Forbes has named 9-year-old Ryan Kaji the highest-paid YouTuber in the world for the year 2020. With estimated earnings of $29.5 million from YouTube, the toy expert is far ahead of gaming YouTubers like Markiplier and Preston Arsement. PewDiePie is not on the list.
What kind of list is this? Forbes magazine is known for its “Highest Earners” lists. In the list “The Highest-Paid YouTube Stars of 2020” (via Forbes), the 10 financially most successful YouTubers in the world are presented:
- The list includes estimated earnings from June 1, 2019, to June 1, 2020
- The list is based on data from various sources and interviews with industry insiders
- Only individuals who primarily earn their money through YouTube qualify for the list
9-Year-Old Builds Toy Empire
How does the 9-year-old make so much money? Ryan Kaji already had his own YouTube channel “Ryan ToysReview” at the age of 4. The channel has now grown to 25 million subscribers. There is a new video every day.
The channel mostly offers a mix of video diary entries from a 9-year-old and unboxing videos of toys. In addition to English, the channel is also available in Japanese and Spanish.
The channel features Ryan’s family. Alongside him are Daddy, Mommy, and his twin sisters. In 2017, the parents made lucrative deals for the then 6-year-old with a startup, since then they have taken over marketing and merchandise for the channel and are apparently quite good at it.
Kaji is somewhat of the world’s most important toy influencer. As Forbes reports, most of the $29.5 million in earnings comes from licensing deals for 5,000 “Ryan’s Worlds” products.
Who is in 2nd place? Trailing behind with only $24 million in earnings is a newcomer on the list, “Mr Beast.” The 22-year-old Jimmy Donaldson is known on YouTube for his stunts and innovative videos. He presents contestants with challenges often involving money. In one video, for instance, people were to spend $1 million in one minute.
This is somewhat of a game show for the YouTube generation.
What about gamers? There are only 2 gamers in the top 10 list on YouTube.
In 5th place is Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier. He reportedly earned about $19.5 million in 2020. With 27.7 million subscribers, Markiplier is the “mainstream gaming YouTuber.” He uploads a new video daily. If he is in the hospital, he simply posts videos from his hospital bed. Otherwise, he often posts entertaining Let’s Plays.
Shortly behind Markiplier comes Preston Arsement with $19 million in earnings. The 26-year-old became a star with Minecraft but also makes many prank videos or things with his family.
The American operates several YouTube channels dedicated to other games, including the extremely popular Roblox with children and Call of Duty as a counter-programming. Preston follows the unofficial rules for gaming YouTubers: The thumbnails and video formats adhere to international standards. Hardly a video goes by where he doesn’t look at the viewer with strong emotional expression. And almost every title contains a word written completely in ALL-CAPS.
The most subscribed YouTuber in the West, PewDiePie, does not appear in Forbes’ list.
Here is the list in brief:
- 10. Jeffree Star – $15 million – a beauty YouTuber
- 9. David Dobrik – $15.5 million – a type of situational comedian
- 8. Blippi (Stevin John) – $17 million – a 32-year-old who creates content for children
- 7. Natya (Anastasia Radzinskaya) – $18.5 million – A six-year-old Russian focused heavily on toys
- 6. Preston Arsement – $19 million
- 5. Markiplier (Mark Fischbach) – $19.5 million
- 4. Rhett and Link – $20 million – A duo known for their morning talk show
- 3. Dude Perfect – $23 million – Five guys who are extremely successful on YouTube with stunts and trick shots
- 2. Mr. Beast (Jimmy Donaldson) – $24 million
- 1. Ryan Kaji – $29.5 million
This is what it is all about: From a gamer’s perspective, there are several things to note from the list:
- Children are an incredibly lucrative field for YouTube and the industry – there are 3 channels in the “Top 10” list that are either run by children under 10 years old or clearly aimed at them
- The key to the big earners on YouTube appears to be merchandise deals. Influencers leverage their vast reach to sell their products
- Those who want to make money with gaming should probably focus on quantity and release as many videos as possible – this has recently led to criticism from “Videogamedunkey,” who stated: Quality simply does not pay off on YouTube, one must focus on quantity
For gamers, Twitch seems to have established itself as the main platform. It shows that YouTube is indeed mixed, while gaming dominates more strongly on Twitch.
The 10 highest-paid gamers in the world – They earn the most on Twitch, YouTube, and more
