If you have a child who is obsessed with YouTube, then you may know Ryan from Ryan ToysReview. He’s a bubbly little six-year-old who is raking in an absolute fortune.
And we have our kids’ weird fascination with watching other kids play with toys on YouTube to thank.
He’s only in grade one, but Ryan is already one of the world’s highest-paid YouTube stars of 2017.
Doing what? Oh, you know, unwrapping blind bags, opening giant eggs and putting together toys.
Boy plays with toys; makes millions of dollars
Forbes recently released their top ten YouTuber sensations bringing in the big bucks. Coming in at #8, earning $14.6 million this year, is the adorable little Ryan (surname unknown).
Ryan’s stairway to YouTube fame started back in March 2013 when he was three years old.
“Ryan was watching a lot of toy review channels — some of his favourites are EvanTubeHD and Hulyan Maya — because they used to make a lot of videos about Thomas the Tank Engine, and Ryan was super into Thomas,” Ryan’s mum, Loann said in a recent interview.
“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.”
Toy testing pays off
As his followers continued to grow in numbers, Loann quit her job as a high school science teacher to work on the channel full-time. She often stars alongside her son and the family have even started a second channel where they review toys alongside Ryan’s little twin sisters, Emma and Kate.
In just three years the little man has reviewed countless of the must-have toys on the market, from LEGO to Hatchimals, and heaps of giant balls in between.
He currently has over 10 million subscribers who tune in to his daily toy time. In addition to reviewing toys, Ryan has also moved into the food industry, becoming the cutest culinary critic on the interwebs. The primary school star even has his own merchandise line, selling t-shirts and posters.
Fun for now, funds for later
Although for now, the cheeky star loves reviewing toys, Loann insists that as soon as her son loses interest, it’s game over. Loann and husband, Sean, a structural engineer, are putting the YouTube earnings, which are estimated at US$11 million gross this year (that’s $14.6 million in our Aussie currency) into savings accounts and trust funds for Ryan and his sisters.
So how does a child become a mega-millionaire, simply by playing with toys?
It’s all about doing something you love, taking advantage of the advertising opportunities and finding the right audience which also shares that passion. Which, for Ryan, is clearly other kids who love opening toys as much as he does.
Like my daughter, who is absolutely OBSESSED with watching toy reviewers.
Now, if only I could figure out a way to make money by filming my daughter staring at her iPad, watching these kids review toys.
Hey, everyone, come and watch my daughter watch kids play with toys. It seemed to work for Googlebox.
This isn’t the first time a YouTuber has brought in the big bucks for playing with toys. Check out one of 2015’s highest paid YouTube stars – a woman who unwraps Disney toys on camera.
