Annually publishes the US-Magazin Forbes At the end of the year, a list of the ten best-earned YouTube channels from June 2019 to June 2020. This year, the only nine year old Ryan Kaji – and that even before some big gaming channels.
With an estimated revenue of $ 29.5 million, he is the youngest YouTuber on th is list and also the absolute best earner. He owes his success primarily to toys.
Last year we looked at how much money streamers make on Twitch as part of a GameStar Plus report, which you can read here:
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How much money do streamers make on Twitch?
Who is Ryan Kaji?
Kaji is not an unknown name or a big surprise. This is the third time he has been at the top of the Forbes list and has increased his sales every year. In 2019 he secured the top position with around $ 26 million.
His channel Ryan’s World now has over 27 million subscribers. His videos mainly deal with unpacking new toys or smaller vlogs, as well as experiments.
The number of views is remarkable: His videos were viewed 12.2 billion times this year. In addition, there is countless income from license deals for special “Ryan’s Worlds” products.
Only two gaming channels in the top 10
Behind Kaji there is a newcomer who catapulted himself directly onto the podium with a strong year: Mr. Beast. The 22-year-old YouTuber has made a name for himself in the past few months with numerous challenges and bizarre videos that brought him around 24 million US dollars.
What about gaming? Video games are still very popular on YouTube, but this is not directly reflected in the Forbes list. Only two channels deal mainly with gaming.
In 5th place is Mark Fischbach with his channel Markiplier, which has a turnover of around 19.5 million US dollars. The place behind it is the YouTuber Preston Arsement, who is known for his Minecraft videos and who, according to the list, has earned 19 million US dollars.
More and more publishers are also relying on influencers for their marketing. In an episode of Dev Play, Europe developers talk about how social media is changing the branch:
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How social media is changing the gaming industry – Europe developers via YouTube, Twitch & Co.
Ninja and PewDiePie without placement: With over 100 million subscribers, PewDiePie surprisingly doesn’t play a role in the list. Neither is ninja, although this one in March 2020
Speaking of PewDiePie: The Swede only signed an exclusive contract with Google’s video platform a few months ago.
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YouTube & PewDiePie agree on exclusive livestream deal
Where do the numbers come from?
The numbers on the Forbes list are by the way pure estimates by the magazine. According to their own statement, they are based on data from various sources and interviews with insiders. The period specified is June 1, 2019 to June 1, 2020.
In addition, the list only includes people who primarily earn their living with YouTube. Streamers who are primarily active on Twitch.tv, for example, are therefore excluded.
The complete top 10 including sales:
- # 10: Jeffree Star – $ 15 million
- # 09: David Dobrik – $ 15.5 million
- 08th place: Blibbi – $ 17 million
- # 07: Natya – $ 18.5 million
- # 06: Preston Arsement – $ 19 million
- 5th place: Markiplier – $ 19.5 million
- 4th place: Rhett and Link – $ 20 million
- 3rd place: Dude Perfect – $ 23 million
- 2nd place: Mr. Beast – $ 24 million
- # 01: Ryan Kaji – $ 29.5 million