube's first gaming trends known as the "PewDiePie? Effect."
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p>The "PewDiePie? Effect" is a term YouTuber? and commentator Matthew "MatPat?" Patrick used in a recent video to talk about the influence of creators on the market. Back in 2014 when Kjellberg (a controversial YouTube creator who's faced criticism for using racist language during the stream of a game and also featured anti-Semitic imagery in a video) was still operating as a gaming channel his decision to upload a "Let's Play" series of a specific game usually led to more sales of that title.
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p>Kjellberg is not required for Minecraft; Mojang's crafting games has 91 million monthly gamers. The game's success is due in large part to YouTube. YouTube was the first place where the game was found. It was the second most searched for term on YouTube in 2014. Ironically, it was because of that popularity - and the creators joining the bandwagon for attention that Kjellberg never played it.
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p>Kjellberg said that it was as if that people were playing it because it was popular and not because they were having fun playing it.
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p>Kjellberg stated that Minecraft has become his full-time job. He claims he loves playing the game and is having fun. He also admitted in the same video that he "hasn't focused on what people are doing" online anymore, adding that "it's so goddamn liberating."
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p>His efforts are paying dividends. VidIQ is a company which develops tools for YouTube creators to monitor their analytics, discovered that Kjellberg is the "top creator for the keyword "Minecraft" currently," according to content strategist Rob Wilson. This means that when a user is searching for "Minecraft" the majority of the videos found on the first page are from him.
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p>Wilson wrote that PewDiePie? has basically adopted the most basic principle in the YouTube YouTube playbook. https://free-forums.tv/ Concentrate on a particular topic and then communicate that to your viewers in every video you make.
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p>Other YouTube creators have embraced the trend following McLoughlin?'s re-invigorated interest in the game. Sean "Jacksepticeye" McLoughlin?, creator of more than 22 million subscribers, has started to play the game, too. People have noticed Minecraft taking a moment to pause and decided to hop on the train before it disappears again. It's not solely due to Kjellberg and his YouTube channel. YouTube creator Keemstar's weekly Minecraft tournaments, for example are also driving interest and traffic - however, Kjellberg's popularity is a key factor, according to Wilson.
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p>"This will also help explain why some of your YouTube stars have suddenly returned to Minecraft or have begun to dabble in it, jumping on the wave of a returning trend, in this instance," Wilson wrote. "And I'm not going lie to you, folks this is exactly what we're doing at the moment. Following a trend."
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p>Kjellberg says that he is just having fun playing Minecraft which is a fact that he emphasizes in nearly all of his videos today. However, he also sees the economic advantages. Ryan Wyatt, head YouTube Gaming said that Minecraft is not just the most popular game on YouTube but it's also one of the most ad-friendly games.
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p>Video games have become an increasingly difficult content category to monetize. Even big conglomerates like AT&T have declared gaming as a type of content they do not want to promote. But there are a few games that advertisers are at ease with, as they're not considered to be violent and are family-friendly; Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft are three of the more popular titles.
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p>The 570 million views that he had in July also translate into Kjellberg making money from his current Minecraft obsession. The potential to earn more could be a motivating factor for other creators who are taking advantage of the trend, hoping that the trickle-down effect will increase their income.
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p>The "PewDiePie? effect," a term that was first used five years ago, is still very popular on YouTube.
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