Casey Neistat: From Dishwasher to 12.7M YouTube Subscribers

Channel: CaseyNeistat   Who: Casey Neistat, American filmmaker and vlogger   Subscribers: 12.7M (as of 10 November 2026)   Niche: New York City vlogs, short films and adventures

Casey Neistat is one of the filmmakers who turned the daily vlog into a mainstream YouTube format. His YouTube channel, youtube.com/@casey, has 12.7 million subscribers and about 1,100 videos as of 10 November 2026, and Wikipedia put its lifetime views at 3.27 billion in July 2026. He got there without a high school diploma and, for years, without much money.

Dropping out at 17

Neistat grew up in Gales Ferry, Connecticut. He dropped out of high school in his sophomore year, at 17, and had a son, Owen, the same year. From 1998 to 2001 he lived in a trailer park with Owen and Owen's mother, and worked as a dishwasher at a seafood restaurant and a short-order cook in Mystic, Connecticut, according to The Day and Wikipedia. It was during those years that he decided to move to New York City.

Films made with a camera, a marker and scissors

In New York he and his brother Van began making films about the work of the artist Tom Sachs in 2001. In 2003 Casey made a three-minute film, iPod's Dirty Secret, criticising Apple for having no iPod battery replacement programme. The Washington Post called it "wonderfully renegade." Apple announced a battery replacement policy that November, though it said the change had been planned for months. In 2008 HBO bought an eight-episode series from the brothers, The Neistat Brothers, for just under $2 million, according to Variety. It premiered in June 2010.

YouTube, bike lanes and a Nike budget spent on travel

His channel started on 15 February 2010. A 2011 film, Bike Lanes, in which he crashes into obstacles in New York's bike lanes after getting a $50 ticket for riding outside one, was covered widely and named on Time's list of the top creative videos of the year. In 2012 Nike asked him to make a film about what it means to "make it count." Instead he spent the whole budget travelling around the world with his friend Max Joseph for ten days until the money ran out. Make It Count passed 1.5 million views in three days, and Mashable called it "the best branding story ever told."

The daily vlog

On 26 March 2015 he started posting a vlog every day. The channel reached one million subscribers in August 2015 and four million by August 2016. A January 2016 video of him snowboarding through New York streets during a blizzard drew 6.5 million views in 24 hours, and GQ named him its New Media Star in 2016. Alongside the vlogs he co-founded the video app Beme with Matt Hackett; CNN bought the company in November 2016, reportedly for $25 million, according to Variety.

Owning the relationship with your audience

In 2018 he opened 368, a creative space for creators in New York named after his studio's address on Broadway, and Patreon's chief executive Jack Conte publicly discussed working with him on it. The space closed in February 2024. Neistat still films New York, running and his family, and he has directed commercials for brands such as Samsung, Google and Mercedes-Benz.

What other creators can take from it

Neistat did not wait for permission or a big budget. He made things with what he had, posted consistently, and kept his own voice even when a brand paid the bills. Daily vlogs also showed how much people value seeing the work in progress, not just the finished film. That behind-the-scenes material is exactly what your most loyal viewers will pay to see.

You do not need 12 million subscribers for that. On Yaff you can share behind-the-scenes posts, photo dumps, extra videos and ebooks behind monthly tiers, take tips, and talk to supporters in group chats and DMs. Starter is free with a 5% platform fee; optional Creator ($19/mo) and Pro ($99/mo) plans drop the platform fee to 0%; payouts go to your bank daily via Stripe. Start your free Yaff page and publish your first post, see pricing, or read how to fund your expedition or adventure with memberships and add Yaff to your YouTube channel.

More origin stories: From Broken Bones to 6.4M Subscribers: Devin Supertramp, From Project 30 to 10M Subscribers: The Yes Theory Story and From English Teacher to 7.5M Subscribers: Drew Binsky.

Watch Casey Neistat on YouTube