7-year-old schoolboy is YouTube’s top earner, making $22 million a year reviewing toys

A 7-year-old schoolboy named Ryan has been identified as YouTube’s top earner by Forbes Magazine, after the child earned USD $22 million from reviewing toys on the video platform this past year.

Ryan’s YouTube channel, Ryan ToysReview, has been posting reviews of toys since March 2015 and now boasts a staggering 17 million followers – most of whom are children around his age, according to Forbes. Last year, Forbes listed Ryan as YouTube’s eighth highest earner as he earned USD $11 million – the child doubled that amount this year.

According to Forbes, Ryan’s reviews on toys has an impact on product sales. When US news network NBC asked Ryan how his channel is doing so well, the grade schooler replied: “Because I’m entertaining and I’m funny.”

Ryan’s mother told the press that her son used to watch toy reviews on Youtube before he asked her one day, “How come I’m not on YouTube when all the other kids are?” His mom revealed: “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.”

Ryan’s mother said that most of the videos are filmed over the weekend and edited while her son is in school. Since Ryan is so young, 15 per cent of his earnings are reportedly being held in a trust to be released to him when he is older.