According to a new report released today by Forbes, the American YouTube personality and Hawaiian-born Mark “Markiplier” Fischback is currently the most influential gamer in the world. The YouTuber has managed to be ranked above a slew of other online gaming personalities, with the well-known Swedish gamer Pewdiepie taking the second slot on the outlet's list of top gaming influencers.

In order for Markiplier to have made the cut, Forbes crunched some data to determine how wide his reach is, with the outlet having partnered with the analytics firm Traacker to measure such information as audience size, current relevance, and the amount of engagement related to his field. His multi-million dollar earnings from YouTube and other avenues played a role in his selection as the most influential gamer in the world as well, with Forbes also having reviewed the sum of his endorsements and offline businesses, such as product sponsorships and book deals.

As reported by Forbes staff writer Clare O'Connor, the majority of Markiplier's annual earnings still comes from YouTube ads, but he has also generated revenue with brands he deems to be a good fit for his personality and tastes. For instance, the YouTuber celebrated his 8 millionth subscriber on the video sharing platform by riding in a helicopter over Las Vegas as part of a tandem campaign for the Bellagio resort.

When it comes to marketing tie-ins, Markiplier states that he only signs up for such ventures after considering his followers, saying, "I make sure it makes sense for my fan base." He then went on to express a dose of humility regarding his successes as a YouTube star by saying, "I get paid way more than I deserve and frankly I'd probably do it for free."

With gaming personalities like Markiplier continuing to make huge sums of money for his YouTube channel, it's obvious that the Let's Play phenomenon isn't going anywhere anytime soon. As an example of his popularity, Markiplier's Five Nights at Freddy's commentary video has garnered almost 60 million views to date, and he has over 7 billion views for all of his videos combined. Taking all of this into consideration, it's quite likely those numbers will grow exponentially, especially after being spotlit as the most influential gamer in the world.

Markiplier's gaming videos can be seen primarily on YouTube.

Source: Forbes