KSI – Longevity Personified
In terms of success levels on YouTube, you could quite easily say Olajide Olatunji (otherwise known as JJ or KSI) has been one of, if not, the most successful of them all, if you consider how many spheres that he has been successful in. If you would have told his few subscribers on YouTube when they were watching him play FIFA every week that he would be headlining a boxing event 13 years later, you would have been laughed out of the room.
Like most YouTube entertainers of his time, he started gaming, being himself, as he was doing it for the fun as he says, as no one knew the true capability of making money from the platform. He made his name from popular games such as Fifa and Call of Duty. He amassed a large following, gaining one million subscribers in just three years, unfathomed then. His marketing was mainly from word of mouth, as people (usually kids and teenagers) would discuss within their friendship groups about these topics, as social media was not as prevalent at the time. Also, the other way for people to grow online at that time was to show up on the home page of YouTube / recommended page if you garner enough views for the algorithm to deem you worthy of such. His main YouTube channel is now used for his music videos and has 24 million subscribers and his second channel ‘JJ Olatunji’ is now used for his main content that he posts on a couple of times a week, which is sitting at 15.9 million subscribers. Meaning that he now has three diamond YouTube plaques for hitting over 10 million subscribers on three different channels, which is soon likely to be four as ‘MoreSidemen’ which he features is close to hitting the big 10 million.
The Watford-born man’s first business endeavour outside of YouTube was the creation of his clothing brand, Beast clothing. Not that it was super successful, but it was still profitable and was one of the pioneering moments in YouTubers elevating their success into other spheres, rather than just being purely entertainers, there was money to be made elsewhere.
After this, KSI started to make his way into mainstream media. His name and the following were getting attention from more typical spheres of media. This led to him making multiple appearances on the daytime TV show This Morning, where he struck up quite a relationship with the polarising character Piers Morgan. He has also made a film called ‘Laid in America’ with South African YouTuber Caspar Lee, not that it was Oscar-worthy, however, it helped increase his fame in terms of becoming a household name in the UK.
If you have read our previous blog on the Sidemen, then you will be more than clued up on their multiple channels of success. They are a group of 7 YouTube entertainers (including KSI and his friends) with millions of subscribers and 16.3 million on their main channel where they upload a new video reminiscent of a TV show each week due to its high production quality, coined ‘Sidemen Sunday’. They have three other channels where they create simple content that smashes the YouTube algorithm and gets more views and money, in turn, these channels are ‘MoreSidemen’ which offers gaming content and older YouTube content like their old style, ‘SidemenReacts’ which are simple 10-minute reaction videos that are hugely popular on the platform, plus ‘SidemenShorts’ which are small bite-sized clips posted onto YouTube Shorts like those on TikTok and Instagram reels.
It is not just KSI individually that delves into other business spheres, the Sidemen have done this plenty of times too. They too created their clothing brand, ‘Sidemen Clothing’ which has also been successful, more so than Beast clothing. They have also run events such as charity football matches at Southampton and Charlton Athletic’s football grounds, for the charity Mind (which supports mental health for younger people) where they have sold out a large portion of stadiums that are and have been in the Premier League at some point, which shows the true reach these entertainers and influencers have, and they have another event scheduled for later on this year.
They have also delved into food and drink businesses. They have created their alcoholic beverage brand, XIX Vodka, which has been placed in many pubs and nightclubs around the world. Eat Sides is their own takeaway business, delivering in many cities around the UK, and has its physical store in Wembley Boxpark, London. They use their platforms, especially with the reach that KSI has, to elevate these brands and be competitors to the market leaders in their respective industries.
They also have a paid monthly subscription service for exclusive behind-the-scenes content and their own podcast ‘SideCast’ called SidePlus. This is a smart move from the group, as they are not necessarily gatekeeping their content per se, but they are offering exclusives with a guaranteed revenue stream every month at no extra cost to themselves. It is helpful for them as they will be gaining, even more, brand loyalty if they ever wanted to move their platform over to a PPV system.
KSI’s rise in music has been something to behold over the last few years. His initial foray into the world of music was not hugely popular, with his features on ‘No Sleep’ and his song Lamborghini featuring P Money, were certainly not songs that you thought meant that he was destined for musical success. However, fast forward to 2022 and KSI’s popularity in music is hardly unsurprising due to how many realms he has been successful in. He has since played festivals such as Parklife and been on the main stages of Leeds and Reading festivals. He has had multiple songs become platinum such as Holiday, performed at the Brit awards and been nominated for awards, had a number 1 album plus many top 10 songs in the charts and has had an impressive level of features on his songs. From artists such as Rick Ross, Lil Baby, Lil Wayne, Offset and many more huge names, he is certainly working with top-grade musicians. He has had artists such as Headie One, SX, Rick Ross, Lil Baby, and artists from his record label ‘The Online Takeover’, who have performed in the ring when he has done his ring walk for his boxing fights.
Speaking of his venture into boxing, that has also been majorly successful. This initially started as he defeated fellow YouTuber Joe Weller in 2018 at the Copperbox arena in London in an amateur bout, then drew his next fight and second and final amateur fight against American YouTuber Logan Paul at a sold-out Manchester Arena. The levels were certainly increased in November 2019, as he transitioned to a professional boxing match, defeating Logan Paul in their rematch by split decision at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles. He worked with legendary boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, was featured on Sky Sports Box Office, and was used to promote the new boxing streaming platform DAZN. The levels increasing were so key as fighters such as Devin Haney and Billy Joe Saunders were both on the undercard in an attempt to gain a new type of fan into their following and start to promote their brand instead of just with pure boxing ability, as they saw the amounts of money that can be made.
After three years out of the ring, KSI returned just a week ago in August 2022. He was scheduled to fight YouTuber Alex Wassabi who had defeated his brother some months prior, but after he pulled out, his boxing event ran the risk of being cancelled. But thankfully, KSI and his team had an opponent primed and ready as a backup in the case that this happened. When it was announced that this was UK rapper ‘Swarmz’, many eyebrows were raised as he had never boxed before, and many fans were disappointed. His team then saw this and he responded accordingly. He later announced on his YouTube channel and social platforms that he was going to fight twice in one night, with the event strapline being ‘Two Fights. One Night.’ And his second opponent was a professional boxer, Luis Alcaraz Pineda from Mexico, with a professional record of 2-5, this was after his first boxer opponent was replaced after being found to have ties with Neo-Nazi groups. The event ran successfully as KSI won both fights by knockout in an impressive display on his part, however, the ability of his opponents has since been questioned. After his second win, he proceeded to call out several individuals including Slim, Andrew Tate, Austin McBroom, AnEsonGib and Tommy Fury – with his eyes firmly set on Jake Paul in the future.
He has since made a point that his nemesis in boxing and general life - fellow entertainer Jake Paul has still not faced a professional boxer yet and that the super fight at Wembley Stadium in 2023 is still there to be made, after being verbally agreed on Twitter.
The entrepreneur inside KSI was clearly shown as there was an avenue that had not been explored yet, as he has now created his own boxing promotion company called Misfits Boxing, which has partnered with DAZN to create a series of events promoting YouTuber and Influencer boxing. KSI is running this company yet does not need to fight on every card – as the next event has already been scheduled for October 2022, with Hasim Rahman Jr vs Vitor Belfort headlining the event taking place in Sheffield, UK. KSI has yet again aimed at other YouTube boxing events where not everyone was paid, as he mentioned several times in the build-up and press conference that everyone will be guaranteed to be paid. He has also mentioned how Jake Paul’s organisation is always about the main man, as nobody can remember any of the fights from the undercard, whereas his boxing events will have extremely entertaining undercards with influencers and prize fighters, and he will not just be thinking about number one. Plus having YouTube entertainers mixed with celebrities involved in the media side of the event.
KSI also came out to his second boxing fight with a pair of Beats by Dre headphones, most likely due to a sponsorship deal, and Adidas clothing throughout, thanks to his sponsorship deal with the sporting brand.
His latest entrepreneurial endeavour has been with his old foe, now business partner Logan Paul. They have teamed together to form the company Prime Hydration, which is a beverage drink to overtake market leaders such as Lucozade and Gatorade in the UK and US respectively. The most impressive part about this endeavour is not only the fact that the product is near impossible to source thanks to resellers and its overwhelming popularity but its recent partnership deal with Arsenal Football Club. It is now the official hydration sponsor of the club, and the players will be drinking it and the fans in the stadium too. It is bewildering to see the progress that has been made in the development and growth of the brand since it was formed in January 2022. More details on Prime are detailed in one of our earlier blogs.
So, this begs the question, which entrepreneurial avenue will KSI conquer next, your guess is as good as mine…
