Philip DeFranco
Born 1985 · Age 40
American YouTube personality, host of The Philip DeFranco Show, founder/co-founder of SourceFed, Rogue Rocket and various creator ventures. Pioneer of news commentary on YouTube.
Compare Your Trajectory
See how your career milestones stack up against Philip DeFranco and other industry leaders.
Life & Career Timeline
Born in The Bronx, New York
Philip James Franchini Jr. (later known as Philip DeFranco) was born in The Bronx; he is of Italian descent.
Created sxephil YouTube account
Registered the YouTube account 'sxephil' (during finals at East Carolina University) and began the videos that would be called The Philip DeFranco Show.
Used student loan to buy computer & camera
While at USF he used a student loan to purchase a computer and camera to produce videos.
Worked as waiter and lived in car during early YouTube years
Worked in restaurants while building his channel; experienced financial hardship and lived in his car until moving back with his father.
Uploaded viral 'Big Boobs and You' experiment
Uploaded an experiment video whose thumbnail flashed briefly; it became his most successful video at the time with ~1.8 million views and shifted his content to sex, gossip and news.
Created secondary channel 'PhilipDeFranco' (The Vloggity)
Opened his second YouTube channel for vlogs and behind-the-scenes content, later called The Vloggity.
Won Wired's Sexiest Geek (reader poll)
Reader-voted contest on Wired.com; he won amid early prominence.
Creator Award: 100,000 subscribers creator award (YouTube)
Reached the 100,000-subscriber milestone and earned the Silver Creator Award (noted in infobox as 2008).
Won Spore Creature Creator contest; donated $15,000 to PKD Foundation
Leveraged his audience to win a Spore promotion; chose PKD Foundation (related to family's medical history) as charity recipient and directed the $15,000 prize to it.
Co-starred in HBOLabs web series 'Hooking Up'
Co-starred with Jessica Rose and Kevin Wu in the 10-episode web promo for HBOLabs; the series received ~450,000 views by day two.
Publicly discussed early earnings and career prospects
By 2009/2010 he referenced multiple income sources; a previously joking 'salary of $250,000' was discussed publicly as a possible future reality.
Creator Award: 1,000,000 subscribers Creator Award
Achieved 1 million subscribers (YouTube Gold Creator Award) in 2010.
Surpassed 1,000,000 subscribers on sxephil channel
Reached the 1 million subscriber milestone for his main channel in March 2010.
Spoke at the first VidCon
Attended and was a speaker at the inaugural VidCon conference.
Co-created 'CuteWinFail' with Toby Turner
Launched a user-submission clip series described as YouTube's equivalent to America's Funniest Home Videos.
Launched ForHumanPeoples merchandise line
Started a merchandise/clothing brand to sell shirts and related products tied to his brand and network.
Signed with Revision3 (joined an MCN)
Joined Revision3, a multi-channel network and subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks, expanding his business infrastructure.
Launched SourceFed (YouTube-funded news channel)
Created SourceFed, a YouTube-funded news and pop-culture channel produced initially by James Haffner; became a major part of his network.
Nominated at the 3rd Streamy Awards
The Philip DeFranco Show received nominations in 'Best First-Person Series' and 'Best News and Culture Series'.
Reportedly paid himself $100,000/year
Stated that he paid himself $100,000 annually and reinvested the rest into his company (February 2012 statement).
Hosted Discovery's Shark Week 25th anniversary coverage
Hosted the 25th anniversary event for Discovery Channel's Shark Week, an offline mainstream media crossover.
Reached nearly 30 million views/month
Reported to be receiving almost 30 million views per month across his properties (Sept 2012 reported figure).
Main channel hit ~2 million subscribers
By October 2012 his primary channel reached around 2 million subscribers.
Google+ Hangout with Vice President Joe Biden
Participated in a Google+ Hangout with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Guy Kawasaki discussing gun laws.
IAWTV Award: Best News Series (The Philip DeFranco Show) — Won
The Philip DeFranco Show won Best News Series at the 2013 IAWTV Awards.
Launched SourceFed Nerd (spin-off)
SourceFed Nerd, a nerd-culture spinoff of SourceFed, launched in May 2013.
Revision3 acquired The Philip DeFranco Show and assets
Revision3 (Discovery Digital Networks) fully acquired DeFranco's PDS assets in May 2013; DeFranco became a Revision3 executive.
Named Senior VP of Phil DeFranco Networks & Merchandise (Revision3)
Following the May 2013 acquisition, DeFranco was added as an executive at Revision3 leading Phil DeFranco Networks & Merchandise.
Proposed to Lindsay Doty during live show
Proposed to longtime girlfriend Lindsay Doty on-stage at the 'DeFranco Loves Dat AZ' show in Tempe, Arizona.
Launched ForHumanPeoples YouTube channel
As part of his network, DeFranco launched a YouTube channel dedicated to his ForHumanPeoples merchandise line.
Birth of first son, Philip 'Trey' DeFranco III
Welcomed his first child with Lindsay DeFranco.
Married Lindsay Doty
Married longtime girlfriend Lindsay Doty on March 7, 2015; wedding documented on social media.
Involved in launching Super Panic Frenzy (gaming network)
Participated in the launch of Super Panic Frenzy, a gaming network and Twitch/YouTube presence backed by Discovery.
Discovery's digital properties reorganized into Group Nine Media
Discovery Digital Networks (Revision3 holdings) were reorganized/sold into Group Nine Media in 2016 — a corporate change affecting DeFranco's network ownership.
Streamy Awards: Best News and Culture Series — Won
The Philip DeFranco Show won Best News and Culture Series at the 6th Streamy Awards in 2016; also won Audience Choice for Best Show of the Year.
Became a prominent critic of YouTube demonetization
Publicly criticized YouTube's ad and monetization policies and highlighted double standards affecting native creators vs. mainstream talk shows.
Covered DaddyOFive child abuse controversy
DeFranco's reporting highlighted alleged abuse on the DaddyOFive channel, driving community backlash and mainstream coverage.
DeFranco Elite early Patreon growth
Reported ~10,500 patrons within the first 24 hours, later reported highs ~16,700 patrons; by end of 2017 The Outline cited 13,000+ patrons ranking him top 20 on Patreon.
Pre-2017 videos removed from public viewing
All videos on his channel from before March 13, 2017 were removed from public view.
Split with Group Nine and relaunched as independent creator; launched DeFranco Elite (Patreon)
Announced independence from Group Nine and launched 'DeFranco Elite' on Patreon to crowdfund The Philip DeFranco Show and detach funding from ad revenue.
Channel cited at ~5.4 million subscribers
The Verge cited DeFranco's channel as having over 5.4 million subscribers in June 2017.
DaddyOFive parents charged and found guilty of neglect
Following coverage and public pressure, the creators of DaddyOFive faced legal action; the Martins were charged and later found guilty/avoided jail (reported Sept 2017).
Streamy Awards: Best News and Culture Series — Won
Won Best News and Culture Series at the 8th Streamy Awards (2018).
Spoke about evolving away from daily hosting at VidCon
At VidCon he discussed plans to evolve his role and move away from hosting the same show in the future, foreshadowing building a broader network.
Ended relationship with BetterHelp amid controversy
After scrutiny about BetterHelp's practices and sponsored creator content, DeFranco publicly ended his relationship with BetterHelp (tweet on Oct 15, 2018).
Moved into Encino home
Relocated with family to an Encino residence in late 2019 after previously living in San Fernando and Sherman Oaks.
Reported Patreon earnings of approximately $50,000/month
By 2019, reports indicated DeFranco earned roughly $50k monthly from Patreon crowdfunding.
Streamy Awards: News — Won (2019)
Won in the News category at the 9th Streamy Awards (2019).
Launched Beautiful Bastard hair care line
Introduced Beautiful Bastard, a grooming/haircare line named after his PDS catchphrase.
Launched Rogue Rocket news network and website
Announced and launched Rogue Rocket, a news network with deeper-dive stories and a companion website (April 22, 2019).
Rogue Rocket YouTube channel premiered with correspondents
Rolled out a YouTube channel for Rogue Rocket featuring correspondents and longer-form story breakdowns (first correspondent: Maria Sosyan).
Interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci on PDS
Hosted an interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci to provide COVID-19 information to younger audiences (2020 coverage).
Publicly disclosed depression and took short break
Posted on Twitter in April 2020 about feelings of heavier depression and announced he would scrap an episode and take a short break from YouTube.
Signed with Semaphore Licensing Solutions
Signed with Semaphore to seek manufacturing and retail partners to bring DeFranco-branded products to market (June 2020).
Fourthwall raised $17 million
Startup Fourthwall (which tapped DeFranco as CCO) raised $17M in funding; DeFranco's appointment was announced alongside the raise.
Named Chief Creator Officer of Fourthwall
Announced as Chief Creator Officer for Fourthwall, a startup enabling creators to build branded websites (Nov 2021).
Relocated from Los Angeles to Georgia
DeFranco and family moved from California to Georgia in 2024.
Channel milestones: ~6.59M subscribers and ~2.34B public views (as of Mar 2025)
Primary channel accumulated over 6.5 million subscribers and 2.3+ billion public views (statistics cited as of March 2025).
Key Achievement Ages
Explore what Philip DeFranco and others achieved at these notable ages:
Similar Trajectories
Zoe Sugg
Born 1990 · Age 35
English media personality, entrepreneur and author (aka Zoella). Began blogging/YouTube in 2009; built beauty/homeware brands; bestselling novelist and co-author of YA duology.
John Collison
Born 1990 · Age 35
Irish entrepreneur; co‑founder and president of Stripe. Co-founded multiple startups with brother Patrick Collison; became the world's youngest self-made billionaire in 2016.
Bowen Yang
Born 1990 · Age 35
Bowen Yang (b. Nov 6, 1990) is a Chinese-American comedian, actor, writer and podcaster known for Saturday Night Live, the podcast Las Culturistas, and film roles including Fire Island, Bros and Wicked.
Evan Spiegel
Born 1990 · Age 35
American entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc., creator of Snapchat. Known for founding Snapchat as a Stanford class project, leading Snap through fundraises and IPO, philanthropy (Snap Foundation) and high-profile personal life (marriage to Miranda Kerr).
Daniel Sloss
Born 1990 · Age 35
Scottish comedian, actor and writer known for dark, socially incisive stand-up; multi‑special Netflix and HBO performer and international touring artist.
Graham Stephan
Born 1990 · Age 35
American real estate investor, YouTuber, and financial commentator known for content on real estate investing, frugal living, and personal finance.