Eric Decker (born January 12, 1990), known online as Airrack (a sensational spelling of his name Eric), is an American YouTube vlogger known for his challenge and prank content, and for gaining a million subscribers in a year.[4] He is also co-founder of Creator Now, an educational program for online content creation.

Airrack
Decker in 2021
Personal information
Born
Eric Decker

(1990-01-12) January 12, 1990 (age 34)
Occupation
YouTube information
Channel
Created byEric Decker
Years active2019–present
Genres
Subscribers15.4 million[1]
Total views3.18 billion[1]
Associated acts
100,000 subscribers2019 [2]
1,000,000 subscribers2020
10,000,000 subscribers2022[3]

Last updated: September 7, 2024

Early life

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According to Decker, he first discovered YouTube when he was in fifth grade and was inspired to film a music video for the Flo Rida song "Low". He later went to college but dropped out to start a wedding video production company. He worked there for four years before becoming a full-time YouTuber.[5]

YouTube career

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2019–2020

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Decker launched his YouTube channel in July 2019.[6] He became known for videos gate crashing events, including Tomorrowland music festival, the VIP section of a Travis Scott concert, and an attempt to crash Justin Bieber's wedding in September 2019.[7] Creating vlogs, pranks and challenge videos, he gained 880,000 subscribers by December 2020.[6] Aiming to reach a million subscribers by the end of the year,[8] he partnered with creator startup Stir for a campaign for subscribers in which he stranded himself on a deserted island.[6] Stir set up a website called Save Airrack which provided a referral system for fans to refer new subscribers to his channel for rewards such as thank you letters, the opportunity to feature in collaboration videos, and the ability to choose a design for Decker to have as a tattoo.[6] He successfully reached a million subscribers on December 27 after having gained 250,000 subscribers within two weeks.[8]

2021–present

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Decker continued to create prank and social experiment videos into 2021, including a May video in which he hired over 50 bodyguards to convince people that he was a celebrity.[9] In November 2021, Decker hosted a MrBeast-inspired ping pong tournament called XTreme Pong, which featured influencer competitors, a $120,000 prize and crypto elements including NFTs.[10] That December he participated in the third installment of MrBeast's YouTube Originals show Creator Games for a prize of $1 million.[11] Zach King won the competition but later donated $55,000 of the prize money to a charity of Decker's choice, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, after Decker agreed to eat hot wings with a heat of 3 million Scoville units.[12]

In January 2022, KTLA 5 reported on an unknown man scaling a building in downtown Los Angeles dressed as Spider-Man.[13][14] Decker claimed that he had climbed the building in an attempt to gain the attention of Marvel so they would cast him as the character in their next Spider-Man film.[13][15] He told Insider that the stunt was "dead serious" and that he was "here to get a part — any part — in a Marvel movie and I will not stop until the mission is accomplished".[13] In September 2022, Decker was a keynote speaker at the annual VidSummit conference where he spoke about the creator economy.[16] That same November, he was invited to join FaZe Clan by MrBeast.[17] He hosted the 12th Streamy Awards on December 4, 2022, which was livestreamed exclusively to his YouTube channel.[18] Decker reached 10 million subscribers in 2022, hitting the milestone in under three years.[19]

In January 2023, Pizza Hut collaborated with Decker to create the world's largest pizza, breaking the Guinness World Record with a 13,990-square-foot pizza.[20][21][22] The pizza was used in Pizza Hut's Super Bowl commercial for the return of its "Big New Yorker".[23][24] He also broke the Guinness World Record for most fast food restaurants visited in 24 hours by visiting 100 pizzerias in New York City later in the year.[25] Decker's gate crashing videos continued into 2023 with a May video in which he bypassed security at the Crypto.com Arena by impersonating Austin Reaves.[26] In September 2023, Decker signed with United Talent Agency.[27]

Creator Now

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Creator Now
IndustryCreator economy
FoundedMay 2021
FounderEric Decker, Zack Honarvar, Kate Ward
Websitecreatornow.club

In May 2021, Decker co-founded Creator Now, an educational program for online content creation, with One Day Entertainment managers Zack Honarvar and Kate Ward.[4][28][5] It raised $3 million of funding from investors including Upfront Ventures, Casey Neistat, Justin Kan, and Jack Conte.[4][28] The company was acquired by creator analytics platform VidIQ in January 2024.[29][30]

Awards and nominations

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Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.
2021 11th Streamy Awards First Person Nominated [31]
2022 12th Streamy Awards Creator of the Year Nominated [19]
First Person Won [32]
Editing Nominated [19]

References

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  1. ^ a b "About Airrack". YouTube.
  2. ^ Hearing, Alice (February 8, 2021). "Youtuber Airrack reveals how he went from 0 to 1m subscribers in a year". Dexerto. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  3. ^ Decker, Eric (November 6, 2022). "I Hit 10,000,000 Subscribers". YouTube. Archived from the original on January 15, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c Weiss, Geoff (January 31, 2022). "Airrack Raises $3 Million For YouTuber Film School". Tubefilter. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Weiss, Geoff (June 17, 2021). "Airrack Launched An Online Course For Aspiring YouTubers After Nabbing 1 Million Subscribers In A Year". Tubefilter. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d Hale, James (December 22, 2020). "Latest Drop From Creator-Focused Startup 'Stir' Will Help Nascent Vlogger Airrack Reach 1 Million Subs". Tubefilter. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  7. ^ Oyer, Kalyn (October 9, 2019). "This Atlanta YouTuber crashed Justin Bieber's SC wedding. Here's what happened". The Post and Courier. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Phan, Trung T. (January 19, 2021). "Airrack's race to 1m subscribers used all the tools of the new creator economy". The Hustle. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  9. ^ "YouTuber Hired 50 Bodyguards at Rs 34 Lakh in 'Fake Celebrity' Challenge and it Worked Like a Charm". CNN-News18. May 27, 2021. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  10. ^ Weiss, Geoff (November 16, 2021). "Airrack Hosts Star-Studded Ping Pong Tournament, Auctions Creators' Paddles As NFTs". Tubefilter. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  11. ^ Weiss, Geoff (December 14, 2021). "MrBeast's Third 'Creator Games' To Host Bella Poarch, Logan Paul, With $1 Million Prize". Tubefilter. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  12. ^ Catlin, Heather (April 29, 2022). "Atlanta Community Food Bank gets $55K, thanks to YouTube competition". WSB-TV. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  13. ^ a b c Cheong, Charissa (February 9, 2022). "A YouTube prankster appeared to film himself scaling an LA building in a Spider-Man outfit to convince Marvel to give him a role in a movie". Insider. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  14. ^ Kiszla, Cameron; Leyvas, Gil (January 20, 2022). "Person dressed as Spider-Man climbs downtown L.A. building". KTLA 5. With reporting by Matt Phillips. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  15. ^ Kiszla, Cameron (February 6, 2022). "Downtown L.A. Spider-Man's identity revealed? YouTuber takes credit for climbing building". KTLA 5. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  16. ^ Gutelle, Sam (September 6, 2022). "MrBeast, Dhar Mann, Wengie among keynote speakers at this year's VidSummit conference". Tubefilter. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
  17. ^ Tsiaoussidis, Alex (November 10, 2022). "FaZe Clan let MrBeast pick a new member on their behalf, and he chose a YouTube star". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  18. ^ Grein, Paul (December 5, 2022). "Mark Rober, MrBeast Win Big at 2022 YouTube Streamy Awards (Full Winners List)". Billboard. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  19. ^ a b c Grein, Paul (October 27, 2022). "Post Malone, Hailey Bieber & More Among 2022 YouTube Streamy Awards Nominees". Billboard. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  20. ^ Marcus, Lillit (January 21, 2023). "New record set for world's biggest pizza". CNN (Travel). Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  21. ^ Fine, Camille (January 24, 2023). "World's largest pizza record broken in an epic stunt for NY style return to Pizza Hut's menu". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  22. ^ "New record set for world's biggest pizza". CBS Miami. February 9, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  23. ^ Gutelle, Sam (February 13, 2023). "KSI and Logan Paul aired their Super Bowl commercial (and MrBeast was in an ad too)". Tubefilter. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  24. ^ Moore, Cortney (January 20, 2023). "Pizza Hut and YouTube star Airrack make world's largest pizza in California". Fox News. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  25. ^ Atwal, Sanj (February 9, 2024). "How many pizza world records can YouTuber Airrack break?". Guinness World Records. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
  26. ^ Williams, Madison (May 10, 2023). "Look: Austin Reaves Impersonator Has No Trouble Breaching Security at Lakers' Arena". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  27. ^ Vlessing, Etan (September 28, 2023). "Eric "Airrack" Decker Signs With UTA (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  28. ^ a b Stokel-Walker, Chris (January 31, 2022). "The pitch deck that a YouTube 'film school' startup used to raise $3 million from investors like Casey Neistat". Business Insider. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  29. ^ Yurieff, Kaya (January 23, 2024). "Startup Co-Founded by YouTuber Airrack Sells to VidIQ". The Information. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  30. ^ Gutelle, Sam (January 24, 2024). "Airrack's YouTuber film school sells to VidIQ". Tubefilter. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  31. ^ Spangler, Todd (October 20, 2021). "YouTube Streamy Awards 2021 Nominations Announced, MrBeast Leads With Seven Nods". Variety. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  32. ^ Chan, J. Clara (October 20, 2021). "YouTube Streamy Awards: MrBeast Takes Top Creator; Full List of Winners". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
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