PewDiePie vs T-Series was an online rivalry between two YouTube channels, PewDiePie (run by Felix Kjellberg) and T-Series (run by an Indian record company of the same name) for the title of the most-subscribed YouTube channel. T-Series has held the title of most-viewed YouTube channel since February 2017, and PewDiePie had been the most-subscribed YouTube channel since August 2013. The rivalry between the two YouTube channels began when T-Series' subscriber count began to near PewDiePie's in late 2018.
Many YouTubers voiced their support for PewDiePie, including Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, MrBeast, DanTDM, KSI, H3h3Productions and Logan Paul. Many of his fans made efforts to gain subscribers for his YouTube channel in numerous ways, including organised marches and supportive YouTube videos. Supporters of PewDiePie often used the slogan "Subscribe to PewDiePie". The activism of some supporters extended beyond legal grounds; vandalism, hacking of websites, social media accounts, personal devices and the creation of malware had taken place to urge people to subscribe. "Bitch Lasagna", a diss track by PewDiePie against T-Series, and the use of anti-Indian remarks by some of his fans (which PewDiePie would later criticize), led to several prominent Indian YouTubers publicly opposing PewDiePie and backing T-Series with YouTube videos and response diss tracks.
T-Series temporarily overtook PewDiePie in subscribers on numerous occasions starting from February 2019. On 28 April 2019, PewDiePie released a video calling for his supporters to end their efforts to keep him as the most subscribed YouTube channel, and with the significant lead now held by T-Series, the competition is generally presumed to have ended with T-Series winning.
Background and overview
Felix Kjellberg, better known online as PewDiePie, is a Swedish YouTuber who makes comedic videos. He has traditionally been known for his Let's Play videos, and his channel was the most subscribed on YouTube from 15 August 2013 until 22 February 2019, when he was briefly surpassed by T-Series due to a YouTube routine audit, although PewDiePie took back the title shortly after approximately 8 minutes. His fan base at the time of the competition was generally known as the "9-year-old army".
T-Series is an Indian music record label and film production company. On YouTube, it has a multi-channel network consisting of 29 channels (excluding Lahari Music), run by a team of 13 people. The main T-Series channel primarily contains Indian music videos (Bollywood music and Indi-pop) as well as Bollywood film trailers, and releases several videos every day, having uploaded over 20 thousand videos as of October 2023.
The competition between the two channels began after T-Series began to near PewDiePie in subscribers in late 2018. T-Series temporarily overtook PewDiePie in subscribers on numerous occasions in early 2019, and on 27 March 2019, it became the most subscribed YouTube channel for five consecutive days, before PewDiePie regained the lead. PewDiePie then held the lead for 2 weeks, before T-Series passed him permanently, reaching 100 million subscribers on 29 May 2019.
Activism
Support of PewDiePie
From YouTubers
The first prominent YouTuber to support PewDiePie was MrBeast, who bought billboards and radio advertisements in North Carolina urging people to subscribe to PewDiePie's channel. He also created a video of himself saying "PewDiePie" 100,000 times in a period of over 12 hours. MrBeast and his friends attended Super Bowl LIII, wearing T-shirts reading "Sub 2 PewDiePie". The group was prominently displayed in an ESPN tweet after Stephen Gostkowski had missed a field goal during the first quarter.
Other prominent YouTubers such as Markiplier, Jacksepticeye and Logan Paul made videos or tweets announcing their support for PewDiePie in the competition, often under the slogan "Subscribe to PewDiePie". YouTuber Justin Roberts, a member of the group Team 10, bought a billboard in New York's Times Square reading the same. Markiplier made a tongue-in-cheek live stream titled "I literally won't shut up until you subscribe to PewDiePie" urging his viewers to subscribe to PewDiePie's channel. Jacksepticeye ran a live stream with the same purpose, jokingly threatening to delete his channel if T-Series surpassed PewDiePie.
Smaller YouTubers also promoted PewDiePie. In reaction to MrBeast's advertising campaign, Saimandar Waghdhare, an independent Indian YouTuber with the channel "Saiman Says", responded to MrBeast's advertising campaign by posting a sarcastic video in which he pretends to support T-Series, later releasing a video in which he instead declares his support to PewDiePie.