Marques Brownlee
@mkbhd YouTube
A 15-year-old filmed his laptop’s remote on its own webcam: 680 videos alone in his bedroom and dorm, five years to 1M subscribers, and no hire until year eight
Marques Brownlee posted his first tech video on January 1, 2009, at 15, on the webcam of his new HP laptop. He made 218 videos in the next six months and had 74 subscribers at video 100. Through high school and college he kept going alone: screen-recorded tutorials, then headphones, then smartphones. He passed 1M subscribers in February 2014, in college, made everything himself until the end of 2016, and hired his first employee in January 2017. Today the channel has 21.4M subscribers and a team of about 17. This case looks at the first 680 videos, to September 2014.
- Report
- v1
- Data as of
- 2026-11-09
- Sample
- 680 videos
At a glance
- What it is
- Tech reviews and explainers; in the early years, tutorials and gadgets he owned.
- Who watches
- English-speaking tech buyers; at first, other teenagers making tech videos (his account).
- How it earns
- Ads, sponsored segments, merch and his own products; no figures disclosed.
- How it grew
- No single breakout: each year’s median rose as he moved from tutorials to headphones to phones.
Subscribers Fact
21.4M
about +100K a month in 2026
At video 100 Self-reported
74
February 19, 2009, his own count
To 1M Self-reported
~5 years
Jan 2009 → Feb 12, 2014, his video
Solo Self-reported
8 years
first hire in January 2017
Summary
The play
Review the gear you actually own, as soon as it’s new, every week for years. Start with screen-recorded how-tos while you learn the camera, move to the products people search for (headphones, then phones), and keep the same plain format until it becomes yours.
Can you copy it? Our read
The opposite of a one-video breakout: five years of reviews and tutorials, made alone around school, each year’s median several times the last. The copyable part is the early habit (review what you own, post often, move toward what people search for); the timing and the later studio are not.
- What it takes
- Patience for years of small numbers, and the discipline to post weekly around school or work.
- Startup cost
- A laptop webcam at the start. He bought better cameras as the channel paid for them.
- Time to a verdict
- Several a day in early 2009, then one to three a week for five years.
- Window
- Tech review is crowded; the method (own the gear, be first, explain plainly) still works in narrower niches.
Key findings
100 videos in 50 days, 74 subscribers
From January 1, 2009 he posted tutorials and reviews of his own laptop, often several a day: video 100 on February 19, with 74 subscribers by his own count. 218 videos in six months. See play 2.1 (subscribers)
The median rose every year
Median views today by year of upload: 10.4K (2009), 21.6K (2010), 59.2K (2011), 172K (2012), 704K (2013). The step up came as he moved from tutorials to headphones and phones. See play 2.2 (subscribers)
1M in college, alone
About 460K subscribers in August 2013, reported while he was at college; 1M on February 12, 2014. He says everything on the channel was made by him until the end of 2016. See play 2.3 (subscribers)
What this channel is
- Platform
- YouTube long videos
- Format
- Reviews and explainers, talking to camera
- On camera
- Marques
- Team
- Alone until the end of 2016; about 17 people in 2025
- First tech video
- Jan 1, 2009, aged 15
- Length
- 3–4 min in 2009, 6–8 min by 2013
Every number is tagged
- Fact straight from public data
- Derived calculated from facts
- Estimate from published pay ranges
- Self-reported what the creator says
- Our read our judgement
01How it happened
How the subscriber count grew
- YouTube 21.4M
- Fact
- Self-reported
YouTube subscribers. Hollow dots are his own numbers: 74 subscribers at video 100 (his voice in that video), the “1,000,000!” video, “passed 5 million” during 2017 (placed at year end) and the “10,000,000!” video. Solid dots from November 2023 are measured month ends. Press reports in between (about 460K in August 2013, 1.5M in August 2014) are in the table above, not on the line.
- under 1×
- 1–3×
- 3–10×
- 10× and up
Each bar is one video in the order posted. Gaps are breaks in posting.
| Phase | Dates | Videos | Format | Median views today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Mar – Sep 2008 | 3 | A golf swing analysis and two other clips, aged 14 | 233,895 |
| 1 | Jan – Jun 2009 | 218 | Laptop webcam and screen recordings: his HP laptop, software tutorials, “Update” diaries. Video 100 on Feb 19 with 74 subscribers | 9,617 |
| 2 | Jul 2009 – Jan 2011 | 144 | Reviews on camera: headphones, a Zune, a Droid; applies to YouTube’s Partner Program “(again)” | 20,283 |
| Jan 23 – Aug 6, 2011 | 0 | 195 days off in his last high-school year | ||
| 3 | Aug 2011 – Dec 2012 | 148 | College, Android phones, the “Explained!” series; Galaxy Note 2 review 4.77M | 122,249 |
| 4 | 2013 – Sep 2014 | 167 | About two a week, longer (6–8 min); about 460K subscribers in August 2013 (reported), 1M on February 12, 2014 | 765,068 |
| 5 | 2015 – today | – | Full time after graduating in 2015; first hire in January 2017; 10M in December 2019; about 17 people in 2025 | – |
Hottest and coldest
Top 5 by views
- Apple iPhone 5s Review!2013-10-1212.3M
- The Truth About Beats by Dre!2014-08-319.74M
- iPhone 6 Sapphire Crystal Display!2014-07-079.22M
- LG G Flex Self Healing Demo!2013-11-188.15M
- The iPhone 6 Model!2014-05-257.64M
Bottom 5 by views
- Unboxed: Adjustable Laptop Stand from HandStands2009-04-252.99K
- HD Tutorial: Encode any Video in HD for Youtube2009-02-182.99K
- HD Battery Saver #4 - Power Options2009-02-162.99K
- HD Tutorial: Google Translations and Conversions2009-03-312.99K
- HD Tutorial: Customizing Autoplay2009-02-133.06K
The most-viewed of his first 680 are product reviews and explainers from 2013–14: Apple iPhone 5s Review! (12.3M), LG G Flex Self Healing Demo! (8.15M), Google Glass Explorer Edition: Explained! (6.36M), the HP laptop remote from 2009 (5.26M, mostly later views) and the Galaxy Note 2 review (4.77M). The coldest are 2009 software tutorials and channel diaries, many under 5,000 views even today. Our read
Reading the numbers
Fact
218
videos in his first six months
January to June 2009; video 100 on February 19.
Fact
195 days
his one long break
January 23 to August 6, 2011, his last year of high school.
Derived
10.4K → 704K
median views today, 2009 vs 2013 uploads
281 and 97 videos; lifetime views, so early ones are inflated by later viewers.
Self-reported
~17
people on the team in 2025
“Me and 15 people” in 2024; first hire January 2017.
In the creator’s words Self-reported
I have 74 subscribers. I clearly was not making money from this … it was just a fun thing I enjoyed doing when I got back from practice.
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