An eight-year-old boy who reviews toys has been named as the highest earning YouTuber, for the second year in a row.
Ryan, of Ryan’s World, earned $26m (£20m) in 2019, up from $22m in 2018, according to an annual top-10 ranking by Forbes, based on estimated earnings between June 2018 and June 2019.
Ryan – who lives with his mother, father and twin sisters in Texas – usually releases a new video for his 22.9 million subscribers each day.
They frequently receive millions of hits – and a couple have more than a billion.
Last November, he told NBC people liked his videos because he was “entertaining and funny”.
But Ryan is something of an outlier, according to Chris Stokel-Walker, an internet culture writer and author of the book YouTubers. “The vast majority of people who start a YouTube channel, or engage in any career as an influencer, won’t make it,” he told the BBC.
I – Word Understanding
Outlier – different from others; unusual
Influencer – a person who guides or inspires other actions
II – Have Your Say
1. When was the last time you visited youtube? How useful is it for you? Are you following specific youtubers?
2. What do you think about kids watching youtube? Many kids now consider being a “youtuber” as cool and many kids now want to become youtubers.
3. What does it take to become a successful youtuber?
4. Being the 2nd most visited site (next to google), what do you think is the future of youtube?
707 YouTube’s top earners: Eight-year-old Ryan tops list with $26m
