Tobias Sylvester
Forbes magazine has revealed that 7-year-old Ryan is YouTube’s highest-earning star, raking in $22m (£17.3m).
Ryan owns a YouTube channel called of Ryan ToysReview, where he reviews toys.
Videos are posted most days on his channel. The video he posted recently on Sunday, December 2, 2018, promoting a blue giant mystery egg-bearing that has his face on it, has already hit more than a million views.
When Ryan was asked by NBC why kids liked watching his videos, he said:
“Because I’m entertaining and I’m funny.”
Ryan’s channel was set up by his parents in March 2015, its videos have had almost 26 billion views and amassed 17.3 million followers.
According to Forbes, Ryan’s earning have doubled compared with the previous year, adding that all but $1m of the $22m total is generated by advertising shown before videos, with the remainder coming from sponsored posts.
The amount generated by sponsored posts is small compared with other top YouTubers, Forbes writes. It is “the result not only of how few deals Ryan (or his family) chooses to accept, but also the fact that his pint-sized demographic isn’t exactly all that flush”.
The toys featured in one of the channel’s videos can sell out instantly.
In August, Walmart began selling an exclusive range of toys and clothing called Ryan’s World, and a video showing Ryan and his parents searching for his own toys at a Walmart store have had 14 million views in three months.
The revenues from the Walmart deal are set to substantially increase Ryan’s total earnings next year.
As he is still a child, 15% of Ryan’s earnings are put into a bank account that he can only access when he becomes a legal adult.
Ryan’s twin sisters haven’t been left out of the fun either: they feature in some videos on a related YouTube channel called Ryan’s Family Review.
A video titled “Top 10 Science Experiments you can do at home for kids” starring the three children has had more than 26 million views.
Ryan’s earnings does not include tax or fees charged by agents or lawyers.
