YouTube superstar Markiplier had a cameo in a Super Bowl ad, and it proves his biggest criticism of the media is right

• YouTube superstar Markiplier made a surprise appearance in a Super Bowl ad on Sunday.
• Mark Fischbach, better known as Markiplier, had a cameo promoting the influencer-owner drink Prime.

YouTube superstar Markiplier made a surprise appearance in a Super Bowl ad, delighting his fans and also helping to establish him as a bona fide celebrity.

Markiplier, whose real name is Mark Fischbach, had a cameo advertising the influencer-led sports drink Prime.

Fans flooded to social media to express their excitement that the gamer, who has 34.4 million subscribers, appeared on their TV screens during the pre-game ad for the drink.

Prime was created by fellow YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI, who took center stage in the ad. Prime brought in $250 million in sales in 2022, Bloomberg reported.

Fischbach appeared for barely one second of the half-minute ad, but immediately started trending on Twitter. At the end of the video, he takes a sip of the characteristically bright colored bottle and says, "Oh, that's good."

The moment was all the more striking because it put Markiplier, however briefly, at the center of US mainstream culture.

He has in the past spoken about the reluctance of media outlets to treat him and other creators like they do other famous people, despite their huge followings and professional accolades.

"Markiplier had 1 second in a super bowl ad and I ate it up," one fan tweeted. Another said, "I can't believe Markiplier won the super bowl."

"To see a creator-led super bowl ad for the first time I think was pretty cool," one person wrote. "Especially with the Markiplier cameo at the end."

Fischbach is one of YouTube's biggest gaming creators with over 5,000 videos with more than 19 billion total views.

In his decade-long content creation career he's grown a large and dedicated fan base who support his ambitious projects which often go beyond his core subject of gaming.

One, his choose-your-own-adventure series "In Space With Markiplier," was nominated for the Outstanding Interactive Media award at the recent Children's and Family Emmys.

After the awards Fischbach said in a video on his channel that the Emmy event itself was "extremely underwhelming" and "awkward" — not least because he felt the reporters at the event ignored him.

"What amazes me is that if any of them were to interview me, and put those videos on YouTube, they would do exceptionally well for their channels," he said in a livestream the next day.

Fischbach said he wasn't offended but that his treatment highlighted a "fundamental disconnect" in which mainstream media undervalues content creators.

"They realize that I and none of my fellow content creators need them in any way," he said. "And the moment that they acknowledge that reality, everything just kind of falls apart for them, and it's really hilarious."

The reaction to the Super Bowl ad supports Fischbach's criticism, and was a big night for internet creators in general.

The Prime commercial was the first ever creator-led brand to run a Super Bowl commercial, and another YouTuber was spotted later on as well. Jimmy Donaldson, better known as YouTube's biggest single creator MrBeast, had a cameo in the NFL's "Run With It" commercial highlighting women in football.

In it, Donaldson tries to film Mexican football player Diana Flores running through Glendale, Arizona, on his phone, but she's too quick. Just as the camera pans to him, Flores runs passed and Donaldson says, disappointed, "I missed it."