- Insider surveyed 1,040 people to figure out which influencers are the most well-liked and known.
- Gaming influencers like
Jacksepticeye , Markiplier, andMrBeast fill half of the list. - MrBeast was the most-favored, but
Joe Rogan was the most well-known.
Influencers and internet celebrities are frequent targets of critics who follow their every move and publications looking for the next juicy scandal, but not every online star is disliked. For every Jake Paul stirring the pot, there's a MrBeast planting trees for charity.
Insider surveyed 1,040 people to ask them about their feelings on over 90 traditional and online celebrities, figuring out how well known they are, how many people like them, and how many people hate them. We then looked at what percentage of people who knew about an influencer had a favorable opinion of them.
Here are the ten who came out with the most favorable ratings.
10. Dawn Morante
Dawn Morante, with 150,000 followers on Instagram and two million on TikTok, starts off our list. The 19-year-old internet dancer and humorist currently living in Los Angeles has been creating content on the apps since 2015, though has only managed to acquire a large audience over the past couple of years.
Only known by 3% of those surveyed, Morante was equally favored and unfavored.
9. Joe Rogan
Coming in at number nine is Joe Rogan, who was favorable to 54.4% of respondents. Calling him an influencer is a bit of a stretch, Rogan has been on television for years as the host of Fear Factor and UFC events, but his Joe Rogan Experience podcast has introduced him to a whole new generation of internet obsessives. He's interviewed Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey from Twitter, Alex Jones, and more of the biggest names online.
While Rogan was just the tenth most-liked, he was the most highly recognized internet
8. Liza Koshy
Summarizing Lisa Koshy and her content isn't that easy. She's been on YouTube since 2013 and has acquired 17.8 million subscribers with comedy sketches, heartfelt emotional videos and whatever nonsense pops into her head. She's fairly vulnerable online, with one of her most famous moments being her break-up video with vlogger David Dobrik and her year-long break from
11.4% knew of her existence and of those, 54.6% found her favorable. Of the influencers on this list, she also had the highest unfavorable rating, with 25.2% finding her unfavorable. This can possibly be explained by the controversial humor she took part in early in her career (which she has apologized for) or David Dobrik stans still disliking her.
7. Markiplier
Mark Fischbach, known online as Markiplier, is one of the most versatile and unique influencers on this list. Starting his YouTube channel in 2012 creating "Let's Plays" for video games, he's acquired 28.3 million subscribers. His content has evolved consistently throughout his career, going from "Five Nights at Freddy's" playthroughs to uploading a new video every day on his "Unus Annus" channel before deleting it forever.
Out of those surveyed, 11.2% knew of Fischbach and 57.3% found him favorable. Like frequent collaborator Jacksepticeye, very few people found him to be unfavorable, 9.4% to be exact. The Markiplier brand is one of the strongest on all of YouTube, with large amounts of money raised for charity and heartwarming videos created almost daily.
6. Maddie Ziegler
Influencer Maddie Ziegler has built a devoted following at a young age. The 18-year-old got her start on Dance Moms as a child, and has spent the years since dancing, acting, and gaining 13.9 million followers on Instagram. For nearly a decade, she's been one of the most affluent and recognizable dancers online, remaining fairly controversy-free.
13.5% of those surveyed knew who Ziegler was and 57.4% found her favorable. She has the lowest unfavorable rating on the list, at 8.5%. Her fans are clearly invested in her content and find her videos and dances to be outright mesmerizing.
5. Jacksepticeye
Seán McLoughlin, known as Jacksepticeye, is one of the most storied and popular gaming influencers online. Starting his channel in 2007, he's managed to accrue 26.3 million subscribers, start multiple successful clothing companies, and raise millions of dollars for different charities. In April 2020, he hosted a 12-hour charity live stream that raised $659,000 for Covid-19 relief and in December raised $1.4 million for his "Thankmas" event by playing "Among Us" with his friends.
The Irish influencer was known by 9.7% of those surveyed, with 58.4% finding him favorable. McLoughlin has a fairly low unfavorable rating, with only 11.9% finding him unfavorable. With such a storied legacy with very little controversy, it's clear to see why he's placed so high on this list.
4. Corpse Husband
The low-voiced musician, YouTuber, and Among Us aficionado became one of the breakout internet stars of 2020. Following in Dream's anonymous footsteps, Corpse doesn't reveal his face or identity, maintaining a level of anonymity that top-tier influencers rarely get. He might have the lowest amount of YouTube subscribers on this list, with only a little over two million, but he's also one of the most diversified. When Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez streamed on Twitch for the first time, Corpse was in her "Among Us" lobby making history.
Known as well as Doctor Mike, 7.7% of those surveyed were aware of his name and existence. Of those that knew him, 58.8% found him favorable and 15% unfavorable.
3. Dream
You might not know who Dream is, but there's a generation of young adults who recognize the green-tinted avatar of this influencer. Gaining over 15 million subscribers in 2020 alone, the "Minecraft" speedrunner has created an empire out of placing blocks and roleplaying with his fellow content creators. Even without revealing his face or identity to his audience, fans flock to his channel and streams to eat up his content.
Only 7.4% of those surveyed knew who Dream was - 59.7% of them found him favorable. His unfavorability rating is 22.1%, giving him one of the highest in that metric on this list. Since he doesn't reveal his face or personal information, it might be hard for some fans to trust who he is. He's also been accused of faking "Minecraft" speedruns, which could contribute to his lower rating.
2. Doctor Mike
Mikhail Varshavski, known online as Doctor Mike, is a scrub-wearing physician with over 6.7 million subscribers on YouTube. Since starting his channel in 2016, he's grown to be a major source of information for those looking for a factual take on the world of medicine and science. For everyone else, he posts videos reacting to sketches about medicine and medical memes.
7.7% of those surveyed knew who Varshavski was, but 61.3% of those gave him a favorable rating.
1. MrBeast
The most-liked influencer on this list is Jimmy Donaldson, known as the philanthropic and creative MrBeast. His ascent into YouTube superstardom began in 2018 and hasn't stopped since, with the 22-year-old coming up with inventive video ideas like buying the largest firework, giving 10,000 presents to kids for Christmas, and starting his own fast-food chain.
Out of those surveyed, 18.9% knew who Donaldson was and a whopping 70% of those had favorable feelings towards him. Only 12% gave him an unfavorable rating. It's clear that his 52 million subscribers and network of fans reach far and wide, earning him the top spot on our list.
SurveyMonkey Audience polls from a national sample balanced by census data of age and gender. Respondents are incentivized to complete surveys through charitable contributions. Generally speaking, digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet. SurveyMonkey Audience doesn't try to weight its sample based on race or income. Polling data collected 1,040 respondents December 24, 2020 with a 3 percentage point margin of error.