Owning two YouTube channels that have both reached gold status, the two brothers Mao Ca and Mao De (real names are Lê Mạnh Cường and Nguyễn Văn Dũng) are currently among the most talked-about names on social media.
In particular, after revealing their wealth accumulated over two years of being YouTubers, the Tam Mao brothers have amazed and garnered admiration from many.
There are many speculations surrounding the income of the two brothers, with rumors even suggesting that Mao Ca and Mao De earn up to billions each month from YouTube.
In the interview below, Mao Ca shares for the first time about the amount of money they earn and the stories surrounding the creation of content for their two gold YouTube channels.
“Initially planned for 3 months, but unexpectedly, only half a month later, Mao De became famous overnight”
– How did your journey to become YouTubers go?
In 2016, I joined the YouTube community as a re-uper (re-uploading others’ content on YouTube to earn money – PV) because I had just graduated and was unemployed.
By 2017, re-uploading faced many difficulties as YouTube became stricter with copyright issues, so I moved from Hanoi back to my hometown to make music while still re-uploading movies.
In September 2018, I met Mao De. At that time, Mao De was herding cows, and life was quite hard. I saw potential in Mao De, so I invited him to do YouTube.
Since I already had some experience, I assured Mao De that he would become famous soon. It was initially planned for 3 months, but unexpectedly, with everyone’s support, Mao De became famous in just half a month.
Our channel was initially called Cu Shine TV, but then I cut my hair into three spikes, which seemed interesting, so I changed the channel name to Tam Mao TV for better impact.
– During the development of the channel, there were many mixed opinions about your clips. How do you feel when reading those comments?
Actually, at first, everyone supported us, and there were very few negative comments. But later on, there were more, especially after the scandal where we mistakenly killed a rare bird species recorded in the Red Book.
At that time, we were boycotted and lost a significant number of fans. I felt very sad and stressed. But then everything passed, and that experience became a lesson for me. Now, before doing anything, I research thoroughly.
We also faced harassment. They used tactics to file copyright strikes against the Tam Mao TV channel. There were times when our channel received four community strikes at once, and no matter how we tried, we couldn’t appeal. This meant we couldn’t upload videos anymore, so I decided to create another channel called Tam Mao Cuisine.
Fortunately, later on, I was able to recover the Tam Mao TV channel, so now we have two big channels. Recently, on the same day, both Mao De and I received two YouTube gold buttons.
As for the negative comments from people, I consider them constructive feedback, so I always read them with an open mind to improve the channel further.
Brands pay a lot for advertising
– Owning two gold channels with million-view clips, many people guess that your income is huge?
The revenue is actually not much because advertising prices in Vietnam are very low. Compared to abroad, it’s only about 1/10 or even 1/20, so the amount of money we earn is just average. Some months it’s just enough to sustain. But overall, it has improved both of our lives significantly.
The benefit is that after doing YouTube, we found it easier to do online business, which provided us with additional sources of income, so everything is quite stable and enjoyable now.
In addition, we also receive many advertising contracts. However, I don’t accept just anything; I am very cautious and discuss thoroughly with brands before collaborating.
There was a car company that suggested we create a script to burn a car to receive their electric bike, but I felt that action was inappropriate, so I declined.
Then there was a brand that offered $3,000 for 2 minutes in a video, but we also refused because after researching, we found it was a form of gambling.
– Not long ago, a photo of you hugging a stack of money at the bank appeared online, claiming it was money earned from YouTube. Is this true?
That was money earned over many months, and also my long-saved money deposited there. I went to withdraw it for a reason. I don’t know who took the photo and said it was money I earned from YouTube in one month. I also don’t know how to explain (laughs).
Fame, not blood relatives, and the assets that make many admire the Tam Mao brothers
– Do you do everything yourselves or do you have a team helping you?
We don’t have a team. The two of us write the scripts, shoot, edit, and upload to YouTube by ourselves. It’s not difficult at all since we get along quite well.
Each clip takes us about half a day to shoot. At night, I edit the clip, and that’s it. The scripts are all spontaneous, so it’s just like the two of us going out to have fun.
– In the near future, do Mao Ca and Mao De plan to separate to develop in their own directions?
We are one now; it would be difficult without one of us, so I hope that won’t happen.