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After seven long years…

2025-09-16 · letter vlog · John · 4:41 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: community lore, civic or action cta

John admits he is a 'proper, normal YouTuber' who still cares about subscribers, traces the channel from 9,000 subscribers to three million in 2017, argues that seven slow years without a four millionth subscriber kept the audience and made Nerdfighteria stronger, and, as the channel nears four million, asks viewers to like and subscribe for the first time in years.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — John promises the channel's most impressive YouTube feat and admits he still cares about views, titles and subscribers

  • ★★ John says he will tell Hank about the most impressive YouTube feat the channel has ever accomplished. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Vlogbrothers, YouTube
  • ★ John apologises for his husky voice: he has been sick. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John lists the community's real accomplishments: tens of millions of dollars raised for stronger health care systems, lower prices for TB diagnostics and treatments, and, playfully, the legacy of Pizza John. — 00:00:00 · Nerdfighteria, tuberculosis, Pizza John
  • ★★ After almost 19 years John still checks every video's view count, though he has tried to focus on meaningful metrics such as lives changed or TB test prices. — 00:00:29 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John no longer wants the broadest possible audience but still wants to attract people to Nerdfighteria: he thinks about titles and will use clickbait when something matters to him. — 00:00:58 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John says he is careful never to ask people to like and subscribe, since there are more interesting calls to action, but he does care how many subscribers they have. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John says each brother has made 1,250 Vlogbrothers videos, and Hank many more counting Hank's channel. — 00:00:58 · Vlogbrothers, hankschannel

00:01:27 — The channel's subscriber history from 9,000 to three million (2007-2017) and what the brothers did since

  • ★ John says they started making YouTube videos before the iPhone existed, when MrBeast was eight, five presidents ago. (playful) — 00:01:27 · YouTube
  • ★★★ John says the channel had about 9,000 subscribers after its first year and about 640,000 when Crash Course launched in early 2012 with The Fault in Our Stars, and only reached a million in March 2013. — 00:01:27 · Vlogbrothers, Crash Course, The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★★ John says growth then sped up: the two millionth subscriber came in mid-2014 as The Fault in Our Stars movie took off, the three millionth in May 2017. — 00:01:56 · Vlogbrothers, The Fault in Our Stars (film), The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★ John says that since 2017 he has published three books, more than in the first ten years of Vlogbrothers. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ John says Hank has since published two best-selling novels of his own, and both started podcasts and raised children. — 00:01:56 · Hank Green

00:02:26 — Seven years without a four millionth subscriber: slow growth kept the audience and made Nerdfighteria stronger; the channel is now close to four million

  • ★★★ John says that in the seven years since, the channel has not reached a four millionth subscriber. — 00:02:26 · Vlogbrothers

  • ★★★ John says this makes him happy, not sad: slow growth means the audience has stayed, many for over a decade, and a seat at the table in their lives is his profession's great privilege. — 00:02:26 · Vlogbrothers, Nerdfighteria

    “having a seat at the table in those people's lives is the great privilege of my profession”

  • ★★★ John argues that had the channel kept growing by a million subscribers a year as in 2013 and 2014, Nerdfighteria would paradoxically have been less interesting and less powerful. — 00:02:55 · Nerdfighteria

  • ★★★ John says that after seven years in the three millions the channel is very close to its four millionth subscriber, which astonishes him at their age. — 00:02:55 · Vlogbrothers

00:03:24 — Geriatric YouTubers: Hank in 2017 versus now, the next seven years, and YouTube still existing

  • ★★ Showing Hank as he looked at three million subscribers, John notes Hank then had no books, no kid, no cancer and no number one app in the App Store. (playful) — 00:03:24 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John wonders what the next seven years hold, hopes they are less dramatic, and wonders whether he will still be on YouTube at 55. (unsure) — 00:03:24 · YouTube
  • ★★ John says when he had the idea for the channel 19 and a half years ago he could not have imagined YouTube would still exist, let alone that they would still be on it finding new viewers. — 00:03:53 · YouTube

00:04:22 — John asks viewers to like, subscribe and say when they started watching, and thanks them

  • ★★★ Saying something he has not said in many years, John asks viewers to like and subscribe and comment when they started watching Vlogbrothers. — 00:04:22 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John thanks viewers, from those who came in 2007 to the coming four millionth subscriber, and hopes the channel stays worth their time. — 00:04:22 · Vlogbrothers

Humor (significant)

  • John says he no longer wants to reach the broadest possible audience. — 00:00:58

    “have you seen the broadest possible audience?”

  • John has been making videos for nearly half his life. — 00:01:27

    “as you can tell from looking at my face or listening to my voice, it has not been a short life.”

  • John dates the channel's start by the iPhone and by MrBeast's age. — 00:01:27

    “MrBeast was eight. That was five presidents ago.”

  • John marvels at reaching a milestone in their old age. — 00:03:24

    “I mean, Hank, we are geriatric YouTubers.”

  • After insisting he never asks for it, John announces he will say something he has not said in years. — 00:04:22

    “Please like and subscribe”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

People: MrBeast

Projects: Crash Course · hankschannel

Works: The Fault in Our Stars · The Fault in Our Stars (film)

Organizations: YouTube

Terms: Pizza John

Concepts: clickbait · tuberculosis

Products: App Store · iPhone

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