Wikipedia:WikiProject YouTube/Notability

This is a WikiProject advice page on notability. It contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more WikiProjects on how notability may be interpreted within their area of interest.

An advice page has the status of an essay and is not a formal Wikipedia policy or guideline, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

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YouTubers are Internet celebrities whose fame has come about through their publishing of their own videos on YouTube that they feature in.

Articles about YouTubers are regularly nominated for deletion, and the outcome is generally 'delete'. A frequent argument put forward for keeping the article is that a subject is notable because of their number of YouTube subscribers or the number of times their videos have been viewed. Consensus however is that this is an insufficient basis by which to establish notability.

A List of YouTubers features individuals who have articles about them—some have been nominated for deletion but kept, and others have not been nominated.

Meeting WP:GNG and/or WP:ENT

WP:N says that "A topic is presumed to merit an article if ... it meets either the general notability guideline below, or the criteria outlined in a subject-specific guideline" one of which is WP:ENT. However, in practice, some editors involved in deletion debates consider that a YouTuber needs to meet *both* WP:GNG *and* WP:ENT. Some editors do not consider meeting both guidelines to be a requirement, as evidenced by the discussion in Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/SSSniperwolf (2nd nomination) which focused on WP:BASIC and WP:GNG.

In Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Etika, letcreate123 argues that "WP:ENT does not override the former [WP:GNG] as it is under the "Additional criteria" section of the Notability policy. Meeting it only makes it more likely to be notable, but it does not guarantee it and the reverse also holds true; not meeting the additional criteria does not mean the subject in question is not notable."

Subscriber count published in secondary source

The subscriber count on the subject's YouTube channel is considered a primary source and is also subject to change (there's nothing to guarantee that the x million subscribers might not all suddenly unsubscribe, even though that may seem far-fetched). So editors like to see the subscriber count mentioned by a secondary source, which comes with the advantage of being a point-in-time record of that count.

Reliable sources

Reliable sources essay WP:NOYT - this is about the content of videos that have been uploaded to YouTube, and doesn't have anything to say about subscriber or view counts.
Reliable sources noticeboard discussion archive 52: Can YouTube be used as a primary source
Talk:Natalie Tran#Vidstatsx sourced content
Talk:Dave Days#Top 50 subscribed

AfD discussions

The following table shows the outcome of a selection of AfD discussions about YouTubers. The list is not meant to be comprehensive. Please add to it.

AfD discussions about YouTubers
Article	Date	Subs	Result	Notes
Abbeynainsley	22 April 2007		Delete
Kevjumba	21 July 2007	40,000	Delete	Page eventually recreated: KevJumba
Ryan Higa	19 August 2008	473,730	Delete	Page eventually recreated: Ryan Higa
Phillip DeFranco	27 December 2008	290,000	no consensus
Shay Carl	12 March 2009	70,000	Delete	Page recreated: Shay Carl
Michelle Phan	1 February 2010		Keep
Kip Kay	25 May 2011	1,000,000	Keep
Tessa Violet	5 June 2013	1,000,000	Keep
Tom Cassell (2nd nomination)	8 October 2013	5,000,000	Keep
Boogie2988	12 April 2014	1,750,000	Delete	Page eventually recreated: Boogie2988
Ryan Dizon	1 May 2014	2,000	Speedy delete
Comic Book Cast	31 July 2014	6,700	Delete
List of the most subscribed users on YouTube	15 February 2015		Keep
Lewis Hilsenteger	7 April 2015	2,000,000	Delete	Now redirects to Unbox Therapy
Seven Super Girl	4 May 2015	2,000,000	Delete
Secular Talk Radio - The Kyle Kulinski Show	25 September 2015	188,000	Delete
Deji Olatunji	6 October 2015	5,000,000	Delete
RackaRacka	3 November 2015	1,800,000	No consensus
SuperMarioGlitchy4	14 December 2015	?	Delete	A planned Draft:Luke Lerdwichagul was also deleted.
Linus Sebastian	10 January 2016	2,700,000	Keep	"The number of subscribers does have bearing on notability according to the second point of WP:ENT"
DanTDM	12 February 2016	9,000,000	Keep
AustinFFA	29 March 2016		Delete
Daniel Keem	7 August 2016	50,000	Delete	Now exists at Keemstar
Elie haoui	21 January 2017	59	Speedy delete	WP:A7 as there were no credible references in the article
TheFatRat	28 February 2017	1,400,000	Delete	"Arguments citing that someone is notable for merely being signed to a major label (and/or that they've released a single album via that signing) does not accurately reflect our notability guidelines. Issues surrounding the guideline itself and improvements thereto should be addressed at the guideline's talk page." Now recreated: TheFatRat
BigDawsTv	16 May 2017	2,487,551	Delete	"The sources, even when in otherwise reliable publications, do not cover the subject in sufficient depth. Statistics such as number of views do not carry any weight in these discussions."
Chris Dixon	18 May 2017	3,152,349	Delete	Not enough dedicated sources to satisfy GNG. Numbers of subscribers aren't substitutes. Now exists at [[ChrisMD]
Sidemen	19 May 2017	2,050,372	Delete	"Demonstrating notability requires multiple sources. Arguments about WP:ENT are hollow as the person still must meet WP:GNG, and all claims must be verifiable" Recreated in 2018
Dennis Roady	21 May 2017	3,500,000	Keep	While number of subscribers does not determine notability, the independent coverage on the subject is enough to pass GNG. Covered in multiple news articles
List of YouTubers (2nd nomination)	27 May 2017		Keep	Per WP:SNOW
Stuart Edge	31 May 2017	2,511,310	Keep	WP:GNG met
BradTheLadLong	4 July 2017	2,568	Delete
Ethan Schulteis	7 July 2017	280	Delete
Doug DeMuro	8 July 2017	2,429,219	Delete	Now exists at Doug DeMuro
BB Ki vines	10 July 2017	3,300,000	No consensus	India's most-subscribed YouTuber. Now exists at Bhuvan Bam
Carl Ivan Villafuerte Calayag	23 July 2017	45,000	Delete
Candice Hutchings	29 July 2017	227,483	Keep	Borderline notablity
Tony Tarz	6 August 2017	1,147	Delete
Paul Ray Ramsey	19 September 2017	42,519	no consensus
Liza Koshy (actress)	21 September 2017	11,000,000	Keep
MrBossFTW	23 September 2017	1,836,400	Delete	Failed WP:GNG - references were only passing mentions rather than being about the YouTuber.
Life of Boris	25 September 2017	800,000	Delete
BradTheLadLong (2nd nomination)	28 September 2017	2,568	Speedy delete
Jaiden Animations	28 August 2018	4,400,000	Delete	Later recreated at Jaiden Animations.
David Brown (internet musician)	9 September 2018	2,100,000	No consensus	Relisted twice, with a keep/redirect split. The discussion brought up four independent reliable secondary sources with nontrivial coverage.
TheOdd1sOut	19 January 2019	8,200,000	Keep	Original discussion was closed as delete 11 September 2018. 19 January 2019 there was consensus to keep.
Etika	27 June 2019	<1,000,000	Keep	Per WP:SNOW. WP:GNG was clearly met.
B is for Build	8 December 2019	1,160,000	Delete
Sssniperwolf	20 December 2019	17,400,000	Keep	Article had been in bad shape when it was nominated. A participant in the AfD found a number of additional sources that satisfied WP:GNG. However subsequently deleted in this discussion
Color Man	22 December 2019	1,400,000	Delete
Mumbiker Nikhil	3 January 2020	2,940,000	Delete
King Cid	5 January 2020	1,010,000	Delete	Sources were either unreliable or not independent
Yvick Letexier	25 January 2020	5,460,000	Keep	A participant in the AfD found sources in French which were not used in the article, therefore satisfying WP:GNG.
Zhong	27 January 2020	257,000	Delete	Sources were either primary, PR releases, or fake news/spam/blackhat SEO sites
Lizbeth Rodríguez	30 January 2020	8,610,000	Keep	A participant in the AfD found lots of of sources in Spanish that were not used in the article therefore satisfying WP:GNG.
Kyle Kulinkski	1 February 2020	786,000	Delete	Protected 4th AFD Note: the show was separately deleted (above) in 2015
LDShadowLady	7 February 2020	4,800,000	no consensus	3 new sources found, even split of Keep/delete votes
Cupcake Aisyah	21 February 2020	381,000	Delete
Mumbo Jumbo	21 February 2020	5,080,000	Delete	Lack of significant coverage in independent, reliable sources.
Luigikid Gaming	24 February 2020	512,000	Delete	Fails WP:GNG, the German Wikipedia article on him was recently deleted for the same notability issues.
Barış Özcan	12 March 2020	4,080,000	Delete	Lack of significant coverage in multiple sources that would demonstrate notability. Was questioned whether an analysis of Turkish language sources would find appropriate sources.
Nutticha Namwong	21 March 2020	12,500,000	Keep	Participants of the AfD found Thai news coverage which established notability per WP:GNG.
TheWineKone	26 March 2020	118,000	Delete
Nikita Dragun	3 April 2020	2,670,000	Keep	Several sources found, clearly meets WP:GNG
The Hungry Syrian Wanderer (2nd nomination)	5 April 2020	2,100,000	Keep	Several sources found, passes WP:GNG
Ralph Smart (YouTuber)	10 April 2020	1,720,000	Delete	Not enough media/significant coverage to satisfy WP:GNG
Paul Barbato (2nd nomination)	13 April 2020	2,100,000	Delete	Sources are passing mentions or primary sources, doesn't satisfy WP:GNG. Since redirected to Geography Now#Team
Denis (YouTuber)	22 April 2020	8,200,000	Delete	Sources are passing mentions or primary sources, doesn't satisfy WP:GNG/WP:BIO. It was noted that though the subject is popular they serve a younger demographic and so sourcing is problematic. Now exists at Denis and Me
Larray	23 April 2020	4,560,000	Delete	No coverage in reliable sources.
Hachem Gaddouch	28 April 2020	209,000	Delete	No coverage in independent secondary sources in either English or Arabic.
Camila Guiribitey	30 April 2020	1,760,000	No consensus	Quality of arguments on both sides was poor. However subsequently deleted in second nomination
Maansals	1 May 2020	105,000	Delete
Saif Ben Ammar	5 May 2020	507,000	Delete	Subject fails WP:GNG, sources are not reliable.
Matt Carriker (2nd nomination)	8 May 2020	8,300,000	Delete	Sources largely unreliable or small time, local papers.
SSSniperwolf (2nd nomination)	10 May 2020	19,600,000	Delete	Even with large subscriber numbers, subject does not have enough coverage in reliable and independent sources.
Mubashir Siddique	10 May 2020	2,200,000	Speedy keep	Many sources found, passes WP:GNG, nomination withdrawn.
Camila Guiribitey (2nd nomination)	11 May 2020	1,760,000	Delete	Article creator is a sock, nominator is a sock, previous AFD was hijacked by socks. No sources showing she passes WP:GNG.
GrayStillPlays	12 May 2020	3,260,000	Delete	Non-notable, only trivial coverage in sources.
Kwon Do-jin	13 May 2020	841,000	Delete
RoomieOfficial	13 May 2020	6,000,000	Keep	Passes WP:MUSICBIO and several additional sources found, passes WP:GNG.
Shannon Strucci	17 May 2020	34,900	Delete	Fails WP:GNG and WP:BIO.
Juliette Reilly (2nd nomination)	18 May 2020	175,000	Keep	Passes WP:NMUSIC.
Rajesh Kumar (youtuber)	19 May 2020	13,400,000	Delete	Fails WP:GNG. (YT channel named FactTechz).
Harry Metcalfe (2nd nomination)	26 May 2020	347,000	Delete
Party In Backyard (2nd nomination)	26 May 2020	356,000	Keep	Passes WP:NMUSIC.
TierZoo	26 May 2020	1,960,000	Delete	Lacks significant coverage in multiple sources.
EthanGamer	27 May 2020	2,630,000	Delete	Only passing mentions in reliable sources, need better sourcing to have an article on a minor.
Trey Kennedy	28 May 2020	668,000	Keep	Passes WP:GNG.
Louis Rossmann	30 May 2020	1,180,000	Keep
MaximilianMus	30 May 2020	1,370,000	Delete	Not enough reliable sources in significant detail.
The Infographics Show	6 June 2020	8,320,000	Keep	Passes WP:GNG.
Abroad in Japan	9 June 2020	1,650,000	Keep	Passes WP:GNG.
Vlad and Nikita	12 June 2020	42,400,000	Keep	Passes WP:ENT and arguably passes WP:GNG.
Sammy Paul	16 June 2020	135,000	Delete	Fails WP:ANYBIO and WP:SIGCOV.
SiIvaGunner	18 June 2020	379,000	Keep	Per WP:ENT 'appears to pass' WP:GNG.
Greg Guevara	24 June 2020	241,000	Delete	Does not pass WP:GNG.
Scherezade Shroff Talwar	26 June 2020	312,000	Delete	Does not pass WP:GNG.
Chief Pat	26 June 2020	2,510,000	Delete	Does not pass WP:GNG.
Amarna Miller	27 June 2020	368,000	Keep	Passes WP:GNG with multiple reliable sources in Spanish.
Christian Guzman (2nd nomination)	2 July 2020	991,000	Delete
Shakir Subhan	3 July 2020	884,000	Delete	Fulfills WP:BLP1E/ does not pass WP:GNG.
CallMeCarson	3 July 2020	2,930,000	Delete	Sources don't satisfy WP:GNG.
Jim Browning (YouTuber)	7 July 2020	1,570,000	Keep	Enough sources to satisfy WP:GNG.
Camila Loures	9 July 2020	12,000,000	Delete	Sources don't satisfy WP:GNG, mostly trivial coverage.
Enes Batur	10 July 2020	12,900,000	Keep	Non-notable, article mostly a WP:COATRACK.
Gaurav Taneja	10 July 2020	3,230,000	Delete	Sources don't meet WP:GNG or WP:BIO, also fails WP:BIO1E.
Amit Bhadana	11 July 2020	20,800,000	Keep	Coverage found in Indian/Pakistan newspapers.
Jeremy Jahns (YouTuber)	12 July 2020	1,720,000	Delete
Steve Cash (YouTuber)	13 July 2020	2,590,000	Delete
LeafyIsHere	13 July 2020	4,760,000	No consensus	Available sources discussed, no consensus was formed.
Ashish Chanchlani	13 July 2020	19,200,000	Delete	Has a large subscriber count, but all mentions are trivial.
Dhruv Rathee	14 July 2020	3,970,000	Delete	Doesn't pass WP:GNG, or WP:BLP1E.
Kingsley (YouTuber)	16 July 2020	2,820,000	Delete	Sources are either unreliable or not in depth.
Yair Dabush	17 July 2020	42,800	Delete	References are unreliable, not currently notable.
Mochizuki Himari (2nd nomination)	21 July 2020	107,000	Delete
Hodgetwins (2nd nomination)	2 August 2020	2,270,000	Keep
Ritu Rathee Taneja	3 August 2020	3,470,000	Delete	Channel name: Flying Beast, lack of reliable independent sources.
Yutabon	4 August 2020	124,000	Delete
Simply Nailogical	4 August 2020	7,660,000	Keep	Meets WP:GNG.
Eric Rosen (chess player)	6 August 2020	114,000	Delete	Fails WP:GNG
Mayuri Pandey	6 August 2020	244,000	Delete	Fails WP:GNG
Sam Denby	10 August 2020	2,670,000	Keep	Passes WP:GNG. (Wendover Productions)
Hugo Dessioux	12 August 2020	2,280,000	Delete	Fails WP:GNG
ApexTV	31 August 2020	1,280,000	Delete	No significant coverage.
Kiran Dutta (2nd nomination)	31 August 2020	2,930,000	Delete	Deleted as G4 (The Bong Guy).
J.J. McCullough (3rd nomination)	7 September 2020	214,000	Delete	Not sourced to reliable sources which are independent of the subject.
CinemaSins (2nd nomination)	27 September 2020	8,990,000	Keep
Rob Paul	3 October 2020	16,900	Delete	Fails WP:GNG
Brian Hull (Impressionist)	4 October 2020	2,280,000	Delete	Does not meet WP:GNG.
Steve Wallis	9 October 2020	378,000	No consensus	Discussion has received adequate, guideline-based input to counter its relisting.
Dream (YouTuber)	5 November 2020	12,300,000	Delete	Didn't satisfy WP:GNG. However, article kept in a second discussion
Corey James La Barrie	20 November 2020	392,000	Delete	WP:ONEEVENT
Kmac2021	29 November 2020	886,000	Delete	Fails WP:MUSICBIO + WP:GNG
Kara and Nate	1 December 2020	1,920,000	Delete	WP:TOOSOON/ fails WP:GNG
Giorgi Danelia	2 December 2020	148,000	Delete	No evidence of notability.
Shane Wighton	8 November 2020	1,850,000	Keep	meets WP:SIGCOV
Tom Rowsell	3 December 2020	111,000	Delete	Below WP:GNG threshold
Zachary Neil Tarnopol	27 October 2020	4,650,000	Delete	Not enough reliably sourced evidence of notability
Mike Majlak	6 December 2020	2,200,000	Delete	fails WP:BIO
Draft:Justine Tung	6 December 2020	1,550	Delete	Not enough reliably sourced evidence of notability, author requested its deletion
Nah Cardoso	11 January 2021	3,220,000	Delete	Not notable, article seems WP:PROMOTIONAL.
Joseph Pisenti	11 January 2021	3,950,000	Delete	WP:TOOSOON/ fails WP:GNG. (RealLifeLore).
Dream (YouTuber) (2nd nomination)	12 January 2021	15,800,000	No consensus	Arguments for both sides, some sourcing found, some WP:CANVASSING and derailing arguments, further discussions should be based on policy.
CallMeCarson (2nd nomination)	22 January 2021	3,050,000	Keep	Subject doesn't fit WP:BLP1E. Later deleted in 3rd nomination.
Daniel Hardcastle (2nd nomination)	2 February 2021	2,510,000	Keep	meets WP:ANYBIO. (OfficialNerdCubed).
Danny Duncan	16 February 2021	5,380,000	Delete	No WP:RS found.
Montoya Twinz	21 March 2021	642,000	Delete	Only local and YouTube coverage found.
Kosar Pourreza	17 April 2021	1,090	Delete	Per WP:GNG failure.
Max Fosh	18 April 2021	400,000	Delete	Consensus was that he did not meet WP:NPOL, WP:ENT or WP:GNG at the time.
Ruhez Amrelia	19 April 2021	2,900,000	Delete	No significant coverage found.
Vaush	22 April 2021	347,000	Delete	WP:GNG not established. Page eventually recreated via AfC: Vaush
GeorgeNotFound	26 April 2021	6,550,000	Delete	Eventually recreated: GeorgeNotFound
Drew Binsky	22 May 2021	2,560,000	Keep	There is significant coverage in reliable sources.
CallMeCarson (3rd nomination)	24 August 2021	2,940,000	Delete
Brett Cooper (commentator)	6 May 2023	2,990,000	No consensus
Lofe	29 May 2023	1,520,000	Delete	Fails WP:GNG.
Max Fosh (2nd nomination)	7 June 2022	1,090,000	Delete	Eventually recreated: Max Fosh
Random Encounters	13 June 2023	4,260,000	Delete
CaseOh	5 April 2024	2,340,000	Delete	Fails WP:N
Lord Vinheteiro	12 April 2024	7,200,000	No consensus
ESC Gabe	4 August 2025	50,000	No consensus

Keep / delete tally

Based on the table above, the percentage of articles kept (including where there was no consensus) as of 3 July 2023^[update] are as follows:

Subscriber count	% kept
< 100k	7%
100k-1m	22%
1m-2m	36%
2m-5m	39%
5m-10m	56%
10m+	50%

Principles

Per WP:BASIC, the starting point is significant coverage in multiple, reliable, secondary sources.
If coverage in a given secondary source is more than trivial, but less than substantial, multiple such sources can be combined.
Primary sources don't count towards notability (though they can be used to support specific content in the article)
The subscriber count on a YouTube channel is a primary source
The subscriber count must have been included in something that has been independently written about in a reliable secondary source
The 'additional criteria' for notable people are helpful, but do not guarantee notability
Subscriber count helps meet the second criteria of WP:ENT.
If a YouTuber doesn't have a lot of subscribers, and cites no reliable independent sources, that's grounds for deletion.
Few articles about YouTubers have been kept unless they have upwards of one million subscribers
Subscription counts do not make one notable. Nor does wealth, revenue, and other size metrics. This is however a benchmark that can be useful in assessing subject matter—a YouTuber with millions of subscribers is more likely to be notable than one with tens of thousands

Seeking consensus

If consensus on this essay is established then WP:PEOPLEOUTCOMES could be updated to reflect the common outcomes for AfD discussions around YouTube celebrities, or Internet celebrities in general. Please discuss on the talk page.