Meet 6-year-old Ryan. While other young kids earn pocket change by doing chores around the house or perhaps even setting up a lemonade stand, Ryan made $11 million in a single year, reviewing toys on his YouTube channel, Ryan ToysReview.
More than 10.3 million subscribers tune in to watch videos of Ryan, whose last name has not been publicized, and the ad revenue he earns from the video views has landed him on Forbes’ list of highest paid YouTube stars in 2017.
This a pretty amazing feat considering that Ryan’s parents had no experience uploading YouTube videos, prior to setting up Ryan’s channel in 2015.
On his YouTube channel, Ryan is described as loving “cars, trains, Thomas and friends, Lego, superheroes, Disney toys, open surprise eggs, Play-Doh, Pixar Disney Cars, Disney Planes, monster trucks and Minions,” among other things. And the concept behind his videos is pretty simple.
The 6-year-old sits down to unbox and play with a new toy and gets asked questions about them by his mom, who is the one typically operating the video camera.
In fact, once Ryan’s channel became popular, Ryan’s mom left her job as a high-school chemistry teacher in order to manage his YouTube channel full-time.
Here he is reviewing an Angry Birds advent calendar:
Ryan first got his start reviewing toys several years ago after watching other kid-friendly channels on YouTube.
“One day, he asked me, ‘How come I’m not on YouTube when all the other kids are?’ So we just decided—yeah, we can do that. Then we took him to the store to get his very first toy—I think it was a Lego train set—and it all started from there,” his mom told TubeFilter.
His dad has also said that making the YouTube videos is a way for their extended family overseas to share in childhood memories of Ryan.
The family also notes that most of the toys Ryan reviews are either given away to friends or donated to a local charity.
He also has begun making some fun DIY videos, like this one that shows how to make a gumball dispenser out of cardboard:
And here he is making a cool soda dispenser:
After hearing about Ryan’s amazing success, we have a feeling a lot of families will want to start YouTube channels of their own this holiday season!
About the Author
Margeaux Baulch Klein is a freelance writer and digital strategist based in Los Angeles. She has written for publications like the Huffington Post, New York Daily News, Bustle, and HelloGiggles, among others. More.
