Who is Ryan Kaji? 9-year-old YouTuber highest-paid streamer third year in a row with earnings of $29.5 million
Ryan Kaji's YouTube page has over 27 million subscribers and the 9-year-old streams DIY games for children, unboxes toys, and plays with his favorite toys in the videos that are uploaded on his account on the video streaming site. While some videos feature just Ryan, there are also videos of the Kaji family as they work on different activities together. From tasting different kinds of food to helping each other with decoration, there are a number of videos targeted at young children and all of them have over 500k views on YouTube. On Friday, YouTube released a list of the highest-paid YouTube streamers and influencers, and it was topped by none other than Ryan Kaji for his channel Ryan's World. He reportedly earned $29.5 million through his videos between July 2019 and June 2020. This is not the first time that Ryan has held the title for the highest-paid YouTuber, he held the spot for last two years too. According to a report in the Guardian, Ryan also earned an estimated $200 million from Ryan’s World branded toys and clothing, including Marks & Spencer pajamas. These earnings also don't include the multimillion-dollar deal that Ryan signed with Nickelodeon for a TV series of his own.
Ryan began streaming in 2015 when he came across other kids running a review channel and wanted to see himself on YouTube. His channel got so successful that his family changed their surname from Guan to Kaji and now own a total of nine channels, which enjoy a total of 41.7m subscribers and 12.2bn views. His most popular video to date happens to be the one titled ' Huge Eggs Surprise Toys Challenge', which has over two billion views.
While Ryan's success is one to marvel at, his family currently faces a Federal Trade Commission investigation in US because of the paid promotions that are added to the video but are not transparently disclosed. Media watchdog Truth In Advertising, in their complaint against Ryan and his channel, said, "Nearly 9% of the Ryan Toys Review videos have included at least one paid product recommendation aimed at preschoolers, a group too young to distinguish between a commercial and a review." They also added, "These advertisements often depict unhealthy foods.”
The estimates of the top 10 YouTube earners analyzed and published by Forbes quotes that the top 10 streamers took home a total of $211 million between July 2019 and June 2020. The second place in the list was held by Jimmy Donaldson aka Mr Beast who earned a total of $24 million, through his videos that include lighting 100 or so rockets bound to a mannequin, blowing up a Toyota and detonating the world’s most-expensive firework. He is new to the list. Dude Perfect came in at third with an earning of $23 million. The page is run by Coby Cotton, Cory Cotton, Garret Hilbert, Cody Jones and Tyler Toney, who perform stunts with lightsabers, Nerf Guns and paintballs.