This interview was conducted via email on June 4, 2017, by Aidan Dunphy.
IBXToyCat is a YouTuber with over 1.3 Million Subscribers.
Q1: How and when did you discover YouTube?
- 2007, a lot of my friends loved the weird videos that were found back then, I personally started watching a lot of Guitar Hero and other gaming videos though.
Q2: Can you remember what the first YouTube video that you ever watch was?
- No comment.
Q3: Can you remember what the first video game that you ever played was?
- Micro Machines for the Playstation 1 is the first game I recall playing.
Q4: How many YouTube videos do you think you've watched in your lifetime?
- It has to be in the hundreds of thousands by now, that'd be an impressive stat to find!.
Q5: How many YouTube channels do you think you are subscribed to?
- Around 100-200 at any given moment, it goes up and down.
Q6: Who is the most subscribed YouTube channel that is subscribed to you?
- According to YouTube it's "Stampylonghead" with 8 million subscribers.
Q7: Who was the first YouTuber that you were a fan of?
- The first I recall being a fan of was ONLYUSEmeBLADE, back before all the controversy of course haha.
Q8: Who influence you to make YouTube videos?
- I don't recall a YouTuber, but I saw a lot of gameplay videos of Guitar Hero, and I really wanted to share my own accomplishments too.
Q9: Currently who is your favorite YouTuber or YouTubers?
- No comment.
Q10: What do you think about the new YouTube Advertiser-Friendly content guidelines?
- I think my channel doesn't suffer so much, but it's horrifying seeing the results on other YouTubers, if my second channel was my only channel it would have been big enough to force me to look for some other way to pay the bills. Awful that it had to happen, but I guess it's the only way to restore advertiser confidence.
Q11: How did you come up with your main YouTube channel name ibxtoycat and your 2nd YouTube channel name ibx2cat?
- I used to go by toycat online, as a really short 2 word handle. IBX was added when I joined a clan, and because toycat was taken on YouTube I decided to go with IBXToycat. The 2cat thing was a clever play on the second channel, I still amuse myself with it honestly, (I'm not supposed to say that).
Q12: Was ibxtoycat your YouTube channel name when you first created your main YouTube channel and was ibx2cat your YouTube channel name when you first created your 2nd YouTube channel?
- Yes.
Q13: Do you have a favorite and least favorite video that you have uploaded?
- No comment.
Q14: Can you remember what date you uploaded your first video on your main and 2nd YouTube channel?
- No comment.
Q15: What is your favorite part about having 2 YouTube channels and being a YouTuber?
- The ability to have an idea for a video, and spend my day pursuing it!.
Q16: What is your favorite video game?
- No comment.
Q17: What is your favorite video game to record?
- Minecraft is a good one because you get to show so much in one game.
Q18: Do you play video games in your free time that you don't record and upload if so what games?
- Yeah, very cutscene heavy games and rhythm games that can't have personality added, recently like Thumper or Breath of the Wild.
Q19: How many video games do you own?
- On Steam, somewhere close to 1,000. Physically, maybe 80 game cases are lying around here.
Q20: What do you use to record and edit your videos?
- Adobe Premiere, most people use vegas but I prefer Adobe's software, the skills transfer to other stuff is a bit better I find.
Q21: What made you want to upload mostly Minecraft videos on your main YouTube channel?
- I decided to play the console version of Minecraft when it first came out, and it really took off, and people really love to see it the most. A lot of YouTubers insist their subscribers watch whatever they put out, but I would rather make something subscribers enjoy.
Q22: How long does it take you to make a thumbnail for one of your videos?
- Thumbnails are the worst bit of YouTube for me, even though they decide so much of the success I consider it wasted time if I spend anymore than 120 seconds making a thumbnail. I take a screenshot from the video, and add text.
Q23: How many comments and messages that you receive do you reply to?
- No comment.
Q24: Do you watch your own videos after you upload them?
- Not all the time because I upload so many, but I like to rewatch old videos after a year has passed and I've forgotten some of the things I've said.
Q25: Does any of your family members watch your videos?
- No comment.
Q26: Do you make a living from YouTube, if not what is your occupation?
- I am lucky enough to do this full time currently.
Q27: What was your first job?
- No comment.
Q28: What is your dream job?
- YouTube! Sometimes I dream about running the second channel full time instead, but I think I love gaming too much to give it up entirely.
Q29: Have you lived in London, England for your whole life, if not where else have you lived?
- I've lived in the vague London region of the country my whole life, I really like it here honestly!.
Q30: What countries have you visited so far in your lifetime?
- Too many to list accurately, but I have been to 21/28 EU Countries, as well as Russia, Canada, Ukraine and the US.
Q31: If you were the CEO of YouTube right now is there anything that you would add or change to or about YouTube?
- No comment.
Q32: If you were the founder of YouTube would you have named it YouTube or something else?
- No comment.
Q33: Do you think YouTube should make a play button other then it's current 100,000 subscriber, 1 million subscriber, and 10 million subscriber play buttons?
- No comment.
Q34: Can you remember what date you received your 100,000 subscriber play button?
- No comment.
Q35: You currently have 763,600 subscribers on your main channel and 30,250 subscribers on your 2nd channel, did you ever think you would have that many subscribers?
- No comment.
Q36: Out of millions of YouTube channels what is it like to be the 5,279th most subscribed YouTube channel in the world?
- No comment.
Q37: You currently have uploaded 3,418 videos on your main channel and 432 videos on your 2nd channel, did you ever think you would have uploaded that many videos?
- No comment.
Q38: Currently your most viewed video has over 2.1 million views, did you ever think one of your videos would have that many views?
- No comment.
Q39: What is your lifetime subscriber and video view goal?
- 1,000,000 subscribers or a billion views, both would be so crazy to have as like a "lifetime achievement".
Q40: What was your lifetime subscriber goal when you first started uploading YouTube videos?
- No comment.
Q41: How long do you think YouTube will last?
- Everyone believes it will end soon, but I could see YouTube lasting decades at this point.
Q42: How long do you think you will be uploading YouTube videos?
- No comment.
Q43: Are you planning on going to any YouTube/Gaming conventions?
- No comment.
Q44: Have you ever been to a YouTube/Gaming convention before?
- No comment.
Q45: What advice would you give to someone who is trying to make videos on YouTube?
- Get your quality right, and try and find a niche for yourself. People don't search for an objectively worse carbon copy of a big YouTuber, they'll try and find something unique they haven't seen before.
Q46: What is the future for you and your channel?
- I think the general transition YouTubers make over time is to streaming services, I'm not sure if I ever will but it seems like the trend honestly.
Q47: Have you ever done an interview like this before?
- I haven't, it was an interesting experience to try though!.