Alfie Deyes, the YouTube star whose "Pointless Blog" videos have 5 million subscribers on YouTube, can get about 16 million views for his Snapchat videos and stories, he told Business Insider today.
Generally, a typical Alfie Deyes video gets between 1 and 2 million views on YouTube, the platform that launched him to online stardom back in 2009. He has 5 million subscribers on YouTube.
Deyes talked with BI on the stage at Engage 2016, the massive social media conference hosted annually in Prague by Socialbakers, the social media management company. He appeared with Dom Smales, the managing director of Deyes' management company, Gleam Futures.
The contrast between Deyes' Snapchat numbers and his YouTube stats show how complicated the world of digital video has suddenly become. YouTube was once the undisputed king of online video. Not anymore.
In the last few years, Facebook video has been racking up the kind of massive numbers that have made YouTube look more vulnerable. Other platforms — like Twitter, Vine, Periscope, and Instagram — now offer niche uses and features for video, especially if someone wants to broadcast something live, immediate, or short.
At a dinner the night before, Deyes and Smales told us that Snapchat had become a huge platform for Deyes' material. When asked about it today at Engage, Deyes said "So far today I've had like 16 million views."
So is Snapchat now more powerful than YouTube for him?
"I think because it's on their phone, popping up, and it's so instant, just the audience are crazy dedicated. The percentage of audience that I have that will watch every piece of content on Snapchat is so high," he said. Snapchat has that traction because "you have to be there to see it and then it's gone." (Unlike YouTube, Snapchat videos generally only last for 24 hours.)
We asked him which of the social media platforms he uses are the most powerful, and which are more marginal.
"It depends what I want to do. I see it almost like a puzzle. If you want to watch a long-form video of me, then check out my YouTube stuff. If you want to see what I'm up to right this second follow me on Snapchat. If it's pictures it's Instagram. What I'm thinking is Twitter."
Sixteen million views don't come easy, by the way. Deyes makes 13 videos a week, ranging from 8 minutes to nearly 40 minutes each, after they're edited. That is two videos per day except Saturday, when he takes it easy by only making one.
We'll publish more of our Q&A with Deyes over the next few days.
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