How MKBHD Became The Most Powerful Man in Tech

take me to your inbox a brand sends you a message to review their products what's getting a yes from Marquez Brownley

most

products are mediocre but if something is really good oh that's interesting if something is really really bad sometimes that's interesting too said Mr. B you're the video producer who decides what

tech

nology everyone in America buys half the time I watch your videos and I just leave them and go buy things. The responsibility that comes with being a

tech

YouTuber. Have you ever reviewed a product you get paid for? Is it always difficult to speak truth to power personally?

Damn, for the last 15 years it's me, so what's the product now? It's me, well. I guess I'm talking to you about the product if you were starting a YouTube channel today what would you do? Could you get into the science of that? This is how it's supposed to look. I don't think that's good advice. You are very good at what you do. Marquez. Thanks for coming. Thanks for inviting me to dive into the technology side. YouTube pulled up this tweet that I thought summed it up so perfectly from Super saf. I was wondering if you could read it and give your answer too, yeah bars, so Sapp says, say something positive about a product, how much do you get paid bro, say something? negative about a product how much did the competition pay you can't win with these guys and I just tweeted don't say anything why you hate them so much you can't win yes you can't win this is Evergreen content Honestly this is true for every industry and all products, so you can't worry about it.

I guess you just have to choose. I mean, I've said it in videos before making videos about products I'm interested in and products I generally find interesting to the audience that watches our videos, so if I don't make a video about something people assume that you must hate him, you must not like him anymore when in reality I am one person, we have a team, but I like him. We can't make every video about every thing, um and we're also very transparent about our relationships with sponsors, we don't take money from anyone privately or like to get paid secretly or whatever, it's just kind of a joke.

At this point, but yes, I'm sure I'm right, take me to your inbox, let's say it's a brand, not Google, Samsung, Apple, they send you a message to review their products, which is getting a yes by Márquez Brownley, um, it is the interesting product, totally subjective. They won't know the answer. How do you define interesting? it's something new it's something advanced it's something I think it's going to be popular I think it's going to fail a lot of products are just intermediate actually

most

of them The products are a bit intermediate, which means they don't get reviews, but if something is really good, that's interesting, if something is really bad, sometimes it's also interesting, so you have to find what's really interesting in a product. number one and then the rest is fine is there a place for it in the calendar? topics, but yeah, I want to make that video, it's number one and are you checking your inbox yourself or do you have your team's filter and then it comes to you?

Yeah, it's been me, I mean, Jonno also handles some stuff like bulk business emails because we get infinite emails now, how many a day, just to put a number on it, I get them, yeah, personally, damn, I hope I get there at 200 a day, yes, holy C, it's but me, but is that where I live? I live in my to-do list, my calendar, and my inbox, yeah, yeah, I'm curious about the responsibility that comes with being a tech YouTuber, sure, um ham. Minaj once said that you are the Kim Cardashian of technology and Mr. Beast also said that he thought. this quote was fascinating, he said um, that quote Mar decides what technology everyone in America buys half the time.

I watch your videos and I just go and buy the things you said, I mention that because a lot of influencers have absolutely nothing. influence at all, but I really think so and then people are making big purchasing decisions, so I wanted Rapid Fire very quickly. Okay, have you ever reviewed a product that you get paid to do? No, have you ever submitted one of your review videos? to the manufacturer before its release, never, ever, just once, what's the biggest sponsorship deal you've said no to because it may have been a conflict of interest? I don't know if I can name it, but it's the people who make things in the area that we review, so if you make smartphones and you want me to be sponsored for a smartphone, that will be a no, yes, yes, could you sponsor other videos on your channel? or there is a clear line that they cannot cross.

That's a clear line. I mean there are accessories, there are a lot of really good tangential products, so if you're a company that makes them, like associated products, it's like the perfect Goldilocks Zone and then there are things that are out of the ordinary, that's obviously green light. If we like the product, but yeah, if so, it's literally like I'm reviewing this microphone. Can this microphone company sponsor it? No, yes, of course, yes, did that affect your growth when you were starting out? I mean, for us it's been a huge part of our Growing Up channel, like we've been growing our team so you couldn't accept sponsorships on a lot of the videos that you made, it was very difficult when you first started or were able to make money in other ways. when you were in your early days, so luckily in the early days I didn't make any money and it didn't matter, which is pretty good, pretty good, because this was the key, I was concentrating so much on the videos that it was kind of an advantage. when in the third year or whatever the partner program was born, so the first few hundred videos were made without any ambition to make money or intention or optimization or anything in that area and then even in the early days, it was like when the top five channels on YouTube liked a Wendy's commercial on the same day and it was like you could do it like that, it was a big moment when the sponsors came to YouTube and so it was still very out of reach , it was like Wow, YouTubers are doing sponsored stuff, that's cool, you know, from high school when I started to college, it was like a side thing that I did that happened to make enough money to buy a lens and keep going. doing it, which was great, um and So for a long time we didn't even think about doing anything sponsored.

What does the pie chart of M K BHD look like in terms of revenue? What percentage would you say is AdSense for sponsorships versus other income today? Is much more. In a healthy balance, I'd say it's probably 60% sponsors, 30% AdSense, 10% other. I mean, we have commercial products like that, but if you go back about n years, it was 95% AdSense, wow, because I didn't need to do anything. otherwise, okay, yeah, what is the best AdSense check you have received in a month? I don't know the number, but I'm going to guess it's September or October which you've also heard of.

Of course, it could be in November because the thing about C, you know, cpms go up at certain times of the year and then in the more tech stage, the tech wave peaks at the same time the CPM wave is like a peak so I wanna guess it's probably a recent October probably like in the six figures like wow seven has there ever been a seven figure month in no no in AdSense no no yeah but for the business yeah wow yeah wow that's amazing, I mean, it's great to see it come full circle after you put the audience first for so many years, yeah, I think that's why we've never said this before.

The best thing that never happened to us was like a video that went viral, yeah, because a lot of what happens in those early years. days it's a video that blows up and your incentive is to chase it again, uh, because something happened like you got on TV or you got a big check or something, you got a sponsor and I had to do that again and your whole channel. it becomes trying to replicate the viral that almost never works, yeah, and for the first few years, in hundreds of videos, it was like nothing ever went viral, all we do is build a community like a snowball around this technological thing that we care about and If people care, they will come together.

I think it's actually easier to grow once you're big because now you have things like access to a lot of manufacturers. I guess I'll send you the nudges early, but I want you to back up if You were starting a YouTube channel today, with no resources, no connections, what would you do to stand out? Because if you rewind again, the blocked input is much lower and the ceilings are much lower, so you can stand out with just pure talent and a DSLR. Now it's really hard to stand out and I think everyone comes into this with the idea that I need to make my operation stand out, somehow spend 100 grand on the first video mentality.

I don't think that's good advice and, frankly, I don't have any other advice. So difficult question. I don't have a good answer. YouTube today feels more like a numbers game where you just do things and maybe one of them catches, uh, than ever before. It's incredible to see you cited in the Apple keynote and the Google keynote. First I wanted to ask how it feels to see your name next to big publications as a YouTuber. Really rewarding, really, a little surreal. I think it's also kind of a testament to how much work our team has put in.

I have memories. Like the first time I was invited to an Apple event and it was always like a dream to go see the product and make a video there and when I was there I realized I was the only YouTuber there. I thought, oh, that's interesting. Year was it? I want to find the real answer for you, but it was a summer event, probably a WWDC like seven years ago, something like that, uh, but then at the next Apple event I attended, there were three of us. and then at the next Apple event, there were nine of us and then slowly you start to see them realize that, oh yeah, this makes a lot of sense, we should set things up for video so these guys could point the cameras to things and that slowly becomes a and that's why I feel that, because of those doors that we opened early, it now makes a lot of sense for us to be right next to the other Publications doing the same thing, lighting and pointing a camera to evaluate the newest technology. when it comes out, that's what we all do well, what's the red carpet they roll out for those of us who will never be invited to one of those Apple events, what they do behind the scenes to make that experience good for the content, but Also, how do they treat the creators?

Apple is an interesting example because they do their own thing, they have a campus where they invite everyone, they have a theater just for the event, they have a huge budget like an auction and it's great that they give to people. snacks and clap when you walk in the door. Hello, welcome, come on down so they have everything set up, but I think in general, yes, they try, they try to make it easy for people to create content, write photos, videos about the products. Right now, which is what we're all trying to do, is it always difficult to speak truth to power?

Maybe now that you're big it's not, but I've talked to a lot of smaller tech traders who are sometimes worried. about reviews, like closing the company, they don't have access to the product, have you ever had a moment like that or do you have any advice for people trying to navigate a situation where if they say something sincere it could cut off access and therefore harm your business, yes, it is a difficult situation and what I have always said and what I hope is that if you tell the truth, that should never result in any punishment or interruption and if it does, you seem like a He looks a lot like the good guy in that situation and ideally your audience can see that you are telling the truth and that you are accepting the consequences that arise from telling the truth.

So I never had to like look the other way. and well, maybe I should lie or maybe I should hide the truth. I've always felt like that's a pretty central part of what we do, but you're right, a lot of smaller creators aren't necessarily in the position that I am. so I'm just saying tell the truth and that should ideally put you in the best spot, so dude I pulled out some stats about you that blew my mind, in just the last month you uploaded five videos to your main channel, two videos to your studio channel five episodes of your podcast four car reviews, all of which got 36 million views and somehow you still had time to make merchandise with Ridge fly to Japan to win a professional Ultimate Frisbee tournament and then somehow Way, also get your wisdom teeth removed, I mean, I haven't been to the dentist in about a year, so that especially impressed me, but my question is: How the hell do you manage your time and still post such high quality videos?

Well, when you put it that way, it seems crazy. Lots of practice, I would say, and I live my life throughMKBHD is something we already do and it's your custom color way or prints or patterns that kind of thing right and that's the reason it comes out first, it's the easiest to do, it's already things in the existing product line and the next one would be Signature Series, so like if we make a wallet and you know he wants a different type of wallet, let's say you're a type of wallet, you say, yeah, I like a different type, so it's in the category of wallet and it's just new, you know, it makes finishing designs.

The engineering that implies the third is what will take the longest to produce and we are working on that now, it could be a year to make a very high quality product, but it will be an expansion series which Ridge currently does not make Marquez say , hey, maybe we should get into water bottles, maybe we should get into whatever we release, you know, design engineering and millions of dollars to make sure we make the best version of that, and you know what you brought. up, you know, creating a company, without a doubt, at this table is the most successful guy here, if you want a company to make products, you can do it, it's just a different muscle than making YouTube videos and the same reason why We didn't build this. house is like well, it would cost me, I guess, $10 million in 10 years to make videos one tenth as good, it's a lot easier to just join forces, yeah, and we've had, we're sorry, we've had that conversation in the studio, which it's like if you gave a random person who has never made a YouTube video an amount of budget and an amount of time, how much money and time would you have to give them to turn them into a YouTuber and the answer was not defined, we cannot define how much money. time it would really take to turn anyone into a full-blooded Live Breathe It YouTuber, it's just not like that, you either have it or want it or you don't, so yeah, it's kind of a crazy question as much as I want to be a gamer. professional basketball.

I am 58 years old. I'm making tea. Yes, I think it's a good note for any brand that tries to develop it internally. You know, a lot of people try to do it. I have internal creators and it is much more difficult Márquez. I know you have a prototype. Can you show it to us? Yes, I would love to show it to you. This is fun. Yeah I was saying I've used soft walls for a while so yes this is an early prototype so I can't guarantee much about this but yeah subject to change yeah everyone this is kind of like that with products, The way I decide to make videos is very similar to the way I decide on products, which is something I have to be interested in but I also think other people are interested in people carry their wallet in different pockets, carry different amounts of things. in their wallets, they access different cards, different amounts at different times of the day, so I know. what my perfect wallet looks like, but it's not everyone's perfect wallet, so my experience in what I want, Sean's experience in what people clearly want, buy and use, combined with all the people who are helping do this, that's what's going to make this amazing, but this is the software, what was the conversation to do this because this is so radically different than the hard wallets that you put up and I've seen succeed, it was you who know us , we got a call and we were at ease, like it was okay. tell us exactly what you want and we will go out and make it as we will get the leathers, the materials, the factories, we will send you Pro to prototype until you get something that you like and that is worthy of being one of my exclusive series. products wow um what's the most underrated detail about that again it's like accessing cards so I have three cards that I use the most my personal card my business card and my ID so I know I'll always find friction in A wallet. that doesn't allow me to quickly access those three things, so that has to be number one and then there's long-term storage, my insurance card, find my card, whatever, the key to the studio door, those things are once a Day every now and then having that delineation between the two and then of course the materials and hey it's Mt Black that helps so there's a lot more but I feel like the fundamentals of a wallet we all have You have to be on the same page about that and then comes the fun part after that, if you go to any luxury brand website, like any accessory, branded wallets are a subcategory of a subcategory, so it really is the future of Ridge and the reason I think we can get to a billion dollars.

In revenue, not this year or next year, but probably next year we're just moving up subcategories, so from wallets to small items to handbags and finally it's like anything you can buy from a trainer, that's right. what we go. Offer and Ridge has been a great business and we've had a lot of success within the world's smallest category, so we're slowly moving into that market. Yes, what's your wish list? What is your main product that doesn't exist right now? doesn't fall apart doesn't mean you want to do Market oh man that's crazy because if I were asking a tech executive that question they would say well we don't talk about future products but they always have that canned answer. so here I go, I'm not going to reveal anything too crazy, yeah, but I like what we're saying, like the stuff about commuting, like we've done videos about commuting and by the way, people love it. see them, so we know what we're doing.

I like to wear every day what people who watch the videos about wearing every day like and now it's up to us to find and make the best possible versions of all those things. That's awesome, how do you think about the videos you'll make? get rid of products moving forward Seamless integrations, yeah right, like me. I'm going to talk about the things I use because I already do, so now this is funny. I did a GQ interview that was like showing us your everyday stuff. 10 Things You Could I Don't Live Without It and I didn't realize this until it aired, but half of those things were things I helped make.

Wow and they say: Wow Marquez, a flex like the MKBHD edition is what you have and I was. Damn, you're right, that's pretty sick, so ideally we'll be able to make and connect the things I use because it's the easiest, that's what shows up no matter what video I'm making, whatever else you're thinking about. In terms of the future, for example, if you're a smaller creator looking at this and aiming to get a deal like this, what advice would you give them if you're focused on reviewing things like me, specifically what you want? being next to or around what you're normally covering, yes, aside from that shoot for the stars, there are a lot of opportunities and doors opening and it's going to make a lot of sense, yes, this is where the industry is headed.

I guess I mean, you know we're not the first people to do this. I think Ryan TR and Joy R are a great example, but we've already seen pop icons in media move to YouTube and digital content and it doesn't work. to slow it down, there's a reason there are so few bankable stars in Ollywood it's because the internet eats everything up so I think this is more of what's going to happen and maybe it's an early example but I think there will be a long time. list of opportunities like yeah, do you think there will be less opportunities for Oscar Isaacs and, um, Pedro Pascals of the world, who you turned down to work with Marquez, to go to YouTubers, still open to working with those guys?

I don't feel bad for those guys. I'm sure they're doing well and I'm sure they love a lot of opportunities. It is truly the Next Generation. Yes, what have you learned from each other? I know you have monthly meetings like what did you learn from Sean about products as a YouTuber focusing on content and what did you learn from Arquez about content while focusing on products. His job is much more difficult than mine. Like I can show up and do whatever I want and you know the regiment, the schedule, like I'm not cut out for it, so I'm glad the world has people like that.

I was going to say more or less the same thing. but it's like every time we meet just the little details of like I know what I've seen on a product, but now that I know what it's called, like the oil filler on the wall, okay, now I can refer to it. for the right thing and I know the details that go into, oh, we can change the color of this with 5% saturation or we can change the materials here, it's just fun for me to delve into a lot of the materials science stuff. but I'm also not cut out for the other end of this equation, so it was a perfect puzzle piece, yes, yes, this makes sense on so many levels, thank you both for taking the time, it's amazing to see this and I can't wait. to see what else they release, thanks great, thanks for having us, of course, okay, that's it, thanks everyone, sick.