The highest paid content creator on YouTube in 2019 is eight-year-old Ryan Kaji, according to a list published by Forbes magazine.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Kaji, whose real name is Ryan Guan earned a total of $26 million (equivalent of N9.4 billion) on his YouTube channel, known as Ryan’s World.
Kaji was already the platform’s highest earner in 2018, with $22 million earned from the YouTube channel his parents launched for him in 2015.
His YouTube channel is only three years old but already boost of over 22.9 million subscribers, making him a Forbes celebrity.
Initially called “Ryan ToysReview,” the channel mostly consisted of “unboxing” videos — videos of the young star opening boxes of toys and playing with them.
Several of the videos have racked up more than one billion views, and the channel has received almost 35 billion views since its creation, according to data from the analytics website Social Blade.
Recently, the channel was renamed after a consumer advocacy organization, Truth in Advertising, filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about it.
Truth in Advertising accused the channel of not clearly denoting which videos had been sponsored, meaning brands paid for the video to feature their products.
The channel has also evolved as Ryan ages, now offering more educational videos in addition to the toys.
In Forbes’s ranking, Ryan Kaji surpassed the channel “Dude Perfect,” run by a group of friends from Texas who attempt seemingly impossible feats, such as launching basketballs into hoops from the tops of buildings or out of helicopters.
Dude Perfect came in second, up from third the year before, having earned $20 million between June 1, 2018 and June 1, 2019.
In third place was another child star’s channel, that of Russia’s Anastasia Radzinskaya. At only five years old, she earned $18 million.
Her channels “Like Nastya Vlog” and “Funny Stacy” boast nearly 70 million subscribers in total, with videos in Russian, English and Spanish.
Top 10 highest paid YouTube content creators of 2019
#10 | VanossGaming (Evan Fong)
Earnings: $11.5 million
Evan Fong, who’s known online as “VanossGaming,” notched over 1.5 billion views with his videos of Grand Theft Auto V and Minecraft.
#9 | DanTDM (Daniel Middleton)
Earnings: $12 million
The British Minecraft and Fortnite player has long been one of the most popular on YouTube. He has a worldwide audience and takes his live tour to fans across the globe.
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#7 (tie) | Markiplier (Mark Fischbach)
Earnings: $13 million
Mark Fischbach, more commonly known by his online name “Markiplier,” is a favorite for sponsors looking to reach the gaming community. He’s also promoting himself; he and fellow YouTuber Jacksepticeye cofounded Cloak, a high-end line of clothing for gamers.
#7 (tie) | PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg)
Earnings: $13 million
Once YouTube’s top-earning star, the gamer, who was born Felix Kjellberg, has managed to shrug off a number of controversies—including racist and anti-Semitic videos. He announced this month, though, that he’s taking a break from YouTube.
#6 | Preston (Preston Arsement)
Earnings: $14 million
Preston Arsement got his start playing Call of Duty and quickly became so popular that he started posting friendly pranks in addition to his gaming content. Outside of YouTube, his biggest moneymakers are the Minecraft servers he runs for seven figures annually.
#5 | Jeffree Star
Earnings: $17 million
After getting his start as a musician on MySpace, Jeffree Star moved to YouTube, where he found a following doing makeup tutorials. He now uses his channel to tout his makeup line, which he says does at least eight figures in revenue thanks to its popular lipsticks, highlighters and eye shadow palettes.
#4 | Rhett and Link
Earnings: $17.5 million
Two of YouTube’s first stars, Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, host Good Mythical Morning, one of YouTube’s most popular daily shows on which they eat foods like Cheetos-flavored Pop-Tarts and sing with stars like Kelly Rowland. They’ve expanded their brand of comedy to four channels, a podcast, two books and, earlier this year, purchased the multichannel network Smosh for a reported $10 million.
#3 | Anastasia Radzinskaya
Earnings: $18 million
The Russian-born 5-year-old has become one of the world’s fastest-growing creators, thanks to videos in seven languages that feature her playing with her dad on her channels including Like Nastya. Brands have noticed, with Legoland and Dannon shelling out at six figures to work with her.
#2 | Dude Perfect
Earnings: $20 million
Five friends in their 30s—Coby Cotton, Cory Cotton, Garret Hilbert, Cody Jones and Tyler Toney—play sports, perform stunts and break Guinness World Records. Their videos, like “Bowling Trick Shots” and “Bubble Wrap Battle,” helped them score a TV contract The Dude Perfect Show, which airs on Nickelodeon.
#1 | Ryan Kaji
Earnings: $26 million
Eight-year-old Kaji got his start on the channel when he was just 3 years old by unboxing toys on camera. He’s matured to conducting science experiments and branched out beyond YouTube with a line of more than 100 toys, clothing items and more, a show on Nickelodeon and a deal with Hulu.
According to Forbes, all earnings estimates are from June 1, 2018, through June 1, 2019. Figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not deducted. Earnings estimates are based on data from Captiv8, SocialBlade and Pollstar as well as interviews with industry insiders. For the list’s purposes, Forbes defines a YouTube Star as someone whose primary form of digital and media revenue comes from YouTube.
