A charming and captivating 7-year-old reviewing toys has managed to eclipse his rivals to become the top-earning youtuber of the year, according to Forbes, bringing in an estimated $22 million in video advertising profits, merchandise deals and other sources of revenue.
That puts Ryan ToysReview in the top youtuber spot, eclipsing other big earners, including “beauty mogul” Jeffree Star, a pair of controversial frat-boy-type brothers, a group of ‘trick-shot’ Millennials and a line-up of video-game commentators, one of them wry, one obnoxiously foul-mouthed and one apparently a racist hailing from Sweden.
Yes, there’s a clear pattern that has dominated the multi-million-dollar youtuber earnings club: They’ve mostly been privileged white males with too much time on their hands. There are no women on the Top Ten list this year, and only one made it last year: Comedian Lilly Singh with her inspirational video diaries, who came in last place in 2017 with $10.5 million in earnings.
Forbes’ Top 10 Youtubers list includes:
#1 Ryan ToysReview, who was number 8 on Forbes list last year with $11 million, but has since doubled his earnings, with his channel getting over 25 billion views since 2015, with 17 million subscribers. All the success has snowballed into his own line of collectibles for sale at Walmart. In the past year, he’s made brought in an estimated $22 million.
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#2 Jake Paul: He played Dirk on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark, and the past year has raked in an estimated $21.5 million with his youtube channel that basically features Paul and his boyfriends doing whatever Millennials do when they are not employed, along with all the melodrama that entails, with a smattering of rap music and pranks. Related: The Midwest’s Top Talent Is Looking For Greener Pastures
Paul is also the younger brother of a controversial youtuber, Logan Paul, who came in at 10th place, down from first after YouTube docked his ad revenue and brands dropped him as a partner for uploading footage of what appeared to be a dead body in a Japanese suicide forest in January.
Jake Paul lives here …
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And has his own thriving merchandise business.
#3 Dude Perfect: These youtube sensations are a group of 20- and 30-something guys who go down for challenges, such as “world record exercise ball surfing” and “ping pong trick shots”. Their antics have won them third place this year, with $20 million in revenues.
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The rest of the Top 10 are gamers, plus one self-proclaimed beauty mogul with his own line of cosmetics now.
#4 DanTDM — US $18.5 million ($25,266,500)
#5 Jeffree Star — US $18 million ($24,583,600)
#6 Markiplier — US $17.5 million ($23,900,700)
#7 Vanoss Gaming — US $17 million ($23,217,900)
#8 Jacksepticeeye — US $16 million ($21,852,100)
#9 PewDiePie — US $15.5 million ($21,169,200)
#10 Logan Paul — US $14.5 million ($19,803,500)
So for all the naysayer Generation-Xers or Baby Boomers who have been telling their children this isn’t a career, Forbes’ Top 10 youtuber list seems a slap in the face.
But not everyone’s going to get rich on YouTube; in fact, hardly no one will make it anyone near the Top 10 club.
According to new research cited by Fortune from Mathias Bärtl, a professor at Offenburg University of Applied Sciences in Offenburg, 96.5 percent of aspiring youtubers won’t earn enough advertising money to live above the poverty line in the United States. Even if you make it to the top 3 percent of most-viewed channels, you’re only looking at ad revenue of about $16,800 per year, with YouTube’s complicated ad rates working out to anywhere from 35 cents to $5 per 1,000 views.
By Michael Scott for Safehaven.com
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