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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Lorraine King

Boy, 8, makes £20million reviewing toys online - making him highest YouTube earner

An eight-year-old schoolboy who reviews toys on YouTube made a whopping £20million ($26m) in a year.

For the second year in a row, Ryan Kaji of Ryan's World has topped the annual top-10 earners list compiled by Forbes.

YouTube account Dude Perfect came second with $20m and Nastya earned $18m making it third.

The list is based on estimated earnings between June 2018 and June this year.

Between all 10 highest paid YouTubers they earned an eye-watering $162m.

Ryan lives with his parents  and twin sisters in Texas, US and usually releases a daily new video for his 22.9 million subscribers.

They frequently one million views and a few have even had a billion hits.

According to a study by US think tank the Pew Research Centre, YouTube videos featuring children get three times more views on average than other types of videos from high-subscriber channels.

Last year Ryan told NBC that people liked his videos because he was "entertaining and funny".

His most popular video  is a five minute 56 second long and has 1.9 billion views.

It shows him running around on an inflatable in his garden, retrieving plastic eggs with toys inside.

Since last year's ranking the youngster rebranded his account from Ryan ToysReview to Ryan's World.

His estimated earnings  doubled from 2017 to 2018.

However Chris Stokel-Walker, an internet culture writer and author of the book YouTubers, said Ryan was an anamoly.

He told the BBC : "The vast majority of people who start a YouTube channel, or engage in any career as an influencer, won't make it.

"96.5% of YouTubers don't make enough from advertising revenue alone to break the US poverty line - and with the number of creators on the platform constantly increasing, the competition is only getting tougher."

Dude Perfect, which came second in the list, features five friends in their 30s playing with toys such as Nerf guns and attempting various trick shots. It earned $20m.

The third in the list, Nastya channel, earned $18m and features Anastasia Radzinskaya, who was born in southern Russia with cerebral palsy.

Forbes estimated pre-tax income from advertisements, sponsored content, merchandise sales and tours.

One Briton made the list - Minecraft and Fortnite player Dan TDM (Daniel Middleton).

He fell from fourth to ninth as his earnings dropped $6.5m year-on-year.

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