Covering a wide range of interesting topics, its presenter, sole headliner, editor, writer and virtually only member is a bright, colorful and humorous British youngster in his mid-twenties, which lives in Northwestern England – Lancashire, more precisely –, known only as Arran. The only pieces of information we can have about him are the ones the host himself gives to us, in a Thoughty2 video about Thoughty2, called Surprising Facts about Thoughty2.
Responding to some questions fans had asked him in his Facebook page and Twitter account, Arran tells us he haven’t gone to university, and, prior to starting Thoughty2, he used to work in an advertising department of a retail company, but this wasn’t proving satisfying to him. Taking advantage of his lifelong taste for curiosity and knowledge, he started making some videos, initially having serious doubts about having more than ten people paying attention to them. One of the best moments of this particular video is when Arran responds to someone who had asked “What it is your day job”, and he answers that by saying that his job is Thoughty2.
Of course, with almost two million subscribers, you generate for yourself enough income to live very well on your YouTube channel, although you are wrong if you think this people become millionaires (well, in certain specific cases, but certainly not all of them). When you achieve such a status, YouTube can promote brands, companies and advertisements through the channel and you can generate a good deal of money from publicity, although this is not the only way to generate income from YouTube. Here in Brazil, which is my country, we have two amazingly successful examples of YouTube channels, popular in the whole nation, and, if you take into consideration the size of Brazil, – the fifth largest country in the world – that’s quite an accomplishment. One of them is called 5incominutos (5iveminutes), and at the present moment, having precisely 10.133.458 subscribers and 805.978.892 visualizations, it is one of the most successful YouTube channels of the country, being the vehicle for an artist an actress of southern Brazil, in her mid-twenties, called Kéfera Buchmann, that got her impressive and large fan-base from the humorous, funny and bizarre videos she had been doing for almost seven years. Another example is a channel called Felipe Neto, which is the name of its host, and, having 8.391.359 subscribers and 772.091.156 visualizations, presents a program mostly made by himself, called Não Faz Sentido (It Doesn’t Make Sense), well known for its bizarre critical and social commentary, as well as extremely abusive language. Since then, here in Brazil, some channels have been trying to proliferate – with different degrees of success – especially among teenage aspiring singers, like Mariana Nolasco (2.338.365 subscribers and 202.763.486 visualizations) and Sofia Oliveira (1.898.106 subscribers and 118.670.110 visualizations), although we have yet to see here a channel which presents to us the same degree of knowledge and interesting subjects such as Thoughty2.
With interesting videos, and a funny display at sharing facts, knowledge and curiosities, Thoughty2 is a YouTube channel to certainly keep an eye on. YouTube comments sometimes criticize him for a lot of inaccuracies, which I especially noticed in his 10 Greatest Warrior Cultures in History video. Let’s be reasonable, he’s not perfect, which human in this world are? And we have – first and foremost – to analyze his intentions, which are to deliver complex knowledge in an easily understandable way, which is sublime. And not everything he presents to us can be categorized as undeniable truths – a lot of things are more relative, grounded in personal interpretation, although a lot of the content he taught us are indeed well-researched, and accurately true. And, with a plus, he narrates these facts in a very funny and humorous manner. Also, as I usually say, it is way easier to criticize, than do it better.
In a certain way, I think he reminds me of myself a little, when I was young. With an uncommon desire for discovering absolutely everything he can think of, and having, in his own words, an “insatiable appetite for knowledge and learning”, he displays a very scientific mind and an endless, voracious curiosity, which I can certainly relate to, having shared these same tendencies for all my life, although his results are way more interesting than my own.
With his fan-base growing stronger every day, I wish Arran all the best, so he can make more of this amazing and incredible videos of his. Accepting suggestions from fans, friends, and anybody wishing to contribute with interesting content, for sure Thoughty2 is a groundbreaking one-man made YouTube channel, with interesting potential. Let’s all have our eyes on Thoughty2, to see what’s Arran will come up with next!
Wagner