United Kingdom
The Michalaks are a British family who relocated to Portugal and built a YouTube channel around candid, cinematic documentation of expat life — covering financial realities, family dynamics, recipes, and personal milestones.
Total Followers -0.1%
417K
Across YouTube, Instagram
Primary Platform
YouTube
250K followers · 60% of audience
Engagement
4.8%
vs. 1.5% category median
Sponsorship Tier
Mid
Est. $3.3K–$8.4K / IG post
The family celebrated their first full year as British expats in Portugal with a special year-in-review timelapse upload, underscoring their channel's ongoing expat-life pivot.
The Michalaks published a candid video reflecting on nearly 15 years of content creation, suggesting a significant shift in direction — though they have continued uploading since.
Alongside their creator work, the couple has branched into hosting wellness retreats in Portugal under the Glow State brand, with 'The Offline Retreat' scheduled for May 2027.
| Window | YouTube | Combined | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last 7 days | +0 +0.0% | -50 -0.0% | +0 +0.0% | -50 |
| Last 30 days | +0 +0.0% | -251 -0.1% | +0 +0.0% | -251 |
| Last 90 days | +0 +0.0% | -5279 -3.2% | +0 +0.0% | -5279 |
| Last 365 days | +0 +0.0% | -5279 -3.2% | +0 +0.0% | -5279 |
Daily follower snapshots from CreatorDB's longitudinal index.
| Brand | Type | Platform | Date | Performance vs. baseline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Babbel Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Jan 2026 | — |
| Photobox Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Nov 2025 | — |
| Level8 Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Nov 2025 | — |
| Insta360 Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Sep 2025 | — |
| FlexiSpot Sponsorship | Sponsored content | YouTube | Aug 2025 | — |
The Michalaks are a British family who relocated to Portugal and built a YouTube channel around candid, cinematic documentation of expat life — covering financial realities, family dynamics, recipes, and personal milestones. A video titled "Why Portugal Almost Bankrupted Us" is representative of their unvarnished approach: honest storytelling that extends well beyond a typical travel diary into money, health, and relationship territory. Their mid-tier following on YouTube produces engagement rates that significantly outperform category averages, suggesting a loyal return-viewer base drawn to personal transparency rather than polished lifestyle aspiration.
Sponsorships reflect their positioning clearly: Babbel speaks directly to their language journey as English-speaking expats living in a Portuguese-speaking country, while Insta360 and Level8 align naturally with cinematic, travel-forward content. The core audience skews toward English-speaking adults — predominantly from the US and UK — in the 25–44 age range, with apparent interest in alternative living and personal reinvention. Beyond vlogging, their Instagram presence signals an entrepreneurial pivot: the Glowstate Retreats project, centred on hosting in-person "offline" experiences, positions them as community facilitators rather than passive content producers — a trajectory that opens the door to premium experiential partnerships as that business matures.
Themichalaks reaches an audience concentrated in United Kingdom primarily through YouTube, and is best activated via long-form YouTube integrations, Instagram Reels and Stories. As a vlog creator they map naturally to brands targeting that space. Demonstrated partners include Babbel and Photobox. Engagement on YouTube runs around 4.8%, which points to an audience better suited to category-relevant, mid-funnel campaigns than to pure-reach buys. The channel's mix of long-form YouTube integrations and Instagram Reels and Stories lets a sponsor choose between short awareness placements and longer, more detailed integrations. Because the audience follows vlog content rather than arriving through untargeted reach, sponsorships that match the channel's subject matter tend to convert more efficiently than broad placements. A consistent, on-topic posting focus gives sponsors a predictable, brand-safe environment, lowering placement risk compared with broad, general-interest channels. Campaigns here are best measured on qualified engagement and consideration within the niche rather than on raw impression volume. For United Kingdom-focused brands in vlog and related categories, Themichalaks offers a defined, creative-fit audience rather than broad, low-intent impressions.
Benchmark estimates for a creator at Themichalaks's tier (Mid, 417K combined followers, United Kingdom). Pulled from CreatorDB's category benchmarks.
The CreatorDB Agency runs end-to-end influencer campaigns globally — shortlisting, outreach, contracting, and performance reporting. Talk to our team about building a campaign around creators in this niche.
They published a video titled "Why This Is Our Last YouTube Video," which alarmed a lot of fans. Despite that dramatic title, the channel has remained active with uploads continuing well into 2026, suggesting the video marked a pivot or a major change in direction rather than a permanent goodbye. Their honest, unfiltered approach to big announcements is a core part of how they communicate with their audience.
The Michalaks describe their move as chasing their "dream abroad" — leaving the UK for Portugal's warmer climate and a different quality of life as a family. Their YouTube channel documents the real, unvarnished side of that decision, including the financial pressure and unexpected challenges that came with building a life in a new country. It's a central storyline that runs through most of their content.
Yes — they dedicated a full YouTube video to the subject, titled "Why Portugal Almost Bankrupted Us." Rather than presenting only the sun-soaked highlight reel of expat life, they have been candid about the real costs and setbacks involved in relocating a family abroad. This kind of honest storytelling is what they describe as their signature approach.
Glow State Retreats is a retreat business linked directly to the Michalaks, operating under the Instagram handle @glowstateretreats. The creator runs it alongside their content work, offering hosting for in-person retreat experiences and also providing content creation services for retreats, small businesses, and wellness classes. It sits alongside their YouTube channel as a real-world extension of their lifestyle brand.
"The Offline Retreat" is an in-person event being hosted through Glow State Retreats, scheduled for May 2027. True to the name, it carries a digital-detox angle, and the Michalaks direct interested attendees to DM them directly for details. It reflects their broader theme of intentional living and stepping back from constant screen time.
Quitting drinking is one of the personal topics the Michalaks have woven into their content, signalled by the hashtag #quitdrinking alongside honest conversations about health, relationships, and lifestyle choices. Their channel and Instagram regularly go beyond travel and family scenery to address the real, sometimes difficult personal shifts they've made. This candid approach is a big part of why their audience engagement runs well above the typical category average.
Babbel, the language-learning app, is a natural fit for a British family navigating everyday life in Portugal, where Portuguese is the local language. The partnership, which appeared on their YouTube channel in early 2026, aligns directly with their on-screen story and makes the integration feel authentic rather than random. It's an example of how their sponsor portfolio tends to reflect their actual lifestyle.
The Michalaks have a sponsored partnership with Insta360, featured on their YouTube channel in late 2025. The Insta360 range is widely used by travel and family vloggers for its compact build and immersive footage, which fits the cinematic storytelling style the Michalaks describe as central to their work. Other kit sponsors in their recent history include Level8 and FlexiSpot, rounding out a home and travel-focused gear profile.
Yes — topics like relationships, trust, respect, and cheating appear consistently in their content alongside the travel and family vlogging. This personal, emotionally candid layer is part of what makes their channel feel more like a life diary than a polished lifestyle show. It also helps explain why their audience spans a wide age range, from young adults through to people in their forties and beyond.
The Michalaks are a genuine British family who relocated to Portugal and document their real lives on YouTube and Instagram. Their content covers authentic family experiences — financial hardship abroad, personal health decisions, relationship dynamics — rather than anything scripted or character-based. The name reflects their actual family surname, not a constructed brand identity.
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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