This 11-Year-Old Boy Makes $22 Million a Year Reviewing Toys on YouTube

It's no secret that YouTube stars can make a lot of money doing what they love. Logan Paul is estimated to have made $14.5 million in 2018, even after all the controversy that the 23-year-old faced. Gaming YouTuber PewDiePie, who had his own share of controversy, made $15.5 million in the same year. But those big names only reached the 10th and 9th spots on Forbes' annual list of YouTube creators who are making the most money.  

As it turns out, the highest-earning YouTube star in the world is still in elementary school. Ryan, the 7-year-old host of Ryan ToysReview, reviews toys to an audience of millions and jumped from No. 8 to No. 1 on Forbes' list from 2017 to 2018. The channel, run by family, generated about $22 million in pretax income from June 1, 2017, through June 1, 2018, according to Forbes. That's up $11 million from the previous year, and just ahead of Jake Paul, who made $21.5 million in the same period. 

According to The Verge's profile on Ryan's channel and his parents, Ryan asked his parents to make him a YouTube channel in March 2015 after he got hooked on watching toy reviews himself. The family shot and released videos daily with little attention, but the channel exploded when a July 2015 video went viral. The video, which features Ryan opening and reviewing a box containing more than 100 toys from Pixar's Cars now has over 935 million views. 

The channel, which has nearly 20 million subscribers and over 1,400 videos, now reviews new toys and kids' food products.

Earlier this year, Ryan's parents signed a deal with Walmart to sell a toy line called "Ryan's World" in over 2,500 of their stores and on Walmart's website. One of the items that Walmart sells is a giant mystery egg that contains several random figures. The egg can also be purchased at Target. 

The line of toys, which Ryan promotes heavily on his YouTube channel, also include variety of slimes and putties, Ryan action figures, T-shirts, toy cars and more. 

“It’s so cool,” Ryan, who serves as creative director, said when he saw his face on toys at Walmart. While this deal didn't impact his income for last year, they will likely add millions on to the total this year.

In the same year, Ryan's parents also signed a deal with Hulu and Amazon to have his content uploaded on their platforms. 

Forbes' estimate of Ryan's income of $22 million for the year of June 1, 2017 through June 1, 2018 was based on data from Captiv8, SocialBlade and Pollstar, as well as interviews with industry insiders. Figures are pretax and agent, manager, and lawyer costs are not deducted. 

Because he is a minor, 15% of Ryan's earnings have to be put into a Coogan account, which can't be touched until he becomes a legal adult. So even after he's all grown up, Ryan is likely to have a good bit of money put aside. 

Ryan's mother and father, Loann and Sean, feature heavily in his videos and also work on the channel in the background. According to StarsInformer, Ryan is Vietnamese and Japanese. Ryan also has two sisters called Emma and Kate, who are twins.