Seven-year-old Ryan of the YouTube channel Ryan ToyReview started his “career” at the age of 4. His parents insist that he was a fan of toy review videos on the platform and asked why he couldn’t create his own.
They indulged him in making his first video by taking him to the store and asking him for his “pick of the week,” a set of Diplo counting blocks in the shape of a train. As his mother recorded and prodded him with questions, Ryan unboxed the toy and put it together then did a bit of playing for a 15-minute final cut.
Now, with hundreds of these videos under his belt, each more sophisticated than that last, Ryan is earning millions.
According to Forbes, he earned $22 million dollars in the year leading up to June 1, 2018 when the magazine named him the highest earning star on YouTube.
The money comes from advertising, including commercials that one must watch in order to view the videos in their entirety (some for toys, and other for cosmetics and other decidedly non-child-focused products) as well as ads that pop up while Ryan is playing. And, of course, with over 17 million followers, an endorsement deal has followed as well.
Ryan’s parents recently signed a contract with retailer Walmart to sell a toy line called “Ryan’s World” in over 2,500 US stores as well as their website, according to Reuters.
Walmart told Yahoo Finance that Ryan’s brand has created their most popular toy this year:
“The hot item this fall has been the [Ryan’s World] Giant Mystery Egg. That’s really been the big winner of the season.”
And, of course, Ryan is the spokesmodel for his brand, appearing in ads for all of his products:
Some of Ryan’s videos have been viewed hundreds of millions of times, with his most popular performance, a two-year-old video titled “HUGE EGGS Surprise Toys Challenge with Inflatable water slide” getting a whopping 1.6 BILLION views.
It’s popularity is especially perplexing when all it is is a 5:56 min video of a child finding toys in a bouncy water slide while encouraged to play by his mother.
Ryan seems to be having fun in the videos, which increasingly feature music and animation and co-star his parents who either act as playmates, victims of slimings, or attempt to deliver “educational content.” And that’s no surprise since Ryan’s mother quit her job as a high school chemistry teacher in order to work on the YouTube channel full-time.
While the phenomenon that is Ryan’s World may confuse some, the numbers speak for themselves.
And so does Ryan’s celebrity – he’s now making appearances at Walmarts with his parents with hundreds of kids lining up to get a peek. And it was recently announced that content from his channel will be repackaged and distributed on Hulu and Amazon next year, which will only expand his reach.
But while kids are obsessed, some parents are less than impressed. Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization that provides education and advocacy to families to promote safe technology and media for children, is full of reviews of the endeavor that take a critical view, especially of Ryan’s parents:
“I don’t what’s up with this channel but my kids always want to watch it. It has no educational value…If you Google Ryan’s Toys Reviews you’ll see that it is a very profitable channel. Commercialism pure and simple. Don’t partake.”
Now that the adult world knows Ryan, there’s been interest from all corners about how he’s holding up under a schedule of nearly daily videos. In a recent NBC interview, he seems perfectly content with this burgeoning empire:
When asked why he thinks his audience enjoys his videos so much, Ryan responded:
“Because I’m entertaining and I’m funny.”
It’s likely that Ryan will be able to parlay his stardom into the career of his choice someday. He has his sights set on becoming a game developer, which seems like a pretty reasonable goal.
We just hope when it comes time to stop playing with toys, Ryan can make that decision for himself.
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