This interview was conducted on May 12, 2021, by Cluckster.
Gibi ASMR is a YouTuber with over 3,290,000 subscribers.
Q1: How and when did you discover YouTube?
- I was in middle school, so it must've been pretty close to the very beginning days of YouTube. My brother, cousin, and I were obsessed with Smosh and comedy sketches -- we ended up making content for a few years in the late 2000s.
Q2: Can you remember what the first YouTube video that you ever watched was?
- No way I was way too young haha. I loved the Numa Numa Dance and Real Ninjas though.
Q3: Who was the first YouTuber that you were a fan of?
- Smosh, nalts, and jklproduction.
Q4: Who influenced you to make YouTube videos?
- Smosh, nalts, and jklproduction again. But also just myself and my brother, we used to make "films" before YouTube even existed, they're on burned DVDs and VCR tapes at my house now.
Q5: How did you come up with your YouTube channel name Gibi ASMR?
- Gibi is a nickname from my real name Gina, and it was my cosplay name (I had cosplay socials before I started my YouTube channel!).
Q6: Currently who is your favorite YouTuber or YouTubers?
- I spend all day on YouTube. I'm super grateful for all the awesome lo-fi music that's on there, so shout out to that community in general. And then I watch literally hundreds of ASMRtists, I can't name them because I wouldn't be able to stop LOL. I really love Alexandra Anele, lilsimsie, FakeGamerGirl... Yoga with Kassandra and MadFit kept me sane through the pandemic -- Xiran Jay Zhao makes awesome videos, Safiya Nygaard, Simply Nailogical makes every day better... I could go on forever. The anime community, the video essay community... I consume so much content.
Q7: Do you have a favorite and least favorite video that you have uploaded?
- My favorite is The ASMR Bee Movie, I got 80 friends to help me recreate the Bee Movie 1:1...you can watch ours and the official Netflix one at the same time. It was a journey, to say the least. My least favorite is my [ASMR] Sleep Clinic Roleplay - Trigger Test, it ended up getting 10M views and it looks like absolute trash haha. I filmed 5 videos that day in the wrong setting and couldn't really afford the time to redo them all and up it went on the channel! I can't believe people could watch it seriously haha.
Q8: What is your favorite part about having a YouTube channel?
- My favorite part is spending a lot of time and love on a video I'm super excited for, and then having the people who watch it genuinely enjoy the final product. I just really love entertaining people and making their day a bit better if I can.
Q9: You currently have over 3,270,000 subscribers. Did you ever think you would have that many subscribers?
- Absolutely not. When I started my channel, no one in the ASMR community had even broken a million subscribers. I remember looking at one of my idols who had 400K at the time, and saying "Well I'll never get there, but I'll give it a try!".
Q10: You currently have uploaded 755 videos. Did you ever think you would upload that many videos?
- That one, yes. I have way too many ideas and things I want to do. I'll keep making videos as long as I can.
Q11: Currently your most viewed video has over 21,500,000 views. Did you ever think one of your videos would have that many views?
- No. That’s honestly horrifying. But 12 year old me would be super stoked! And to be honest it’s just awesome to see ASMR reach that many people.
Q12: What are your lifetime subscriber and video view goals?
- My goal I’ll never ever reach is 10 million (subscribers) just for the play button. Realistically I’d be over the moon to hit 5 million in my career. Video view goals, I hit a billion and really couldn’t ask for any more.
Q13: What was your lifetime subscriber goal when you first started uploading YouTube videos?
- Once I got started, a million was my biggest goal.
Q14: What advice would you give to someone who is trying to make videos on YouTube?
- 1. Consider your privacy, and sort that out before starting a channel.
- 2. Make content YOU enjoy, otherwise, you'll get stuck making content that isn't fun for you, which sucks! You also end up building an audience that you really get along with if you're just yourself!
- 3. Do a mix of new things and tried-and-true things. The new things will help you stand out, the tried-and-true will help you get found.
Q15: What is the future for you and your channel?
- Keep on keepin' on. I have a lot of big videos and projects I'd love to be able to pull off someday, but right now I'm taking it week by week!
Q16: What made you want to make ASMR videos?
- I was a HUGE fan in the community; I watched ASMR for years every single night (I still do). I thought that I could bring something different to the table and really liked that it was a positive creative outlet. I also knew how much I appreciated the content that other creators made that I got to watch every night, and wanted to make some fun stuff for other people too.
Q17: Why do you think your most viewed video “[ASMR] Dark & Relaxing Tapping & Scratching [Close Whispers]” has the most views?
- I have LITERALLY no idea. I think it must've just shown up at the right time when there was a big boom in ASMR as a whole.
Q18: Your channel currently has 1,150,000,000 views. Did you ever think your channel would have that many views?
- Definitely not. It actually kind of snuck up on me; but years of videos really add up!
Q19: Do you remember making your oldest video “ASMR - Doing My Makeup...At Night *Soft Spoken*”?
- Yes I do. I loved makeup ASMR videos and thought it felt the least intimidating... I did it at night because I was so excited to shoot I didn't want to wait until morning. I had borrowed a Blue Yeti from my boss at my job that day.
