Some may say David Dobrik is youtube royalty, racking up millions of views per vlog and helping his friends create their brand and Youtube channels. Dobrik is a very charismatic creator that people cannot get enough of. While people are in awe of Dobrik himself, I don’t think people pay as much attention to the creativeness and talent that goes into the vlogs. There is a specific way Dorbrik has created his vlogs and while each of them has a different content, there are themes that carry through all of them.
Dobriks first started out as on Vine making videos lasting seven seconds. When Dobrik was first making vlogs on YouTube, the vlogs had more planned out “skits” similar to Vine, while today it is more candid with some lightly scripted bits, all of them still hilarious to this day. Dobrik’s content has held up because it has changed to keep up with the audience but his videos are like no one else on YouTube. His videos are fast-paced being 4 minutes and 20 seconds long, consisting of multiple bits and moments from his life, while other YouTubers videos are about 10 minutes. This leaves the audience on their toes. This was a clever choice because it is long enough to only get the best content in but short enough for most people’s attention span. Another component that makes his content different from others is the authenticity that is portrayed. He and everyone in the vlog are true friends. And they show the fun and vulnerable parts of themselves. This draws in the audience because you feel like you know them and you want to be friends with them.
Dobrik’s friends are in vlogs and each of them has embodied a character. Zane Hijazi is the “reckless partier”, Jason Nash is the “mid-life crisis guy” and Todd Smith is the “hot guy”. Even his brand deals with Chipotle and Seatgeek have become a character, which doesn’t make people skip over like in other videos and gets people talking about them. While there may be some truth to them, they are exaggerated to entertain the audience. For example, Jeff Wittek. Wittek went to jail long before he met Dobrik and the “vlog squad” (the name of everyone involved in Dobriks videos). When Wittek is in vlogs, he makes some comments or jokes related to him being a “criminal”. These characters help build David’s content. Since the friends/characters are in every vlog, it creates a familiarity component that helps the audience become more attached to the characters. The diverse characters help the audience find something to relate to or find amusing, which keeps everyone coming back for more.
Some of Dobrik’s videos are emotional rollercoasters. Dobrik gives away a lot of cars and money to very deserving people. He has given a car to almost every one of his friends. These vlogs start out with you laughing, then crying happy tears, then laughing again. The videos start with the usual funny shenanigans he gets into with his friends, then it shows Dobrik giving someone a car, which is an emotional moment for everyone. There is always an emotional song playing ( I can’t listen to “Show Me What I’m Looking For” without crying) and then Dobrik or someone will crack some jokes and everyone is laughing again. These videos make it fascinating to viewers because there are so many emotions going on and it all happens so fast. It makes people happy to see the reactions of someone they have been watching in many vlogs to get a car. The emotions that Dobrik elicits in his videos make his audience connect with his content.
Dobrik’s content acts similarly to a TV Sitcom. Showing characters and their dynamics, a friend group ( Like Friends and How I Met Your Mother), and a laugh track (You can hear David laugh after every joke) and romance. Romance is something that is always used in TV shows because the audience wants to see their fave characters get together. David Dobrik and Liza Koshy ( a popular YouTuber) dated for a couple of years. This was shown in Dobriks vlogs so the audience knew about their relationship and rooted for them to get together. Like in other sitcoms, they broke up but remained friends. The romance was also shown between Todd and Corinna, other vlog squad members, throughout multiple videos. And David teases that he and his long-time friend and assistant Natalie are dating, which everyone wants! David uses the most useful stuff from sitcoms that are known to draw viewers but puts his own twist in it and makes it something new that people haven’t seen on TV.
It’s no secret that David Dobrik’s videos are hilarious, random, and crazy. He has created this for himself, making him his own boss all while doing something he loves and doing it with authenticity, creativeness, and humor. I think Dobrik has talent, and I am can’t wait to see what he does in the future.