Dan & Phil Part 53: another two months

[Vanderlyle]

Anyway, I noticed that in the Sue Perkins interview, both Dan and Phil claimed that they rose to popularity based on just building an audience over the years and how they've never owed their careers to any viral videos. However, I remember a few people on here who were around in the mid-years of around 2011-2013 saying that Phil had more subscribers than Dan, up until Dan released his "I Will Go Down With This Ship" video that attracted a huge audience from Tumblr. The success from this video, and those in a similar tone/style thereafter had him surpass Phil in the number of subscribers on his channel. However, I'm not entirely sure Dan might be aware of this, or that every phan from this era might agree, but might just another white lie he told. It was certainly a popular video, and even if it gave him a leg up in subscribers, it may not constitute as "viral" so idk.

pointless post to add that iirc, dan surpassed phil verrry early in 2012, and i remember this particular video being the one that really put him on the map in a larger way with new fans


i watched it like twice a day for a year - i thought it was so hysterical and so on point for that time
by like Jan of 2013, dan had hit 1mil subscribers and phil was at 600k. 2012 was dan's year.

EDIT - what am i doing wrong when i try to link YT vids?

[alittledizzy]

EDIT - what am i doing wrong when i try to link YT vids?

Make sure the video link isn't trying to take you to a specific time in the video - yours had:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djtYkAb2dmA&t=1s

where it needed to be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djtYkAb2dmA

[sparkle]

I subbed to Phil in early August 2012, and Dan a few weeks later. If I remember Phil had about 250k subs and Dan had just about overtaken him and was between 250-300k subs. At first I LOVED Phil and hated Dan until I watched a PINOF, found Dan funny when he was more than just a 'this is Dan', which is when I subbed to Dan. I honestly had no clue who tf Dan was so the first time he appeared in a video I was really confused

In 2012 for some reason Dan exploded within a few months - I think it was because he had a bunch of videos that were really #relatable and were the sort of thing you'd be more likely to share? Compared to Phil who has always kinda done the AmazingPhil videos, which are great but aren't really as shareable as Dans? ESPECIALLY when he had things like '5 Kinds of Drunk People'. And he had that collab with Jack and Finn and they were huge at the time too, so I'm guessing stuff like that helped? I don't think he ever had a truly viral video, but he did have a lot of videos that were shareable and had popular YouTubers in (Jack, Finn, Alex Day - ugh, Charlie) which I think helped him grow his channel faster than Phil's. Also, IIRC wasn't 'what not to do at the cinema' his first video to hit 1 million views - so again with the idea that something being #relatable helped it spread. But I do class Dan as being a 'second gen' YouTuber, especially when compared to Phil or vlogbrothers. Phil gave Dan his initial audience (even directing them to go sub to Dan), whereas Phil had to build his audience from scratch.

Basically, I think Dan has 'played' YouTube more than Phil has (not a bad thing at all) and that is why he has more subscribers than Phil, because of deliberate moves. Dan never had a 'viral' video but he understood how YouTube worked, emulated it, and it paid off. Phil just kinda did Phil, just being very careful to stick to YouTube guidelines, and that paid off too. Other YouTubers have done similar things and its worked for them too. (Emma Blackery and The Game Theorists come to mind especially)

What I find really interesting is that Phil has more twitter followers than he has YouTube subs. Why?

[flarequake]

This is all very interesting. I hadn't considered Dan had got so many more views for more relatable videos. I first found him in 2012, but was a casual viewer and didn't notice numbers back then (found him via that Jacksgap video cos I mostly watched them and Bertie back then).

Phil's Twitter being more popular is funny, some of his followers maybe don't know of his YouTube videos or aren't that interested if they're not also subscribed. Are the pancake tweets so much fun? He is a nice, amusing, fun guy, it might just be that.

[Lynsey]

anyone seen that nasty girl called googlepml (previously googleniall, you know, that one from all the liveshows as a top fan ) talking sht about marianne on twitter? i see some of you confronting her and her being immature and nasty to you. if any of you want to private message me i can give you tea on her lmao. googleniall is known for making up this kind of bs rumours


p.s i have met dan and phil 3 times and marianne has always been lovely and really friendly towards me, so has their security. marianne is usually lovely to you if you arent pushy and bossy towards the boys.

I was there yesterday and Marianne was so lovely! I spoke to her while waiting to meet dnp and she was really sweet, offered to hold my bag while I took the pic with them and said I had a lovely accent lol. Yes she had to tell some people to step back a little and maybe she was firm (I honestly can't remember exactly I'm still in disbelief it all actually happened lol) but like she's just doing her job and making sure dnp don't get mobbed lol. So yeah from my experience she's lovely

Also just wanted to mention how much I loved the interview. It was my first time seeing Dan and Phil in person and after getting over the shock of 'holy shit they're right there in front of me' I quickly became absorbed in the discussion, found it so so interesting and loved seeing dnp in that setting talking about something semi serious. I was very impressed (and proud of) them.

Something that has crossed my mind, when they were playing dnp's video montages I couldn't help but think about how dnp were watching their fans react to their videos (at one point I actually made eye contact with Phil while laughing lol) and idk it just made me wonder how that makes them feel as obviously they don't get to visually see viewers reactions to their vids like that, does it make them happy or maybe even feel a little weird? Yeah, just something I've been thinking about lol.

[bluntedclaws]

Phil's Twitter being more popular is funny, some of his followers maybe don't know of his YouTube videos or aren't that interested if they're not also subscribed. Are the pancake tweets so much fun? He is a nice, amusing, fun guy, it might just be that.

My guess is that there are people who watch D&PG who aren't particularly interested in Phil's non-gaming content so they follow him on Twitter but not YouTube.

[captainspacecoat]

Glad to wake up and see that IDB is back up and running, thank you heaps to everyone who's worked hard behind the scenes to keep it working for us! Some extensive, hard-hitting, profound thoughts on recent events:

Re: gaming vid - I thought it was cute, but did anyone else find the background music a bit jarring? It was slightly too loud and cheery, and it was all I could really focus on. Possibly the result of a rushed on-the-train editing job

Re: candid pics - v v cute, I wonder if they're travelling all the way home or are gonna hang out in the North for a bit? Also Phil's eyes look piercing, wow.

Re: possible IDB hive mind - For the most part, I don't think this is the case. Personally, I am someone who firmly believes they are in a relationship, and there is very little at this point that could shake my opinion. I'll defend to the death their right to portray their relationship however they want and very much believe they are not obliged to tell us anything. Perhaps naively, but as a closeted person I have a lot of empathy for their possible reasons for doing so.

However, regarding the reaction to people (myself included) questioning why they chose to bend the truth a bit about how they met, I do feel that people were quick to accuse others of overreacting or stirring drama. I actually think I saw more people condemning those who questioned it than I did anyone actually taking offence. I still maintain that there was no reason for them to downplay their meeting by adding in the bit about Dan going to uni in Manchester - omitting that would not have been incriminating in any way nor would it have suggested they were in a romantic relationship. I don't personally see how, by saying 'hm, no big deal but it's kinda weird that they don't just tell the truth in as vague a way as possible about how they met rather than consistently downplaying their meeting as professionally convenient' is out of order, and I don't think by pointing that out people are letting it overshadow what was otherwise a really interesting, mature interview. I'll leave it there, but I think that might be what dia was getting at maybe? Also I don't mean to drag this on lmao, I really actually don't think it's a big deal at all in the grand scheme of things, it just interests me that this seems to have been a pretty consistent thing over the years whenever they bring up the way they met.

[Catallena]

I feel like 2012 was the year that YouTube truly became mainstream and it was also the year that the careers of many veteran YouTubers started going downhill. That brought an immense amount of mostly teens to the website looking for new creators that they liked. And for some unexplained reason, all the Tumblr fangirls who creamed themselves over a ~British accent~ decided that British vloggers were gonna be those creators because 2012 truly was the year for them in general and not only D&P.

They never have had some video go super viral a la paining your nails with 100 layers of nail polish or something but there were definitely videos of Dan's that stood out and were picked up by that crowd. I subbed to Phan in the beginning of May 2012 and I vaguely remember seeing gifs of What Not To Do In Town and WNTD Cinema on my dashboard. That summer is when he really started to blow up with I Will Go Down With This Ship and Drama Llama, gifs from those videos were all over my dash while at the time I followed maybe only 1 or 2 phan blogs. All that free exposure only attracted more and more people and a year later they both had a million subscribers.

So imo they did get lucky with the timing a bit. They were really just there right in a time where they were able to put more effort into videos than ever for new and interested people to find them and get hooked. Imagine if 'the generation shift' had happened about a year prior when Dan was still in uni and didn't have the luxury of being able to do YouTube full time. Or if he had stayed in uni for that matter. Of course, what made them last this long has nothing to do with timing. It has to do with their hard work, their charm that we keep falling for, and above all a fiercely loyal and fanbase who were very accepting of shit upload schedules, that out of that entire batch who rode the 2012 YouTube wave only they were able to acquire somehow. And the ship.

I should stop writing things late at night I feel like I had a stronger ending point but nah instead I feel like nothing made sense and I just wrote down some rambling thoughts. Great.

[pastelspectre]

i just wana say i also got into deppy in 2012 (i believe i had known them and their videos beforehand but the halloween brownie graveyard video is what really made me super interested and i was interested in what their relationship was tbh), and like..that year was the year they exploded in popularity. at least i think it is. im glad that deppy still have such dedicated and amazing fans, like honestly theyre one of the only youtubers i know that have such a huge fandom and are insanely relevant even though they dont have as many followers as say markiplier or jacksepticeye. it's nice. it's good. i like it.

[relatablemood]

To some extent, I do agree with what the person said about there being an IDB hivemind. I've witnessed others and in my own experience get not attacked but bombarded with arguments against their opinions, usually making it a moral issue wherein if you think outside of the mainstream concepts, then you're horrible, ignorant or plain unintelligent (I got told it's my fault for not picking up on the more subtler cues/implications that Dan's not straight/neurotypical as an autistic girl, lol). But do I think that people are being beaten into things or people don't genuinely believe what they say? No, of course not, it just happens to be that on this site a lot of people share the same views - which makes sense on a largely interactive forum - and so naturally there will always be a majority in a debate. For example, with the japhan merch, I'm pretty sure it was the vocal minority who took offence on this forum and then the majority who defended deppy. Or, if you say you don't think Dan and Phil are together, of course you're gonna get a lot of disagreement as most people on here believe that they are.

Uhm, what was I saying. Basically, I don't think the people on here are bad. I blew up at one person as I felt incredibly overwhelmed at the amount of backlash towards an opinion of mine, and then that person ended up being really nice to me awhile later. And people are really friendly as well when you first join. It's just the way forums work, I guess.

[offtopic]But for the record, I'm still a little iffy about the topic of Dan being mentally ill and how he jokes about it because without giving the thumbs up to having any diagnosed disorders (reblogging smth on Tumblr,
that kinda thing), it can both offend mentally ill people and lead people to armchair diagnose him themselves, which does happen a lot on this forum.* But it's difficult because of course Dan shouldn't have to tell us his mental illness, ahhh. Ambiguity. Do genuinely think Dan is bi/pan/generally not straight and deppy are together though

* Taking part in this is bad as it can have a real negative effect on a person's perception of themselves as well as how they seek treatment. For example, I was constantly told by adults (not doctors) I had social anxiety rather than autism (the social awkwardness side of autism specifically) for years and this made me believe it was all in my head, that I could cure myself with exposure therapy and so on. Furthermore, being constantly told you're mentally ill (I became mentally ill later on but that's beside the point) when really you have such a common disorder as autism really messes you up, makes you feel different and crap for years and never gives you the right treatment or help systems. And in the case of Dan, depression isn't just depression, if that makes sense. A lot of people say Dan probably has depression and some form of anxiety (be it social anxiety or GAD) but the symptoms he shows can be part of other disorders entirely. For example, there might be something going on with his thyroid that causes him to also experience depression and weight fluctuation (which he does, but people generally attribute that to his stress). Labelling him and spreading that around as fact in discussion has a damaging effect as people might look to him as an icon of something he doesn't really havem because he might have something else. It could also mean that Dan takes the internet's word for it and doesn't seek a diagnosis/therapy and so on. Just a bit of food for thought.[/offtopic]

[thephandommenace]

Phil's Twitter being more popular is funny, some of his followers maybe don't know of his YouTube videos or aren't that interested if they're not also subscribed. Are the pancake tweets so much fun? He is a nice, amusing, fun guy, it might just be that.

My guess is that there are people who watch D&PG who aren't particularly interested in Phil's non-gaming content so they follow him on Twitter but not YouTube.

My first thought was that a lot of people in the phandom have their own personal accounts and then make specific phan accounts maybe even multiple ones so I wonder if there'd be enough to create this massive gap between subscriber amount and Twitter follower amount. Also I follow a lot of people I'm not subscribed to, just to see what they're up to and what's up in the YT community. The number of people who've heard of Dan and Phil probably far outstrips their subscriber number. They are notorious in the YT community yet don't have the arguably highest number of subscribers. So people probably follow them 'professionally' as well rather than as a fan.

[vincentian]

Phil's Twitter being more popular is funny, some of his followers maybe don't know of his YouTube videos or aren't that interested if they're not also subscribed. Are the pancake tweets so much fun? He is a nice, amusing, fun guy, it might just be that.

My guess is that there are people who watch D&PG who aren't particularly interested in Phil's non-gaming content so they follow him on Twitter but not YouTube.

My first thought was that a lot of people in the phandom have their own personal accounts and then make specific phan accounts maybe even multiple ones so I wonder if there'd be enough to create this massive gap between subscriber amount and Twitter follower amount. Also I follow a lot of people I'm not subscribed to, just to see what they're up to and what's up in the YT community. The number of people who've heard of Dan and Phil probably far outstrips their subscriber number. They are notorious in the YT community yet don't have the arguably highest number of subscribers. So people probably follow them 'professionally' as well rather than as a fan.

I’m sure the massive phandom following makes up the most of their followers and yes, multiple accounts and people following for updates is a factor. But it seems Twitter is just quite bad at managing/banning bot accounts that multiply at incredible speed, maybe worse than YT/Google. Also various promo accounts that follow big twitters. Deps both have ridiculous amount of followers on Twitter for the content they actually tweet. I think bot/promo accounts make some difference in Phil's twitter/youtube ratio.

[human]

anyone seen that nasty girl called googlepml (previously googleniall, you know, that one from all the liveshows as a top fan ) talking sht about marianne on twitter? i see some of you confronting her and her being immature and nasty to you. if any of you want to private message me i can give you tea on her lmao. googleniall is known for making up this kind of bs rumours

p.s i have met dan and phil 3 times and marianne has always been lovely and really friendly towards me, so has their security. marianne is usually lovely to you if you arent pushy and bossy towards the boys.

I was there yesterday and Marianne was so lovely! I spoke to her while waiting to meet dnp and she was really sweet, offered to hold my bag while I took the pic with them and said I had a lovely accent lol. Yes she had to tell some people to step back a little and maybe she was firm (I honestly can't remember exactly I'm still in disbelief it all actually happened lol) but like she's just doing her job and making sure dnp don't get mobbed lol. So yeah from my experience she's lovely

I was also there and can vouch Marianne was nothing but reasonable and nice, as usual. There was a gaggle of girls at the front, giggling and shaking and crying and making noise, pushing and shoving on the steps unto the stage and she told them to stop and to give the guys room to breathe; seemed reasonable to me, they were being pushy and shoving each other closer for no reason at all. I don't know if the girl was part of the group, it would make sense, but Marianne wasn't mean to them at all. I was bemused to see the tweets trying to stir stuff up where there was nothing to stir at all.

[socksparadox]

What I find really interesting is that Phil has more twitter followers than he has YouTube subs. Why?

I think it's because people with a lot of followers on twitter tend to get a lot of bot followers. If you take a quick browse at his followers list, almost all of his most recent followers are just empty accounts with generic names, which likely signals a mass-following spam bot(s).

[sparkle]

What I find really interesting is that Phil has more twitter followers than he has YouTube subs. Why?

I think it's because people with a lot of followers on twitter tend to get a lot of bot followers. If you take a quick browse at his followers list, almost all of his most recent followers are just empty accounts with generic names, which likely signals a mass-following spam bot(s).

I just did a Twitter Audit on him, apparently 16% of his followers are fake - leaving him with just under 4.5 million 'real' twitter followers. I'm truly fascinated

[offtopic]do we think maybe gaming livestream today? i'm not very well today and I'm having a duvet day, (whilst doing laundry) it would be nice to be able to eat popcorn and watch them stream later on.[/offtopic]

[Ticia]

What I find really interesting is that Phil has more twitter followers than he has YouTube subs. Why?

I think it's because people with a lot of followers on twitter tend to get a lot of bot followers. If you take a quick browse at his followers list, almost all of his most recent followers are just empty accounts with generic names, which likely signals a mass-following spam bot(s).

I just did a Twitter Audit on him, apparently 16% of his followers are fake - leaving him with just under 4.5 million 'real' twitter followers. I'm truly fascinated

[offtopic]do we think maybe gaming livestream today? i'm not very well today and I'm having a duvet day, (whilst doing laundry) it would be nice to be able to eat popcorn and watch them stream later on.[/offtopic]

What do you mean by "fake"? Bots, or second accounts?

[goingbackto505]

I haven't properly been on this forum in a pretty long time since I was away and my internet connection was testing my patience lol a bit sad that I missed some very interesting discussions in the previous thread. wanted to say that I absolutely loved the interview and honestly, hearing Phil talk without being interrupted and overshadowed and just generally seeing how Sue as an interviewer was taking Dan and Phil seriously was so wonderful and refreshing. both Dan and Phil are such complex individuals, their opinions were well-thought-out and I gained even more respect for them both. the interview made me realize just how much I miss the radio show and made me wish they showed this professional, business side of themselves even more. especially Phil, I simply need more Phil. I wonder if they ever considered doing a podcast..
and I'm very happy for everyone who got to meet them! :') thanks for making posts about how it all went and the impressions you got from irl DnP, it's always interesting to read.

What I find really interesting is that Phil has more twitter followers than he has YouTube subs. Why?

a significant chunk of those new twitter followers are bots. I noticed that when he got to 5 million, Dan's twitter got to 6 million followers so fast because of the very same bots as well, and I also checked if the same thing happens to any other youtubes, and yeah, the bots are the same everywhere and for everyone and many others started to get them at the same time. don't know what's up with that lol

[sparkle]

What I find really interesting is that Phil has more twitter followers than he has YouTube subs. Why?

I think it's because people with a lot of followers on twitter tend to get a lot of bot followers. If you take a quick browse at his followers list, almost all of his most recent followers are just empty accounts with generic names, which likely signals a mass-following spam bot(s).

I just did a Twitter Audit on him, apparently 16% of his followers are fake - leaving him with just under 4.5 million 'real' twitter followers. I'm truly fascinated

[offtopic]do we think maybe gaming livestream today? i'm not very well today and I'm having a duvet day, (whilst doing laundry) it would be nice to be able to eat popcorn and watch them stream later on.[/offtopic]

What do you mean by "fake"? Bots, or second accounts?

I'm guessing bots/inactive accounts, basically anything that isn't an active account. I would take that figure with a slight pinch of salt though.

[lefthandedism]

Because of the discussion of 2012 being when Dan's popularity exploded, I rewatched a few of his 2012 videos last night.

And I cringed so hard. I was pretty surprised by this, since I came into the phandom through Dan's #relatable videos (a year and a half ago). I enjoy the (relative!) maturity and production values of Deppy's current-era videos--as well, of course, as the general Post-Baking-Universe vibe and the immediacy of a fresh, new video. And I adore 2010ish and earlier Deppy--yes, much of that is cringeworthy, but they were working hard and leaping into the unknown, and I have a lot of respect for that. And they were so damn young and cute (separately and together ) that I find I can forgive almost anything from that era except the most egregious slurs out of their (Dan's) mouth.

But 2012 Dan was just hitting me the wrong way last night. This probably had a lot to do with both Sexy Internet Datings videos coming up, but I was even finding his well-done sketches like 5 Kinds of Drunk People grating. Worst of all, these videos of course all had the Sexy End Screen Dance. It never really bothered me before, but I was really wishing Dan had been a bit more grown up when he'd made those videos. I think he's very funny and his sketches sometimes border on brilliance, but then the Sexy End Screen Dance spoiled things. But maybe the internet would not have fallen in love with him without it?

[saffarinda]

The googlepml girl has been annoying me with those comments. I saw some great responses to her though, hallelujah.

Agree with gohomohowell's analysis of IDB. I mean, I thought some of the offence taken towards the japan merch was a tad much - I was quite surprised when there was such a large backlash on this forum, but then you look at every other side of the phandom and they're loving it. IDB is quite a small representation of the phandom as well, I think it's quite importanr to remember that.

I found Dan first in 2012 then Phil later. I actually subbed to Dan in 2012 then didn't watch any of his videos, but in the summer of 2013 I found a Phil video and saw Dan in it and I was like ?!? wait what, then I realised they were flatmates and so forth. I found Dan from his "Meaning of Life" video, but I remember watching loads of his other relatable vids and loving them, so I'd agree that that was the content that blew him up. His content defo appealed to tumblr as well, whilst Phils could be seen as more open to people not as invested in the internet.

[liola]

I think tumblr also had a huge impact in Dan's raise in popularity, he had lots of #relatable videos that were giffed and spread around. It's how I first found dip and pip, I saw gifs of them while randomly scrolling on tumblr, and it was always either the two of them together or just Dan. One gif I remember seeing A LOT in 2012 was the chin one of Dan from PINOF 4.

Phil never really had any BIG videos I think? Not that I remember at least. His audience has always been more attracted to his personality than the actual content he puts out I think. I've said it a lot, I find myself drawn to him more than to Dan, even though personality wise I relate SO MUCH MORE to Dan. There are videos of Phil that I'd never watch if it wasn't for him, but that's the point - he makes everything entertaining, that's what made him stand out even at the beginning when youtubers weren't really a thing.

I'm craving some videos. I feel like a monster that keeps getting hungry even after being fed - or maybe it's just that the gaming video isn't really worth rewatching for me and it left me a bit unsatisfied. I need some sweet golf action ;_;

[flarequake]

Possibly the closest close-up of his leg yet. Also, ouch.

And now there's a poll

[rizzo]

Possibly the closest close-up of his leg yet. Also, ouch.

Look... I'm just gonna put it out there... that doesn't look like shorts....

[karma_yeah]

I really enjoyed the chat with Sue! Way more than I was expecting to and the 45 minutes just flew by. I would have watched 2 hours (lbr, they could just livestream all day and I'd watch --insert pink trashcan here--).

Part of it may have been that Sue was a great interviewer (imo anyway). I don't remember seeing any interviews with them where the interviewer was as mature and intelligent. And mentally quick. They seemed to be on a similar wavelength with her, so the interview flowed well. I thought they looked relaxed and poised. They were very thoughtful and articulate, and presented some very good points and ideas. Phil's deep voice and Dan's proper accent -- just insert big thumbs up emoji! Actually both of their voices are quite pleasant to me (stereotypical American who loves British accents). Overall, they made quite good guests. I hope Sue was pleased with it as well.

Loved seeing the pictures y'all posted. I'm assuming they smelled good too? I particularly enjoyed the posts describing how people watched Dan as he walked through the hallway. I've only seen them on stage, but I think Dan really has model potential (if he worked on that posture LOL). However much he criticizes his looks, the camera LOVES him. He has that "it" factor.

I can't imagine the size of Phil's personal library of artistic photos of Dan. Maybe he could He should publish a book.

[offtopic]

If there are any fellow Texans here, I hope everyone is safe and dry from Hurricane Harvey

[/offtopic]

[flarequake]

Hard to tell, but yeah, could be baggy boxers, could be shorter shorts. Need that nice shrug emoji.

I also thought Sue was a very good interviewer. I assumed they had things she'd planned to ask and what they wanted to cover, but a few times she picked up on things they said in their answers really well to lead into the next question.