5 Reasons Jake Paul Is Dominating YouTube (Blame The Algortihm)

If you’ve been anywhere on the internet over the past week, you might have seen the exploits of YouTube superstar, Jake Paul. The 20-year-old with a ravid army of teenage fans has finally broken through to the mainstream – thanks to antics like jumping on top of a local LA TV Station’s van and just being an overall dick. On Saturday night, Disney parted ways with the internet celebrity who was a regular cast member on the show Bizardvark . People online seem to be shocked at his behavior, confused how a random kid from Ohio managed to pull in millions of views each day, making at least one million dollars a month.

Having spent countless hours of my life watching garbage videos on the platform, I have earned myself a make-believe degree in YouTube Sociology. Here are what I believe to be the factors contributing to Jake Paul’s digital stardom:

YouTube Algorithm- Jake Paul has an older brother named Logan Paul , who was one of the most popular personalities on Vine. When Twitter’s six-second video experiment ended, Logan, alongside his friends and other extremely successful personalities like Liza Koshy , needed somewhere to go. All at once, dozens of Viners with millions of followers started making YouTube channels for an audience that couldn’t get enough of it.

Explosive Growth- The growth for these channels over the last six months have been explosive, with each ex-Viner gaining millions of subscriptions in a short amount of time. These subscribers are all active, meaning they watch every video posted by Logan, Jake and their friends.

The figures tell YouTube the video is worth watching, and worth sharing on the sidebar of other videos people are watching. This creates this feedback loop of views: Jake posts a video, his millions of subs watch it, YouTube promotes it getting more views, then repeat the process the next day. On the flipside, Pewdiepie might have over 50 million subscribers, but he only gets two to three million views a video.

It’s Everyday Bro- YouTube loves two things: long videos that post daily. Jake posts a vlog every single day, meaning YouTube thinks their content is amazing. To the average adult, it might just seem like a bunch of screaming numbskulls with bad AK-47 tattoos on their legs, but to YouTube, it’s a cash cow that sees no sign of drying up.

There’s Power In Numbers- Jake Paul is part of a group called Team 10, a pantheon of fuckwits who all have their own YouTube channels and social media presences. When one of the Team 10 personalities posts a video, the others share it or post a comment like “everyone needs to watch this.” This creates this self-sustaining ecosystem where these kids just consume the same stuff, creating a community of “Jake Paulers” or “Logangers.” Kids love to belong to a group, and YouTube has given them a way to identify with someone on a level they believe to be personal. To them, it isn’t just someone making a video about their life, it’s becoming a part of something exciting and special.

Kids Love Idols- In Japan, teens have their favorite pop idols while in the US, teens obsess over Instagram celebrities. Going back all the way to the Beatles, teens and preteens love having a young, successful figure to look up to. Before the days of the internet, kids could only obsess over whoever they saw on MTV or in their favorite pop magazines, constrained to focus on whoever a bunch of rich CEOs in suits would deem the most “market friendly.”

With the rise of the internet and the increase in demand for idols, a new generation of no-talent hacks are crushing it. Nobody has to audition, end up in a boy band, sacrifice their lives to practice and tour the world to become successful. All they have to do is have a pretty face that teen girls like, buy a good camera and edit their everyday lives into 16-minute chunks.