Eight-year-old who reviews toys is highest paid YouTuber, earning US$26 million this year
- YouTube channel Ryan’s World has almost 23 million subscribers
Eight-year-old Ryan Kaji earned US$26 million in 2019 on his YouTube channel, making him the highest-paid creator on the platform, according to a list published Wednesday by Forbes magazine.
Kaji, whose real name is Ryan Guan, was already the video platform’s highest earner in 2018, with US$22 million, according to Forbes.
His channel “Ryan’s World”, launched in 2015 by Ryan’s parents, is only three years old but already has 22.9 million subscribers.
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 organisation, Truth in Advertising, filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about it.