Due to the social distancing measures recommended (or in some cases imposed) by governments all over the world, many of us have found ourselves working remotely for the foreseeable future. Many of us will also be looking for ways to generate some extra income with all the free time we now have. If you find yourself doing the same, you should seriously consider creating and monetizing a YouTube channel. We have broken down some the numbers below to help keep you motivated.
Ryan Kaji
8-year-old toy reviewer Ryan Kaji earned an incredible $26 million in 2019 through his incredibly popular YouTube channel, Ryan's World (previously Ryan ToysReview).After asking his mum why he wasn’t on YouTube, the family set about creating and uploading the review videos in March 2015. Several years and many videos later, Kaji has over 24.4 million subscribers.
With an impressive $26 million pocketed in 2019, it would take him just 21 hours and 18 minutes to earn the median US household income ($63,179).
To understand just how much Kaji is earning from his videos, the Sportarly team compared his earnings to that of the highest paid profession, physicians (according to a Glassdoor study). The median income for a US physician is $193,415 and Kaji would earn this in just 2 days and 16 hours. It would take him just 19 hours and 36 minutes to earn the median salary of a US teacher (the lowest paid profession according to the study), $58,030.
In 2019, he earned:
- $2.2 million per month.
- $500K per week.
- $71.2K per day.
- $3K per hour.
- $49.47 per minute.
- $0.82 per second.
Dude Perfect
With a huge following consisting of 49.9 million YouTube subscribers and over 10 billion video views, it is no surprise that the Dude Perfect gang also topped the Forbes list of highest earners. They have come a long way from light hearted beginnings filming themselves betting sandwiches on basketball trick shots, all the way to a mobile app and even a TV show.All of this means they have been able to generate a sizeable income from their online fame. At $20 million last year, they only needed to work 1 day and 4 hours to make the median US salary.
It would take them just 3 days and 12 hours to earn the physician’s salary and only 1 day and 2 hours to earn the same amount as the average teacher.
In 2019, they earned:
- $1.7 million per month.
- $384.6K per week.
- $54.8K per day.
- $2.3K per hour.
- $38.05 per minute.
- $0.63 per second.
Anastasia Radzinskaya
Anastasia Radzinskaya (aka Like Nastya) has amassed over 15 million subscribers and more than 5 billion video views after her parents started making funny, sweet videos of them all in 2016. People must be loving them after Anastasia’s online presence helped her and her family earn $18 million in 2019. Closely following the Dude Perfect team, she also earns the median US salary in 1 day and 7 hours.At just 6 years old, Anastasia is already earning considerably more than 99% of adults each and every year. Compared to the physician, she would have to work just 3 days and 21 hours to earn the same amount. It would take her just 1 day and 4 hours to out-earn the standard US teacher.
In 2019, she earned:
- $18 million per year.
- $1.5 million per month.
- $346.2K per week.
- $49.3K per day.
- $2.1K per hour.
- $34.25 per minute.
- $0.57 per second.
Rhett and Link
American comedy duo and childhood friends Rhett and Link turned the comedy style they had developed over the years into a profitable venture when they started posting their content on YouTube. The creative approach these two take pays off and they took home roughly $17.5 million last year. Time to earn the median US income, just 1 day and 7 hours.Jeffree Star
Jeffree Star is a man of many talents and he has made use of many of them to develop his YouTube following. With an army of 17.6 million followers and over 2 billion video views, anyone with skills surrounding makeup, modelling, singing and/or song writing should seriously consider following suit and setting up a channel of their own. His online success helped him generate $17 million in 2019. It would take him less than 2 days (1 day and 9 hours) to earn the median US income.Preston
Preston has made a fortune out of his love of video games. His video blogging (and the 12.1 million subscribers it reaches) meant he generated a whopping $14 million last year alone. Earning the equivalent of $26.64 each and every minute, it would take him just 1 day and 14 hours to make the median US household income.PewDiePie
PewDiePie is a Swedish YouTuber and is another one making a killing off his passion for video games. After starting his video creation career back in 2010, he has gone on to earn himself 103 million subscribers and $13 million in 2019. Broken down, in 2019 he earned:- $1.1 million per month.
- $250K per week.
- $35.6K per day.
- $1.5K per hour.
- $24.73 per minute.
- $0.41 per second.
DanTDM
Daniel Robert Middleton (DanTDM) is yet another influencer who has made a career out of content creation surrounding video games. Since his start on YouTube in 2009, he has learnt a lot and earned a substantial loyal following. Currently sitting at 22.5 million subscribers and over 16 billion video views, he is entertaining an army of fans with his content. His videos helped him earn $12 million last year, making the median US income in just 1 day and 21 hours.VanossGaming
The research does seem to suggest that video game playing might be one of the most profitable hobbies to use to start generating extra income online. Last on the Forbes list of the highest YouTube earners is VanossGaming. Real name Evan Fong, he began uploading videos in 2011. His consistent efforts have paid off big with earnings of $11.5 million in 2019. He would earn the median US income in a solid 2 days.If you are considering starting a YouTube channel yourself, you might want to consider toy reviews or something related to video games. Most of those featured needed a few years to build up their followings to the point where they could earn so much and no doubt a lot of work went into this behind the scenes. Still, it just goes to show the potential a passionate side hustle has and the vast sums it could eventually generate.
Read next: These are Top 10 most viewed videos on YouTube (2020)
