Mark 'Markiplier' Fischback is the top gaming influencer in the world, according to a new report released by Forbes.
The Hawaiian-born YouTuber has racked up more than 7 billion views and came in first place ahead of the likes of SSSniperWolf, Mari Takahashi and VanossGaming.
Pewdiepie - who topped Forbes' YouTube earners list in 2016 - is in second place, after he was dumped earlier this year by Google and Disney for releasing anti-Semitic content that included Nazi propaganda.
Markiplier, 27, set up his YouTube account in 2012 when he says he was recovering from a break-up and being fired from his job. He gained popularity by providing charismatic commentary on gaming videos.
He has used his success to donate a fortune to charity and isn't letting the Forbes title go to his head, saying he "abhors" the term 'influencer' and simply makes "stupid videos".
To create the list, Forbes teamed up with analytics firm Traackr to measure the audience size, resonance and engagement of each influencer.
The company also had help from social insight platform Captiv8 to weight each candidate's potential for earnings per post, and reviewed their endorsements and other business generated offline, such as product lines and book deals.
The Forbes top 10 gaming influencers of 2017 have a total reach of 228 million and are:
- Markiplier
- PewDiePie
- VanossGaming
- Sonja Reid
- SSSniperWolf
- Jacksepticeye
- DanTDM
- TheSyndicateProject
- SkyDoesMinecraft
- Mari Takahashi
Newshub.
