{"id":7994952,"date":"2026-04-09T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=7994952"},"modified":"2026-04-09T13:42:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T20:42:52","slug":"creator-close-up-nick-digiovanni-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/media-platforms\/tv\/creator-close-up-nick-digiovanni-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Nick DiGiovanni Sees Becoming YouTube’s Biggest Culinary Creator as a ‘Responsibility,’ Not a \u2018Trophy’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Welcome to <\/em>Creator Close-Up<\/em><\/a>, TheWrap’s new monthly feature that spotlights the people who are changing the creator and entertainment landscape.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re addicted to watching recipe videos, you’ve seen Nick DiGiovanni.<\/a> With 36.1 million YouTube subscribers, DiGiovanni hit a major milestone at the end of March, surpassing Japanese creator Bayashi (35.7 million YouTube subscribers<\/a>) to become the most followed culinary creator on YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That stat is just one of DiGiovanni\u2019s many accomplishments. Often called \u201cGordon Ramsay\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9,\u201d DiGiovanni first came into the media spotlight by becoming the youngest-ever finalist on \u201cMasterChef.\u201d He\u2019s since been included on both Time and Forbes\u2019 lists of top creators, launched his own line of Michelin-quality pantry staples and has featured celebrities like Ramsey, Matthew McConaughey and Tom Brady on his channel. And though YouTube is his primary platform, it only accounts for part of his more than 55 million followers across social media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a staggering amount of fame and success for someone who\u2019s just shy of 30. It\u2019s also a growing empire that DiGiovanni doesn\u2019t take lightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI told everyone on our team call that I’m looking at this new position of being the most followed food and cooking channel on YouTube as a responsibility and not so much as a trophy,\u201d DiGiovanni told TheWrap. “It is important for us to be excited about it and celebrate it. But we feel more responsibility to be really thoughtful with our next steps. We\u2019re in a really fun spot, and this path hasn\u2019t yet been carved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DiGiovanni first started posting on YouTube in 2019. His first video<\/a> was actually him spotlighting his final dessert on \u201cMasterChef.\u201d During those early days, he was really only posting because he liked sharing recipes and food videos <\/s>with his followers. But after his account blew up on TikTok<\/a>, everything changed. A little more than six years after that first post, DiGiovanni and his team hired their 15th full-time team member and work with anywhere between 40 to 50 contractors on everything from making video thumbnails to lighting bigger shoots. That\u2019s without counting DiGiovanni\u2019s support team \u2014 at least two different types of lawyers, a business management team and a PR team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s gotten to be quite bigger than I would have anticipated,\u201d DiGiovanni admitted. \u201cMy goal is to provide content that is beneficial and positive for people watching it, and to get them to watch it for the longest amount of time possible,\u201d he said. \u201cThat, to me, says they’re on YouTube to spend time, not kill time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fresh off the heels of his subscriber sweep, here’s how social media’s culinary king is planning to continue his reign and what he thinks may be ahead for the creator ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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