Forbes just released its list of the highest moneymakers on YouTube and the top position goes to a seven-year-old boy who reviews toys.
A seven-year-old boy named Ryan, whose channel Ryan Toys Review has earned some $22 million fronting the YouTube channel.
Ryan is so popular that the toys he reviews in his channel can sell out instantly. As proof, back in August, Walmart began selling an exclusive range of toys and clothing called “Ryan’s World.”
Additionally, Walmart created a video that shows Ryan and his parents searching for his own toys at a Walmart store. The video garnered 14 million views in just three months. It’s estimated that the Walmart deal will spike Ryan’s earnings significantly next year.
Ryan’s parents launched the channel in March 2015. Since that time, it has had almost 26 billion video views and has a staggering 17.3 million followers.
Because Ryan is a minor, 15% of his earnings are put into a bank account that he will only be able to access once he becomes a legal adult.
Soon, Ryan won’t be the only one in the family with a video channel. Ryan’s twin sisters will soon be featured in a new, related YouTube channel titled “Ryan’s family review.” Already, the family created a video featuring all three of their kids titled “top ten science experiments you can do a home for kids” that gained more than 26 million views.
Surprisingly, sponsored posts are not the driving factor behind Ryan’s earnings. This is in contrast to most people who earn money on YouTube, where their largest earnings are generated through sponsored posts, where they are paid a stipend to “mention” a particular product or service, either through a review or otherwise.
According to Forbes, $21 million of the $22 million total is generated by advertising which plays before the videos are viewed. Ryan has only generated $1 million through the use of sponsored posts.
In second place, following $500,000 under Ryan is Jake Paul, at $21.5 million, whose brother Logan Paul also has a YouTube channel that has earned $14.5 million.
The third top channel on YouTube is the Dude Perfect channel, which made $20 million.
Fourth place goes to Daniel Middleton, a minecraft gamer, at $18.5 million. Jeffrey Starr is a close fifth at $18 million.
Coming in at number nine on the list is PewDiePie at $17 million, whose Internet fame had led to a pair of TV series. While his earnings aren’t too shabby, it appears his popularity on the video site is falling, as this once YouTube leader is trending downward.
