Yahoo Finance How 9-year-old Ryan earned $39 million in 12 months
Nine-year-old Ryan Kaji has topped Forbes’ highest paid YouTubers list for the third year in a row, earning a whopping US$29.5 million (AU$38.9 million) in the 12 months to June 2020.
Kaji runs two channels, Toys Review and Ryan’s World, and is famous for his unboxing videos, where he receives toys and unboxes them from their packaging.
The nine-year-old boasts just under 42 million subscribers and managed to garner more than 12 billion views on his videos.
He even has his own line of toys, sold at Target, Amazon and Walmart.
Six-year-old Anastasia Radzinskaya from Russia also made the list, earning a whopping US$18.5 million in the 12 months to June.
Radzinskaya has cerebral palsy, and initially, her parents would post videos of her to the platform to track her development. Now, they have around 39 billion views, and her channel boasts 190.6 million subscribers.
She posts videos playing with her dad, doing chores and even explaining viruses.
Makeup mogul Jefree Star also made the list, coming in at number 10 with $15 million in earnings and 16.9 million subscribers.
Why do child YouTubers make so much money?
These kids make a tonne of money through advertising and merch.
Kaji’s unboxing videos have led to deals with Nickelodeon and Amazon, while Radzinskaya’s play videos have seen her sign a six-figure deal with Legoland.
And it’s because videos with kids tend to perform better than those with adults, studies show.
According to Pew Research, videos featuring a child or children who appeared to be under the age of 13 receives nearly three times as many views on average as other types of videos.
Unboxing videos, in particular, are a growing trend, with the number of YouTube clips with “unboxing” in the headline increasing by 871 per cent since 2010.
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