New List Reveals Who the Highest Paid YouTubers of 2019 Were
It’s no secret that there’s a lot of money to be made on YouTube. With the top channels attracting millions of views, advertising revenue can be extremely lucrative, not to mention merchandise sales, sponsorships, and other income opportunities for major YouTubers. Now, Forbes has compiled a list of the highest paid YouTubers for 2019; while five of the members produce gaming-centric content, the list includes makeup tutorial and unboxing channels, among other things.
The Highest Paid YouTubers of 2019
According to Forbes, whose list includes earning estimates rather than exact figures, the methodology used to determine the ranking includes income from a variety of sources. Of course, ad revenue is a major source, but they also include licensing deals, merchandise brands, and so on. The estimates are reportedly based on data from Captiv8, Pollstar, SocialBlade, and “industry insiders”.
The tenth highest paid YouTuber on the list is Evan Fong, who runs the channel ‘VanossGaming,’ and who made an estimated $11.5 million in 2019. Fong is far from the only gaming YouTuber on the list. Indeed, he ranks just behind Daniel Middleton of gaming channel ‘DanTDM,’ with $12 million in 2019 income. Seventh place is actually a tie between two of YouTube’s biggest gaming names, both of whom have around $13 million; Markiplier and PewDiePie.
A relative newcomer occupies the #6 spot on the list; Preston Arsement, who runs the ‘Preston’ gaming channel, as well as a veritable empire of Minecraft servers. These net him an estimated $14 million in 2019. The fifth spot, and the first non-gaming spot, is occupied by Jeffree Star; the highest-earning makeup tutorial specialist with $17 million in profits, partly drawn from his actual brand of makeup. At #4 are YouTube veterans Rhett and Link, who continue to dominate the platform, making around $17.5 million in 2019.
The third highest paid YouTuber of 2019 was Anastasia Radzinskaya; a five-year-old Russian girl whose channels now have over 107 million subscribers. Dude Perfect come in at #2, with an estimated $20 million in yearly income. However, the highest-paid YouTuber of the year was actually another child under the age of 10; seven-year-old Ryan Kaji, whose unboxing videos have taken YouTube by storm in recent years. Indeed, as Forbes’ notes, a recent Pew study found that YouTube channels with children in them receive on average three times as many views as channels that don’t; something which is likely influenced by the fact that 81% of parents with children under the age of 11 allow them to watch YouTube content.