5-Minute Crafts
YouTube information
Channel
Created byTheSoul Publishing
Years active2016–present
Genres
Subscribers80.5 million[1]
Total views26.8 billion[1]
100,000 subscribers2017
1,000,000 subscribers2017
10,000,000 subscribers2017
50,000,000 subscribers2019
Last updated: 13 December 2023

5-Minute Crafts is a do it yourself (DIY)-style YouTube channel owned by TheSoul Publishing.[2][3][4] As of October 2023, it is the 14th most-subscribed channel on the platform.[5] The channel is also the 5th most-followed Facebook pages. It is based in Limassol, Cyprus.

Video format

5-Minute Crafts' YouTube videos are compilations of videos previously posted on Instagram or Facebook.[6][7] The channel's content consists largely of videos relating to crafts and life hacks, styled in how-to formats, and occasionally, science experiments. The channel's videos employ a style where the camera is focused on a table with objects while only a person's hands appear in the frame, making content with aid of these objects, usually food and DIY ingredients and tools.[8]

History

TheSoul Publishing was founded by Russia-based entrepreneurs Pavel Radaev and Marat Mukhametov, a team with backgrounds in social media content creation, who launched AdMe.[3][9] In March 2017, the company founded the YouTube channel, Bright Side.[10][11] On November 15, 2016, 5-Minute Crafts was registered on YouTube by TheSoul Publishing.[12] The channel's first video, "5 essential DIY hacks that you need to know" was uploaded the following day.[13]

In 2017, the channel's subscriber and video view counts started to grow rapidly. In an article published by Mic in June 2017, 5-Minute Crafts was noted to have accumulated over 4 million subscribers.[14]

In October 2017, 5-Minute Crafts started publishing content in global languages such as Arabic, Chinese, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Portuguese, and Russian.

In April 2018, Tubefilter covered a trend regarding springtime cleaning videos on YouTube, noting 5-Minute Crafts' participation.[15] By November, Vox wrote that 5-Minute Crafts was a "wildly successful" channel, citing its then over 10 billion video views and its ranking as the fifth most-subscribed channel on YouTube, having nearly 40 million subscribers at the time.[3] During one week in December 2018, the channel received over 238 million video views.[2]

In May 2020, 5-Minute Crafts created their first English-language channel on Pinterest.[16]

In July 2020, 5-Minute Crafts collaborated with Mattel for a custom brand campaign that included multiple DIY videos focused on family-friendly crafts and at-home activities.[17]

In November, 2021, the channel celebrated its 5th anniversary on YouTube, with more than 1.7 billion hours watched and 21 billion views.[18] That same month on November 18, 2021, Variety commented that the 5-Minute Crafts Family had the highest-performing YouTube Short to date with nearly 433 million views.[19] As of January, 2022, the channel has 75.4 million subscribers, ranking it as the eleventh most-subscribed channel not operated by YouTube.[5]

With a focus on DIY content, 5-Minute Crafts began to adapt its content for distribution on Pinterest. The activity began by establishing 5-Minute Crafts in English, Spanish and Portuguese. This collaboration with Pinterest was recognised by The Drum Awards for the Digital Industries 2021, winning the "Best use of Pinterest" award. [20]

Veracity

The channel has drawn criticism for its unusual and potentially dangerous life hacks and its reliance on clickbait.[3][21][22][23] Vox characterized 5-Minute Crafts as "bizarre", describing its content as "do-it-yourself-how-to's that no person could or should ever replicate", and criticizing the channel's heavy use of clickbait thumbnails.[3] Mashable described the channel's videos as "nonsensical" and possibly a form of trolling, singling out a video which claimed to demonstrate how soaking an egg in vinegar and then maple syrup will make it "bigger than before".[21]

BBC's Click criticized 5-Minute Crafts for its "fake kitchen hacks": when following the instructions of a video in which a fresh corncob produced popcorn when microwaved, the presenter found the cob was only warmed up.[22] Ann Reardon of How to Cook That described clickbait recipe channels including 5-Minute Crafts as the "fake news of the baking world", and fact-checked several of their videos on her channel. In particular, she criticized a clip in which a strawberry was soaked in bleach to produce a "white strawberry", saying it would be dangerous if a child were to replicate it and eat the result.[22] The segment has since been removed from the video.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "About 5-Minute Crafts". YouTube.
  2. ^ a b Cohen, Joshua (December 12, 2018). "Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 12/9/2018". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e Jennings, Rebecca (November 12, 2018). "YouTube is full of cringey, clickbait DIY channels. They're even weirder than you think". Vox. Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  4. ^ "Privacy Policy". Bright Side. TheSoul Publishing. Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Top 100 YouTube Channels sorted by Subscribers". Social Blade. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  6. ^ Sarmmah, Surupasree (April 1, 2018). "'Life hack' videos gain in popularity among youth". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  7. ^ Decaille, Nia (March 21, 2019). "These 'how to' videos on YouTube won't teach you how to be a better adult. But they're not supposed to". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  8. ^ Horwitz, Jeff (October 9, 2019). "Why Life Hack Videos Seem Too Good to Be True. (They Are)". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  9. ^ Агаджанов, Максим (July 1, 2015). "Создатели AdMe.ru запускают англоязычный проект". Хабр (in Russian). Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  10. ^ Kaplan, Lisa (December 18, 2019). "The Biggest Social Media Operation You've Never Heard of Is Run Out of Cyprus by Russians". Lawfare. Archived from the original on August 14, 2023. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  11. ^ Jennings, Rebecca (November 12, 2018). "Why YouTube is riddled with bizarre DIY videos". Vox. Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  12. ^ "5-Minute Crafts – YouTube about page". 5-Minute Crafts. YouTube. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  13. ^ "5-Minute Crafts First Video Ever". Youtuber Magazine. April 22, 2018. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  14. ^ Wile, Rob (June 29, 2017). "9 smart things to buy as an investment in your future". Mic. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  15. ^ Klein, Jessica (April 11, 2018). ""Clean With Me" Videos Peak On YouTube Ahead Of Springtime". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on October 6, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  16. ^ "Building successful multi-channel social media strategies during COVID-19 -". June 11, 2020. Archived from the original on December 15, 2020. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  17. ^ "Barbie Shows Off Her COVID-19 Craft Projects". www.mediapost.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  18. ^ "5th Anniversary for 5-Minute Crafts - YouTube phenomenon with over 333+ million views". www.pressebox.de (in German). Archived from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  19. ^ Donnelly, Matt (November 18, 2021). "Digital Studio TheSoul Publishing Dominating in Viewership for Newly Launched YouTube Shorts". Variety. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  20. ^ "The Soul Publishing on crafting a DIY Pinterest strategy to boost brand awareness". The Drum. Archived from the original on August 11, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  21. ^ a b Anderson, Sage. "Bizarre DIY video makes an egg that's 'bigger than before' and the internet asks — why?". Mashable SEA. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  22. ^ a b c "The fake 'kitchen hacks' with billions of views". BBC News. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  23. ^ McCluskey, Megan (September 4, 2019). "This '5-Minute Craft' YouTube Channel Is Captivating the Masses With Its Eccentric DIY Projects". Time. Archived from the original on July 3, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
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