YouTubers live and work all over the world. However, many of the big names in the business are based in Los Angeles, California. LA is one of the entertainment capitals of the world, with amenities like the YouTube creator space that draw YouTubers from around the world. Here are five of the biggest names on the site who live and work in the City of Angels.
#5 – Tana Mongeau
You may know Tana Mongeau from her recent struggles with TanaCon. This popular storytime vlogger decided to try and go head to head with VidCon, the biggest annual YouTube convention. Working with fellow YouTubers Shane Dawson, Miranda Sings, Casey Neistat, and many more, she hosted a convention down the street from VidCon, on the same days as VidCon. Unfortunately, the convention turned out to be an absolute disaster, with rumors circulating that the entire event was a scam. Thousands of people were stranded in the California heat without food or water, and when the organizers canceled the event Tana took a lot of the blame.
While the TanaCon controversy is the most current issue that Tana has, it isn’t her first experience with drama. In early 2017 another YouTuber, iDubbbzTV, put out a video about Tana. Ian, the man behind iDubbbzTV, is notorious for his Content Cop series, a collection of well researched, entertaining exposé videos featuring other YouTubers or channels. His Content Cop on Tana featured her hypocrisy and two-faced demeanor. Tana hassled Ian on social media over his controversial language choices on multiple occasions, all the while using the same words in her own videos. This video brought a lot of traffic to both channels, raising awareness of Tana and her YouTube in circles she hadn’t been known to before.
#4 – Mark Fischbach
Under the screen name of Markiplier, Mark Fischbach created a let’s play gaming YouTube channel that currently sports over 21 million subscribers. He’s currently one of the top 50 channels on YouTube with over 9 billion views. Mark gained popularity through playing horror games and posting series like Drunk Minecraft and Prop Hunt. These videos featured his friends and fellow YouTubers muyskerm, LordMinion777, yamimash, and more. As Mark grew and his channel became more popular he put more money into producing skits and short films, a true passion of his. Mark also worked closely with many charities, most notably dying his hair pink, blue, and red in relation to various charity goals, streams, and videos. He’s raised over 1.4 million dollars for charity.
#3 – Bryan Le
Perhaps the most notorious on this list, many know Bryan Le by his screen name, Ricegum. He runs a comedy, vlogging, and music channel with over 10 million subscribers. He’s a controversial and confrontational character, with many of his videos featuring ‘beef’ with some YouTuber or other. One such YouTuber is iDubbbz, the controversial ‘Content Cop’ of YouTube.
In October of 2017 iDubbbz posted a callout video on Ricegum. It quickly became one of his most viewed videos, and his top Content Cop, with over 34 million views. The diss track that he released along with the Content Cop has over 54 million views on its own. The diss track featured YouTube names like Boyinaband, songwriter and rapper, and YouTube royalty Pewdiepie. However, Ricegum has many friends in the YouTube community as well. He, FaZe Banks, and Alissa Violet formed one of the top talent scouting groups of LA, Clout Gang.
#2 – Tyler Oakley
Tyler Oakley runs one of the oldest vlogging channels on YouTube. After starting in 2007, he’s grown to over 7 million subscribers. While his numbers may seem low compared to channels around today, he’s still extremely well known. Over the last 10 years, he’s maintained a semi-consistent upload schedule of varied content. Most of his videos focus on community discussion, humor, and LGBT lifestyle. One of the first vloggers to come out as gay, Tyler had remained a mainstay in the LGBT community, working closely with many charities and focusing largely on LGBT healthcare and education.known channel due to his semi-consistent uploads for over 10 years. He often collaborates with close friend, musician, and fellow gay YouTuber Troye Sivan. 2017 we saw him named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30.
#1 – Lilly Singh
Known online as IISuperwomanII with over 13 million subscribers, Lilly Singh made a name for herself largely with humorous videos. Her channel features skits, vlogs, and the occasional rap. Her amusing view of Punjabi culture sets her apart from other channels. Since her start in 2010, she’s accumulated over 2 billion views. In 2016 she released A Trip to Unicorn Island, her first feature-length film. The very next year Lilly ranked 10th on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid YouTubers, as she made over $10.5 million that year.