24 ms·

YouTube top earners: A seven-year-old making $22M

278 points by happy-go-lucky 8y ago

ravenstine 8y ago
> As he is still a child, 15% of Ryan's earnings are put into a bank account that he can only access when he becomes a legal adult. Why 15%? Why not 100%? Why not even 50%? Should this sit right with me? I want to believe this child isn't being exploited. EDIT: Thanks for clearing that up for me. It seems I was misunderstanding.
- anime_forever 8y ago
  Parents own the child duh
- felipemnoa 8y ago
  https://bonniejwallace.com/who-gets-the-money-when-a-child-actor-works/ https://bonniejwallace.com/who-gets-the-money-when-a-child-a...
- ruytlm 8y ago
  Presumably depends on the jurisdiction: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Child_Actor%27s_Bill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Child_Actor%27s_Bil...
- hughes 8y ago
  This doesn't mean that the parents get the other 85%. All the income belongs to the child, the 15% figure is put in a trust as a requirement by California law and cannot be accessed until the child turns 18.
  - gowld 8y ago
    The article doesn't say that more than 15% is put in trust, or that the child is spending $XXX,000 on himself. Of course, the child also isn't generating the whole business himself either.
  - lunchables 8y ago
    Are you sure? Seems like the parents are really the "producers" and the kid is more of an actor. He very well might get a lot of that money, but I'm not sure. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Is there any reason to give an 8 year old child access to (his) millions of dollars?
- andygcook 8y ago
  From the Wikipedia page, only 15% of the child’s earnings need to be put aside into a trust: “This law requires a child actor's employer to set aside 15% of the earnings in a trust (often called a Coogan Account), and codifies issues such as schooling, work hours and time off.” Seems like it should be more.
  - thaumasiotes 8y ago
    How much does this apply to a child employed by his own parents? I know the normal child labor laws don't apply -- at all -- in that case.
  - ian0 8y ago
    For those wondering the same thing as me: http://www.perennialfinancialservices.com/blog/thank-uncle-fester-the-origin-of-coogan-accounts http://www.perennialfinancialservices.com/blog/thank-uncle-f...
- wingerlang 8y ago
  It says 15% OF this earnings, he might be getting more than that but 15% is locked up until he is an adult. Even so, the parents are probably the actual 'runners' of the company (?) doing all the work except being on camera. Meaning administrative work, accounting, filming, editing, marketing maybe and so on.
  - ehsankia 8y ago
    Exactly, it's not like the kid is writing the scripts, creating the sets, buying the equipment, paying for lawyers, settings up advertiser deals, paying for video production and editing, etc. From the videos, it seems like they've now got a much fancier house too, which I'm assuming was paid with the earnings.
  - softawre 8y ago
    The parents are on camera a lot as well. The kid is just playing with stuff, the parents are doing all of the work.
  - EADGBE 8y ago
    The parents are the producers. Literally.
- cauldron 8y ago
  Invest for much better gains.
preommr 8y ago
There are so many things wrong with youtube such as accountability, standards and advertising value. These problems get even weirder when kids are involved. Obviously the reason this kid is making 22m is because other kids are watching. Which isn't bad. This kid basically won the lottery and good for him. But then you have things like elsagate which is/was (idk if it's over) so weird. I still don't know what the hell was going on there. I can only assume that, once again, kids are mindlessly watching these videos and that's fairly disturbing. Also I am curious about what people that buy ad spots on youtube think about the fact that a lot of the views they're paying for are kids that won't care about products like their makeup or adult oriented products/services.
- briga 8y ago
  Well ten years ago kids were mindlessly watching cartoons on TV, which probably had just as much advetisement. The main difference with YouTube, I figure, is that the money is mainly going to content creators rather than TV executives. On the other hand, the recommended video feed is something akin to heroin for the brain, so giving kids unbridled access to YouTube is probably not the best parenting strategy
  - preommr 8y ago
    Kids will always mindlessly watch stuff but it's about what they're watching. I am on the fence about ad heavy shows, but that's not what I am talking about when I say that a lot of these shows are disturbing. I am assuming you've never watched an elsagate video because it's like a fever dream. I know old cartoons like ren and stimpy were strange, but these videos are just... creepy. They'll show things like drinking, taking drugs through needles, all kinds of weird sexual stuff in a way that's really disturbing. You just have to watch it see what I mean. And there's a lot of this disturbing content that seems to mainly target kids on youtube.
  - godot 8y ago
    The main difference is not just the money going to content creators. Like preommr said, the real main difference is all the creepy stuff that's on Youtube that you don't normally see as an adult on your YT account recommended videos/related videos, but that kids see because things are targeted at them. There's some real creepy scary stuff out there. TV back in the days, even if kids watch them obsessively, at least don't have "dangerous" stuff like that. They were curated by reasonable people working at the networks, not algorithms. I will never give my kid unbridled access to YT. When she's old enough to watch videos, I would consider downloading specific content from YT filtered by myself, for offline viewing.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
smilesnd 8y ago
I wonder if these guess at the income of internet celebrates could some how hurt them when doing taxes.
- legostormtroopr 8y ago
  Only if they don't report. Tax departments usually don't care where the money comes from, as long as they get their cut.
  - EADGBE 8y ago
    And regardless of whatever supposed income numbers there are out there, only the IRS cares about the 1099's from Adwords and companies sponsoring their content. If they get their appropriate tax checks from those, all is gravy.
wesleytodd 8y ago
It amazes me the amount of advertising dollars funneled into advertising to users who are not even allowed to use the website (those under 13).
- eklitzke 8y ago
  Kids watch the videos, then ask their parents to buy the toys. Same way toy advertising works on television.
  - sorum 8y ago
    Or like He-Man, where the entire premise was to create a cartoon they could sell action figures from. Rewatching it, the plot wasn’t all that coherent. But that didn’t matter, because Battle Cat was cool and Skeletor’s castle had a microphone and speaker built in.
- manfredo 8y ago
  Under 13 year olds cannot have a youtube channel or account without the supervision of their parents. They absolutely are allowed to use the site, though. Youtube even has channel setting specifically for young children.
  - marpstar 8y ago
    YouTube has an entire app for kids: https://www.youtube.com/yt/kids/ https://www.youtube.com/yt/kids/
satuenpoo 8y ago
You have no reason to complain about your life if a 7 year old can earn 20 million a year playing with toys. NO REASON
Bjorkbat 8y ago
I’m kind of surprised that Logan Paul is still doing so well. Living embodiment of YouTube gone wrong, still made $3 million more than he did last year according to this article.
- jhwang5 8y ago
  People are generally not so bright and have very short memory and attention span.
- jzl 8y ago
  Best summary I've ever read about Logan Paul is this (since-deleted) tweet: "Watching adults learn about Logan Paul is like seeing Mt. Everest base campers leave for the summit with a windbreaker and a granola bar."
- Nasrudith 8y ago
  The toddler model of celebrity (acting out for attention) pays off short term from the controversy and occasionally destroys themselves in the long term.
- josefresco 8y ago
  The kids didn't care, it was just another think to talk about. Source: Have kids who's friends were/are obsessed with both brothers.
TravHatesMe 8y ago
What I find interesting is that many of these youtubers have created personas to appeal to their audience, like true entertainers. However loyal viewers are fooled into this false sense of reality, where they are friends with content creator and this is not a persona at all, he's my friend. Over time, the content creator and the audience share so many moments together, it becomes an emotional bond and a substitute for people's social needs. People grow attached to this persona, sometimes obsessively. I think it could create of a scary pattern of disassociation, has it already? Another thought: If the content creator chooses to optimize the money-making persona, it eventually leads to sensationalized content to generate the maximum possible number of views. I think there is some sadness in that: no matter what form of art, so much of it is influenced (disrupted?) by money -- it almost seems inevitable.
- snek 8y ago
  this is what the paul brothers already do for a living
  - lihaciudaniel 8y ago
    Want to mention that jake Paul said he wanted to be the youngest billionaire in h3h3 podcast (vice video:https://youtu.be/5ZV2x2fpdpg https://youtu.be/5ZV2x2fpdpg
- buzzy_hacker 8y ago
  > Over time, the content creator and the audience share so many moments together, it becomes an emotional bond and a substitute for people's social needs. I've wondered about this for podcasts too. I noticed a scary habit where I would play podcasts when I was feeling lonely. Over time, you feel like you're pals with the hosts and something about the audio format checks the social needs box in your brain, thinking that you're hanging out with another human. I don't want to unconsciously sate my social needs with podcasts so I've been more intentional about my listening. As for people growing attached to the persona, here's an interesting case: https://youtu.be/VJJ90qpzark?t=458 https://youtu.be/VJJ90qpzark?t=458
ACow_Adonis 8y ago
To me this little news snippet had just hit home how much of a bubble I live in, and how we're diverging into multiple streams of media for different cultures and classes. These million dollar media businesses exist that I have no idea about and no exposure to. Presumably when my child reaches approx 8, he'll have been brought up without ads and with most of this content having been blocked (or more accurately, just never coming into the house/houses of his friends, blocking, even though that's what it is we're doing is almost too 'active' a word). And there will be a whole sub-class of the population brought up on this stuff that we never mix with. Or maybe I'm naive and these media will get in past our defences, but judging by how current media bubbles work it's a distinct possibility that it will remain a bubble I'm never exposed to (I.e I know pay TV options and certain newspapers/you tube things exist, but struggle to tell you a single person I know under the age of 50 who subscribes). I can't be the only one who feels a little sick at the prospect of making money heaping consumerism on children...?
- sjg007 8y ago
  Eh? I mean, most of the money comes from sponsored videos.. So hot wheels, thomas the train, surprise eggs.. etc.. some are obvious, some are the kid playing with the thing. It's funny that we cut the cord and don't allow kids to watch nick jr or disney jr but instead allow youtube where the subversion is greater. My kids don't watch any (or very few) traditional ads but they know exactly what is hip. Most of this was from youtube kids. And now they have the surprise toys. Genius. Is it bad or good? I mean don't take your kid to target or walmart or the supermarket or the airport...
  - Mtinie 8y ago
    “Forbes said all but $1m of the $22m total is generated by advertising shown before videos, with the remainder coming from sponsored posts.” Unless I’m misunderstanding your comment, most of the money comes from pre-roll advertising, not sponsored content product placements.
  - ACow_Adonis 8y ago
    Well, for context, I wouldn't even think of youtube as a media service (whether it is or isn't is another topic). I think of it as a video hosting website: subsequently I engage with it looking for a trailer, a how-to video, instructions, when a real-estate agent uploads a video of a house they're showing...and yes maybe every now and then a video or meme that someone forwards me. As a video-hosting website, i don't think it would be responsible for me to consider giving a young child open access to it until they're old enough to basically be able to have open access to the internet: because its a video-hosting website on the internet, not a media company, and certainly not one that's vetting material suitable for small children. Subsequently, it doesn't even get past the first psychological/physical barrier of getting into the home as an idea. Now, bear in mind, when I grew up and was under 10, I wasn't allowed to watch cartoons before school. Cable wasn't a thing in my country. Indeed my parents would have protested that cartoons and many commercial shows "rot the brain" (and these days, i'd be inclined to agree). I didn't feel denied, I remember watching cartoons on the weekend, and while yes, I had some hotwheels and matchbox cars (never saw a cartoon of them, did they exist?) and a voltron sheet and toy set (which I do remember as a cartoon admittedly, along with astroboy, lost cities of gold, dr who, etc). But for the most part I remember my sand pit and my building blocks more. And then just as I got old enough, home computers became a thing. We had sesame street and playschool and mr squiggle, to be sure, but these did not have any commercial content. I also remember I had david attenborough and nature documentaries and general trivia gameshows that I liked to watch with my grandmother downstairs in the granny flat. And there was a set time each night when my parents would watch the news (which i found boring). And of course we had books! But there were a whole HEAP of shows where the main purpose of the show/story was not even vaguely ads or consumption, and its those and similar shows that I'd be allowing, or am planning to put on a server and let my child watch from there. As for target and walmart, well, we don't have the later in my country, and I've barely been in one of those retail stores currently for several years. Our food/groceries are delivered, and when we do go to the supermarket, its to pick something up on the way home from work or as a last minute when we're out of something: alternatively, many of the other essential things are bought from the greengrocer/bakery/dairy or other specialist retailers that are scattered around my neighbourhood, again, currently without advertising distractions targetted at children. I mean, i get the message: I went to the supermarket as a child with my parents as well, but we weren't allowed to get anything. It was 'the rules'. I distinctly remember being allowed one Cadbury Furry Friends chocolate bar every wednesday that my mother would bring home from work: they're little blocks of chocolate about 15-20g in size. I'm not saying we're immune from advertising. But my point is there's at least two separate worlds now: like the internet with ads, I've grown up without ads on the internet, my children are going to grow up without ads on their internet, because they're just blocked before they come in the door. There's a whole world of media out there (apparently) they aren't going to see (and looking at some of it now I'm even less inclined to let them) because at best they might have to watch it at a friends, but due to the social bubble, even the degree that its going to happen is an open question.
lynnetye 8y ago
I just watched a few minutes of "Ryan disappear[s] through a Secret Portal in the house to the North Pole" and am thoroughly impressed. Clearly a lot goes into the concepts, sets, and overall production of these videos. I don't know all of the details, but I can imagine how building a business like this could be one of the cooler ways for a family to spend quality time together.
- ehsankia 8y ago
  I'm not sure if you're being serious, but that video was honestly minimal amount of effort when it came to effects, sets and production. There are channels on Youtube with a fraction of the following that produce content orders of magnitude more professional than that. This kind of video can be made by some amateur producer in their bedroom. Considering they make 22M, you'd really think they'd spend money on at least getting a single professional video editor, if not more.
  - thaumasiotes 8y ago
    > Considering they make 22M, you'd really think they'd spend money on at least getting a single professional video editor, if not more. ...why? Their current production values seem to be doing well.
  - codetrotter 8y ago
    OTOH, maybe the family enjoys doing as much as possible themselves. If everything needs to be professionalized, where does that leave the hobbyists and the amateurs? Should there not be room for them? If not, why?
    - saghm 8y ago
      Not disagreeing with you per se, but if you're making $22 million off something, I'm not sure the terms "hobbyist" or "amateur" apply there.
  - lynnetye 8y ago
    I wasn't kidding at all! I once found my ~4yo niece watching a series of YouTube videos that were just close ups of adult hands unwrapping small toys. Zero animations. No audio or editing. The video had a million views or something. (I can't even find this video because I don't know what to search for.) When I read the BBC article, I assumed it was something equally no budget. Little kids like weird stuff.
joering2 8y ago
Who is watching these videos? Youtube TOS states you have to be at least 13 years old to use their site. If I were to see my 13 (or older) children watching a 7 year old unwrapping toys, I think I would go to the psychiatrist just to check them out. Unless of course YouTube allows for their own TOS to be violated and they have a right to do so in the spirit of greed; their pockets are clearly filled up by children clicking on Google ads; otherwise how do you think he made that $22MM, from a GoFoundMe donations??
- inerte 8y ago
  I was going to say Youtube Kids, but even their ToS limit usage to 13 years-old and older https://kids.youtube.com/t/terms https://kids.youtube.com/t/terms :) Can you create a Youtube ad and target < 13 yo?
- adventured 8y ago
  Children under 13 can legally watch videos on YouTube with their parents. Consider the premise: you must remove all children, including infants and babies, from the room and or hearing/viewing distance before you utilize the YouTube service. That's laughable to say the least. You can also take your children to R rated films for example, they just can't go by themselves. The same concept applies to video games - you can buy your 11 year old Grand Theft Auto, they can't buy it for their self. It's not illegal for children to listen to music with vulgar lyrics, they just can't buy it typically.
  - inerte 8y ago
    Thought so too, but that's not their ToS, unless I missed some part (didn't read the whole thing and just scanned for age-related sections): https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms > In any case, you affirm that you are over the age of 13, as the Service is not intended for children under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use the Service. There are lots of other great web sites for you. Talk to your parents about what sites are appropriate for you.
    - 8y ago
zanek 8y ago
My 7 year old son watches Dude Perfect on YouTube, which I had never heard of. Apparently its all the rage, in elementary schools and he heard about it via other kids. I watched a few to make sure they were ok, but they mostly came off as older guys doing elaborate stunts that kids would do on a much smaller scale (like throwing balls off tall buildings, fat suits on cars, etc ) I'm not shocked they are making $20M or so. One of the episodes showcased their new Dude Perfect headquarters that looked like a block long warehouse with basketball courts, foam pits , etc in it with their DP logo all over it. I guess it pays to cater to kids base desires on a grander scale
- LanceH 8y ago
  My six year old has started running around the house without his shirt, lifting things and drinking milk so that he can be all swole. That or he watches chrisfix videos on how to repair the car. I highly recommend the chrisfix videos, btw. We've both learned a lot about cars.
  - zanek 8y ago
    I've been gently reminding my son that Dude Perfect is pure entertainment and he is barely learning anything with it. He's slowly been drifting away from it. Thankfully, he watches kurzgesagt, BackYard Scientist, VSauce, TED and mostly scientific or programming videos so its mostly 5 to 1 , educational to entertainment videos with the limited screen time he has. The Khan Academy courses are really good as well as the ProdigyGame (for math) for keeping him engaged and multiple grades ahead of his current grade. https://www.prodigygame.com/ https://www.prodigygame.com/
  - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
    > My six year old has started running around the house without his shirt, lifting things and drinking milk so that he can be all swole. To be fair I do this and I'm 34. ;) Although you should tell him that running is the worst thing for gainz.
  - rasz 8y ago
    Introduce your kid to Andrew Camarata https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUujfNBK9uv3cIW-P5PX7vA/videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUujfNBK9uv3cIW-P5PX7vA/vid... Clean language, strong work ethics. Works with heavy equipment, builds a Castle out of Shipping Containers, fixes trucks/boats/bikes/excavators etc. Mustie1 is another clean educational YTber with similar content: https://www.youtube.com/user/mustie1/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/mustie1/videos
gigatexal 8y ago
This kid has made more money than I will ever see in my whole life. I’m not jealous I’m proud! I hope he’s got some good support around him as all that money so young could be a recipe for disaster if not managed right. High school comes to mind: if I was a self made millionaire in high school oh man I would likely have been even more wreckeless than I was.
- EADGBE 8y ago
  "Youth is wasted on the young."
14 8y ago
sweet the hockey fad is kind of old I want my child to be a youtube star
nautilus12 8y ago
Something still feels wrong about something that takes comaparatively so little effort making so much money. I’m not saying it’s easy but it’s much much easier than many other proffesions. Think of software engineers slaving over brilliant designs staying up night after night for a few hundred thousand per year, or even NFL stars that expose their brains to permanent damage. It’s almost like a new form of the lottery. The viral lottery.
- jakeinspace 8y ago
  Or think of villagers in rural Africa or India, doing intense manual labor all day for little playoff and a premature death. Unfortunately, life's brutal and unfair. You could take your savings and put it all on 28 in roulette, and hey, maybe you too can have massive payout for minimal effort.
- preommr 8y ago
  So much of life is just blind luck. Like finding a big source of oil on a bunch of land in the middle of nowhere worth nothing.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  It goes against everything we're lead to believe about hard work always paying off. But that's life.
  - Nasrudith 8y ago
    Much of what we were taught about hard work was pushed by exploiters of peasantry whose fallen descendants would literally risk a disgraceful death and believed damnation as highwaymen rather than work a day in their lives. It just perpetuated and their lies got out of their control and got many of them killed several times historically - from Cromwell to communism. And it didn't end too well for their deposers either - from their own actions no less. The truth is hard work can pay off not that it does and working smarter is always a better option.
- DownGoat 8y ago
  If it actually takes so little effort, then why aren't they outcompeted by someone putting more effort into it? Is breaking big on Youtube only luck based?
diminish 8y ago
My 6 y.o. lives in a youtube universe. Every content he creates, he makes a video and publishes on youtube. Making slimes, building stamps, building paper train wagons, visiting places, and of course unpacking toys and stuff. He always concludes video or other stories like `pls press the Like button, and subscribe to my channel in order not to miss a thing`. When I talk too much he says 'papa skip ad', with a tap gesture. on air. youtube is the definite leader for <10 y.o.s around me.
- Rjevski 8y ago
  You should explain to him that whatever you publish on the Internet is forever and whether he'd like someone in his adult life to be able to find that content.
  - crooked-v 8y ago
    Do you really think a 6-year-old who thinks it's the best thing in the world is going to say 'no' to that? If anything that's encouragement.
  - xapata 8y ago
    I expect that future generations will have a better sense of how personality changes over time, and thus less embarrassment from old videos.
  - freyir 8y ago
    Why should anybody be embarrassed about playing with toys or making stamps as a child? It's the stupid stuff they'll do in high school and college they should be worried about.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - Balgair 8y ago
    > whatever you publish on the Internet is forever Maaaaybe. Link Rot is a real thing. Look at Twitch. They delete a LOT of footage all the time. A lot of speedruns are lost to time due to these 'top-level' decisions. https://www.polygon.com/2014/8/6/5975413/twitch-video-on-demand-no-save-forever https://www.polygon.com/2014/8/6/5975413/twitch-video-on-dem...
tzm 8y ago
I find my son consistently finding Ryan's Toy Review in YT, but as a parent I have no control except to completely remove the app from his life. Youtube should add personalized content filtering designed to remove such content from search results and feeds.
jijojv 8y ago
I banned Ryan's after they started peddling his Walmart toys - my 4 year old hasn't seen/asked for Ryan's in last few months. So cut them off while young.
conanthe 8y ago
I wonder how many views one needs to get such income and who pays it? I had a blog with 500k monthly unique visitors and rarely made over $500 from AdSense. I had pretty good bounce rate and average visit was 7 minutes.
- ryanmercer 8y ago
  Top YouTube talent in general: ad revenue, endorsements, affiliate sales, sell shirts/pins/hats, appearance fees etc. The individual in this article: >all but $1m of the $22m total is generated by advertising shown before videos, with the remainder coming from sponsored posts. But take people like Jenna and Julien: they make and sell limited edition pins, they have a twitch that pretty mcuh always has someone as a top bits tipper at 10k bits plus twitch subscribers, a cut of YouTube red subscribers watching their streams, Jenna has done keynote and commencement speeches (a quick google search shows her booking fee might be 20-50k$), she has a Sirius XM show, she has a podcast.
budadre75 8y ago
I feel sad about my life working so hard and will never able to even compete with this kid.
- ALittleLight 8y ago
  On the flip side there are probably peasants in rural East Asia who labor in extremely challenging conditions and make a fraction of what you do. If they understood that your job was to (probably) sit in an air conditioned room tapping keys and talking to people for a few hours a day for significant wealth they might feel what you feel.
  - joejerryronnie 8y ago
    Yeah, it’s all relative. No matter how bad your situation is or how successful you become, some people will always have it better than you and some people will always have it worse than you. So there’s no sense in beating yourself up over where you “should be” in life. Just do your best to improve and grow according to your values and priorities.
  - budadre75 8y ago
    I don't really like this comparison to peasants, they can be happy and healthy for doing what they do, but office jobs are just depressing and unhealthy in comparison.
    - ALittleLight 8y ago
      Any office worker who feels this way should immediately start his own rice paddy.
      - ldonley 8y ago
        I don't know if starting a rice farm is a feasible way to pay off student loans or mortgages for most people.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
deleted 8y ago
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ckastner 8y ago
> The amount generated by sponsored posts is small compared with other top YouTubers, Forbes writes. It is "the result not only of how few deals Ryan (or his family) chooses to accept, but also the fact that his pint-sized demographic isn't exactly all that flush". They then proceed to disprove this "fact" in (literally) the next sentence: > The toys featured in one of the channel's videos can sell out instantly.
rapnie 8y ago
It may not be all that much fun and games.. Half a year ago I saw a documentary (can't remember which), where a number of popular YouTube vloggers were followed to see what being an influencer entails. While each of them were enjoying the good stuff - the money earned, the free gadgets and trips, etc. - in general each of them also felt trapped. To me it seemed like hell to live a life like this. Huge social pressure from followers to crank out new content on a continuous basis. No time to take real breaks, let alone a longer vacation. Totally focused on social metrics. A wrong move leading to loss of 1,000s of followers. A vacation or even being sick leads to people complaining in your feeds, or even starting to threaten you. Responsibilities and contracts with influence marketers. Being an influencer is a kind of topsport. You are a professional, while you are also still a kid. And the longer you keep doing it, the more you've made a life's choice (neglecting school, building real social network, etc.) and it is harder to get out of it. Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention that the real famous vloggers also can no longer come outside without being recognized everywhere. E.g. 16-20yr olds that cause young children to go histerical when they see them, giving signatures all the time. Literally no rest anywhere.
- rorykoehler 8y ago
  With $22m in the bank he could give it all up at a drop of a hat, put it all into passive investments and live the life of a king off the proceeds.
  - rapnie 8y ago
    Sure. He can. He is already at the top. And his example will be the ultimate dream of many, with full support of (greedy?) parents. But your kid may not be all that lucky. It is a crowded market.
  - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
    It's very easy to blow $22m in a very short amount of time, especially with his teenage years not all that far ahead of him.
    - 8y ago
buboard 8y ago
There really needs to be some regulation or at least self-regulation for this kind of stuff. This child should remain the exception (this is technically child labor), and advertising to kids on youtube should catch up with TV standards. And i don't think this kind of publicity is doing any good to other children. Perhaps a startup that helps parents deal with this kind of stuff easier?
- suddenstutter 8y ago
  oh my god. Please don't bring the government into this.
  - buboard 8y ago
    the government is already the protector of google's business
porjo 8y ago
I was interested to see that the top 10 earners are all male.[1] I wonder if this is merely a reflection of greater male patronage of Youtube generally but the topics that these top earners are focusing on are not all stereotypically male interests. The 7 year old kid reviews toys which seems quite gender neutral and then there's the makeup artist which, presumably, would be of more interest to a female audience. What is stopping women and girls from dominating Youtube? [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2018/12/03/highest-paid-youtube-stars-2018-markiplier-jake-paul-pewdiepie-and-more/#7ec9f901909a https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2018/12/03/high...
- _Codemonkeyism 8y ago
  I'd like to know that too, as a recruiting manager I've wondered why there are no more female manager role models and what I can do to change that (and I did change some things in the past). Recently I saw a woman and man commenting on the chess championship on YT, both excellent chess players. She tried to impress/be liked by being nice and helpful, he tried to impress/be liked by being powerful. This of course should not be taken as a study but a starting point for some thought - he kind of dominated her appearance (though I guess this wasn't his intention).
- PunchTornado 8y ago
  why force equal outcomes on such a niche place like Youtube? on Instagram the top earners are all females. Kylie Jenner makes $1 million per post, Selena Gomez 800k. And it is ok to be like that as Instagram is 70% female.
  - wastedhours 8y ago
    > why force equal outcomes on such a niche place like Youtube? I didn't get that from the OP at all - I think it's a valid (and quite an interesting) question to pose (especially as a marketer): what is it about YouTube's audience that seemingly favours male creators? Not about "forcing" anything, but it's always interesting to dive into why platform demographics differ and the reasons behind it. (Also, my assumption is "dominate" here isn't like take over, but just "do it really well" - feel free to correct me OP).
InGodsName 8y ago
It creates bigger winners and even bigger losers. There are kids who have been depressed since age 8, no idea when their depression will end. The number is increasing at huge rate. There are kids who will look upto these kids and get in competition mode while other kids gonna be depressed because they can't afford or can't do as good as them. I've no idea if it's good or bad.
ishikawa 8y ago
It's interesting how so many people criticize this family that is making tens of millions every year. If that is wrong, they should start with TV Shows in which children that are much more exposed and sometimes not having fun doing what they want, make actually a 6 fig salary. Too many grow to be poor and lost adults. At 7 Ryan has enough money for a comfort life.
- EADGBE 8y ago
  > At 7 Ryan has enough money for a comfort life. wayyy more than comfortable
xte 8y ago
A small point: did anybody notice how this reward mechanism prize the "idiocy" far more than the "knowledge"? I mean most followed YT channels, most upvotes on FB etc are about "brainless things", "brainless contents" vs valuable technical or cultural contents. An YT channel about "just for laugh" or "sport" or "how to decorate nails" have FAR more subscribers and viewers than a tech, historic, physics, ... DIY channels. That's of course natural but prize it instead of fight it it's a means to push toward stupidity.
- salvar 8y ago
  Who decides what is valuable content and what is brainless stupidity?
  - dogma1138 8y ago
    Im pretty sure that we can easily define metrics to measure that and we had. This cult of relativism really needs to stop.
    - salvar 8y ago
      Excellent, what are the metrics then? What makes a "how to do your nails" tutorial brainless stupidity?
      - xte 8y ago
        Perhaps my poor English make hard for me to clearly express concepts, sorry. How to do your nails it's simply far less valuable than how a banks or a car work in knowledge terms, however on YT&c it get far more financial reward than a video on banking systems, mechanics etc. Home that's more clear.
        dogma1138 8y ago
        I don’t think it’s has less value on a case by case basis, but this is also not relevant. There is a big difference between education/enrichment and entertainment and while some content creators might walk the line between them there is a pretty big split. I would say pre-defining what is “valuable” is probably not the best approach because it too prone to selection bias, an instruction video on how to do nails to a beautician is far more useful than a video explaining correspondenant banking systems. That said the content as a whole can be measured in terms of its impact on cognitive and emotional state and well being especially on large sample sizes. We already know that social media voyeurism causes a lot emotional distress, we know that certain types of content can make you “dumber” at least in the short term. And on a larger scale we can check the social and individual benefits for specific cases, e.g. how many individuals who watched a specific subeset of content turned their life to the better in say a period of 5 years.
random878 8y ago
Could anyone point me toward a more comprehensive analysis of incomes from YouTube? Specifically, I'd like to get an idea about the distribution of income across active monetised accounts. This would be far more interesting to me than looking at some - I'm guessing - statistical outliers. What does a average channel, with modest viewers, with niche content, earn for the producer?
- 666lumberjack 8y ago
  Not sure if it's exactly what you're after, but I know of this[0] video from CGPGrey talking about adsense specifically. There's also this[1] video breaking down the income sources for Linus Tech Tips and related channels, although they probably don't qualify as 'modest views'? This[2] is talking about twitch streamers rather than youtube channels, but it's quite an interesting breakdown too. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW0eUrUiyxo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW0eUrUiyxo [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t73wXF8IF-8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t73wXF8IF-8 [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m5P_n5njCQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m5P_n5njCQ
  - random878 8y ago
    Thanks, I'll give those vids a watch. Yes, I'd definitely say that Linus' channel is much bigger than I'm interested in. I'm thinking of the small channels who put out quality content, b with a restricted audience. I watch some channels who make Linux and Chess videos and the content is superb, but there's a natural threshold level of views they'll get. I was prompted to think about it after a conversation with a colleague. We were talking about the market within medicine for giving exam prep courses to med students and doctors. A recent day course we noted was £50 per student and it was sold out (about 200 people I think). The person delivering the course had multiple dates lined up across the UK. We wondered whether it would be more profitable for this individual to use youtube (there would be numerous pros/cons to this, but that's another topic). We could quickly do the maths to work out the income from X students, on Y dates, minus Z estimated costs, etc, for the traditional lectures... but we just cant find any data for likely youtube profits. The information seems almost deliberately obscured.
cauldron 8y ago
While 22M youtubers-wonna-be earning little to nothing.
- romanovcode 8y ago
  As someone commented: This creates couple winners, but millions of depressed losers.
jdlyga 8y ago
I'm 34, and I just discovered PewDiePie. I thought he was one of those irritating Let's Play guys, but I was definitely wrong. His videos are mostly about reviewing memes, internet news, and funny videos these days. He's a really entertaining guy. I highly recommend you subscribe.
demarq 8y ago
Several times youtubers have called BS on these headline grabbing estimates. So these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.
creep 8y ago
SUBSCRIBE TO PEWDIEPIE UNSUBSCRIBE FROM T-SERIES
thelasthuman 8y ago
Maybe if real life didn't suck as bad as it does for so many stuck here, people would prefer real life interactions. I'm happy for you if you've had any amount of good-natured uplifting human interaction. This is not the case for everyone. A privilege.
tapan_pandita 8y ago
Ok, but how much does the Bro Sweet website make?

> As he is still a child, 15% of Ryan's earnings are put into a bank account that he can only access when he becomes a legal adult. Why 15%? Why not 100%? Why not even 50%? Should this sit right with me? I want to believe this child isn't being exploited. EDIT: Thanks for clearing that up for me. It seems I was misunderstanding.

anime_forever 8y ago
Parents own the child duh
felipemnoa 8y ago
https://bonniejwallace.com/who-gets-the-money-when-a-child-actor-works/ https://bonniejwallace.com/who-gets-the-money-when-a-child-a...
ruytlm 8y ago
Presumably depends on the jurisdiction: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Child_Actor%27s_Bill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Child_Actor%27s_Bil...
hughes 8y ago
This doesn't mean that the parents get the other 85%. All the income belongs to the child, the 15% figure is put in a trust as a requirement by California law and cannot be accessed until the child turns 18.
- gowld 8y ago
  The article doesn't say that more than 15% is put in trust, or that the child is spending $XXX,000 on himself. Of course, the child also isn't generating the whole business himself either.
- lunchables 8y ago
  Are you sure? Seems like the parents are really the "producers" and the kid is more of an actor. He very well might get a lot of that money, but I'm not sure. And I'm not saying it's a bad thing. Is there any reason to give an 8 year old child access to (his) millions of dollars?
andygcook 8y ago
From the Wikipedia page, only 15% of the child’s earnings need to be put aside into a trust: “This law requires a child actor's employer to set aside 15% of the earnings in a trust (often called a Coogan Account), and codifies issues such as schooling, work hours and time off.” Seems like it should be more.
- thaumasiotes 8y ago
  How much does this apply to a child employed by his own parents? I know the normal child labor laws don't apply -- at all -- in that case.
- ian0 8y ago
  For those wondering the same thing as me: http://www.perennialfinancialservices.com/blog/thank-uncle-fester-the-origin-of-coogan-accounts http://www.perennialfinancialservices.com/blog/thank-uncle-f...
wingerlang 8y ago
It says 15% OF this earnings, he might be getting more than that but 15% is locked up until he is an adult. Even so, the parents are probably the actual 'runners' of the company (?) doing all the work except being on camera. Meaning administrative work, accounting, filming, editing, marketing maybe and so on.
- ehsankia 8y ago
  Exactly, it's not like the kid is writing the scripts, creating the sets, buying the equipment, paying for lawyers, settings up advertiser deals, paying for video production and editing, etc. From the videos, it seems like they've now got a much fancier house too, which I'm assuming was paid with the earnings.
- softawre 8y ago
  The parents are on camera a lot as well. The kid is just playing with stuff, the parents are doing all of the work.
- EADGBE 8y ago
  The parents are the producers. Literally.
cauldron 8y ago
Invest for much better gains.

preommr 8y ago

There are so many things wrong with youtube such as accountability, standards and advertising value. These problems get even weirder when kids are involved. Obviously the reason this kid is making 22m is because other kids are watching. Which isn't bad. This kid basically won the lottery and good for him. But then you have things like elsagate which is/was (idk if it's over) so weird. I still don't know what the hell was going on there. I can only assume that, once again, kids are mindlessly watching these videos and that's fairly disturbing. Also I am curious about what people that buy ad spots on youtube think about the fact that a lot of the views they're paying for are kids that won't care about products like their makeup or adult oriented products/services.

briga 8y ago
Well ten years ago kids were mindlessly watching cartoons on TV, which probably had just as much advetisement. The main difference with YouTube, I figure, is that the money is mainly going to content creators rather than TV executives. On the other hand, the recommended video feed is something akin to heroin for the brain, so giving kids unbridled access to YouTube is probably not the best parenting strategy
- preommr 8y ago
  Kids will always mindlessly watch stuff but it's about what they're watching. I am on the fence about ad heavy shows, but that's not what I am talking about when I say that a lot of these shows are disturbing. I am assuming you've never watched an elsagate video because it's like a fever dream. I know old cartoons like ren and stimpy were strange, but these videos are just... creepy. They'll show things like drinking, taking drugs through needles, all kinds of weird sexual stuff in a way that's really disturbing. You just have to watch it see what I mean. And there's a lot of this disturbing content that seems to mainly target kids on youtube.
- godot 8y ago
  The main difference is not just the money going to content creators. Like preommr said, the real main difference is all the creepy stuff that's on Youtube that you don't normally see as an adult on your YT account recommended videos/related videos, but that kids see because things are targeted at them. There's some real creepy scary stuff out there. TV back in the days, even if kids watch them obsessively, at least don't have "dangerous" stuff like that. They were curated by reasonable people working at the networks, not algorithms. I will never give my kid unbridled access to YT. When she's old enough to watch videos, I would consider downloading specific content from YT filtered by myself, for offline viewing.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

smilesnd 8y ago

I wonder if these guess at the income of internet celebrates could some how hurt them when doing taxes.

legostormtroopr 8y ago
Only if they don't report. Tax departments usually don't care where the money comes from, as long as they get their cut.
- EADGBE 8y ago
  And regardless of whatever supposed income numbers there are out there, only the IRS cares about the 1099's from Adwords and companies sponsoring their content. If they get their appropriate tax checks from those, all is gravy.

wesleytodd 8y ago

It amazes me the amount of advertising dollars funneled into advertising to users who are not even allowed to use the website (those under 13).

eklitzke 8y ago
Kids watch the videos, then ask their parents to buy the toys. Same way toy advertising works on television.
- sorum 8y ago
  Or like He-Man, where the entire premise was to create a cartoon they could sell action figures from. Rewatching it, the plot wasn’t all that coherent. But that didn’t matter, because Battle Cat was cool and Skeletor’s castle had a microphone and speaker built in.
manfredo 8y ago
Under 13 year olds cannot have a youtube channel or account without the supervision of their parents. They absolutely are allowed to use the site, though. Youtube even has channel setting specifically for young children.
- marpstar 8y ago
  YouTube has an entire app for kids: https://www.youtube.com/yt/kids/ https://www.youtube.com/yt/kids/

satuenpoo 8y ago

You have no reason to complain about your life if a 7 year old can earn 20 million a year playing with toys. NO REASON

Bjorkbat 8y ago

I’m kind of surprised that Logan Paul is still doing so well. Living embodiment of YouTube gone wrong, still made $3 million more than he did last year according to this article.

jhwang5 8y ago
People are generally not so bright and have very short memory and attention span.
jzl 8y ago
Best summary I've ever read about Logan Paul is this (since-deleted) tweet: "Watching adults learn about Logan Paul is like seeing Mt. Everest base campers leave for the summit with a windbreaker and a granola bar."
Nasrudith 8y ago
The toddler model of celebrity (acting out for attention) pays off short term from the controversy and occasionally destroys themselves in the long term.
josefresco 8y ago
The kids didn't care, it was just another think to talk about. Source: Have kids who's friends were/are obsessed with both brothers.

TravHatesMe 8y ago

What I find interesting is that many of these youtubers have created personas to appeal to their audience, like true entertainers. However loyal viewers are fooled into this false sense of reality, where they are friends with content creator and this is not a persona at all, he's my friend. Over time, the content creator and the audience share so many moments together, it becomes an emotional bond and a substitute for people's social needs. People grow attached to this persona, sometimes obsessively. I think it could create of a scary pattern of disassociation, has it already? Another thought: If the content creator chooses to optimize the money-making persona, it eventually leads to sensationalized content to generate the maximum possible number of views. I think there is some sadness in that: no matter what form of art, so much of it is influenced (disrupted?) by money -- it almost seems inevitable.

snek 8y ago
this is what the paul brothers already do for a living
- lihaciudaniel 8y ago
  Want to mention that jake Paul said he wanted to be the youngest billionaire in h3h3 podcast (vice video:https://youtu.be/5ZV2x2fpdpg https://youtu.be/5ZV2x2fpdpg
buzzy_hacker 8y ago
> Over time, the content creator and the audience share so many moments together, it becomes an emotional bond and a substitute for people's social needs. I've wondered about this for podcasts too. I noticed a scary habit where I would play podcasts when I was feeling lonely. Over time, you feel like you're pals with the hosts and something about the audio format checks the social needs box in your brain, thinking that you're hanging out with another human. I don't want to unconsciously sate my social needs with podcasts so I've been more intentional about my listening. As for people growing attached to the persona, here's an interesting case: https://youtu.be/VJJ90qpzark?t=458 https://youtu.be/VJJ90qpzark?t=458

ACow_Adonis 8y ago

To me this little news snippet had just hit home how much of a bubble I live in, and how we're diverging into multiple streams of media for different cultures and classes. These million dollar media businesses exist that I have no idea about and no exposure to. Presumably when my child reaches approx 8, he'll have been brought up without ads and with most of this content having been blocked (or more accurately, just never coming into the house/houses of his friends, blocking, even though that's what it is we're doing is almost too 'active' a word). And there will be a whole sub-class of the population brought up on this stuff that we never mix with. Or maybe I'm naive and these media will get in past our defences, but judging by how current media bubbles work it's a distinct possibility that it will remain a bubble I'm never exposed to (I.e I know pay TV options and certain newspapers/you tube things exist, but struggle to tell you a single person I know under the age of 50 who subscribes). I can't be the only one who feels a little sick at the prospect of making money heaping consumerism on children...?

sjg007 8y ago
Eh? I mean, most of the money comes from sponsored videos.. So hot wheels, thomas the train, surprise eggs.. etc.. some are obvious, some are the kid playing with the thing. It's funny that we cut the cord and don't allow kids to watch nick jr or disney jr but instead allow youtube where the subversion is greater. My kids don't watch any (or very few) traditional ads but they know exactly what is hip. Most of this was from youtube kids. And now they have the surprise toys. Genius. Is it bad or good? I mean don't take your kid to target or walmart or the supermarket or the airport...
- Mtinie 8y ago
  “Forbes said all but $1m of the $22m total is generated by advertising shown before videos, with the remainder coming from sponsored posts.” Unless I’m misunderstanding your comment, most of the money comes from pre-roll advertising, not sponsored content product placements.
- ACow_Adonis 8y ago
  Well, for context, I wouldn't even think of youtube as a media service (whether it is or isn't is another topic). I think of it as a video hosting website: subsequently I engage with it looking for a trailer, a how-to video, instructions, when a real-estate agent uploads a video of a house they're showing...and yes maybe every now and then a video or meme that someone forwards me. As a video-hosting website, i don't think it would be responsible for me to consider giving a young child open access to it until they're old enough to basically be able to have open access to the internet: because its a video-hosting website on the internet, not a media company, and certainly not one that's vetting material suitable for small children. Subsequently, it doesn't even get past the first psychological/physical barrier of getting into the home as an idea. Now, bear in mind, when I grew up and was under 10, I wasn't allowed to watch cartoons before school. Cable wasn't a thing in my country. Indeed my parents would have protested that cartoons and many commercial shows "rot the brain" (and these days, i'd be inclined to agree). I didn't feel denied, I remember watching cartoons on the weekend, and while yes, I had some hotwheels and matchbox cars (never saw a cartoon of them, did they exist?) and a voltron sheet and toy set (which I do remember as a cartoon admittedly, along with astroboy, lost cities of gold, dr who, etc). But for the most part I remember my sand pit and my building blocks more. And then just as I got old enough, home computers became a thing. We had sesame street and playschool and mr squiggle, to be sure, but these did not have any commercial content. I also remember I had david attenborough and nature documentaries and general trivia gameshows that I liked to watch with my grandmother downstairs in the granny flat. And there was a set time each night when my parents would watch the news (which i found boring). And of course we had books! But there were a whole HEAP of shows where the main purpose of the show/story was not even vaguely ads or consumption, and its those and similar shows that I'd be allowing, or am planning to put on a server and let my child watch from there. As for target and walmart, well, we don't have the later in my country, and I've barely been in one of those retail stores currently for several years. Our food/groceries are delivered, and when we do go to the supermarket, its to pick something up on the way home from work or as a last minute when we're out of something: alternatively, many of the other essential things are bought from the greengrocer/bakery/dairy or other specialist retailers that are scattered around my neighbourhood, again, currently without advertising distractions targetted at children. I mean, i get the message: I went to the supermarket as a child with my parents as well, but we weren't allowed to get anything. It was 'the rules'. I distinctly remember being allowed one Cadbury Furry Friends chocolate bar every wednesday that my mother would bring home from work: they're little blocks of chocolate about 15-20g in size. I'm not saying we're immune from advertising. But my point is there's at least two separate worlds now: like the internet with ads, I've grown up without ads on the internet, my children are going to grow up without ads on their internet, because they're just blocked before they come in the door. There's a whole world of media out there (apparently) they aren't going to see (and looking at some of it now I'm even less inclined to let them) because at best they might have to watch it at a friends, but due to the social bubble, even the degree that its going to happen is an open question.

lynnetye 8y ago

I just watched a few minutes of "Ryan disappear[s] through a Secret Portal in the house to the North Pole" and am thoroughly impressed. Clearly a lot goes into the concepts, sets, and overall production of these videos. I don't know all of the details, but I can imagine how building a business like this could be one of the cooler ways for a family to spend quality time together.

ehsankia 8y ago
I'm not sure if you're being serious, but that video was honestly minimal amount of effort when it came to effects, sets and production. There are channels on Youtube with a fraction of the following that produce content orders of magnitude more professional than that. This kind of video can be made by some amateur producer in their bedroom. Considering they make 22M, you'd really think they'd spend money on at least getting a single professional video editor, if not more.
- thaumasiotes 8y ago
  > Considering they make 22M, you'd really think they'd spend money on at least getting a single professional video editor, if not more. ...why? Their current production values seem to be doing well.
- codetrotter 8y ago
  OTOH, maybe the family enjoys doing as much as possible themselves. If everything needs to be professionalized, where does that leave the hobbyists and the amateurs? Should there not be room for them? If not, why?
  - saghm 8y ago
    Not disagreeing with you per se, but if you're making $22 million off something, I'm not sure the terms "hobbyist" or "amateur" apply there.
- lynnetye 8y ago
  I wasn't kidding at all! I once found my ~4yo niece watching a series of YouTube videos that were just close ups of adult hands unwrapping small toys. Zero animations. No audio or editing. The video had a million views or something. (I can't even find this video because I don't know what to search for.) When I read the BBC article, I assumed it was something equally no budget. Little kids like weird stuff.

joering2 8y ago

Who is watching these videos? Youtube TOS states you have to be at least 13 years old to use their site. If I were to see my 13 (or older) children watching a 7 year old unwrapping toys, I think I would go to the psychiatrist just to check them out. Unless of course YouTube allows for their own TOS to be violated and they have a right to do so in the spirit of greed; their pockets are clearly filled up by children clicking on Google ads; otherwise how do you think he made that $22MM, from a GoFoundMe donations??

inerte 8y ago
I was going to say Youtube Kids, but even their ToS limit usage to 13 years-old and older https://kids.youtube.com/t/terms https://kids.youtube.com/t/terms :) Can you create a Youtube ad and target < 13 yo?
adventured 8y ago
Children under 13 can legally watch videos on YouTube with their parents. Consider the premise: you must remove all children, including infants and babies, from the room and or hearing/viewing distance before you utilize the YouTube service. That's laughable to say the least. You can also take your children to R rated films for example, they just can't go by themselves. The same concept applies to video games - you can buy your 11 year old Grand Theft Auto, they can't buy it for their self. It's not illegal for children to listen to music with vulgar lyrics, they just can't buy it typically.
- inerte 8y ago
  Thought so too, but that's not their ToS, unless I missed some part (didn't read the whole thing and just scanned for age-related sections): https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms > In any case, you affirm that you are over the age of 13, as the Service is not intended for children under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use the Service. There are lots of other great web sites for you. Talk to your parents about what sites are appropriate for you.
  - 8y ago

zanek 8y ago

My 7 year old son watches Dude Perfect on YouTube, which I had never heard of. Apparently its all the rage, in elementary schools and he heard about it via other kids. I watched a few to make sure they were ok, but they mostly came off as older guys doing elaborate stunts that kids would do on a much smaller scale (like throwing balls off tall buildings, fat suits on cars, etc ) I'm not shocked they are making $20M or so. One of the episodes showcased their new Dude Perfect headquarters that looked like a block long warehouse with basketball courts, foam pits , etc in it with their DP logo all over it. I guess it pays to cater to kids base desires on a grander scale

LanceH 8y ago
My six year old has started running around the house without his shirt, lifting things and drinking milk so that he can be all swole. That or he watches chrisfix videos on how to repair the car. I highly recommend the chrisfix videos, btw. We've both learned a lot about cars.
- zanek 8y ago
  I've been gently reminding my son that Dude Perfect is pure entertainment and he is barely learning anything with it. He's slowly been drifting away from it. Thankfully, he watches kurzgesagt, BackYard Scientist, VSauce, TED and mostly scientific or programming videos so its mostly 5 to 1 , educational to entertainment videos with the limited screen time he has. The Khan Academy courses are really good as well as the ProdigyGame (for math) for keeping him engaged and multiple grades ahead of his current grade. https://www.prodigygame.com/ https://www.prodigygame.com/
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  > My six year old has started running around the house without his shirt, lifting things and drinking milk so that he can be all swole. To be fair I do this and I'm 34. ;) Although you should tell him that running is the worst thing for gainz.
- rasz 8y ago
  Introduce your kid to Andrew Camarata https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUujfNBK9uv3cIW-P5PX7vA/videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUujfNBK9uv3cIW-P5PX7vA/vid... Clean language, strong work ethics. Works with heavy equipment, builds a Castle out of Shipping Containers, fixes trucks/boats/bikes/excavators etc. Mustie1 is another clean educational YTber with similar content: https://www.youtube.com/user/mustie1/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/mustie1/videos

gigatexal 8y ago

This kid has made more money than I will ever see in my whole life. I’m not jealous I’m proud! I hope he’s got some good support around him as all that money so young could be a recipe for disaster if not managed right. High school comes to mind: if I was a self made millionaire in high school oh man I would likely have been even more wreckeless than I was.

EADGBE 8y ago
"Youth is wasted on the young."

14 8y ago

sweet the hockey fad is kind of old I want my child to be a youtube star

nautilus12 8y ago

Something still feels wrong about something that takes comaparatively so little effort making so much money. I’m not saying it’s easy but it’s much much easier than many other proffesions. Think of software engineers slaving over brilliant designs staying up night after night for a few hundred thousand per year, or even NFL stars that expose their brains to permanent damage. It’s almost like a new form of the lottery. The viral lottery.

jakeinspace 8y ago
Or think of villagers in rural Africa or India, doing intense manual labor all day for little playoff and a premature death. Unfortunately, life's brutal and unfair. You could take your savings and put it all on 28 in roulette, and hey, maybe you too can have massive payout for minimal effort.
preommr 8y ago
So much of life is just blind luck. Like finding a big source of oil on a bunch of land in the middle of nowhere worth nothing.
SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
It goes against everything we're lead to believe about hard work always paying off. But that's life.
- Nasrudith 8y ago
  Much of what we were taught about hard work was pushed by exploiters of peasantry whose fallen descendants would literally risk a disgraceful death and believed damnation as highwaymen rather than work a day in their lives. It just perpetuated and their lies got out of their control and got many of them killed several times historically - from Cromwell to communism. And it didn't end too well for their deposers either - from their own actions no less. The truth is hard work can pay off not that it does and working smarter is always a better option.
DownGoat 8y ago
If it actually takes so little effort, then why aren't they outcompeted by someone putting more effort into it? Is breaking big on Youtube only luck based?

diminish 8y ago

My 6 y.o. lives in a youtube universe. Every content he creates, he makes a video and publishes on youtube. Making slimes, building stamps, building paper train wagons, visiting places, and of course unpacking toys and stuff. He always concludes video or other stories like `pls press the Like button, and subscribe to my channel in order not to miss a thing`. When I talk too much he says 'papa skip ad', with a tap gesture. on air. youtube is the definite leader for <10 y.o.s around me.

Rjevski 8y ago
You should explain to him that whatever you publish on the Internet is forever and whether he'd like someone in his adult life to be able to find that content.
- crooked-v 8y ago
  Do you really think a 6-year-old who thinks it's the best thing in the world is going to say 'no' to that? If anything that's encouragement.
- xapata 8y ago
  I expect that future generations will have a better sense of how personality changes over time, and thus less embarrassment from old videos.
- freyir 8y ago
  Why should anybody be embarrassed about playing with toys or making stamps as a child? It's the stupid stuff they'll do in high school and college they should be worried about.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- Balgair 8y ago
  > whatever you publish on the Internet is forever Maaaaybe. Link Rot is a real thing. Look at Twitch. They delete a LOT of footage all the time. A lot of speedruns are lost to time due to these 'top-level' decisions. https://www.polygon.com/2014/8/6/5975413/twitch-video-on-demand-no-save-forever https://www.polygon.com/2014/8/6/5975413/twitch-video-on-dem...

tzm 8y ago

I find my son consistently finding Ryan's Toy Review in YT, but as a parent I have no control except to completely remove the app from his life. Youtube should add personalized content filtering designed to remove such content from search results and feeds.

jijojv 8y ago

I banned Ryan's after they started peddling his Walmart toys - my 4 year old hasn't seen/asked for Ryan's in last few months. So cut them off while young.

conanthe 8y ago

I wonder how many views one needs to get such income and who pays it? I had a blog with 500k monthly unique visitors and rarely made over $500 from AdSense. I had pretty good bounce rate and average visit was 7 minutes.

ryanmercer 8y ago
Top YouTube talent in general: ad revenue, endorsements, affiliate sales, sell shirts/pins/hats, appearance fees etc. The individual in this article: >all but $1m of the $22m total is generated by advertising shown before videos, with the remainder coming from sponsored posts. But take people like Jenna and Julien: they make and sell limited edition pins, they have a twitch that pretty mcuh always has someone as a top bits tipper at 10k bits plus twitch subscribers, a cut of YouTube red subscribers watching their streams, Jenna has done keynote and commencement speeches (a quick google search shows her booking fee might be 20-50k$), she has a Sirius XM show, she has a podcast.

budadre75 8y ago

I feel sad about my life working so hard and will never able to even compete with this kid.

ALittleLight 8y ago
On the flip side there are probably peasants in rural East Asia who labor in extremely challenging conditions and make a fraction of what you do. If they understood that your job was to (probably) sit in an air conditioned room tapping keys and talking to people for a few hours a day for significant wealth they might feel what you feel.
- joejerryronnie 8y ago
  Yeah, it’s all relative. No matter how bad your situation is or how successful you become, some people will always have it better than you and some people will always have it worse than you. So there’s no sense in beating yourself up over where you “should be” in life. Just do your best to improve and grow according to your values and priorities.
- budadre75 8y ago
  I don't really like this comparison to peasants, they can be happy and healthy for doing what they do, but office jobs are just depressing and unhealthy in comparison.
  - ALittleLight 8y ago
    Any office worker who feels this way should immediately start his own rice paddy.
    - ldonley 8y ago
      I don't know if starting a rice farm is a feasible way to pay off student loans or mortgages for most people.
SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

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ckastner 8y ago

> The amount generated by sponsored posts is small compared with other top YouTubers, Forbes writes. It is "the result not only of how few deals Ryan (or his family) chooses to accept, but also the fact that his pint-sized demographic isn't exactly all that flush". They then proceed to disprove this "fact" in (literally) the next sentence: > The toys featured in one of the channel's videos can sell out instantly.

rapnie 8y ago

It may not be all that much fun and games.. Half a year ago I saw a documentary (can't remember which), where a number of popular YouTube vloggers were followed to see what being an influencer entails. While each of them were enjoying the good stuff - the money earned, the free gadgets and trips, etc. - in general each of them also felt trapped. To me it seemed like hell to live a life like this. Huge social pressure from followers to crank out new content on a continuous basis. No time to take real breaks, let alone a longer vacation. Totally focused on social metrics. A wrong move leading to loss of 1,000s of followers. A vacation or even being sick leads to people complaining in your feeds, or even starting to threaten you. Responsibilities and contracts with influence marketers. Being an influencer is a kind of topsport. You are a professional, while you are also still a kid. And the longer you keep doing it, the more you've made a life's choice (neglecting school, building real social network, etc.) and it is harder to get out of it. Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention that the real famous vloggers also can no longer come outside without being recognized everywhere. E.g. 16-20yr olds that cause young children to go histerical when they see them, giving signatures all the time. Literally no rest anywhere.

rorykoehler 8y ago
With $22m in the bank he could give it all up at a drop of a hat, put it all into passive investments and live the life of a king off the proceeds.
- rapnie 8y ago
  Sure. He can. He is already at the top. And his example will be the ultimate dream of many, with full support of (greedy?) parents. But your kid may not be all that lucky. It is a crowded market.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  It's very easy to blow $22m in a very short amount of time, especially with his teenage years not all that far ahead of him.
  - 8y ago

buboard 8y ago

There really needs to be some regulation or at least self-regulation for this kind of stuff. This child should remain the exception (this is technically child labor), and advertising to kids on youtube should catch up with TV standards. And i don't think this kind of publicity is doing any good to other children. Perhaps a startup that helps parents deal with this kind of stuff easier?

suddenstutter 8y ago
oh my god. Please don't bring the government into this.
- buboard 8y ago
  the government is already the protector of google's business

porjo 8y ago

I was interested to see that the top 10 earners are all male.[1] I wonder if this is merely a reflection of greater male patronage of Youtube generally but the topics that these top earners are focusing on are not all stereotypically male interests. The 7 year old kid reviews toys which seems quite gender neutral and then there's the makeup artist which, presumably, would be of more interest to a female audience. What is stopping women and girls from dominating Youtube? [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2018/12/03/highest-paid-youtube-stars-2018-markiplier-jake-paul-pewdiepie-and-more/#7ec9f901909a https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2018/12/03/high...

_Codemonkeyism 8y ago
I'd like to know that too, as a recruiting manager I've wondered why there are no more female manager role models and what I can do to change that (and I did change some things in the past). Recently I saw a woman and man commenting on the chess championship on YT, both excellent chess players. She tried to impress/be liked by being nice and helpful, he tried to impress/be liked by being powerful. This of course should not be taken as a study but a starting point for some thought - he kind of dominated her appearance (though I guess this wasn't his intention).
PunchTornado 8y ago
why force equal outcomes on such a niche place like Youtube? on Instagram the top earners are all females. Kylie Jenner makes $1 million per post, Selena Gomez 800k. And it is ok to be like that as Instagram is 70% female.
- wastedhours 8y ago
  > why force equal outcomes on such a niche place like Youtube? I didn't get that from the OP at all - I think it's a valid (and quite an interesting) question to pose (especially as a marketer): what is it about YouTube's audience that seemingly favours male creators? Not about "forcing" anything, but it's always interesting to dive into why platform demographics differ and the reasons behind it. (Also, my assumption is "dominate" here isn't like take over, but just "do it really well" - feel free to correct me OP).

InGodsName 8y ago

It creates bigger winners and even bigger losers. There are kids who have been depressed since age 8, no idea when their depression will end. The number is increasing at huge rate. There are kids who will look upto these kids and get in competition mode while other kids gonna be depressed because they can't afford or can't do as good as them. I've no idea if it's good or bad.

ishikawa 8y ago

It's interesting how so many people criticize this family that is making tens of millions every year. If that is wrong, they should start with TV Shows in which children that are much more exposed and sometimes not having fun doing what they want, make actually a 6 fig salary. Too many grow to be poor and lost adults. At 7 Ryan has enough money for a comfort life.

EADGBE 8y ago
> At 7 Ryan has enough money for a comfort life. wayyy more than comfortable

xte 8y ago

A small point: did anybody notice how this reward mechanism prize the "idiocy" far more than the "knowledge"? I mean most followed YT channels, most upvotes on FB etc are about "brainless things", "brainless contents" vs valuable technical or cultural contents. An YT channel about "just for laugh" or "sport" or "how to decorate nails" have FAR more subscribers and viewers than a tech, historic, physics, ... DIY channels. That's of course natural but prize it instead of fight it it's a means to push toward stupidity.

salvar 8y ago
Who decides what is valuable content and what is brainless stupidity?
- dogma1138 8y ago
  Im pretty sure that we can easily define metrics to measure that and we had. This cult of relativism really needs to stop.
  - salvar 8y ago
    Excellent, what are the metrics then? What makes a "how to do your nails" tutorial brainless stupidity?
    - xte 8y ago
      Perhaps my poor English make hard for me to clearly express concepts, sorry. How to do your nails it's simply far less valuable than how a banks or a car work in knowledge terms, however on YT&c it get far more financial reward than a video on banking systems, mechanics etc. Home that's more clear.
      - dogma1138 8y ago
        I don’t think it’s has less value on a case by case basis, but this is also not relevant. There is a big difference between education/enrichment and entertainment and while some content creators might walk the line between them there is a pretty big split. I would say pre-defining what is “valuable” is probably not the best approach because it too prone to selection bias, an instruction video on how to do nails to a beautician is far more useful than a video explaining correspondenant banking systems. That said the content as a whole can be measured in terms of its impact on cognitive and emotional state and well being especially on large sample sizes. We already know that social media voyeurism causes a lot emotional distress, we know that certain types of content can make you “dumber” at least in the short term. And on a larger scale we can check the social and individual benefits for specific cases, e.g. how many individuals who watched a specific subeset of content turned their life to the better in say a period of 5 years.

random878 8y ago

Could anyone point me toward a more comprehensive analysis of incomes from YouTube? Specifically, I'd like to get an idea about the distribution of income across active monetised accounts. This would be far more interesting to me than looking at some - I'm guessing - statistical outliers. What does a average channel, with modest viewers, with niche content, earn for the producer?

666lumberjack 8y ago
Not sure if it's exactly what you're after, but I know of this[0] video from CGPGrey talking about adsense specifically. There's also this[1] video breaking down the income sources for Linus Tech Tips and related channels, although they probably don't qualify as 'modest views'? This[2] is talking about twitch streamers rather than youtube channels, but it's quite an interesting breakdown too. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW0eUrUiyxo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW0eUrUiyxo [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t73wXF8IF-8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t73wXF8IF-8 [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m5P_n5njCQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m5P_n5njCQ
- random878 8y ago
  Thanks, I'll give those vids a watch. Yes, I'd definitely say that Linus' channel is much bigger than I'm interested in. I'm thinking of the small channels who put out quality content, b with a restricted audience. I watch some channels who make Linux and Chess videos and the content is superb, but there's a natural threshold level of views they'll get. I was prompted to think about it after a conversation with a colleague. We were talking about the market within medicine for giving exam prep courses to med students and doctors. A recent day course we noted was £50 per student and it was sold out (about 200 people I think). The person delivering the course had multiple dates lined up across the UK. We wondered whether it would be more profitable for this individual to use youtube (there would be numerous pros/cons to this, but that's another topic). We could quickly do the maths to work out the income from X students, on Y dates, minus Z estimated costs, etc, for the traditional lectures... but we just cant find any data for likely youtube profits. The information seems almost deliberately obscured.

cauldron 8y ago

While 22M youtubers-wonna-be earning little to nothing.

romanovcode 8y ago
As someone commented: This creates couple winners, but millions of depressed losers.

jdlyga 8y ago

I'm 34, and I just discovered PewDiePie. I thought he was one of those irritating Let's Play guys, but I was definitely wrong. His videos are mostly about reviewing memes, internet news, and funny videos these days. He's a really entertaining guy. I highly recommend you subscribe.

demarq 8y ago

Several times youtubers have called BS on these headline grabbing estimates. So these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.

creep 8y ago

SUBSCRIBE TO PEWDIEPIE UNSUBSCRIBE FROM T-SERIES

thelasthuman 8y ago

Maybe if real life didn't suck as bad as it does for so many stuck here, people would prefer real life interactions. I'm happy for you if you've had any amount of good-natured uplifting human interaction. This is not the case for everyone. A privilege.

tapan_pandita 8y ago

Ok, but how much does the Bro Sweet website make?