Donut YouTube Channel Stats
Donut (@donut) is a YouTube channel from United States created on July 9, 2015. As of October 2026, the channel has 9.35M subscribers, 3.1B total views and 1,909 videos. Donut uploads about 1.5 videos per week, and its videos average 1.87M views with a 3.15% engagement rate.
Donut Channel Stats & Performance Metrics
- Engagement rate
- 3.15%Likes and comments per view
- Upload frequency
- 1.5 / weekLong-form, last 12 months
- Channel age
- 11 yearsSince July 9, 2015
- Views to subscribers
- 20%Avg video views / subscribers
Donut Views & Upload Growth
Views earned by videos, grouped by the time they were published. Based on 410 long-form videos published since Aug 2022.
Each bar counts the total views of every video uploaded in that period, so older bars keep growing as those videos keep earning views. Channels that upload many videos a day show a shorter history here.
Best Videos by Donut
The most watched, most liked and newest long-form uploads. Shorts are not included.
Most Viewed Videos on Donut
-
1
13.58Mviews
-
2
12.52Mviews
-
3
12.33Mviews
-
4
9.25Mviews
-
5
8.34Mviews
-
6
7.52Mviews
-
7
7.3Mviews
-
8
7.05Mviews
-
9
6.85Mviews
-
10
6.83Mviews
Most Liked Videos on Donut
-
1
297.8Klikes
-
2
283.8Klikes
-
3
259.8Klikes
-
4
255.1Klikes
-
5
255Klikes
-
6
252.4Klikes
-
7
210.1Klikes
-
8
191.9Klikes
-
9
191.4Klikes
-
10
182.5Klikes
Latest Videos Uploaded by Donut
-
1
528.3Kviews
-
2
657.1Kviews
-
3
885.1Kviews
-
4
539.6Kviews
-
5
2.1Mviews
-
6
2.5Mviews
-
7
939.9Kviews
-
8
2.38Mviews
-
9
359.4Kviews
-
10
575.2Kviews
All Donut Videos
Search and sort every long-form video we analysed for Donut.
| Video | Views |
|---|---|
| 528.3K | |
| 657.1K | |
| 885.1K | |
| 539.6K | |
| 2.1M | |
| 2.5M | |
| 939.9K | |
| 2.38M | |
| 359.4K | |
| 575.2K |
Donut Upload Schedule & Content Insights
Uploads on Friday earn the highest average views. Videos in the over 40 min range perform best. Times are in UTC.
Upload day of week
Number of uploads and average views per video. Most videos go live around 3 PM UTC.
Video length
Average views by video length. Average runtime is 20:45.
Title patterns
How Donut writes video titles.
Performance by year
Uploads and views by publish year.
| Year | Uploads | Total views | Avg views |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 55 | 41.13M | 747.8K |
| 2025 | 88 | 81.12M | 921.8K |
| 2024 | 100 | 180.1M | 1.8M |
| 2023 | 115 | 301.99M | 2.63M |
| 2022 | 52 | 162.51M | 3.13M |
Most used video tags
Tags Donut uses most often across its videos.
Channel keywords & topics
Keywords set in the channel settings and the topics YouTube assigns.
Popular playlists
Public playlists on the channel, by number of videos.
- WHEELHOUSE - Answering All the Questions You Never Thought to Ask229 videos
- "Up To Speed" - Everything You Need to Know About Every Car197 videos
- Weird Car Tech Explained193 videos
- D-List154 videos
- Testing Stuff97 videos
- Donut Underground Members-Only Videos80 videos
- Building a Turbo Miata (Moneypit)57 videos
- Science Garage - Cars Down to the Atom49 videos
About Donut YouTube Channel
- Donut is a US-based automotive YouTube brand built around making car culture approachable, with the channel’s own description summed up as “cars are for everyone.”
- The channel was founded in 2015 and is publicly associated with co-founders Matt Levin, Ben Conrad, and Nick Moceri.
- Donut has evolved from a car-media production brand into a broad automotive entertainment channel mixing education, experiments, and high-energy challenge videos.
- The channel focuses on vehicles, car history, mechanics, performance, drift culture, JDM imports, and accessible explainers for general audiences.
- Donut is widely recognized for recurring series-style formats such as Up To Speed and HiLow, plus a strong on-camera personality-driven presentation.
- The brand operates as a large-scale multi-platform automotive media company and has been publicly described as one of YouTube’s biggest automotive brands.
How Donut Grew: Story and Strategy
- Donut launched in 2015 and found its lane by making car content that was entertaining enough for non-experts while still rewarding enthusiasts.
- A major early turning point was Up To Speed, which helped define the channel’s fast-paced, humor-first educational style and expanded its audience beyond hardcore gearheads.
- The brand gained momentum by combining explanation, comedy, and production value, turning car history and technical topics into repeatable series.
- Viral momentum came from attention-grabbing concepts with clear stakes, like cheap-versus-expensive comparisons, dramatic builds, and reaction content.
- Donut strengthened growth by leaning into personalities and hosts, making recurring faces part of the channel identity rather than relying only on cars.
- The channel’s output shows a durable strategy: frequent uploads, familiar series, and highly clickable packaging around recognizable car myths, icons, and upgrades.
- Its broad topic range, from street racing to engine experiments, helps it reach both enthusiasts and general viewers looking for spectacle or simple answers.
Why Donut's Top Videos Went Viral
- We Put a $10,000 Engine in our $500 Civic worked because it combines a dramatic budget contrast, a familiar car platform, and a clear transformation arc that promises payoff.
- Riding with Japan’s Most Wanted Street Racers worked because it offers rarity, danger, and access to a subculture viewers cannot easily see elsewhere, which creates strong curiosity.
- We Bought the Cheapest Truck from China worked because “cheapest” is an instantly understandable hook, and the story frames value, novelty, and experimentation in one concept.
- These titles succeed by making the premise obvious in seconds, while the thumbnails likely reinforce scale, contrast, and outcome.
- All three videos tap into Donut’s strengths: simple stakes, big payoff, and automotive topics that appeal both to casual viewers and enthusiasts.
Donut's Content Strategy
- Donut leans on high-concept automotive ideas that can be understood instantly, such as cheap-versus-expensive comparisons, extreme builds, and vehicle challenges.
- The channel uses series branding heavily, which helps viewers return for predictable formats and makes each upload part of a larger content ecosystem.
- Titles usually foreground contrast, surprise, or a strong claim, while thumbnails likely emphasize the car, the price gap, or the most dramatic visual element.
- The upload rhythm is consistent enough to keep the audience engaged, with around 1.5 videos per week supporting regular discovery and return viewing.
- Donut mixes education and entertainment, letting technical topics stay approachable through humor, editing, and a fast pacing style.
- The channel’s broad vehicle coverage helps it cycle through street cars, imports, drift, motorsport culture, mechanical advice, and build projects without feeling repetitive.
Who Watches Donut
- Car enthusiasts who want entertainment first but still like learning about engines, tuning, and modifications.
- Younger viewers who respond to personality-driven videos, humor, and high-energy editing.
- General YouTube audiences drawn to transformation stories, extreme comparisons, and clear stakes.
- Viewers interested in JDM, drift culture, imports, and internet car culture more broadly.
- People who are not deep automotive experts but want accessible explanations of car concepts and myths.
Donut Timeline: Key Milestones
The moments that shaped the channel.
- 2015Donut was founded by Matt Levin, Ben Conrad, and Nick Moceri.
- 2015The channel launched and began building an audience around accessible automotive explainers and entertainment.
- 2016Donut rose to wider fame with breakthrough video content and stronger series development.
- 2017The channel’s recognizable host-driven format matured, with recurring educational and personality-led car series becoming central to growth.
- 2018Donut was widely established as a major automotive YouTube channel and expanded its reach through highly packaged series content.
- 2019The channel’s format mix of explainers, builds, and challenge videos continued scaling to mass audiences.
- 2021Recurrent Ventures acquired Donut Media, marking a major ownership change for the brand.
- 2024Donut remained a prominent car channel while the broader car-creator landscape saw increased attention on creator turnover and channel evolution.
- 2026The channel continued publishing a steady mix of HiLow comparisons, builds, road-trip content, and technical automotive videos.
Donut Strengths & Growth Opportunities
Strengths
- Strong, instantly understandable video ideas.
- Broad appeal that reaches both enthusiasts and casual viewers.
- Reusable series formats that build audience loyalty.
- High production identity with clear on-camera personality and strong pacing.
Opportunities
- Expand more deeply into long-form storytelling around major builds and road-trip projects.
- Create more evergreen explainers that keep pulling search traffic over time.
- Develop more collaborations with niche automotive subcultures and international car scenes.
- Strengthen recurring series that convert casual viewers into repeat subscribers through clear formatting.
Brand Collaboration Potential of Donut
- Donut is a strong fit for automotive parts, tools, tires, detailing, insurance, and performance brands because its audience is already in-market for vehicle products.
- Its format supports product demonstrations, comparisons, and challenge-based integrations that feel native to the channel.
- Brands could sponsor build series, test comparisons, road-trip episodes, or educational segments without needing heavy scripted advertising.
- The channel’s broad reach makes it useful for both enthusiast-grade products and mass-market automotive services.
- Donut’s personality-led presentation gives sponsors a memorable association rather than a generic placement.
YouTube Channels Similar to Donut
Creators with comparable formats and audiences.
Frequently Asked Questions About Donut
How many subscribers does Donut have?
As of October 2026, Donut has 9,350,000 subscribers on YouTube (9.35M). YouTube rounds public subscriber counts, so the exact number can differ slightly from what you see on the channel page.
How many views does Donut have in total?
Donut has received 3,098,558,542 total views (3.1B) across 1,909 public videos. That works out to roughly 1.62M lifetime views per upload, including Shorts.
How many videos has Donut uploaded?
Donut has uploaded 1,909 public videos. We analysed the latest 600 uploads: 410 were long-form videos and 190 were Shorts, which are excluded from the averages on this page.
When was Donut created on YouTube?
The Donut YouTube channel was created on July 9, 2015, so it is 11 years and 3 months old.
Where is Donut based?
Donut lists United States as its country on YouTube.
What is the average number of views per video for Donut?
Videos on Donut average 1,870,337 views (1.87M), with a median of 1.46M views per video. The average is 20% of the subscriber count, which shows how much of the audience watches each upload.
What is the engagement rate of Donut?
Donut has an engagement rate of 3.15%, calculated by YTGrowAI as (likes + comments) divided by views across 410 long-form videos. This is our own calculation from public data and not an official YouTube statistic.
How often does Donut upload new videos?
Over the last 12 months Donut has published 79 long-form videos, which is 1.5 videos per week. Most uploads go live on Friday, and Friday uploads have earned the highest average views.
What is the most viewed video on Donut?
The most viewed video on Donut is "We Put a $10,000 Engine in our $500 Civic" with 13,576,979 views, published on Jul 28, 2023.
What is the latest video from Donut?
The most recent long-form upload we found is "Cheap vs Expensive Coilovers | HiLow", published on Oct 6, 2026, which has 528,292 views so far.
Is Donut growing or declining?
Donut currently shows a "stable" pattern. Its 10 newest settled videos average +5% views compared with the 10 videos before them. Momentum can swing quickly, because one viral video changes the average.
What video length works best for Donut?
Donut videos in the over 40 min range earn the highest average views. The channel's average long-form video runs about 21 minutes.
Who runs Donut on YouTube?
Donut is publicly associated with co-founders Matt Levin, Ben Conrad, and Nick Moceri, and it has grown into a larger media brand with multiple on-camera creators over time. Donut is known as an automotive entertainment channel rather than a one-person creator brand. Public coverage has also identified Matt Levin as a central leader of Donut’s operations and early growth. The channel’s identity comes from a team-based format built around hosts, writers, editors, and recurring series, which helped Donut scale beyond a single personality and remain recognizable even as the on-screen lineup changed.
What is Donut’s real name?
Donut’s public brand name is Donut Media, commonly shortened to Donut. It is not a personal creator name, so there is no single “real name” in the way there would be for an individual YouTuber. The company was founded as Donut Media in 2015 and became widely known simply as Donut on YouTube. Public reporting associates the brand with founders Matt Levin, Ben Conrad, and Nick Moceri. On statistics pages and among viewers, Donut is usually treated as the channel’s main identity, especially because the content is built as a media brand rather than a solo creator channel.
How old is Donut and when was it founded?
Donut was founded in 2015, and the YouTube channel itself started on July 9, 2015. That makes Donut a long-running automotive channel with years of accumulated series formats, hosts, and audience growth. Public coverage shows that the brand rose to prominence after its early launch and then expanded into a major YouTube automotive media company. Because Donut is a channel and company rather than a person, there is no personal age to report. The useful founding date for viewers is 2015, which marks the beginning of Donut’s presence as a recognizable automotive brand on YouTube.
How did Donut get famous?
Donut became famous by turning car content into fast, funny, highly accessible entertainment. A major breakthrough was its series-based approach, especially explainers that made automotive topics easier for non-experts to enjoy. Donut also benefited from strong packaging: its videos often use simple stakes, dramatic comparisons, and eye-catching vehicle ideas that are easy to click. Public reporting describes Donut as rising to fame after launching in 2015 and building toward large-scale audience growth through standout videos and recurring formats. Donut’s mix of humor, education, and challenge-based car projects helped it stand out from more traditional automotive channels.
What is Donut’s biggest video?
Donut’s biggest video among the examples provided is We Put a $10,000 Engine in our $500 Civic, with 13,576,979 views. That video works because the title is instantly understandable and the premise creates a strong before-and-after curiosity. Donut’s biggest uploads usually combine a familiar car platform, a bold budget hook, and a transformation that feels both surprising and easy to follow. That formula is a big part of Donut’s success as a channel. Viewers searching for Donut’s biggest video usually want the most watched or most iconic example of the channel’s build-and-challenge style.
Has Donut had any controversies?
Donut has been discussed in broader coverage about changes in car YouTube, including talent departures and shifts in the creator landscape. Public reporting has focused more on the channel’s evolution and staffing changes than on a single major scandal. Because Donut is a large media brand, different periods have seen creators leave, series change, and the channel adapt its format. Those changes can generate online discussion, but they do not define the brand’s core public reputation. Donut is primarily known for automotive entertainment, series content, and accessible car education rather than for controversy-driven publicity.
What are channels similar to Donut?
Channels similar to Donut include other automotive creators that blend cars with entertainment, education, and strong personalities. Popular comparisons include Hoovies Garage, Mighty Car Mods, TheStradman, Engineering Explained, and Throttle House. Donut stands out for being especially series-driven and playful, but these channels overlap in their use of builds, reviews, explanations, and car culture storytelling. Viewers who like Donut often enjoy channels that combine useful car information with a clear on-camera style. If the goal is to find similar channels, the best matches are ones that balance vehicle content with personality and high-production storytelling.
Does Donut have a posting schedule?
Donut has a fairly consistent posting rhythm, with the channel’s current average around 1.5 videos per week. That means viewers can usually expect a steady flow of new uploads rather than long gaps between videos. Donut’s schedule also tends to be shaped by series production, since formats like HiLow and other build or comparison videos require planning, filming, and editing. For audiences, the important part is that Donut maintains enough frequency to stay visible in the automotive niche while still producing polished, higher-effort videos. The schedule supports both repeat viewership and discovery through YouTube recommendations.
What should I watch first on Donut?
A good first set of Donut videos is the channel’s biggest and most representative uploads, especially We Put a $10,000 Engine in our $500 Civic, Riding with Japan’s Most Wanted Street Racers, and Real Mechanic Reacts to More Horrible Tiktok Car Advice. Those videos show the range of Donut: big builds, access-driven storytelling, and reaction-based car education. Donut is easiest to understand when you start with videos that have simple premises and strong stakes. If you want the channel’s identity quickly, begin with one transformation video, one culture-focused episode, and one advice or mechanic reaction video.
Explore More YouTube Channel Stats
Compare Donut with other channels we track.
Statistics come from the public YouTube Data API. Engagement rate, averages and trend labels are independent calculations calculated by YTGrowAI and are not official YouTube metrics. Shorts are excluded from averages. Background information is AI-assisted and based on public sources, so verify important facts before relying on them.
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