Hawaii YouTube Star Hits 3 Million Subscribers

Ryan Higa, a Waiakea High School graduate now attending film school at UNLV, is the first person to hit 3 million subscribers on YouTube.

Higa's "Nigahiga" channel crossed the threshold yesterday well ahead of fellow YouTube stars Ray William Johnson and Shane Dawson.

Notably, channels for individuals largely outpaced companies, with video game site Machinima.com coming in 7th and College Humor barely making it into the Top 10. The CNN channel on YouTube has only 25,000 subscribers.

Then again, CNN has its own cable network with a few million of its own viewers.

Higa posted a video of thanks that featured a cameo by Sean Fujiyoshi, who was his partner during the early years.

"I appreciate all 3 million of you that subscribed to my channel," he says. "Or the 64 of you that subscribed 46,875 times!"

Of course, subscribers are just one metric of YouTube success. Higa's videos have earned over 636 million views, but Justin Bieber's music video channel has over 1.1 billion views. That's billion with a 'B.' Heck, just one video by Bieber has been watched 416 million times.

Higa's most viewed video, "How to be a Gangster," has 26 million views. Not bad at all for a Hilo boy.

In addition to joining Higa's 3 million subscribers, you can follow him on Twitter at @TheRealRyanHiga or check out his official website at HigaTV.com.