That's what publicity-hungry media moguls and major pop stars must be asking themselves when they check out the figures of who's watching what on the web's You Tube site.

The guy in question is gas board worker John Welsh (43), who uses a second hand camcorder to film Airsoft pellet gun battles in the woods and then edits the videos at the home he shares in Gill Park with his partner Lynda and their children six-year-old Dylan and 11-month-old
Amelie.

His You Tube site 'Scout the Doggie', named after a white German Shepherd the family once owned, is creating waves on the web and shooting right up to the top of the most watched video charts. In fact
John's videos are proving more popular than media organisations like CNN and Channel 4, and music stars like Oasis and James Blunt.

"CNN is always well behind me," said John proudly. "It has never been in front of me in terms of views and we're about to overtake Sky News too."

John said he gets around one million people viewing his films EVERY MONTH and currently has over 16,000 subscribers to his site. He has now made more than 150 films which are viewed by people all over the globe.

"I never expected anyone to look at the videos," he said. "I thought it would just be my pals who watched them, but since April it has just gone crazy. If I put a new video online, the site crashes 15 minutes later because so many people have logged on to watch it."

So how did John become one of the world's most popular film makers? And what's Airsoft?

"It's extreme paintball with BB guns that fire at a high rate," said John. "If you get hit with one of them you really really feel it. You can have 70 players on site at one time and they are split into teams.

"The winner is the team with the most people standing at the end. We work with an honour system – if you get hit you're dead. If anyone cheats they can be thrown out of the club.

"I got into it two years ago when I was looking for a birthday present for my pal – he liked playing at soldiers when he was a kid so I thought I could get him a gun."

John surfed the web and happened upon the Airsoft World site, where he was amazed by the range of realistic replicas. From there he gave Airsoft gaming a go and really enjoyed it.

"He started filming it to show Dylan what his dad got up to at the weekends," said Lynda.

John shoots movies – and pellets – at Airsoft gaming centres, PoW in Bonnybridge and The Fort in Cluny, Fife, and was recently involved in a unique training exercise with 20 Royal Marine Commandos.

"They wanted to see what it was like for professional soldiers to go up against a semi-organised group of people with guns, something they may come up against during an actual mission,'' he said.

"A lot of police officers and members of the armed response teams take part in Airsoft games and we have a former member of the SAS who regularly takes part."

Airsoft is growing fast in the gaming world and, thanks to his videos, John has become a central figure in the worldwide Airsoft revolution.

He's even starred in an action movie produced, written and directed by Paisley film maker and actor David Baker. The film, 'FUBAR', is set for release in April next year and is an all guns blazing tale of a documentary film-maker who follows a mercenary around town as he recruits members of his old team for one more mission.

John said: "I play a guy who was sent to kill a rogue mercenary."
So as the viewing figures continue to rise, what does the future hold for Denny's undisputed king of capturing combat on camera?

"I don't know where to go with it," said John. "I'll probably do up my own website. David has asked me to make a film with him but I think
I'll keep doing this. I quite enjoy hearing people's reactions when
they see my films."