Eric Decker, known online as Airrack (a sensational spelling of his name Eric), is an American YouTube vlogger known for his challenge and prank content, and for gaining a million subscribers in a year.[4] He is also co-founder of Creator Now, an educational program for online content creation.
Airrack | |||||||||||||
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Personal information | |||||||||||||
Born | Eric Decker January 12, 1997 | ||||||||||||
Occupation | |||||||||||||
YouTube information | |||||||||||||
Channel | |||||||||||||
Created by | Eric Decker | ||||||||||||
Years active | 2019–present | ||||||||||||
Genres | |||||||||||||
Subscribers | 15.4 million[1] | ||||||||||||
Total views | 3.18 billion[1] | ||||||||||||
Associated acts | |||||||||||||
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Last updated: September 7, 2024 |
Early life
editAccording to Decker, he first discovered YouTube when he was in fifth grade and was inspired to film a music video for the Flo Rida song "Low". He later went to college but dropped out to start a wedding video production company. He worked there for four years before becoming a full-time YouTuber.[5]
YouTube career
edit2019–2020
editDecker launched his YouTube channel in July 2019.[6] He became known for videos gate crashing events, including Tomorrowland music festival, the VIP section of a Travis Scott concert, and an attempt to crash Justin Bieber's wedding in September 2019.[7] Creating vlogs, pranks and challenge videos, he gained 880,000 subscribers by December 2020.[6] Aiming to reach a million subscribers by the end of the year,[8] he partnered with creator startup Stir for a campaign for subscribers in which he stranded himself on a deserted island.[6] Stir set up a website called Save Airrack which provided a referral system for fans to refer new subscribers to his channel for rewards such as thank you letters, the opportunity to feature in collaboration videos, and the ability to choose a design for Decker to have as a tattoo.[6] He successfully reached a million subscribers on December 27 after having gained 250,000 subscribers within two weeks.[8]
2021–present
editDecker continued to create prank and social experiment videos into 2021, including a May video in which he hired over 50 bodyguards to convince people that he was a celebrity.[9] In November 2021, Decker hosted a MrBeast-inspired ping pong tournament called XTreme Pong, which featured influencer competitors, a $120,000 prize and crypto elements including NFTs.[10] That December he participated in the third installment of MrBeast's YouTube Originals show Creator Games for a prize of $1 million.[11] Zach King won the competition but later donated $55,000 of the prize money to a charity of Decker's choice, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, after Decker agreed to eat hot wings with a heat of 3 million Scoville units.[12]
In January 2022, KTLA 5 reported on an unknown man scaling a building in downtown Los Angeles dressed as Spider-Man.[13][14] Decker claimed that he had climbed the building in an attempt to gain the attention of Marvel so they would cast him as the character in their next Spider-Man film.[13][15] He told Insider that the stunt was "dead serious" and that he was "here to get a part — any part — in a Marvel movie and I will not stop until the mission is accomplished".[13] In September 2022, Decker was a keynote speaker at the annual VidSummit conference where he spoke about the creator economy.[16] That same November, he was invited to join FaZe Clan by MrBeast.[17] He hosted the 12th Streamy Awards on December 4, 2022, which was livestreamed exclusively to his YouTube channel.[18] Decker reached 10 million subscribers in 2022, hitting the milestone in under three years.[19]
In January 2023, Pizza Hut collaborated with Decker to create the world's largest pizza, breaking the Guinness World Record with a 13,990-square-foot pizza.[20][21][22] The pizza was used in Pizza Hut's Super Bowl commercial for the return of its "Big New Yorker".[23][24] He also broke the Guinness World Record for most fast food restaurants visited in 24 hours by visiting 100 pizzerias in New York City later in the year.[25] Decker's gate crashing videos continued into 2023 with a May video in which he bypassed security at the Crypto.com Arena by impersonating Austin Reaves.[26] In September 2023, Decker signed with United Talent Agency.[27]
Creator Now
editIndustry | Creator economy |
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Founded | May 2021 |
Founder | Eric Decker, Zack Honarvar, Kate Ward |
Website | creatornow |
In May 2021, Decker co-founded Creator Now, an educational program for online content creation, with One Day Entertainment managers Zack Honarvar and Kate Ward.[4][28][5] It raised $3 million of funding from investors including Upfront Ventures, Casey Neistat, Justin Kan, and Jack Conte.[4][28] The company was acquired by creator analytics platform VidIQ in January 2024.[29][30]
Awards and nominations
editYear | Ceremony | Category | Result | Ref. |
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2021 | 11th Streamy Awards | First Person | Nominated | [31] |
2022 | 12th Streamy Awards | Creator of the Year | Nominated | [19] |
First Person | Won | [32] | ||
Editing | Nominated | [19] |
References
edit- ^ a b "About Airrack". YouTube.
- ^ Hearing, Alice (February 8, 2021). "Youtuber Airrack reveals how he went from 0 to 1m subscribers in a year". Dexerto. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ Decker, Eric (November 6, 2022). "I Hit 10,000,000 Subscribers". YouTube. Archived from the original on January 15, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ a b c Weiss, Geoff (January 31, 2022). "Airrack Raises $3 Million For YouTuber Film School". Tubefilter. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ a b Weiss, Geoff (June 17, 2021). "Airrack Launched An Online Course For Aspiring YouTubers After Nabbing 1 Million Subscribers In A Year". Tubefilter. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ a b c d Hale, James (December 22, 2020). "Latest Drop From Creator-Focused Startup 'Stir' Will Help Nascent Vlogger Airrack Reach 1 Million Subs". Tubefilter. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ Oyer, Kalyn (October 9, 2019). "This Atlanta YouTuber crashed Justin Bieber's SC wedding. Here's what happened". The Post and Courier. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ a b Phan, Trung T. (January 19, 2021). "Airrack's race to 1m subscribers used all the tools of the new creator economy". The Hustle. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ "YouTuber Hired 50 Bodyguards at Rs 34 Lakh in 'Fake Celebrity' Challenge and it Worked Like a Charm". CNN-News18. May 27, 2021. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ Weiss, Geoff (November 16, 2021). "Airrack Hosts Star-Studded Ping Pong Tournament, Auctions Creators' Paddles As NFTs". Tubefilter. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ Weiss, Geoff (December 14, 2021). "MrBeast's Third 'Creator Games' To Host Bella Poarch, Logan Paul, With $1 Million Prize". Tubefilter. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
- ^ Catlin, Heather (April 29, 2022). "Atlanta Community Food Bank gets $55K, thanks to YouTube competition". WSB-TV. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
- ^ a b c Cheong, Charissa (February 9, 2022). "A YouTube prankster appeared to film himself scaling an LA building in a Spider-Man outfit to convince Marvel to give him a role in a movie". Insider. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ Kiszla, Cameron; Leyvas, Gil (January 20, 2022). "Person dressed as Spider-Man climbs downtown L.A. building". KTLA 5. With reporting by Matt Phillips. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ Kiszla, Cameron (February 6, 2022). "Downtown L.A. Spider-Man's identity revealed? YouTuber takes credit for climbing building". KTLA 5. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ Gutelle, Sam (September 6, 2022). "MrBeast, Dhar Mann, Wengie among keynote speakers at this year's VidSummit conference". Tubefilter. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ Tsiaoussidis, Alex (November 10, 2022). "FaZe Clan let MrBeast pick a new member on their behalf, and he chose a YouTube star". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
- ^ Grein, Paul (December 5, 2022). "Mark Rober, MrBeast Win Big at 2022 YouTube Streamy Awards (Full Winners List)". Billboard. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
- ^ a b c Grein, Paul (October 27, 2022). "Post Malone, Hailey Bieber & More Among 2022 YouTube Streamy Awards Nominees". Billboard. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
- ^ Marcus, Lillit (January 21, 2023). "New record set for world's biggest pizza". CNN (Travel). Retrieved January 22, 2023.
- ^ Fine, Camille (January 24, 2023). "World's largest pizza record broken in an epic stunt for NY style return to Pizza Hut's menu". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- ^ "New record set for world's biggest pizza". CBS Miami. February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- ^ Gutelle, Sam (February 13, 2023). "KSI and Logan Paul aired their Super Bowl commercial (and MrBeast was in an ad too)". Tubefilter. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
- ^ Moore, Cortney (January 20, 2023). "Pizza Hut and YouTube star Airrack make world's largest pizza in California". Fox News. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
- ^ Atwal, Sanj (February 9, 2024). "How many pizza world records can YouTuber Airrack break?". Guinness World Records. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
- ^ Williams, Madison (May 10, 2023). "Look: Austin Reaves Impersonator Has No Trouble Breaching Security at Lakers' Arena". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
- ^ Vlessing, Etan (September 28, 2023). "Eric "Airrack" Decker Signs With UTA (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
- ^ a b Stokel-Walker, Chris (January 31, 2022). "The pitch deck that a YouTube 'film school' startup used to raise $3 million from investors like Casey Neistat". Business Insider. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ Yurieff, Kaya (January 23, 2024). "Startup Co-Founded by YouTuber Airrack Sells to VidIQ". The Information. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
- ^ Gutelle, Sam (January 24, 2024). "Airrack's YouTuber film school sells to VidIQ". Tubefilter. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
- ^ Spangler, Todd (October 20, 2021). "YouTube Streamy Awards 2021 Nominations Announced, MrBeast Leads With Seven Nods". Variety. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ Chan, J. Clara (October 20, 2021). "YouTube Streamy Awards: MrBeast Takes Top Creator; Full List of Winners". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 5, 2022.