5-Minute Crafts

5-Minute Crafts is a DIY-style YouTube channel owned by TheSoul Publishing, a company based in Limassol, Cyprus.[1][2][3] As of January 2021, it is the seventh most-subscribed channel on the platform.[4] The channel has drawn criticism for unusual and potentially dangerous life hacks and its reliance on clickbait.[2][5][6]

5-Minute Crafts
YouTube information
Channel
Created byTheSoul Publishing
Years active2016–present
Genre
Subscribers70.8 million
Total views19.4 billion
100,000 subscribers 2017
1,000,000 subscribers 2017
10,000,000 subscribers 2017
50,000,000 subscribers 2019
Updated: February 5, 2021

Video format

5-Minute Crafts' YouTube videos are compilations of videos previously posted on Instagram or Facebook.[7][8] 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.[9]

Tubefilter described the channel as a "kid-friendly purveyor of DIY videos."[1]

History

TheSoul Publishing was founded by Pavel Radaev and Marat Mukhametov, a Cyprus-based team with backgrounds in social media content creation, who launched AdMe.[2][10] In March 2017, the company founded the YouTube channel, Bright Side.[11][12] On November 15, 2016, 5-Minute Crafts was registered on YouTube by TheSoul Publishing.[13] The channel's first video, "5 essential DIY hacks that you need to know" was uploaded the following day.[14]

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.[15] In 2017 and onward, various sub-channels were also created by TheSoul Publishing.

In April 2018, Tubefilter covered a trend regarding springtime cleaning videos on YouTube, noting 5-Minute Crafts' participation.[16] 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.[2] During one week in December 2018, the channel received over 238 million video views.[1]

In May 2020, 5-Minute Crafts created their first English-language channel on Pinterest.[17]

In July 2020, 5-Minute Crafts collaborated with Mattel for a custom brand campaign which included multiple DIY videos focused on family-friendly crafts and at-home activities.[18]

As of January 2021, the channel has 70 million subscribers, ranking it as the seventh most-subscribed channel not operated by YouTube.[4]

Criticism

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.[2] 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".[5]

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.[6] Ann Reardon of How to Cook That described clickbait recipe channels including 5-Minute Crafts as the "fake news of the baking world". In particular, she criticized a 5-Minute Crafts video 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.[6]

See also

References
  1. Cohen, Joshua (December 12, 2018). "Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 12/9/2018". Tubefilter. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  2. Jennings, Rebecca (November 12, 2018). "YouTube is full of cringey, clickbait DIY channels. They're even weirder than you think". Vox. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  3. "Privacy Policy". Bright Side. TheSoul Publishing. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  4. "Top 100 YouTube Channels sorted by Subscribers". Social Blade. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  5. Anderson, Sage. "Bizarre DIY video makes an egg that's 'bigger than before' and the internet asks — why?". Mashable SEA. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  6. "The fake 'kitchen hacks' with billions of views". BBC News. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  7. Sarmmah, Surupasree (April 1, 2018). "'Life hack' videos gain in popularity among youth". Deccan Herald. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  8. 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.
  9. Horwitz, Jeff (October 9, 2019). "Why Life Hack Videos Seem Too Good to Be True. (They Are)". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  10. Агаджанов, Максим (July 1, 2015). "Создатели AdMe.ru запускают англоязычный проект". Хабр (in Russian).
  11. Kaplan, Lisa (December 18, 2019). "The Biggest Social Media Operation You've Never Heard of Is Run Out of Cyprus by Russians". Lawfare. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  12. Jennings, Rebecca (November 12, 2018). "Why YouTube is riddled with bizarre DIY videos". Vox. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  13. "5-Minute Crafts – YouTube about page". 5-Minute Crafts. YouTube. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  14. "5-Minute Crafts First Video Ever". Youtuber Magazine. April 22, 2018.
  15. Wile, Rob (June 29, 2017). "9 smart things to buy as an investment in your future". Mic. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  16. Klein, Jessica (April 11, 2018). ""Clean With Me" Videos Peak On YouTube Ahead Of Springtime". Tubefilter. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  17. "Building successful multi-channel social media strategies during COVID-19 -". June 11, 2020. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  18. "Barbie Shows Off Her COVID-19 Craft Projects". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
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