This Nine-Year-Old Makes More Money On YouTube Than PewDiePie And Mr. Beast
YouTube personality Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson's following has grown considerably in the last few years, having reached more than 48 million subscribers on his channel at the end of 2020 and raked in $24 million from June 1, 2019 to June 1, 2020. However, there's another, much younger YouTuber who still has the high-ranking internet star beat: nine-year-old Ryan Kaji.
Forbes recently released its list of 2020's highest-paid YouTube stars, where young Kaji takes the lead with $29.5 million in earnings from the same period. According to Forbes, Kaji sits at 41.7 million subscribers on his Ryan's World YouTube channel. His own channel, however, states 27.6 million subscribers. Either way, it's been quite a year for the boy, who became the first YouTuber to be featured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the form of a massive balloon based on his superhero alter ego, the Red Titan. Beyond that, Kaji has landed deals for more than 5,000 official Ryan's World products, including home décor, candy, costumes, and, of course, toys.
So, what does Kaji do on his YouTube channel? There's a ton of educational content for fellow kids, including DIY science experiments and knowledge review games. Plus, Kaji also often does unboxing and review videos for new toys, as well as storytime videos and pretend play scenarios to spark imagination. In fact, Kaji's imaginative adventure Super Spy Ryan was turned into an Amazon Kids+ show and released in November.
Following closely behind Kaji on Forbes' list was MrBeast, whose channel is most known for its stunts, like the time he froze himself in ice for 24 hours and the time he spent another 24 hours underwater. Beyond that, MrBeast also spends quite a lot on philanthropic efforts. He once donated $50,000 to small-time Twitch streamers and gave people $1 million to spend within a minute.
Rounding out the top five on Forbes' list were Dude Perfect ($23 million), Rhett and Link of Good Mythical Morning ($20 million), and Mark "Markiplier" Fischbach ($19.5 million). An even younger face, six-year-old Anastasia "Nastya" Radzinskaya, came in seventh place with $18.5 million. The girl's lighthearted channel features Lego playdates with her dad and educational story times about viruses.
Kaji even made more money on YouTube this year than the gaming industry's top names, including Tyler "Ninja" Blevens and Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg. Back in January, Forbes named Ninja the highest-paid video gamer at $17 million, while PewDiePie came in second place at $15 million, even after a YouTube hiatus that may have cost PewDiePie half a million to $1 million.