A seven-year-old boy famous for his toy reviews has been named YouTube’s highest-earner for 2018, after earning $22m (£17.3m).
Ryan, of Ryan ToysReview, beat his closest competition Jake Paul by $500,000, Forbes estimates.
The seven-year-old first-grader, who loves Lego, trains and cars, has more than 17m subscribers on YouTube, where he reviews and plays with toys.
Since starting his channel, Ryan has received nearly 26bn views – with his most popular video, a review of an inflatable water slide complete with huge eggs encasing surprise toys, receiving more than 1.6bn views.
A video uploaded by Ryan, or his parents, one day ago has already received more than 683,000 views, while one posted just an hour ago has already been viewed nearly 3,000 times.
And in the last year, his earnings have doubled – proving that his earnest toy reviews are worth millions.
The videos follow an un-boxing model – which sees Ryan opening toys and expressing his initial excitement. In one video, he opens 100 toys, spending no more than a few seconds on each.
As for what exactly makes Ryan’s channel, set up in 2015 by his parents, so popular amongst kids, Ryan expects it has to do with his personality.
“Because I’m entertaining and I’m funny,” he told NBC.
According to Forbes, the earnings estimates are pre-tax and fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not deducted – and most of the money comes from advertising shown before his videos.
Unlike other YouTube stars, just $1m of Ryan’s earnings come from sponsored content – “the result not only of how few deals Ryan (or his family) chooses to accept, but also the fact that his pint-size demographic isn’t exactly all that flush,” Forbes writes.
And the toys typically go to a good cause, according to the star’s YouTube channel, which says most of the toys reviewed are donated to local charity.
Following Ryan on this year’s list of highest-paid YouTube stars are:
Jake Paul
Dude Perfect
Daniel Middleton
Jeffree Star
Markiplier
Evan Fong
Jacksepticeye
PewDiePie
Logan Paul