Philip DeFranco

On September 15, 2006, DeFranco created his YouTube account during his finals at East Carolina University, originally registered as "sxephil", in which he talks about "newsie type stuff, and things that matter to [him] today." DeFranco has cited his influences as Ze Frank, Dane Cook, and the Vlogbrothers. Early on, he began calling his news-centered videos The Philip DeFranco Show. The oldest video available for public viewing on DeFranco's channel is a 2006 non-news video titled "Top 10 'How to Get Out of an Argument'".

Due to joining YouTube in 2006 and soon gaining a sizable audience on the website, DeFranco has been cited as a pioneer of both YouTube and new media, in general. Lucas Shaw of TheWrap described DeFranco as "one of the first video bloggers to find success on YouTube, and has since built", as well as having an, "entrepreneurial spirit and understanding of YouTube". DeFranco was described by The Washington Post as part of the first generation of YouTube's creators, with the publication writing, "there are the originals, the older ones who became famous on YouTube when the only sort of Internet fame that existed was random viral stardom: Phil DeFranco, Jenna Marbles and Hannah Hart, for instance."

He has been a student at the University of South Florida, a biology student at Asheville–Buncombe Technical Community College, and later a junior at East Carolina University. In 2007, Phil was living in Tampa, Florida, and later Atlanta, Georgia. He also worked as a waiter in a number of restaurants while making videos in 2007.

In August 2007, DeFranco conducted an experiment by uploading a video titled "Big Boobs and You". The video's thumbnail image was what the title described, except that the image only flashed for a split second. The rest of the video's content was DeFranco talking. It quickly became his most successful video at the time, with 1.8 million views. From then on he changed his content to sex, gossip, and news. In 2012, YouTube redesigned their website, as videos with cleavage thumbnails attracted many clicks but were abandoned instead of being watched.

In October 2008, DeFranco co-starred with Jessica Rose and Kevin Wu in Hooking Up, written and directed by Woody Tondorf as a promo for HBOLabs (the online arm of HBO). Hooking Up is a scripted 10-episode web series set at a fictional university where the students spend most of their time emailing and using Facebook, but still manage to miscommunicate. Guest appearances on Hooking Up were made by Kevin Nalty, Michael Buckley, and other popular Internet celebrities.

In 2008, he stated in an interview that his listed salary of $250,000 from a number of sources on the Internet, including and beyond YouTube, was initially a joke, but would become accurate. He has been paid by companies to create videos to promote Carl's Jr.'s burgers, and the US television series Lie to Me and Fringe.

DeFranco entered the 2010s having his "sxephil" channel as the fifth-most subscribed on the platform. In July 2010, DeFranco attended the first VidCon event, where he was a speaker. Also in the month, DeFranco co-created CuteWinFail, along with Toby Turner; the online series was described by Fruzsina Eördögh of ReadWrite as "essentially the YouTube equivalent of America's Funniest Home Videos." DeFranco launched a merchandise line called ForHumanPeoples in 2011.

In January 2012, DeFranco launched SourceFed, which at the time was produced by James Haffner. This came around the same time in which DeFranco signed with Revision3, a multi-channel network. In February, DeFranco stated he paid himself $100,000 a year, and reinvests the rest back into his company.

Politically, he is a libertarian and voted for Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson in the 2012 United States presidential election. DeFranco has described his political views as, "fiscally conservative, socially liberal, for the most part." While on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, DeFranco stated that prior to moving to California he was "ultra-liberal". DeFranco also stated that starting a business caused him to start leaning more center. DeFranco has used cannabis in the past, stating, "I have a prescription and I take it to sleep. Also if it makes the movie I'm falling asleep to 10x funnier, that is a side effect I am ok with."

In January 2013, DeFranco took part in a Google+ Hangout with United States Vice President Joe Biden and Guy Kawasaki, discussing gun laws. In February, DeFranco was a featured as a guest judge on the second season of Internet Icon.

Later, in May, SourceFed Nerd, a branch of SourceFed, was launched. In the same month, DeFranco's assets, including The Philip DeFranco Show and SourceFed, were acquired by Revision3, which itself was a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks. Upon the acquisition, DeFranco became added as an exec of Revision3, the Senior VP of a new Revision3 subsidiary, Phil DeFranco Networks and Merchandise. In October, as part of his new network, DeFranco launched the ForHumanPeoples channel, based on his clothing and merchandise line. In November 2013, DeFranco was a special guest in a live pre-show simulcast for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary from YouTube Space LA. Additionally, DeFranco has organized live shows and meetup events in locations such as Arizona, Los Angeles, and Toronto.

DeFranco aspired to have launched channels within his network by the end of 2013, though due to "the logistical complications of joining Discovery, adding staff and strategizing the future," those plans did not materialize. DeFranco later planned 2014 to be the year that he would begin launching new channels. These plans once again fell through, but in 2015, DeFranco was involved in the launching of Super Panic Frenzy, a gaming network, including a YouTube channel and a Twitch live-stream show.

Beginning in 2016, DeFranco became notably critical of YouTube's advertising policies, as they would begin to result in widespread demonetization–a term describing an incident in which something triggered YouTube's system to remove advertisements from a video–for creators across the platform. DeFranco's criticism of YouTube regarding this topic would continue in the following years.

In 2017, DeFranco announced he was no longer working with Group Nine Media and would instead be an independent creator again. In addition to this, DeFranco announced the launch of DeFranco Elite, a crowdfunding initiative on Patreon; DeFranco Elite functioned as a way for fans to help fund The Philip DeFranco Show, which DeFranco stated would help avoid the series' funding to be tied to YouTube ad revenue. By the end of the year, The Outline noted that DeFranco had over 13,000 Patreon subscribers donating an amount of money that while undisclosed was enough to rank him within the platform's top 20 creators. In 2019, DeFranco was earning approximately $50,000 a month from Patreon.

Another topic DeFranco was noted by media publications for covering in 2017, was that of demonetization of YouTube creators. DeFranco continued to be frequently cited as critical of the platform, regarding issues involving ad revenue and demonetization, with noted criticism of ads being allowed on the YouTube channels of mainstream talk shows but not on those of native creators. Due to hot-button topics that can arise when delivering the news, DeFranco's content is particularly prone to being deemed "unfriendly" to advertisers.

In June 2017, DeFranco's channel was cited by The Verge as having over 5.4 million subscribers. DeFranco's subscriber growth slowed down in 2017, although his channel's monthly views continued to yield growing numbers.

Dating as far back as 2008, DeFranco has been frequently cited as pondering a potential end to his eponymous news series or an exit from the platform altogether. DeFranco's reasons for this have varied from a personal want to "not overrun [his] time" to being frustrated with platform's unstable revenue source. In April 2018, DeFranco again expressed frustrations with the YouTube platform and detailed his progress on developing a network; he hired a six-person research and investigative team, curated hosts for short- and long-form content, and tested a morning podcast, among other things in preparation for the network's launch. Months later while at VidCon, he stated that he saw himself walking from hosting the PDS within three years, saying "I don't know how to do the show I'm doing now in three years without phoning it in." He also added that he would remain online in some capacity, expressing, "in some way, I will always want to make a show and have that interaction, and I think that will evolve."

In October 2018, BetterHelp gained attention from YouTube personalities after concerns were raised about alleged use of unfair pricing, paid reviews from actors, and questionable terms of service. Along with creators like Shane Dawson, DeFranco faced backlash for being among their most high-profile supporters. Both DeFranco and BetterHelp CEO Alon Matas addressed the issue, giving statements to Polygon's Julia Alexander. On October 15, DeFranco tweeted that he had formally ended his relationship with BetterHelp.

DeFranco launched Beautiful Bastard in February 2019, a line of hair care named after his catchphrase from the introductions of his news show. Since regaining control over his properties from the Discovery Network in May 2017, DeFranco has been working towards broadening his content and reach. On April 22, 2019, the Rogue Rocket website was launched.

In the works since 2017, DeFranco finally launched Rogue Rocket, a news network with an accompanying website in April 2019. A YouTube channel for the network, produced by Amanda Morones and featuring news story breakdowns launched in July; these breakdowns are presented in longer formats (such as 10- to 30-minute mini-documentaries) than those seen on The Philip DeFranco Show. Instead of being hosted by DeFranco, the channel features an on-camera cast of correspondents; the first of these correspondents was Maria Sosyan. In addition to the website and YouTube channel, the Rogue Rocket network also comprised a podcast named A Conversation With, in which DeFranco hosts and interviews a subject.

In 2020, YouTube tapped various YouTubers, with DeFranco amongst them, to interview Anthony Fauci, with the goal of bringing information related to the COVID-19 pandemic to younger audiences.

As of 2020, DeFranco lives in Encino, Los Angeles with his wife, travel vlogger Lindsay Jordan DeFranco (née Doty) and their two sons. DeFranco proposed to Doty, then his longtime girlfriend, on August 16, 2013 at his "DeFranco Loves Dat AZ" show in Tempe, Arizona. Their first son, named Philip James "Trey" DeFranco III, was born in 2014. The couple married on March 7, 2015, and it was captured on social media. Their second son, Carter William DeFranco, was born in 2017. In 2019, Lindsay launched Not So Fast, a media literacy campaign. The couple moved into their Encino home in late 2019, after previously living in San Fernando and Sherman Oaks.