Most Influential Influencers/Content Creators Of 2026

Know a few of the names, but have only seen (and like) Kareem.

Thought I might have heard of one of them, but it turned out to be Tini Younger, not Tina Yothers.

Of these, I know Mark Fischbach best. His youtube account is Markiplier, where he reacts to scary video games and has a sonorous voice. He also self-funded a movie earlier this year; I haven't seen it, but my daughter has. He seems like a very cool guy and I'm happy to give my vote to him.

I'm familiar with Ms. Rachel, but I don't watch her. She is famous for being a children's educational content creator who has taken a stand on Gaza.

I've heard of Hasan Piker because sometimes I accidentally click on a politics thread, but I don't know what he means.

All the others are mysteries to me.

never heard of any of these people, i'm more plugged into makeup influencers

content is a great word - it's not entertainment, and it's not information

anyway Ms Rachel seems like a good person, i'm sure most of these are unbearable douchenozzles, easy vote

For a while I honestly thought Hasan Piker was Hasan Minhaj (of the Daily Show-like Netflix show) and that Druski was a Chicago drill rapper.

I've only heard of Mr Beast because I see his name on like beef jerky and Doritos and stuff but I don't know what he does

my text to the local sports radio station calling mr. beast "a creep" was read over the air

I first learned about Mr Beast because one of my daughter's friends wanted to go to a pop-up restaurant where they were serving Mr Beast Burgers, and so I have thought of him as Mr. Beast Burger ever since.

Ms Rachel seems nice so voted for her.

There is something pretty wholesome about a lot of the content IShowSpeed creates (or at least the bits I’ve seen) where he travels around the world and meets locals. If his China trip wasn’t sponsored by the government, it should have been. His funk carioca record is weirdly good, too.

"Brittany Broski" sounds like the name of a Drag Race contestant to me.

Because I am over 50, I enjoy the Subway Takes videos, so I'm probably gonna vote for Kareem Rahma.

These are all very important people in the world today.

I mean, the Subway Takes episode with Mamdani probably did as much for him as a Colbert appearance would.

strange that Andrew Callaghan is not included

I thought All Gas No Brakes was fun, but his more recent stuff is moving into the realm of actual journalism

voted ms rachel
(for favourite rather than who I think is most influential)

strange that Andrew Callaghan is not included

It's not very surprising given the SA allegations against him.

i've heard of these guys:

Kai Cenat
Hasan Piker
IShowSpeed

the little i saw of the latter was too close to modern day minstrelsy for comfort. idk if he's still like that.

This list is oddly split for me. I've heard of all of the last 6 and literally none of the first 19.

given the SA allegations against him

ah okay, this is news to me!

i've heard of only 2 of these and have never seen their Content

oh yeah I've also heard of Ms Rachel. didn't see her on there at first.

Over Christmas I saw some of Mr Beast’s Amazon show and I think he might actually be a demon in human form.

Have heard of:

-Dave Jorgenson (this is the guy who used to work for the Washington Post, yeah?)
-Kareem Rahma (didn't recognize the name at first but then remembered that he was the Subway Takes guy)
-Mark Fischbach (wouldn't have known that this was Markiplier without this thread, but I have heard of Markiplier)
-Ms Rachel (obv)
-Kai Cenat (don't really know what he does, but I know that he is a big deal)
-Hasan Piker (obv)

I'd probably vote for Pooja Tripathi (of "Brooklyn Coffee Shop" fame) if I were 35 years closer to the generation it's aimed at.

Ahahahaha all of them that I know of, I know from Tiktok.

Pooja Tripathi, Anania, Jen Hamilton, Drew Afualo, and Kareem...Hasan obviously at this point...I don't know Markiplier but I know a woman who I guess got known because of a joke involving him somehow? His name is like a punchline but I never bothered to find out why.

I didn't grasp at first that this list was from RS, I was going to say, how online ARE you?!?? But that makes sense.

Is Drew Afualo the most legitimately "famous" offline? Jen Hamilton is perhaps the most mainstream aligned, culture wise. She's a white Christian lady with a job in healthcare who to be fair is a really good communicator and seems like a lovely person, but that's true of a lot of people and they don't get online famous.

Boy, almost none of them. Piker of course, but not through direct exposure. I did watch the video he recorded about his experience re-entering the country, but that's all I've seen. I have no real opinion about him, although the howling by establishment/pro-Israel Democrats is pushing me toward viewing him more favorably than not.

I've seen some of the Subway Takes videos, which can be funny, but could not have told you his name. Only know of Alix Earle because Netflix keeps showing me ads for that new show. She seems insufferable.

my toddler will run away from home if i don’t vote for ms rachel

Oh wait, I did hear about Ms Rachel but only because some right-wing Christian weirdos are out there warning that she's satanic or something.

She's against murdering children half a world away, what a monster.

I think the right-wing Christian hate for Ms Rachel is mostly LGBTQ+ related, the Gaza stuff is separate

But either way boils down to "How dare she teach children not to hate people," which is the right-wing Christian complaint about lots of things.

Is Drew Afualo the most legitimately "famous" offline?

Do you mean famous for offline things, or famous to people who are not particularly online? Probably some overlap there, but I would be surprised in either case since I haven't heard of her before.

FWIW, Google search traffic for her name over the past year is quite a bit lower than that for Piker, Cenat, and Ms. Rachel:

https://trends.google.com/explore?q=%2Fg%2F11ss7nk_m4%2C%2Fg%2F11qnjs80dd%2C%2Fg%2F11khrm04lp%2C%2Fg%2F11j39gz5t6&date=today%201-y&geo=US

(oops that is U.S. only, but the worldwide graph is similar.)

"Brittany Broski" sounds like the name of a Drag Race contestant to me.

This is appropriate in that she and Trixie Mattel have been friends for years and years, done various appearances on each other's channels etc. And for that reason I suppose I'd pick her. I've heard of Ms. Rachel and Piker; everyone else, zero idea, just names.

ohhh brittany broski is the kombucha girl!

insert kombucha girl meme w/captions "brittany broski" "kombucha girl"

whoa I had no idea that she was anyone other than some rando who tried kombucha in 2019

wait I guess she *was* some rando at the time. so I had no idea that she parlayed that into an influencer career.

What a time to be alive

Grace Reiter plays the fiance of Tim Robinson's daughter in The Chair Company.

Voted for Pooja - Brooklyn Coffee Shop — I don’t know any of the others by name… though I have seen a few Subway Takes videos and Piker was quoted on a recent ILX politics thread.

Druski and Kai Cenat show up in tv ads. They seem pretty famous. Miss Rachel and Hasan Piker are well known for political reasons. The rest I don't know much about.

That initial list might as well be
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTrTL7BnBbDqpBMIKS3JWj3gfN_Mvh50dzXFMEYB6PC5A&s

xposts re Pooja Tripathi: oh, didn’t realise that was her from Brooklyn Coffee Shop. Some of the clips are pretty funny but the schtick does wear on you pretty quickly.

Have heard of but don’t know much about:
Piker
ishowspeed
markiplier

Really like Kareem even though most subwaytakes episodes are hit-or-miss, depending on the guest.

Tini Younger’s mac and cheese recipe is a favourite in this house, though I only really make it when hosting a party or something cause it’s way too heavy otherwise. Everyone I’ve served it to has loved it.

Voting Ms Rachel - as a parent, she’s saved my life countless times. I don’t allow my kid much screen time but a few mins of Ms Rachel never fails to calm her down when she’s having a toddler meltdown. Plus she’s a genuinely good teacher - my one year old learned the concept of “in and out”, how to brush her teeth, and how to pull up her pants all from watching Ms Rachel clips. I love that she doesn’t shy away from expressing her opinions on Gaza either.

Don’t know the rest. Surprising omission: Jack Coyne from Track Star

Apparently Mark "Markiplier" Fischbach is getting shit for not disclosing his investment in GoPro.

Oh no, jaymc, you're right, I don't know those other people but in terms of mainstream awareness it makes sense that Ms Rachel is very well known just because apparently her show is child enchantment and many people have children (allegedy). I thought maybe Drew Afualo was someone who was, idk, out and about in comedy circles or cultural commentating circles. I didn't realize she purely got famous FROM Tiktok, which is what it looks like from her wikipedia. I thought she was involved with reality tv or something, idk I don't really pay attention to a lot of things.

Oh I also like that big UK guy that goes around to fish & chip shops and eats enormous portions at his own little folding table

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXXuq4VGgBo

I voted never heard of any of them, though tbf I have heard the *names* of Ms rachel and Piker but I think only bcs of ILX? Maybe bsky.

The whole influencer/"content creator" thing makes me feel like a fucking boomer, frankly. I've never had or used tiktok or insta nor use the reels/shorts functions on YT.

I do watch youtubers! I love longer form ones that do interesting history, food or science content. I just loathe the loud/algorithm-focussed short form bollocks.

+ 1 to not knowing anyone except Ms Rachel (because of gaza, not her actual work) and vaguely recognizing Hassan Piker. I know Kareem Rahma is the subway takes guy, but learned that the day before the poll was posted.

oh wait i think lindsay ellis did a video about ms rachel, right? this is the thing, i only know them because people talk about the online drama surrounding them. i'm sure i've heard the name "dhar mann". i can't remember where. maybe it's a different dhar mann, though. i've also heard of markipiler but not mark fischbach!

i keep getting ms. rachel mixed up with the kevin ayers song "lady rachel". i'm pretty sure this is a me thing and not a widespread issue.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Of course this poll ends just as I learn who Hasan Piker is (hummina hummina)

It’s pretty weird that 21 ilxors haven’t heard of Piker. That’s some real dedication to keeping your head in the sand.

i recently had a dream about the double chunk chocolate chip cookie guy. he was working the Burger King drive thru and sold me a double chunk chocolate chip cookie. then he got real sad that I didn't give it to him.

I'm hoping to have a dream about Hasan Piker tonight.

It’s pretty weird that 21 ilxors haven’t heard of Piker.

I voted among the 21. I felt justified in that vote. Hearing Piker's name and being told he's "an influencer" isn't the same as knowing the anything real about him. I presume he's male. Other than that, it's me looking at an empty picture frame with a label under it that says "Hasan Piker".

I guess my brain processes the names of those talked about the way Hasan is in a different way, I know I've heard the name dozens of times but in such odd contexts I mistook him for three other people I'd heard about here and there. It's only now that I know what he looks like and have seen clips of his stream. I dunno, he seems to be fairly bright and does talk the same way a lot of young leftists do. Even the way he talks about Israel doesn't seem that controversial I think a lot of the country feels the same way.

He was an issue in the Mamdani vs. Cuomo race, which was pretty closely followed around here, and has since been a wedge issue for establishment Dems and the GOP. It’s not like you have to be into Twitch or something to have heard of him.

how do you explain the poll results then

i went back and checked the mamdani thread and the first mention of hasan is:

This is why Cuomo was harping on Mamdani not distancing himself from Hasan Piker. The trouble with that is that not all that many people know who Hasan Piker is.

― A floating crown, but an extremely small one (President Keyes)

It’s pretty weird that 21 ilxors haven’t heard of Piker. That’s some real dedication to keeping your head in the sand.

I’d say that apart from those freaks who closely follow US politics he has minimal reach outside the US.

lol what a gotcha that I said that before a year of the media being up his ass

there's not a monoculture anymore, not everyone follows the same media

I've been aware of / followed Hasan since 2021? maybe? so I'm well aware that if you know him it can seem like he's everywhere, especially since so much of his broadcast is about himself and he'll always highlight any media stories about him. But ILX is full of Gen Xers who don't have kids & they have no reason to know who this guy is. Even if they hear his name get dropped it's probably in one ear and out the other.

ok but if you Google "Hasan Piker" and click the news tab there are articles about him from the past 24 hours in the WSJ, Newsweek, NY Post, USA Today, Buzzfeed, Hindustan Times, Irish Times, etc.

He may even be more well known than the band Geese.

i barely heard about Geese tbh

ok but if you Google "Hasan Piker" and click the news tab there are articles about him from the past 24 hours in the WSJ, Newsweek, NY Post, USA Today, Buzzfeed, Hindustan Times, Irish Times, etc.

How much of this international coverage is him commenting on US politics though? And yes, I realize he is engaged with other things.

I imagine most casual news followers aren't reading every article that gets posted on wallstreetjournal.com; they're seeking out articles about specific topics or getting specific articles served to them

There is a lot of cope here. You guys like to not know things.

cope about what? I'm saying it's not unusual that people wouldn't know who Hasan is. as evidenced by the poll results.

I have no investment in whether Hasan is popular or not, I just think you're offtm about how media consumption and media bubbles work

I'm saying that the poll results are weird, since Hasan Piker is a pretty constant topic in the US media. Especially on a message board that focuses so much on politics. I understand non-Americans being out of loop, but this has broken US containment:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/01/hasan-piker-mike-rogers-media

The media analysis platform Ground News aggregated 242 separate stories mentioning Piker from across the political spectrum over the past three months – almost three stories a day.

Yeah, normal people live in media bubbles, but ilxors don't tend to be so in the dark.

It requires a kind of pride in ignorance. Yes, I understand it--I also do this with sports figures.

what can people take pride in ignorance about, if not content creators

I'm not surprised that non-American ILXors don't know who he is. I can't name any commentators on British politics.

Well, yeah. If they get famous then they become commentators on US politics.

It requires a kind of pride in ignorance.

I fail to see how answering the poll question honestly entails being 'proud of one's ignorance'. If you pressed me to name the Latin genus and species names of almost any living entity that has been so classified and named, I'd fail to name much more than a meager handful. Saying this doesn't mean I'm proud of my ignorance, nor does it mean I am ashamed of it. It simply identifies it correctly.

Why vote in the poll then except to proclaim that you don’t know who these people are? Polls are not mandatory.

Why make it a poll option, if it has no purpose?

Oh I wonder

I would suggest that the purpose would be to provide a way to measure those named as "most influential" against whether their influence has much reach. If their reach is barely noticeable among those polled it provides the same kind of information about the subject asked about as an opinion poll where 9% approved, 5% disapproved and 86% expressed no opinion.

As the person who started the poll, I fully expected "I have never heard of any of these people" to win. Hell, I'd only heard of about five of them.

MariahcareyIDontKnowHer.gif

Druski to host SNL next month:
https://puck.news/druski-to-host-snl-a-milestone-for-digital-creators/