At the age of eight, Ryan has already earned enough money to retire. He has been making videos about toys and uploading them to YouTube for four years. In 2018, no other channel on YouTube generated more money than "Ryan ToysReview".
While I was jumping from video to video on YouTube the other day, clicking through the depths of dodgy content, I came across a video of a little boy. His name is Ryan and he is just eight years old. In the video, I watch him looking for letters from the alphabet around his house. A song can be heard in the background, which is intended to teach children about the alphabet. So far so good. What amazed me, however, was that this video was only uploaded a few days ago and has already had over 3.5 million views.
What the? How? Huh? 3.5 million views? I clicked on his channel and quickly realised that Ryan must be the Justin Bieber of preschoolers. Ryan's channel has over 18 million subscribers, who he delights with a new video every day. The majority of his followers are children his age. In most cases, he unpacks toys in front of the camera and plays with them. Apparently this is a recipe for success, as today's children prefer to watch him play on YouTube rather than sit in front of the TV and watch the "Guetnachtgschichtli" programme.
Ryan uploaded his first video in March 2015, when he was just four years old. Now twice as old and over 1,000 videos later, Ryan is one of the established greats on the video streaming platform. His most-watched video has already been clicked on over 1.7 billion times. 1 700 000 000!!!
According to the business magazine Forbes, Ryan is the highest-earning YouTube star of 2018. According to their projections, Ryan earned 22 million US dollars in one year, making him better paid than Jake Paul or the guys from Dude Perfect. Ryan earned 21 million dollars from adverts that were played before his videos on YouTube. He received the remaining million from manufacturers for mentioning their products in his videos, which is rather little in comparison.
In the past, I have also had the opportunity to test one or two toys in front of the camera. In terms of success and views, however, I can still take a leaf out of Ryan's book. Maybe I should copy his style. Just run around wildly in front of the camera, shouting and holding a few products up to the lens. 😀
As great as Ryan's success and earnings are, I'm always sceptical about children on social media. Ryan makes a happy impression, but producing a video every day wears on the nerves over time. Especially with a child who is only eight years old. Ultimately, however, it's up to the parents to decide how far they want to market their child or not.
What do you say parents make a fortune with their kids on social media?
The competition has ended.
Riding my motorbike makes me feel free, fishing brings out my inner hunter, using my camera gets me creative. I make my money messing around with toys all day.