Jaiden Dittfach[2][3] (born September 27, 1997) is an American YouTuber and animator known for her story-time animations channel, Jaiden Animations. She made videos on a variety of topics, spanning from her experiences to personal stories. She now primarily creates videos centered around video game stories.
As of March 2025, Dittfach's main YouTube channel has 14.4 million subscribers and 2.8 billion views. Nominated for a total of six Streamy Awards, she won in the Animated category at the 10th Streamy Awards in 2020.
Early life
[edit]
Jaiden Dittfach[2] was born on September 27, 1997.[4] Prior to working on her own channel, Dittfach worked with other YouTubers on their channels,[5] including iHasCupquake.[6]
Career
[edit]
2014–2017: Anonymous channel
[edit]
Dittfach created her YouTube channel in February 2014, when she was 16 years old.[5][7]
In 2016 and 2017, Dittfach's channel started trending on the website, becoming more prominent to bigger audiences.[8][9][10] Dittfach mainly uploads animated YouTube videos that tell stories about her personal life.[8][11][12] The videos sometimes discuss subjects such as toxic relationships, body positivity, anxiety, and depression.[8][7] She also creates videos centered on her travels and video games, such as Pokémon.[13][14][15]
2017–present: Rise to prominence and collaborations
[edit]
In December 2017, Dittfach appeared in YouTube Rewind: The Shape of 2017, the first YouTube Rewind installment to include YouTube animators.[16] In September 2018, she received a nomination in the Animated category for the 8th Streamy Awards.[17] In YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind,[18] she made an animation featuring PewDiePie's chair.[19][20]
In March 2019, Dittfach participated in an airsoft gun tournament organized by YouTuber MrBeast and sponsored by game developer Electronic Arts. The event, organized in order to promote the release of Apex Legends, featured 36 players, all of which were prominent YouTube influencers. Dittfach's team, which also comprised Anthony Padilla and close friend James "TheOdd1sOut" Rallison, ended up winning the competition, with Dittfach herself firing the winning shot.[21]
In January 2021, Dittfach appeared on YIAY Time: The Game Show, a YouTube Original comedy program hosted by Jack Douglass ("jacksfilms").[22] She also frequently appears on the improv game show Scribble Showdown with TheOdd1sOut, Domics, RubberRoss, Egoraptor, and Emirichu.[23] With fellow YouTuber TheOdd1sOut, Dittfach is a part of the "Animation Squad", a group of animators who frequently create videos together.[24] Her channel is managed by the Channel Frederator multi-channel network.[25][26]
Dittfach (right) at VidCon with TheOdd1sOut (left), Domics (2nd from right), and other YouTube animators
On June 1, 2021, her YouTube channel reached 10 million subscribers.[27][28] She received a nomination in the Animated category for the 11th Streamy Awards in December 2021.[29] In 2022, she signed with the Creative Artists Agency.[30] YouTube ranked the video among their list of the "top trending videos" of 2022, as it reached over 17 million views by the end of the year.[31]
In 2023, she joined forces with Alpharad to create WILD/CARD, a channel dedicated to bringing attention to the smaller content creators that the two of them considered friends. This collaboration included gsmVoiD, Weegee Plays, Giwi, SunflowerSmith, Captain Kidd, Fyrus, and Vulpixie.[32]
In July 2024, Dittfach won another competition organized by MrBeast, this time in the video "50 YouTubers Fight for $1,000,000" in which she competed against 49 other YouTubers for $1,000,000 to give away to their subscribers. She pledged to use the prize money to send some of her subscribers to art school.[33] Later that month, for the tenth anniversary of her first video upload, Dittfach announced that she does not plan to continue creating content indefinitely.[34]
Charitable activities
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In April 2019, Dittfach published a video encouraging people to donate to Bird Gardens of Naples, a non-profit bird sanctuary in Florida, via a GoFundMe campaign. Within nine weeks, the campaign had raised over $22,000.[35] Dittfach was also among many social media figures who donated to the Team Trees fundraiser in 2019.[36] For World Health Day in April 2020, Dittfach participated in #HopeFromHome, a charity livestream initiated by fellow YouTuber Jacksepticeye that raised over $260,000 for COVID-19 relief.[37][38][39]
In October 2021, Dittfach participated in a charity tournament for the video game Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl hosted by YouTuber Alpharad and Coney of the esports organization Panda Global, playing as the character CatDog. In her campaign, she raised over $73,000 after uploading a now-deleted video asking for donations to help choose CatDog as the character she wished to play for the tournament.[40][41]
Personal life
[edit]
In 2016, she stated in a video that she resides in Arizona.[42] In another video, posted in 2018, she stated that she moved to California.[43] In December 2022, she purchased a $4.8 million home in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California with fellow YouTuber Alpharad.[citation needed]
In 2017, Dittfach spoke out about her experience with anorexia and bulimia in a video titled "Why I Don’t Have a 'Face Reveal'",[44] as well as a song titled "Empty" in 2018.[45][46]
In 2022, in her video titled "Being Not Straight", she publicly came out as aromantic and asexual.[47][48][49] In 2024, she publicly announced that she was diagnosed with ADHD and autism.[50]
^Jaiden Animations (March 10, 2019). Watching my childhood videos w/ theodd1sout. Event occurs at 04:15. Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2021 – via YouTube. [People singing "Happy Birthday To You" with date stamp of SEP 27 1998] James Rallison: Oh goodness, is this you? Dittfach: Yeah. It went back in time. Rallison: It went back in time? Dittfach: That's my first birthday.
^ abbin Iqbal, Faisal (December 26, 2019). "Slice of Life Animation". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
^ abcBarua, Deeparghya Dutta (December 20, 2018). "YouTube animation on the rise". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
^Chang, Parrish (February 20, 2020). "Animation Makes the Dreams Work". The Advocate. Mt. Hood Community College. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021. With creators such as Swoozie, Domics, and TheOdd1sOut, the genre began to slowly expand to many others creators such as Jaiden Animations, Illymation, Emirichu, Daidus, Eroldstory, SomeThingElseYT, Odd1sOut and many others
^Krivulya, Natalia (December 15, 2019). "Animated travelog: the genre origins and peculiarities". Arta (in Russian). XXVIII(2): 81. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3597269 – via Zenodo.
^Field, Matthew (December 5, 2019). "'Hazbin Hotel' and YouTube's animation renaissance". GO! & Express. East London and King William's Town, South Africa. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2021. Jaiden Animations and TheOdd1sOut are probably two of the biggest channels in this group but there are plenty of others
^Fennimore, Jack (December 6, 2017). "YouTube Rewind 2017: Here's What People Think of It". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on November 19, 2018. Retrieved December 16, 2018. They were especially excited to see their favorite creators featured in the video, including notable animators on YouTube who were previously not featured in the annual video like Jaiden Animations and Rebecca Parham.
^Fennimore, Jack (December 6, 2018). "YouTube Rewind 2018: Here's What People Think of It". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018. That being said, it appears there was a small reference to PewDiePie made by Jaiden Animations, or at least his chair.
^Jaiden Animations (June 7, 2016). theodd1sout and I Complain About Arizona. Event occurs at 0:34. Archived from the original on September 2, 2021. Retrieved September 2, 2021 – via YouTube. So, coincidentally, we both live in the oven that is Arizona [...]
^JaidenAnimations (September 9, 2018). Things that Happened While I Grew Up. Event occurs at 5:23. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021. And now I'm here, on my own, moved to California.