David Dobrik
David Julian Dobrik is a Slovak YouTube personality. He found early success on the video sharing platform Vine, before starting his vlog on his YouTube channel in 2015. Dobrik is known for being the leader of the popular YouTube ensemble The Vlog Squad, which features prominently in his vlogs and comprises rotating selections of his friend group. As of July 2020, Dobrik's vlog channel had accumulated 18 million subscribers and 7.5 billion views. The channel was the fifth-most viewed creator channel on YouTube in 2019, with 2.4 billion views that year.
Beyond internet entertainment, Dobrik voice acted the role of Axel in The Angry Birds Movie 2 and, from November 2019 to January 2020, was one of the judges on the Nickelodeon TV show America's Most Musical Family.
Early life
Dobrik was born on July 23, 1996, in Košice, Slovakia. His family moved to Vernon Hills, Illinois, when Dobrik was six years old. He attended Vernon Hills High School, where he played tennis, which led him to qualify for the 2014 Boys Tennis State Tournament where he won third place in the doubles tournaments. After graduating high school, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his Vine career.Career
2013–2016: Vine and YouTube beginnings
In 2013, Dobrik uploaded his first Vine. He collaborated on Vines with other popular Viners such as Liza Koshy, Gabbie Hanna, Jason Nash, and Zane & Heath. Before starting his own YouTube channel, Dobrik was part of the YouTube group, Second Class. By the end of that channel in 2015, Dobrik and company had gained over 18,000 subscribers. Dobrik launched his personal YouTube channel, David Dobrik, in 2015. Since its inception, videos on this channel have been comedy vlogs based on real-life situations and semi-scripted bits, featuring many of his former Vine collaborators. In August 2016, Dobrik created his second channel, David Dobrik Too, where he posts blooper reels, challenge videos, and his more direct sponsorship deals.2017–present: YouTube career
Dobrik gained fans in recent years due to his high energy videos which consists of pranks, inside jokes, cute animals, Vine and YouTube stars, real celebrities and various comedy bit characters, which he previously posted three days a week and are currently posted two days a week. He has a podcast titled 'VIEWS' with fellow YouTuber Jason Nash with occasional features from Joe Vulpis and Natalie Mariduena.In December 2018, Dobrik was given a Diamond Play Button by YouTube in recognition of his YouTube channel surpassing 10 million subscribers. Dobrik was also named one of the "10 Social Media Personalities Making the Most Noise" for 2018 by PAPER magazine, alongside Trisha Paytas and Jaboukie Young-White, among others.
In July 2019, Dobrik was featured by W magazine alongside Diana Silvers, Gigi Hadid, and Joe Jonas, among others, for being part of a trend of creating a separate Instagram account dedicated to their photos taken with the use of films or disposable cameras. Dobrik also became a judge in a musical competition on Nickelodeon titled America's Most Musical Family, alongside Ciara and Debbie Gibson.
In August 2019, Dobrik was featured by Variety magazine in their annual "Power of Young Hollywood" list, alongside celebrities such as Blackpink, Billie Eilish, Tom Holland, and Lil Nas X. In the same month, Dobrik co-hosted for the television event shows, the 2019 Teen Choice Awards with Lucy Hale at which he also received the award for Choice Male Web Star. Dobrik also competed in the first-ever Kids' Choice Sports Championship, alongside Rob Gronkowski, Lindsey Vonn, and Kel Mitchell, among others.
In October 2019, Dobrik was named the Number 1 influencer and personality to follow on social media by teenagers based on the survey by the Piper Jaffray & Co., alongside influencers including Kylie Jenner, Donald Trump, LeBron James, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
In November 2019, People magazine named Dobrik Sexiest Heartthrob of 2019, over runner-ups including Harry Styles and Shawn Mendes. That same month, Dobrik was one of the presenters at the American Music Awards of 2019, and was also a guest judge in the first episode of Chopped Junior Season 9.
In December 2019, Dobrik was named in as the fifth-most-viewed creator that year on the platform, with 2.4 billion views. Also that month, a video of Dobrik's on TikTok featuring a large-scale elephant's toothpaste experiment was named the Number 1 Top Viral Video on the platform in 2019, with 17.5 million likes and 180 million views.
In January 2020, Dobrik launched his own mobile camera app called David's Disposable which lets users create retro-looking photos of their own. The app has surpassed over a million downloads and also landed briefly at the top of the list for most popular free apps on Apple's App Store, sitting ahead of Disney+ and Instagram as well as winning a spot on Apple's curated “Apps We Love Right Now” list.
Dobrik also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon as his late-night television debut, discussing about his inspiration for his viral videos and successful YouTube channel as well as his first interaction with Justin Bieber. Dobrik's appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon alongside Martin Short and Yola was credited for the show being ranked as the #1 most-social late-night series of the week, amassing 2.2 million Interactions across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, up +582% according to Nielsen Social Content Ratings. This also led for the show to be tied for #1 for the late-night ratings week of Jan. 20–24 in the key demographic of adults 18–49, as well as adults 18–34, and won the week outright versus its competition in all key adult-female demographics according to Nielsen Media Research. The show also ranked No. 1 across all entertainment brands in total and new views for the week with five videos featuring Dobrik totaled more than 15 million views.
In April 2020, Dobrik was named a second time in a row as the Number 1 influencer and personality to follow across social media by teenagers based on the survey by the Piper Jaffray & Co., alongside influencers including LeBron James, Kylie Jenner, Donald Trump, and Charli D’Amelio.
''Views'' podcast
In September 2018, Dobrik created his third YouTube channel, Views Podcast, where he posts the video podcast of Views. Dobrik was featured by The Verge as one of the YouTubers who figured out how to make podcasts work on YouTube, despite the site's emphasis on video-first content. However, Dobrik decided to stop uploading his Views podcast onto Youtube, instead continuing to post Views solely on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The last uploaded video podcast from Dobrik and Nash was episode 107, posted on June 2, 2019.Vlog content and style
In a July 2019 profile, The Verge wrote of Dobrik's vlog: "Think of it like Friends, but for vloggers. Essentially, Dobrik created the first sitcom-vlog. There are musical transitions, a returning cast of characters that drive the story forward, and Dobrik’s laughter acts as a laugh track for viewers. We know when to laugh because Dobrik does, and it all has to do with his friends’ antics." In that same profile, writer Julia Alexander noted Dobrik's editing style for bringing in Vine's quick-cut style format. "It led to a wave of creators who copied him," she wrote, "many of whom continue to shape the site's content today."Cast ("The Vlog Squad")
Dobrik's vlogs feature a recurring group of friends who collectively comprise the "Vlog Squad." Because the cast is, at its core, a friend group, membership in the cast of the vlogs is amorphous. Generally, people considered part of the Vlog Squad include Jason Nash, Natalie Mariduena, Josh Peck, Zane Hijazi, Heath Hussar, Mariah Amato, Scotty Sire, Kristen McAtee, Nick Antonyan and his siblings Vardan and Suzy, Matt King, Toddy Smith, Corinna Kopf, Jeff Wittek, Joe Vulpis, Carly Incontro, and Erin Gilfoy.Because the cast of the vlogs samples Dobrik's larger friend group, membership rotates on an ongoing basis. Former or infrequently-featured members include Gabbie Hanna, Liza Koshy, Trisha Paytas, BigNik, Dom Zeglaitis, Seth Francois, Brandon Calvillo, Elton Castee, and Alex Ernst.
Speaking at the 2019 Streamy Awards, Dobrik said of winning the Ensemble Cast prize with the Vlog Squad, "Ensemble is like, my favorite one to win... insane, and I can't say this enough—it's all because of these guys," he added. "I have a group of like, 15, 20, 30 friends, and they help me day in and day out with all the videos."
Integrated advertising
In April 2019, Chipotle celebrated National Burrito Day by partnering with Dobrik in making his go-to Chipotle order the brand's official National Burrito Day burrito: the Dobrik Burrito. In May 2019, Chipotle partnered with David Dobrik to help garner momentum for the "Lid Flip Challenge" on TikTok. It garnered 110,000 video submissions with the hashtag and resulting in 104 million video starts and more than 230 million views by June of 2019. In April 2020, Chipotle partnered with Dobrik for the #ChipotleSponsorMe TikTok Challenge for Cinco de Mayo, where five fans were chosen to win Chipotle Celebrity Cards. In August 2019, Tubefilter praised Dobrik's relationship with advertiser Seatgeek in his videos, calling it "pioneering," and characterizing the company's presence in the vlogs almost as a character in the friend group. In September 2019, Dobrik won the Brand Engagement Award at the Streamys Brand Awards for his collaboration with Chipotle. In October 2019, Tubefilter credited Dobrik for his unique mastery when it comes to weaving brands into his massively-viewed vlogs, and building mutually beneficial partnerships that are designed for the long haul as opposed to one-off deals. In the same article, Bumble considers the ongoing partnership with Dobrik to be a massive success. According to Bumble’s VP of marketing, Chelsea Maclin “They’ve been keeping up with David for a while now... and admired how he empowers his community and gives back whenever he’s able... We also love his core group of friends, the Vlog Squad, who have not only created more buzz around campus but have also helped us market other modes within Bumble." In December 2019, Dobrik was named the 6th most Influential Person in Influencer Marketing by Influence Weekly. Dobrik's partnership with SeatGeek has also generated as much search interest as "mainstream partnerships," like Chrissy Teigen and Target, or Ninja and Red Bull, according to Google Trends data.Personal life
Dobrik has three siblings, named Ester, Sara, and Toby. As a Slovakian citizen who arrived in the United States as a child and remained illegally, Dobrik is protected from deportation under DACA. Dobrik stated in a December 2018 interview that he speaks Slovak.Dobrik dated fellow YouTube personality Liza Koshy from late 2015 to early 2018. They revealed their break-up in June 2018. On May 15, 2019, Dobrik legally married Lorraine Nash, Jason Nash's mother, as a comedic bit for one of his vlogs. On June 12, 2019, Dobrik announced that he and Nash had decided to end their marriage after one month. On November 22, 2019, Dobrik stated via Instagram that he has officially signed divorce papers and divorced Nash.