5-Minute Crafts

Last updated

5-Minute Crafts
5-Minute Crafts logo.jpg
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2016–present
Genres
Subscribers81 million
Views28.2 billion
Last updated: 17 Jul 2025

5-Minute Crafts is a do it yourself (DIY)-style Russian-owned YouTube channel by TheSoul Publishing, based in Cyprus. As of August 2025, it is the 23rd most-subscribed channel on the platform. The channel is also the 5th most-followed Facebook page.

Contents

The channel has drawn criticism for its unusual and potentially dangerous life hacks and its reliance on clickbait.

Content

5-Minute Crafts' YouTube videos are compilations of videos previously posted on Instagram or Facebook. [1] [2] The channel's content consists largely of videos relating to crafts and life hacks, styled in how-to formats, and occasionally, science experiments. The channel's videos employ a style where a top-down camera displays objects on a solid-color surface while only a person's hands appear in the frame, making content with aid of these objects, usually food and DIY ingredients and tools. [3]

History

TheSoul Publishing was founded by Russia-based entrepreneurs Pavel Radaev and Marat Mukhametov, a team with backgrounds in social media content creation, who launched AdMe. [4] [5] In March 2017, the company founded the YouTube channel, Bright Side. [6] [7] On November 15, 2016, 5-Minute Crafts was registered on YouTube by TheSoul Publishing. [8] The channel's first video, "5 essential DIY hacks that you need to know" was uploaded the following day. [9] [ better source needed ]

In 2017, the channel's subscriber and video view counts started to grow rapidly. In an article published by Mic in June 2017, 5-Minute Crafts was noted to have accumulated over 4 million subscribers. [10]

In April 2018, Tubefilter covered a trend regarding springtime cleaning videos on YouTube, noting 5-Minute Crafts' participation. [11] By November, Vox wrote that 5-Minute Crafts was a "wildly successful" channel, citing its then over 10 billion video views and its ranking as the fifth most-subscribed channel on YouTube, having nearly 40 million subscribers at the time. [4] During one week in December 2018, the channel received over 238 million video views. [12]

In May 2020, 5-Minute Crafts created their first English-language channel on Pinterest. [13] In July 2020, 5-Minute Crafts collaborated with Mattel for a custom brand campaign that included multiple DIY videos focused on family-friendly crafts and at-home activities. [14]

In November, 2021, the channel celebrated its 5th anniversary on YouTube, with more than 1.7 billion hours watched and 21 billion views. [15] That same month on November 18, 2021, Variety commented that the 5-Minute Crafts Family had the highest-performing YouTube Short to date with nearly 433 million views. [16] As of January, 2022, the channel has 75.4 million subscribers, ranking it as the eleventh most-subscribed channel not operated by YouTube. [17]

With a focus on DIY content, 5-Minute Crafts began to adapt its content for distribution on Pinterest. The activity began by establishing 5-Minute Crafts in English, Spanish and Portuguese. This collaboration with Pinterest was recognised by The Drum Awards for the Digital Industries 2021, winning the "Best use of Pinterest" award. [18]

Reception

The channel has drawn criticism for its unusual and potentially dangerous life hacks and its reliance on clickbait. [4] [19] [20] Vox characterized 5-Minute Crafts as "bizarre", describing its content as "do-it-yourself-how-tos that no person could or should ever replicate", and criticizing the channel's heavy use of clickbait thumbnails. [4] Mashable described the channel's videos as "nonsensical" and possibly a form of trolling, singling out a video which claimed to demonstrate how soaking an egg in vinegar and then maple syrup will make it "bigger than before". [21]

BBC's Click criticized 5-Minute Crafts for its "fake kitchen hacks": when following the instructions of a video in which a fresh corncob produced popcorn when microwaved, the presenter found the cob was only warmed up. [19] Ann Reardon of How to Cook That described clickbait recipe channels including 5-Minute Crafts as the "fake news of the baking world", and fact-checked several of their videos on her channel. In particular, she criticized a clip in which a strawberry was soaked in bleach to produce a "white strawberry", saying it would be dangerous if a child were to replicate it and eat the result. [19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sarmmah, Surupasree (April 1, 2018). "'Life hack' videos gain in popularity among youth". Deccan Herald . Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  2. ↑ Decaille, Nia (March 21, 2019). "These 'how to' videos on YouTube won't teach you how to be a better adult. But they're not supposed to". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  3. ↑ Horwitz, Jeff (October 9, 2019). "Why Life Hack Videos Seem Too Good to Be True. (They Are)". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Jennings, Rebecca (November 12, 2018). "YouTube is full of cringey, clickbait DIY channels. They're even weirder than you think". Vox . Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  5. ↑ Агаджанов, Максим (July 1, 2015). "Создатели AdMe.ru запускают англоязычный проект". Хабр (in Russian). Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  6. ↑ Kaplan, Lisa (December 18, 2019). "The Biggest Social Media Operation You've Never Heard of Is Run Out of Cyprus by Russians". Lawfare . Archived from the original on August 14, 2023. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  7. ↑ Jennings, Rebecca (November 12, 2018). "Why YouTube is riddled with bizarre DIY videos". Vox . Archived from the original on September 2, 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  8. ↑ "5-Minute Crafts – YouTube about page". 5-Minute Crafts. YouTube. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  9. ↑ "5-Minute Crafts First Video Ever". Youtuber Magazine. April 22, 2018. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  10. ↑ Wile, Rob (June 29, 2017). "9 smart things to buy as an investment in your future". Mic. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  11. ↑ Klein, Jessica (April 11, 2018). ""Clean With Me" Videos Peak On YouTube Ahead Of Springtime". Tubefilter . Archived from the original on October 6, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  12. ↑ Cohen, Joshua (December 12, 2018). "Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 12/9/2018". Tubefilter . Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Building successful multi-channel social media strategies during COVID-19 -". June 11, 2020. Archived from the original on December 15, 2020. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Barbie Shows Off Her COVID-19 Craft Projects". www.mediapost.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  15. ↑ "5th Anniversary for 5-Minute Crafts - YouTube phenomenon with over 333+ million views". www.pressebox.de (in German). Archived from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  16. ↑ Donnelly, Matt (November 18, 2021). "Digital Studio TheSoul Publishing Dominating in Viewership for Newly Launched YouTube Shorts". Variety. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  17. ↑ "Top 100 YouTube Channels sorted by Subscribers". Social Blade . Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  18. ↑ "The Soul Publishing on crafting a DIY Pinterest strategy to boost brand awareness". The Drum. Archived from the original on August 11, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  19. 1 2 3 "The fake 'kitchen hacks' with billions of views". BBC News . Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  20. ↑ McCluskey, Megan (September 4, 2019). "This '5-Minute Craft' YouTube Channel Is Captivating the Masses With Its Eccentric DIY Projects". Time. Archived from the original on July 3, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  21. ↑ Anderson, Sage. "Bizarre DIY video makes an egg that's 'bigger than before' and the internet asks — why?". Mashable SEA. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
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