Anastasia Radzinskaya is an extraordinary media star. Born in southern Russia with cerebral palsy, her doctors feared she would never be capable to speak. To document her progress through treatments, her parents posted videos of her on YouTube so friends and relatives could see the process.
The videos are standard kid stuff: playdates with dad, jumping around on an inflatable castle and playing with her cat, each video followed by catchy jingles and voice-over giggles. She soon grew followers around the world. Her biggest hit was a 2018 trip to the petting zoo with her father Yuri that highlighted the two dancing to child favorite “Baby Shark,” milking a fake cow and eating ice cream. That video has garnered 767 million views, the top draw for a growing media business that has funneled $18 million to the Radzinskayas within June 1, 2018, and June 1, 2019.
Anastasia, who goes by “Nastya,” now has 107 million supporters across her seven channels who have watched her videos 42 billion times. She is No. 3 on the Forbes Top-Earning YouTube Stars listing for 2019, which tallies pretax income collected from advertisements, sponsored content, merchandise sales, tours and more.
That’s a pretty good show for a 5-year-old, but not considerably as good as 8-year-old Ryan Kaji, this year’s top YouTube earner with $26 million. The elder influencer rose to popularity in the “unboxing” genre, opening presents in front of the camera and annotations on each. Ryan ToysReview debuted in 2015 and now has grown into a children’s channel called Ryan’s World with 23 million subscribers.
Six-year-old Anastasia Radzinskaya and her father have produced some of the world's biggest children channels and are expanding next year into a line of toys, a book, and a mobile game.
“YouTube is the most popular babysitter in the world,” says Eyal Baumel, CEO of supervision company Yoola, which specializes in digital stars, including Nastya.
Videos with children in them equalize almost three times as many views as other types of videos from high-subscriber channels, according to a Pew Research Center study done this year. Another Pew study revealed that 81% of parents with children 11 or younger let their kids watch YouTube.
High-minded programming can be found on YouTube—it just doesn’t make much money. YouTube’s ten highest earners produced in a total of $162 million between June 1, 2018, and June 1, 2019, including Ryan and Nastya, as well five gamers who play favorite titles like Minecraft and Fortnite. Dude Perfect (No. 2, with $20 million), highlights five thirtysomethings playing with adolescent toys like a giant Nerf ball, and Rhett and Link (No. 4, with $17.5 million), who make food stunts like tasting Flamin’ Hot Cheetos-flavored Pop-Tarts.
As the kids have bestowed, the videos are just the start. Ryan now has a line of branded games, clothing and home goods sold at Target, Walmart and Amazon, a spinoff television show on Nickelodeon and a deal with Hulu to repackage his videos. Nastya, who gets six-figure checks from sponsor brands including Dannon and Legoland, will be starting a line of toys and mobile game, and publishing a book next year. Last year, she moved with her parents from Krasnodar, Russia, and now lives in Boca Raton, Florida.
And who can accuse them of cashing in? YouTube is working to limit income opportunities for children’s channels in response to an agreement with the FTC for supposedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act rule. YouTube’s first step is a ban on targeted ads for kids’ content that starts next year. It’s been said by creators that the new guidelines may also influence natural search results so children’s videos don’t emerge at the top of Google searches. That’s a direct hit at potential profits, which come predominantly from pre-roll advertising spends.
Anastasia, at least, is already thinking of Plan B. She fantasizes of becoming a dolphin trainer and a cat doctor.
“I wish I had the answer,” Chas Lacaillade, the founder and CEO of child star agency Bottle Rocket Management, says of landing that elusive secret to success. “I’d be a wealthier man.”
The Highest-Paid YouTube Stars of 2019 are:
- Ryan Kaji
- Dude Perfect
- Anastasia Radzinskaya
- Rhett and Link
- Jeffree Star
- Preston
- PewDiePie
- Markiplier
- DanTDM
- VanossGaming
#10 | VanossGaming (Evan Fong)
Earnings: $11.5 million
Evan Fong, who’s recognized online as “VanossGaming,” nicked over 1.5 billion views in our scoring period with his videos of Grand Theft Auto V and Minecraft.
#9 | DanTDM (Daniel Middleton)
Earnings: $12 million
The British Minecraft and Fortnite player has long been one of the most successful on YouTube. He has a worldwide audience and takes his live tour to fans across the globe.
#7 (tie) | Markiplier (Mark Fischbach)
Earnings: $13 million
Mark Fischbach, more generally known by his online name “Markiplier,” is a favorite for supporters looking to reach the gaming community. He’s also supporting himself; he and fellow YouTuber Jacksepticeye cofounded Cloak, a high-end line of clothing for gamers.
#7 (tie) | PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg)
Earnings: $13 million
Once YouTube’s top-earning star, the gamer, who was born Felix Kjellberg, has survived to shrug off a number of controversies—including racist and anti-Semitic videos. He announced this month, though, that he’s taking a break from YouTube.
#6 | Preston (Preston Arsement)
Earnings: $14 million
One of two rookies on this year’s list, Preston Arsement got his start playing Call of Duty and quickly became so successful that he started posting friendly pranks in addition to his gaming content. Outside of YouTube, his biggest moneymakers are the Minecraft servers he runs for seven figures annually.
#5 | Jeffree Star
Earnings: $17 million
After getting his start as an artist on MySpace, Jeffree Star moved to YouTube, where he found a following doing makeup tutorials. He now uses his channel to tout his makeup line, which he says does at least eight figures in revenue thanks to its popular lipsticks, highlighters, and eye shadow palettes.
#4 | Rhett and Link
Earnings: $17.5 million
Two of YouTube’s first favorites, Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, host Good Mythical Morning, one of YouTube’s most popular daily show on which they eat foods like Cheetos-flavored Pop-Tarts and sing with stars like Kelly Rowland. They’ve grown their brand of comedy to four channels, a podcast, two books and, earlier this year, purchased the multichannel network Smosh for a reported $10 million.
#3 | Anastasia Radzinskaya
Earnings: $18 million
The Russian-born 5-year-old has become one of the world’s fastest-growing authors, thanks to videos in seven languages that feature her performing with her dad on her channels including Like Nastya. Brands have noticed, with Legoland and Dannon shelling out at six figures to work with her.
#2 | Dude Perfect
Earnings: $20 million
Five friends in their 30s—Coby Cotton, Cory Cotton, Garret Hilbert, Cody Jones, and Tyler Toney—play games, perform stunts and break Guinness World Records. Their videos, like “Bowling Trick Shots” and “Bubble Wrap Battle,” helped them score a TV contract The Dude Perfect Show, which airs on Nickelodeon.
#1 | Ryan Kaji
Earnings: $26 million
Eight-year-old Kaji got his origin on the channel when he was just 3 years old by unboxing toys on camera. He’s matured to conducting science experiments and branched out beyond YouTube with a line of more than 100 toys, clothing items and more, a show on Nickelodeon and a deal with Hulu.
Alicia leads content strategy for LearnWorthy managing a team of content producers, strategists, and copywriters. She creatively oversees content programs, awareness campaigns, research reports, and other integrated marketing projects.
