Subscriber surge +99,998 subscribers in a day

How many pumps to explode a football? John Nellis's experiment passes 16 million

A lookalike Lamine Yamal and a candle-blowing match against Brentford share the shelf, and the subscriber count made one of its larger single-day moves.

Channel:

John Nellis Story of October 9, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The channel is adding 99,998 subscribers a day, 9.6 times a normal day (10,435).

John Nellis asked a question a child might ask in a back garden, "How Many Pumps to Explode a Football?", and put it at the top of a Short on October 1. It has since gone past 16 million views, more than anything else he has posted in the past three weeks.

The idea fits the channel. His about text promises "football side quests" completed so the viewer does not have to, and his recent uploads read like a checklist of them. In "I Tricked The Internet with a FAKE Yamal," now past 11 million views, a lookalike stands in for the Barcelona teenager. "Control It, You Keep It" is a dare built on a first touch. There was also a £1,000 hunt for the first subscriber to find him, and a candle-blowing challenge against Brentford's own channel.

The subscriber count moved as well. The channel stands at 16.6 million, about a hundred thousand more than a day earlier, on a channel where a usual day adds something closer to ten thousand. Over the full week the gain came to around twice that single day.

The newest of those videos, the Brentford one, is also the quietest of the run so far, with well under 200,000 views. Perhaps it is the burst football, still circulating more than a week after it went up, that is bringing new people to the channel.

Published on Trari

Where next?

Also in Football creatorsVideo taking off 12x its usual first dayRamo Akh questions the cards behind two soccer collisionsHis quick comparison draws an unusually busy comment section, with viewers arguing that the goalkeeper's contact with the ball changes the picture.Channel: Ramo Akh · Story of October 24, 2026

A different discovery todayVideo people are talking about 11x its usual commentsZelenskyy tells Steven Bartlett why he needed "ammunition, not a ride"In a nearly two-hour conversation, Ukraine's president moves from sleepless nights and grieving parents to Bucha, Paddington Bear and the morning the invasion …Channel: The Diary Of A CEO · Story of October 24, 2026

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The facts

Channel: John Nellis
Subscribers: 16,600,000 ▲ 200,000 this week
Channel views, last 7 days: 80,374,607
Channel views, pace per day: -6,359,030 (on a normal day: 10,750,507)

The numbers

Here is how the subscriber count moved on a channel that usually grows at a much gentler pace.

new subscribers per day

typical day

10,435

now

99,998

subscribers

16,600,000

▲ 200,000 in the last 7 days

total views

11,225,620,982

views per day

-6,359,030

typical day: 10,750,507

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

23,900,000

23,400,000

19,200,000

16,600,000

10,600,000

6,500,000

As of October 9, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.

💡 Test your knowledge

Nellis took on Brentford's channel in a candle-blowing challenge. What is Brentford FC's nickname?