How The Sidemen Built a £100M+ Empire - Episode 62

Welcome back to Social Media Mastery - Episode 62!

Today, we're discussing a topic that has dominated social media this week:

How The Sidemen and KSI made a £100M+ YouTube Business Empire

Following the recent news surrounding KSI’s departure from the Sidemen, many people have been talking about the end of an era.

But whilst most people are focused on the YouTube videos, I am absolutely fascinated by what they’ve built behind them.

What started as seven friends making GTA V videos has evolved into one of the most successful creator-led businesses in the world.

Across food, fashion, subscriptions, consumer products and investing, the Sidemen have built an empire reportedly worth well over £100 million.

So how did they do it? 👀

Distribution

When 7 UK-based content creators came together in October 2013, not many people thought much of it.

For years, they collaborated with each other on all of their separate YouTube channels, slowly but steadily growing as individuals within the UK YouTube scene.

However, in 2016, due to the fact that they had planned to hold a charity football match, they needed a home for it to be streamed. So, they launched The Sidemen YouTube channel.

At the time, it was the fastest YouTube channel in the world to reach 1 million subscribers, achieving the milestone in just three days.

Fast forward to today, and The Sidemen YouTube channel has over 23.2 million subscribers. Their other channels, MoreSidemen and Sidemen Reacts, have 9.7 million and 5.8 million subscribers respectively. As well as that, their personal channels also combine to over 100 million subscribers.

Products

Sides, Side+, XIX, Best, Sidemen Clothing, Upside VC.

These are all businesses and products that The Sidemen have launched, combining to a reported valuation of over £100 million.

But what purpose do they all serve?

Well, Sidemen Clothing is 12 years old. In my opinion, it should almost be viewed as a marketing venture for The Sidemen. Yes, it’s profitable, but it also allows fans to wear clothing that effectively promotes the brand wherever they go. This is a business that has generated over £60 million in revenue.

Sides, XIX and Best are examples of The Sidemen understanding their audience. 18-30 year-old males do tend to enjoy fast food, vodka and breakfast cereal. They know their audience and have built genuine products that cater towards them.

Side+, for me, is the most interesting.

Side+ is an app where The Sidemen post premium content that isn’t available on their public YouTube channels. Rather than using one of the many available creator platforms out there and giving away a significant percentage of their earnings, The Sidemen realised they could build their own. It is reported that the platform has attracted over 1 million paying subscribers.

The final business, Upside VC, is a venture capital fund designed with one purpose:

To invest in companies that The Sidemen believe they can accelerate through their expertise, network and audience.

Take MILE, a fashion platform that allows subscribers to access collections at fairer prices. The Sidemen featured MILE in just one Sidemen Sunday video.

One ad read.

One integration.

That single piece of content reportedly generated 100,000 app downloads.

Insane numbers.

What Creators Can Learn

Creators often look at views as a metric, a stat, or simply a way to get paid.

The Sidemen have built that metric over a long period of time, but more importantly, they have nurtured it.

Your audience is your greatest asset.

It takes years to build a reputation and minutes to destroy it.

One decision that puts short-term money ahead of long-term trust.

That’s all it takes.

Use The Sidemen as an example: great things come to those who wait.

Create the audience over a long period of time until they know you, and you know them.

Then use everything you’ve learned to build products that genuinely serve that audience.

That’s exactly what The Sidemen have done for over a decade.

Make sure to subscribe, and remember - “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.”

- Jacob

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