Has Gen Z Lost Interest in The Sidemen?
Are the Kings of British YouTube falling off?
For years, a group of seven lads had our Sunday nights in a chokehold. We’d almost religiously refresh YouTube, waiting for their weekly video. But in 2024, it feels different. The Sidemen are no longer a staple of our week, fading from our social media.
But what happened and is everyone losing interest?
The Rise of The Sidemen
To really understand the situation, we have to take a trip down memory lane to the early 2010s. Josh Bradley (Zerkaa), Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji (KSI/JJ), Simon Minter (Miniminter), Tobi Brown (TBJZL) and Ethan Payne (Behzinga) made friends online following their breakthroughs on YouTube. Vikram Singh Barn (Vikkstar) joined the group later and on the 19th of October 2013, the ‘Ultimate Sidemen’ was officially created.
The following year, Harry Lewis (Wroetoshaw) was the last member to join and the group was complete. The name was later shortened to just ‘Sidemen’.
Individually they played different games, from Call of Duty to FIFA, but together they played Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and rapidly grew in popularity. To expand their empire JJ, Simon, Josh and Vik moved in together, to create the first Sidemen house. This unlocked a new world of content for the group to produce, as they could easily film videos together. Alongside this, The Sidemen began branching out, attending YouTube events, like Upload. They also hosted their own charity football match at Southampton’s St Mary’s stadium in 2016, created their own TV show and released a book. ‘Sidemen: The Book’ quickly became a number-one bestseller, ultimately leading to the creation of ‘BALDSKI’.
The Introduction of Sidemen Sundays
For years the group had made Sidemen videos together but on their own channels. This all changed, however, when in January 2018, ‘Sidemen Sundays’ were born. This was a weekly video published on the official Sidemen YouTube page, which had originally been created to stream their charity match.
After years of posting gaming or football content, The Sidemen branched out and targeted a broader demographic. They began producing videos which didn’t restrict them to a stereotypical teenage boy audience. They continued to make content around GTA, FIFA and classic crossbar challenges but started trying new ideas like gameshow videos or hide-and-seek style productions.
Sidemen Holiday Videos
This new strategy paid off, with Sidemen Sundays consistently getting over 10 million views on each video. As The Sidemen continued to grow, their budgets and potential ideas followed suit. They could now bring in a full camera and production crew. It was no longer just a group of lads filming quick skits or short videos in their kitchen.
As a result, the first £10,000 vs £100 holiday video was created.
This raised the bar tenfold, setting a new standard for Sidemen videos. Since then, they’ve heavily used this concept with further holidays, road trips and birthday party videos being created in this style.
Sidemen Dating Videos
Sidemen Tinder. A defining revelation for the British YouTube group. 42 million views later and this launched a new genre of videos. They’ve made four Tinder episodes, peaking at 83 million views for the third one.
This then led to the creation of Sidemen Blind Dating and the 20 vs 1 series. All were huge hits and massively boosted the awareness and popularity of the Sidemen.
More Sidemen And Among Us
Initially used to post compilations of main channel videos, the ‘More Sidemen’ page has become a huge success. The seven lads quickly saw a bigger potential than first thought, beginning to produce smaller budget videos on this channel. This gave them a platform to distribute their gaming videos, alongside more relaxed personal content.
These videos were an instant appeal, as the shorter style content was easier to watch while at school, college or work.
In 2020, a new game called Among Us rose to popularity. With the world in lockdown due to Covid 19, The Sidemen began to make videos playing the game. Four years later and this is arguably their most popular active series. Gaining around 5m views on each video, they can perform as well, if not better than some of the longer videos. While many have stopped watching the main channel, Among Us still generates a huge audience for More Sidemen.
In the last decade, The Sidemen have without a doubt become the biggest YouTube group in the United Kingdom, but is their influence fading?
The Fall of The Sidemen
With the group launching Side +, Sides, XIX Vodka, Best cereal and Inside in the past few years, you might think it’d be silly to question whether people have lost interest in them, but there is still definitely an argument.
The Saturation of Content
Consistently refreshing and improving videos is an incredibly difficult feat. For many years, this is something in which The Sidemen have flourished, always stepping up, and setting the bar higher. In 2024 however, their content is beginning to feel too familiar.
The £100,000 vs £100 holiday concept is being overused with each new video feeling like a small adaption of a previous idea. While this can be a good thing, it takes away from the novelty of the bigger travel videos, which blew us away the first few times. We’ve almost become desensitised to this content.
The Length of Videos
Split with satisfying fans but not boring them, the British group have gone with a long-form strategy with content. In their last 10 videos, they averaged 1hr and 52 minutes each. While the concepts and production values are incredibly high, such long videos increase the barrier to entry. The older fans just don’t have the time to watch a two-hour video, due to university or work commitments.
Aging Fans
Much of Gen Z grew up watching the Sidemen. From the FIFA videos in their childhood bedrooms to the large-scale productions we have now.
But a big part of Gen Z is beginning to age out of the target audience. We no longer have the time, or the interest to watch these two-hour marathons. Getting ready for work or university has become the priority on a Sunday, ahead of their videos now…
Has All of Gen Z Lost Interest?
Absolutely not.
Despite some of Gen Z leaving them behind, The Sidemen are still superpowers of the British YouTube scene, consistently circulating to millions on their videos. Their latest venture ‘Inside’ was a huge success and a big statement of intent from the seven friends. They’re continuing to expand their empire, entering new markets with products like ‘Best cereal,’ while still producing top-end content on their main channel.
Ultimately, parts of Gen Z have lost interest in The Sidemen, but like their content in the last 10 years, they’ll evolve and stay on top.
