
“I never saw myself as being a big celebrity. I just wanted to do
videos because I enjoyed doing it and I saw people were making a bit of
money.
Olatunji films himself playing video games, usually his beloved Fifa
and then uploads the footage to YouTube. He makes up to 40 videos a
month. Each is watched around two million times.
The business model is simple: the more clicks his videos receive, the
more cash he earns (through YouTube partnership programmes, which split
the revenue from pre-roll adverts). This is the world of social media: a
meritocracy which rewards mass popularity very handsomely indeed.
Not that he concerns himself too much with figures and projections:
“I have an agent for that, I’m not business-minded.” “Fifa is my baby. I
have to pinch myself sometimes… I am living a lifestyle most guys my
age would love to lead, playing computer games and earning good money.”
“I would say in a year I spend maybe half of that playing Fifa. I
love it that much. I think I must have spent 200 hours on the new game
already. It’s pretty cool (to think) I’m known for Fifa, he adds. If you
think of KSI, people instantly think ‘ah, that Fifa YouTuber’. I didn’t
think I would be up there as the ambassador of Fifa on YouTube but I’ll
take it.”

It’s been a rapid ascent since his first foray into the world of
YouTube in 2009, with clips filmed in his bedroom at his parents’ home
in Watford.
There is an innocence about his success, too. The fame and fortune he
has attracted (he now lives in a suburban pile in Kent with two highly
desirable cars in the driveway) was never part of the plan. He was just
having fun.
“I didn’t really want to become huge, I never saw myself as being a
big celebrity. I just wanted to do videos because I enjoyed doing it and
I saw people were making a bit of money. I thought I wouldn’t mind
doing this as a job, getting just enough to survive and doing what I
love. But now, it’s become so big.”
With fame comes responsibility, even in the free-for-all world of
YouTube. “When I started out, I was able to do whatever I wanted. I
would play with more ideas and push the boundaries a lot. But nowadays
I’m not able to do that so much.”
“The amount of people that watch me,” he says, “they are influenced
by a lot of the things that I do. I wouldn’t want to annoy people’s
parents. KSI, if you want to talk business, is a brand, and I have to do
stuff to protect that brand now so it doesn’t become tarnished and I am
not seen as a hated person, or in a bad light.”
He still seems shocked at how playing football video games has given
him the opportunity to meet real-life football stars, who are keen to
associate with KSI. There was an invitation to play Fifa with Rio
Ferdinand at the former Manchester United defender’s restaurant to help
develop his #5 YouTube channel and brand (“It was amazing that playing
Fifa had got me into that position”).
Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs, Wojciech Szczęsny and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
(“the Ox was probably the best I came up against”) are among other
footballers to have played Fifa with KSI.
Beginnings
He speaks passionately as he explains where it all began: “I was big
on gaming and I really wanted to explore the idea of uploading videos to
YouTube, especially gaming videos. So I tried it myself and I didn’t do
very well, but it was a start.”
“I remember my first video – it had zero views, it was so depressing.
People were getting thousands of views and I was sitting with my zero. I
pushed it out to my family and friends, and on to forums, and
eventually it started to get a bit more traction. After a year, I got to
7,000 subscribers, so that was pretty crazy. After another year, it
went up to around 20,000.”
“Back then, to grow was extremely hard. It took a lot of time and
eventually I started posting more and more and more, more Fifa videos,
more real life videos.”
He says one of the first “big videos” was the History of my Name but
admits it was also one of the “most cringeworthy”. “I hate watching it
now, he says, “but from that video people really started to relate to
me.”
It’s hardly surprising that he had difficulty persuading his parents
that quitting school for a career playing computer games was a good
idea.

“I wasn’t really into school that much. I was in this building having
to cram knowledge I didn’t really care for. But on YouTube I was able
to create what I wanted and post it for people to watch.
“I told my teacher that I wasn’t enjoying school and that I was enjoying YouTube more, and that I was getting paid good amounts.
“I asked the teacher, ‘should I leave?’ He asked, ‘how much are you
making from YouTube?’ and I said around £1,500 a month. He told me he
was getting less than that.”
But his parents were furious when he told them he was quitting
school. “They said this is the dumbest thing you have ever done, you are
going to throw your life away, why would you just want to play games,
you can’t make money from games, it’s stupid.
“Now they have completely changed. They’re doing videos with me and my brother all the time and they completely get it.
“I was able to pay for my parents’ house which was really, really
cool, it was the best thing I could ever do for them. They have looked
after me so it was awesome for me to be able to look after them.”
Wealth
You can hardly blame a 21-year old from a modest background for
splashing the cash when it suddenly lands in his lap. Olatunji says he
spends his money on things like trainers (there are limited-edition
pairs strewn everywhere). His latest sports car was one of his more
extravagent purchases: “I bought the car last year… I hardly ever splash
so I thought I might as well get something really good.”
But despite his protestations that he has no business brain, he seems
surprisingly mature when it comes to planning for the future. He also
recognises that the crest of a wave he is currently cyber-surfing won’t
roll on forever.
“I guess I spend my money quite wisely. I bought my old house off my parents, and now I am renting it out.
“I am trying to make sure that I don’t spend on ridiculous things, so
that after all this YouTube thing goes I’m not left there, like, ‘uh
oh, I have nothing’.”
For the meantime though, his success continues. KSI’s YouTube
subscriptions are growing at an incredible rate, the money-spinning
deals are coming thick and fast, and he plans to relocate to a central
London property with a swimming pool and tennis court (for him and his
YouTube gang, The Sidemen).
**Olatunji was recently voted the fourth most influential figure
among American teenagers in a survey commissioned by Variety, ranking
above Hollywood mainstays Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo Di Caprio, and
pop stars Katy Perry and Beyonce.
YouTube’s global accessibility means Olatunji and others like him are
able to reach many millions more than if they were confined to domestic
television.
“I’m not really interested in TV,” he says.
“YouTube has become humongous and beyond anything I could ever imagine.” Josh Warwick, The Telegraph