Taiwan
Known simply as Cheap, this Taiwan-based creator has built one of the most-watched Traditional Chinese–language history channels on YouTube, drawing a multi-million subscriber following through a self-described mission to make history both genuinely engaging and rigorously grounded.
Total Followers -0.0%
1.7M
Across YouTube, Instagram
Primary Platform
YouTube
1.6M followers · 99% of audience
Engagement
2.7%
vs. 1.5% category median
Sponsorship Tier
Macro
Est. $614–$1.7K / IG post
After Cheap's January 9, 2026 video on Rakuten Monkeys' ownership structure indirectly implicated Raiiger Technology, the UAV company filed criminal charges and civil suit against him alleging false information and securities law violations, seeking NT$100 million (~US$3.1M) in damages.
During Taiwan's KMT chairman election in October 2025, Cheap appeared on a political programme and publicly criticised former broadcaster Jaw Shao-kang, drawing cross-partisan backlash and highlighting his growing shift from pure history content toward current-affairs commentary.
| Window | YouTube | Combined | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last 7 days | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +0 +0.0% | +0 |
| Last 30 days | +0 +0.0% | -7 -0.0% | +0 +0.0% | -7 |
| Last 90 days | +10K +0.6% | -59 -0.2% | +0 +0.0% | +10K |
| Last 365 days | +10K +0.6% | -59 -0.2% | +0 +0.0% | +10K |
Daily follower snapshots from CreatorDB's longitudinal index.
| Brand | Type | Platform | Date | Performance vs. baseline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELSA Speak Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Jul 2026 | — |
| Surfshark Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Jun 2026 | — |
| 小地球儀VPN Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Jun 2026 | — |
| OKX Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Jun 2026 | — |
| Wise Quest Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Apr 2026 | — |
Known simply as Cheap, this Taiwan-based creator has built one of the most-watched Traditional Chinese–language history channels on YouTube, drawing a multi-million subscriber following through a self-described mission to make history both genuinely engaging and rigorously grounded. His YouTube bio frames the core tension of the genre well: interesting storytelling and factual accuracy tend to pull in opposite directions, and his work is built around resolving that conflict. The channel ranges freely across world history, Chinese dynastic history, and Taiwanese history, while regularly pivoting to contemporary geopolitics — recent videos have tackled the Korean War, North Korean defector routes, and the rise of Myanmar's scam-industry enclaves. The breadth signals an audience that follows Cheap for a worldview as much as for any single topic.
The audience skews heavily male and concentrates in the 25–44 age band, with the overwhelming majority located in Taiwan, with secondary clusters in Hong Kong and Malaysia — the core Mandarin-speaking diaspora outside mainland China. That geographic footprint is underscored by a notable detail in Cheap's channel description: he explicitly flags that accounts on mainland platforms Bilibili and Douyin are impersonators, asking viewers to report them — a signal of cross-strait reach without a deliberate mainland presence. Sponsor categories cluster around VPN services, crypto, and language-learning apps, which collectively paint a portrait of a politically aware, digitally sophisticated male viewer. With engagement running well above the educational-content baseline, Cheap is well-positioned as a premium placement for brands targeting informed Mandarin-speaking audiences across the broader Chinese-speaking world.
Cheapaoe reaches an audience concentrated in Taiwan primarily through YouTube, and is best activated via long-form YouTube integrations, Instagram Reels and Stories. As an education creator they map naturally to brands targeting that space. Demonstrated partners include ELSA Speak and Surfshark. Engagement on YouTube runs around 2.7%, pointing to an audience suited to category-relevant, mid-funnel brand campaigns rather than pure-reach buys.
Benchmark estimates for a creator at Cheapaoe's tier (Macro, 1.7M combined followers, Taiwan). Pulled from CreatorDB's category benchmarks.
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Cheapaoe has explicitly warned viewers in his YouTube channel description that any accounts using his name on Chinese platforms like Bilibili and Douyin are impersonators, not run by him. He only operates official accounts on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, and has asked his audience to report the fakes.
Cheapaoe covers world history, Chinese history, and Taiwanese history, and also digs into international current events and cultural differences. Recent videos have tackled the Korean War and the North-South Korea split, the escape routes of North Korean defectors, and the rise of Myanmar's scam compound industry.
Yes, Cheapaoe published a video titled 逃離北韓到底有多難?跨越半個亞洲的極限逃亡【脫北者的歷史】, which examines how North Korean defectors escape across multiple countries in Asia to reach freedom. The video is a good example of his signature approach — combining gripping narrative with documented historical fact.
Yes, Cheapaoe released a video titled 中國養出的巨獸【緬甸為何成為詐騙帝國】, covering how Myanmar's northern borderlands became a massive scam industry and examining the four major families that ran the operations for roughly two decades. The video also explores why those operations suddenly collapsed, a topic that attracted wide attention across Chinese-speaking communities.
Cheapaoe's content covers geopolitically sensitive topics — Taiwan, North Korea, cross-strait relations, Myanmar — that are restricted or censored on the Chinese mainland internet. VPN services like Surfshark and 小地球儀VPN align naturally with an audience that may need to access this kind of content freely, making them a logical commercial fit for his channel.
Cheapaoe's stated creative mission is to produce history that is simultaneously 有趣 (interesting) and 真實 (truthful), openly acknowledging that these two qualities often pull against each other. He frames resolving that tension as the defining purpose of his channel, positioning himself between dry academia and sensationalist storytelling.
Cheapaoe produces Mandarin-language history and commentary that covers topics — like North Korea, Taiwan, and the Korean War — that are difficult to discuss openly on mainland Chinese platforms due to censorship. Chinese-speaking audiences in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the broader diaspora find his channel a relatively rare source of frank, in-depth coverage of these subjects in their own language.
Cheapaoe's confirmed YouTube sponsors include Surfshark, 小地球儀VPN, ELSA Speak (an AI English-learning app), OKX (a crypto exchange), and Wise Quest. The combination of VPN tools, language learning, and fintech reflects the profile of his core audience — educated, internationally curious, predominantly male viewers in Taiwan and across the Chinese-speaking world.
Cheapaoe explicitly lists 台灣史 (Taiwanese history) alongside world history and Chinese history as one of his three core focuses in his YouTube bio. He also covers Taiwan-adjacent topics like cross-strait dynamics and regional geopolitics, making Taiwanese history a genuine pillar of his channel rather than an afterthought.
Cheapaoe has grown to over 1.6 million YouTube subscribers, placing him firmly in the Macro creator tier and making him one of the more prominent Mandarin-language history channels on the platform. His engagement runs well above the category median, a signal that his audience is actively invested rather than passive.
Stats (followers, engagement, audience demographics, growth) are pulled live from the CreatorDB API covering YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Bio and FAQ content is AI-assisted; news items are sourced from cited public press at generation time. Read the full methodology →
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@cheapaoe · YouTube
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