YouTuber Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, has become one of the most trusted sources on the internet for tech reviews. His 19.5 million subscribers eagerly hang on his every word about products such as smartphones, headphones, ear buds and smartwatches.
Actor and comedian Hasan Minhaj even described Brownlee as the ‘Kim Kardashian of tech’, and in an interview with fellow YouTuber Jon Youshaei, Brownlee revealed some of the secrets to his business.
In the 57-minute video, Youshaei asks several questions of Brownlee regarding how he decides what to review, his takes on responsibility and conflicts of interest. Crucially, he also asks about Brownlee’s revenue stream, and the cost of staying in business.
Brownlee explained that early on in his channel’s existence, most of his revenue came from AdSense. This means the money coming in based only on Google advertisements. This was then compared to his current revenue stream, where the majority of income is derived from sponsorship deals.
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Even so, Brownlee said that one October in recent years prompted a ‘six figure’ paycheck from AdSense. Which is an incredible amount of money to receive purely from ads.
The size of the figure is related to the phenomenon of ‘Techtober’. This is the informal name that has been given to the practice within the consumer electronics sector of releasing new products in October. This allows hype to build for the new product before it goes on wish lists ready for the December holiday season.
Of course, since Brownlee’s business is reviewing and recommending tech, October is an extremely busy time of year for him. All that hard work of testing and reviewing the dozens of new products eventually results in a reward in the from of a nice big paycheck.
The term ‘Influencer’ is thrown around a lot, but Youshaei correctly points out that Brownlee is an influencer in the most basic sense. Products that he recommends are bought by viewers. For just one example, current King of YouTube MrBeast has been quoted as saying: “Half the time I watch his videos and I just leave and go buy the stuff.”
In order to maintain this trusted position, Brownlee is careful to avoid conflicts of interest. He avoids sponsorship offers from Brands who make products he might review, such as smartphones and absolutely refuses to send a review video to a company prior to it going live to his audience.
Brownlee did however recently come into some hot water with fans after he launched controversial app 'Panels' which debuted to abysmal reviews and angry fans.