Pesto the Chonky Penguin and Aussie Creators Lead Social Media Surge

A “chonky” baby penguin named Pesto has helped Melbourne’s Sea Life Aquarium become one of the fastest-growing Australian TikTok accounts for September and October.

Since September, Pesto has been trending online and drawing global media attention, all of which has seen Sea Life’s TikTok following soar, with the aquarium growing to more than 100,000 followers in the past month.

Meanwhile, on Instagram, 9News journalist Chris Kohler has been consistently among the fastest-growing accounts for the past few months amid strong viewership numbers for his light-hearted business videos. On YouTube, Stanley Chen was one of the fastest-growing accounts after recently opening a fake “5-star” ramen restaurant.

"The past month or so has really seen some interesting creators coming to the fore," said Lucy Ronald, Fabulate’s head of strategy and talent. "I don’t think anyone is surprised that Pesto the ‘chonky’ baby penguin is at the top of the list given how the internet fell in love with him and media attention around him grew as he did."

"Chris Kohler, on the other hand, is really interesting. He is a mainstream media journalist who has built a strong following on both TikTok and Instagram. Many of his videos break down complex business issues in simple, accessible ways and are consistently pulling hundreds of thousands of views, if not millions, for some of the videos."

Ronald noted that YouTuber Stanley Chen is another Australian creator account to watch after he did a recent stunt where he opened a fake “5-star” Ramen restaurant. The main video for this has been viewed 1.4M times, while the YouTube short of the stunt has had 19M views.

“Chen is becoming known for his stunts, be it his ‘5-star’ Ramen restaurant, deliberately pitching a pyramid scheme to financial advisors or selling fake $1000 luxury water; his videos are very much built for the YouTube platform” said Ronald.

Each month, Fabulate, who was named Australia's Best Influencer Marketing Technology at the industry's AiMCO Awards in March, uses data from its Fabulate Discovery Platform to help marketers and agencies uncover the best up-and-coming Australian creators on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

Last month it launched its new SparQ video-led AI tools, designed to give marketers the on-demand ability to better protect their brand across social platforms. It was also shortlisted for the prestigious Deloitte's Tech Fast 50.

Below are the five fastest-growing creators across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. For more details on each creator, visit fabulate.com.au.