“Hey guys, it’s me! PewDiePie!” is the first sentence Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg said on his YouTube account back in November 2010. His first video featured him playing the video game "Call of Duty: Black Ops" while commentating on his gameplay. At the time video game commentary was largely unknown and unpopular, but five years later has Kjellberg as the most subscribed account on YouTube.

These gaming videos, called Let's Plays have drastically grown in popularity over the years due to YouTubers such as Kjellberg and many others. Kjellberg’s popularity began to take off once he started to upload regular content for videos games selected by him or recommended by his fans. Kjellberg’s success online has brought attention to gaming videos, video game culture, and most notably, YouTube as a career option. A salary report by the Swedish paper Expressen recently came out stating that Kjellberg made $7.4 million dollars in 2014 from YouTube’s Partner Program.

The Partner Program was launched in December 2007 in order to help their users earn money for their content. When a content creator joins the program they are allowing YouTube to run ads on their videos, which in turn earns them money whenever someone watches it. The program has grown to the point where over a billion videos a week are running ads around the world. Other programs have also been created that aim to have users earn money from their fans and to partner with other companies in order to make money, such as Patreon, Makers' Studios and Big Frame.

Kjellberg's salary release has garnered mixed review from both fans and the general public. Positivity was expressed due to how much time and effort Kjellberg puts into his content, while others argued that YouTubers don’t deserve to profit off of their videos.

In a recent video titled Let’s Talk About Money Kjellberg expressed his thoughts about the feedback regarding his salary and addressed a few negative comments. He said when he dropped out of college, he worked at a hot dog stand, and even with the burden of paying off student loans, he was happy. He also said he did not join YouTube for the purpose of making money, but to share something he loved with others. “It was never a career that I quit college to pursue,” Kjellberg said. “It’s just something I love to do, and here we are, five years later, and it’s exploded.”

Towards the end of the video he shared a few comments users had made about his salary once the news was released.

“I find it funny how someone who yells and plays video games makes this much money,” Facebook user “Scottie” said. “When there are people out there who risk their lives, fighting for this county! And they get paid hardly anything.”

“If only I could get paid that much for being a complete [R-word] in front of a webcam and generate a few million views,” Facebook user, “Alex,” said.

Despite the demeaning nature of the comments, Kjellberg took them in jest. "I have a very nice camera recorder, thank you very much," Kjellberg said in response to Alex. "But I think that's what's cool about YouTube — anyone can technically do it. Surely, if I didn't exist there'd be someone to fill my place."

Fellow YouTuber and close friend to Kjellberg, Kenneth “CinnamonToastKen” Morrison, expressed his frustrations on Twitter with the public’s dismissal of their career.

I've never understood people who get angry about YouTubers making money. Especially when no one has to pay to watch it.
— Kenpai the Senpai (@cinnamontoastk) July 8, 2015

He goes on to reaffirm how making a living on YouTube is not as simple as many seem to think.

If you think being a YouTuber is easy, go start making content and let me know when you can fully start living off your channel.
— Kenpai the Senpai (@cinnamontoastk) July 8, 2015

Morrison recently released a video titled Stress and Anxiety where he shared how his work with YouTube has started to harmfully impact his physical and mental health. He said when he went to the doctor his first thought was that he had diabetes. He was proven wrong when the doctor began to question his lifestyle and then it became clear that he was overworking himself.

“It’s a lot of pressure," Morrison said. "You’ve got a large following of people who like you. My job is based on what you guys think of me. That’s pressure. That’s a lot of pressure.”

Despite the pressure that Kjellberg and, surely, countless other YouTubers feel on a daily basis, the positivity and hopefulness he exhibited when addressing his fans must be what keeps him and the others going.

"Thank you so much to everyone who watches my videos, enjoys them and supports what I do, it really means a lot," Kjellberg said. "I would still be doing this even if I was not as big as I am."