YouTube's Top-Earner For 2018 Is a 7-Year-Old (usatoday.com)

In 2018 the most-downloaded iPhone app was YouTube, reports USA Today, while Amazon's best-selling item was their Fire TV Stick for streaming video. "Sense a trend? We love to stream video." If you're thinking of quitting your day job this year and looking to strike it big in the world of online video, maybe this will inspire you. The No. 1 earner on YouTube this year is.....7-year-old Ryan from Ryan Toys Review. For all those unboxing videos and playing with toys -- and his own new line of toys at Walmart -- he and his family will pull in a cool $22 million, according to Forbes.
Ryan launched the channel in 2015 -- when he was four -- and now has 17.3 million followers.

One viral video of the 7-year-old even racked up 1.6 billion views, though apparently Ryan actually has fewer subscribers than several of the game streamers among YouTube's top-ten earners.

Comments

I watched a few minutes of his videos...

[MikeDataLink]

and I don't get why anyone would watch this. Period.

Re:I watched a few minutes of his videos...

[Sebby]

and I don't get why anyone would watch this. Period.

Still would've been novel for ./ to actually link to the YouTube channel, so some of us could easily check it now..... but no.

Re:I watched a few minutes of his videos...

[beheaderaswp]

The internet is now inhabited by the "consumer class". They just want to be entertained.

Eternal autumn is exactly that- but it's been extended to every human capable of using a phone.

Re:I watched a few minutes of his videos...

[The Original CDR]

It's toy porn for kiddies.

Re:I watched a few minutes of his videos...

[Anonymous Coward]

People watch PewdiePie and made Justin Bieber famous so.... I don't know either.

Re:I watched a few minutes of his videos...

[Applehu Akbar]

Does he give his dad an allowance?

Re:I watched a few minutes of his videos...

[cyn1c77]

and I don't get why anyone would watch this. Period.

You need to be seven to understand.

Re:I watched a few minutes of his videos...

[AmiMoJo]

You are not 4 years old, not the target audience.

The reason he brings in so much money even though he has fewer subscribers is that 4 year olds don't interact with YouTube like older children and adults do. They just keep watching video after autoplay video. Adults only watch exceptional videos more than once, 4 year olds love repetition.

Re:I watched a few minutes of his videos...

[DontBeAMoran]

It's the kid version of unbox therapy.

Paid

[JBMcB]

Getting paid to play with toys on camera? How exploited can you get?

Re:Paid

[NEDHead]

Can I be exploited like that too?

7 y/o and already more important than Ken Doll

[Anonymous Coward]

And already a better and more legitimate businessman than Trump too.

Youtube censored everybody else.

[walterbyrd]

He won by default.

Adpocalypse

[rsilvergun]

all the controversial click baity stuff has gotten knocked off youtube since the Adpocalypse hit. If you so much as swear you're demonetized. A lot of my favorite left wing political channels got demonetized too. It's not surprising he's #1. The channel is completely inoffensive and advertiser safe.

Re:Adpocalypse

[Gavagai80]

Advertiser safe? It sounds like the channel is nothing more or less than 100% toy advertisement videos. The trick is they found a ton of people will seek out and watch ads if they star a cute kid who's too naive to realize it's an ad.

Re:Adpocalypse

[StikyPad]

From listening to my friends with young children and seeing it in action, it's purely the "entertainment value," not the toys themselves. Children genuinely respond more to watching the video than actually opening or playing with the same toy themselves, and rarely express any interest in the specific toy outside of the viewing experience. They just want to watch the videos.

Can't say I'm surprised.

[Noishkel]

Given that a large number of high profile YouTuber's have found themselves on the receiving end of serial demonitization. No matter how hard some of them try to be as 'advertiser friendly' as they can.

Rise of the Influencers

[mentil]

I imagine he gets paid tons of money from toy companies to review toys they send him, and someone offscreen prompts him to talk about various bullet-points written up by said companies. Not sure if that's part of the $22 million figure, but ~$50k per paid review is typical for popular influencers.

Pro boxers can get investigated for a paid endorsement for a cryptocurrency without saying they've been compensated, but randos can make videos on the Youtubes doing the same thing with impunity, and the same agency can only say they're looking into maybe requiring disclosures.

Re:Rise of the Influencers

[Anonymous Coward]

It’s no less illegal, but much harder to prosecute random Joe Schmoe on the Internet for undisclosed paid endorsements.
Then there’s the difference in damage from a pro boxer doing it vs a bunch of random nobodies.

Re:Rise of the Influencers

[King_TJ]

You say that like you have an issue with it?

Personally, I think it's kind of a great equalizer. There's really no reason some celebrity sports person or Hollywood actor/actress should have the special privilege of getting paid big money to do product endorsements, while the "average Joe", who might actually use and like the products, gets paid nothing for making personal recommendations.

If you can't make buying decisions without blindly following what people say on their homemade YouTube videos, you have bigger problems than someone not being legally required to disclose that they got paid for promoting what they're talking about online. But hey -- I think it's awesome if average people can make some good money creating their own online content. It's not like they have a whole studio backing up the production for them.

Re:Rise of the Influencers

[Gavagai80]

The average Joe still gets paid nothing. It's the inexplicable celebrities-for-no-talent-or-reason, people who are basically famous for being famous, who get paid for endorsements.

Re:Rise of the Influencers

[tlhIngan]

I imagine he gets paid tons of money from toy companies to review toys they send him, and someone offscreen prompts him to talk about various bullet-points written up by said companies. Not sure if that's part of the $22 million figure, but ~$50k per paid review is typical for popular influencers.

Pro boxers can get investigated for a paid endorsement for a cryptocurrency without saying they've been compensated, but randos can make videos on the Youtubes doing the same thing with impunity, and the same agency can only say they're looking into maybe requiring disclosures.

No, that $22M will likely be what YouTube paid him.

In theory, the FTC has rules that suggest those who are featuring a product to show if they've been paid for the announcement (i.e., a sponsored ad). Whether toy companies are buying reviews is a business thing between his parents and the toy companies.

And yes, celebrity status does play a part - someone famous whose name may be recognizable will always be scrutinized more heavily than some random kid whose name isn't recognized outside of YouTube.

So two boxers can be investigated because people recognize them in general, but this kid (until now) probably was fine because if you asked people on the street, most will say "who?".

Lotsa pedo guys :(

[wolfheart111]

I'll apologize in advance :P

Re:Does he know, he's an ad?

[Hognoxious]

If anything, is detached from reality, it's how you, use commas.

Re:Correction:

[Hognoxious]

Millennials cannot possibly be this thick. Can they?

Who designed Gnome 3? Who let the certificates expire? Who invented codes of conduct for programming languages?

They're that thick and then some.

My son watches this.

[Jastiv]

I don't actually like or care about Ryan's toy review, but my son, who is four loves it.

Ryan didn't launch his channel when he was 4

[Cesare Ferrari]

His parents did, and are monetising their son.

Re:Ryan didn't launch his channel when he was 4

[thegarbz]

They are true visionaries. Honestly I'm just upset my cat didn't grow up with a grumpy face early in the history of youtube. I would have made a mint!

Re:Ryan didn't launch his channel when he was 4

[swillden]

His parents did, and are monetising their son.

True, but I'd guess it works pretty well for him, too. I watched a couple videos and a lot of them are about the interactions between the kid and his parents and sisters, and it's pretty clearly enjoyable for all of them. According to the Wikipedia article, the whole thing was Ryan's idea originally, too -- in a babyish way, of course, since he was only four at the time. He just asked his mom why he wasn't on YouTube.

Perhaps more important, it means he has both of his parents home with him so he gets a lot of time with them, unlike most kids his age who spend a lot of time in daycare while mom and dad are at work. He'll also be able to afford to go to whatever school he wants and should have a rich, experience-filled life, assuming his parents keep their heads on straight and manage the money well.

It could all go horribly wrong, of course, but it could also set him up for a great life.

Re:Call me, when you speak Luxemburgish, dumbass.

[Hognoxious]

"The fact that you are a good pianist and a competent clarinet player doesn't excuse the horrid noise you make with a violin."

W.S. Churchill.

I'm not ads on that channel

[walterbyrd]

How do they make money?

Re:I'm not ads on that channel

[Greyfox]

The channel is the ads. That is always the case anyway, mind you -- top earners aren't making most of their money off ads, they're making their money off endorsement agreements et al. Kid probably has direct agreements with the toy companies he's promoting, give us large briefcases full of cash and we'll feature your product and will act as if it's amazing.

Same thing with most of those cooking channels, they're usually pitching their own cookbooks and cooking equipment. And those skydiving/wingsuit/base jumping channels are nothing more than adverts for GoPro and whatever skydiving equipment they have agreements to pitch. You often see Wingsuit, Parachute Rig and full-face helmet company logos at the start of those.

They didn't make it for YOU

[Greyfox]

Selling to children has been massively profitable as long as there's been a media to peddle to them. Back in my day we'd park in front of the TV on a Saturday morning and that was prime time for selling us sugar and cheap plastic crap. These days you just plunk your toddler down with the iPad and this is the sort of place they end up. And of course they're going to want whatever sugar and cheap plastic crap they see on there, and parents will largely indulge them for a moment's peace. Anything can be profitable with a few million people tuning in. Much more so when those people haven't developed impulse control or a sense of quality yet.