‘I WAS DEPRESSED’ PRESENTER ALI ON MAKING SH500K A MONTH ON YOUTUBE

Popular content creator Presenter Ali has opened up about the emptiness he felt at the peak of his YouTube success, revealing that hitting 100,000 subscribers plunged him into a period of depression.

Speaking on Hot 96, Ali described his rise on the streaming platform. “There were days I could make half a million shillings in a month. I was living the life I had dreamt of,” he stated. However, this financial success, which saw him at times earning close to a million shillings, came at a personal cost.

The pressure of being a solo creator shooting, editing and uploading content alone took a physical toll. “There are days I could wake up and my back would not allow me. I would just roll over my bed and fall down to be able to stand,” Ali shared.

The turning point came when he hit 100,000 subscribers, a milestone he had once coveted. Instead of feeling fulfilled, he was met with a sense of emptiness. “I really fell into depression… I felt like I was actually empty because I didn’t get a concrete reason as to why I was doing this. Yes, you have the money, but then what next?”

This crisis led him to realised while his content was profitable, he was not adding value to his audience’s lives. “I don’t add value to your life. In fact, I think I’m just degrading your life because I’m wasting your time with some gossip nonsense,” he recalled.

Presenter Ali made a conscious decision to shifted his channel away from gossip and towards producing quality content focused on meaningful interviews and life-changing stories.

The reward, he says, is no longer measured in revenue but in human impact. “People saying after my interview, my life has changed. I’ve got a job… I started feeling like I now have a sense of direction.”