On the Podcast: Logan Paul and KSI did it

FYI, Tubefilter has a podcast.

It’s hosted by our very own Joshua Cohen (that’s me) and Lauren Schnipper. Subscribe to Creator Upload on Apple Podcasts. We’re everywhere else, too. Just go to CreatorUpload.com.

I recently hung out with a lot of kids at a family wedding in Austin. Specifically, there was a 6-year-old boy, an 8-year-old boy, a 10-year-old girl, and an 11-year-old boy. We went to McKinney Falls, tried to see a couple million Mexican free-tailed bats, and made more than one trip to whatever big box store was nearby in an attempt to get some more PRIME.

Prime is the sports drink promoted and co-owned by Logan Paul and KSI, first released in January 2022. Paul says its retail sales for that year topped $250 million. Reporter Darren Rovell says it did something like $51.7 million in sales in March of 2023. (That put it at #6 in the sports drink category. For some perspective, Gatorade was at #1 with $263.5 million and Powerade was at #5 with $53.8 million.)

On the second trip to a nearby Target to get a re-up, I asked the four kids with me who they liked more – Logan Paul or KSI? Here are their responses:

💬 “Preston’s my favorite.” – 5-year-old

💬 “I’m watching a lot of Ssundee.” – 7-year-old

💬 “Who?” – 10-year old.

💬 “Kay ess why?” – 11-year-old.

Logan Paul has more than 25 million Instagram followers, 23 million YouTube subscribers (though he’s mainly focused on his Impaulsive podcast channel, which has 4.4 million subs and does 8+ million views a month), and 17.5 million followers on TikTok. KSI’s got 12.8 million on Insta, 16 million subs on YouTube (where he gets 30+ million views a month), and 11.4 million on TikTok.

These kids had no idea who they are.

There’s this platonic ideal of creator-brand creation. It envisions a product that – with the perfect amount of promotion and market fit – it can reach a terminal velocity and escape the confining influencer-sphere of whatever creator started it. It can then ascend into the general marketplace to be bought and consumed by all.

It almost never happens. Maybe Jessica Alba’s Honest Company? Though that’s no longer a raging success story. Newman’s Own? Do people who don’t know Rihanna buy Fenty? Or maybe that doesn’t count because Rihanna is kinda ubiquitous? Anyway, yeah. It almost never happens. Until it does.

@loganpaul User generated content is KING @drinkprime #fyp #foryou #greenscreen #greenscreenvideo ♬ She Share Story (for Vlog) – 山口夕依

It’s a combo of the branding (the bright, solid-color packaging is reminiscent of some of the most popular kids’ videos on YouTube), the marketing from a couple of its creators (Paul posts regular savvy breakdowns on TikTok), and the sponsorship deals (Prime is now the official sports drink of the LA Dodgers, UFC, and Arsenal FC, and just signed a six-figure deal with Base Sports Group to get the drink in some youth sports venues and tournaments) that have all contributed to Prime’s trajectory.

Now it’s a status symbol for kids who don’t even know who the founders are. Like the title of this article says, Logan Paul and KSI did it. 

My co-host Lauren Schnipper and I (joined by Viral Nation CEO Joe Gagliese) talk all this and more in an installment of Creator Upload. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or whenever you listen. You’re gonna dig it.