Meet Evan, a cute little 8-year-old with the world’s best job. He rakes in hundreds of thousands of dollars while doing what all kids do, playing with toys.
He is the face of EvanTubeHD, a family-friendly YouTube channel that reviews toys and video games. Evan’s videos regularly exceed a million views and the channel earns him a whopping $1.3 million a year.
This is one of those Internet success stories that make you wonder, “Why didn’t I think of that?” It started out as a playful project between Evan and his father Jared. They would make stop-motion videos using clay models of Angry Birds.
“When we started, we were making about a video per month as a fun little project,” Jared recalled. “It was interesting to see who was tuning in.”
The videos were so cute that they started to get really popular, and when their first video hit 1 million views, Jared realised how huge it was getting. It wasn’t long before the channel became a serious business model.
“By doing toy reviews that are a bit ‘out of the box’, we try to provide information about the product as well as have that creative flair,” he said.
EvanTubeHD now has a dedicated sales team that sells ads and negotiates deals with brands and businesses. “These include both ads that appear in and around each video as well as products actually featured in our videos,” Jared explained.
“The majority of the revenue is generated by the ads placed on the video itself. Outside of the networks, YouTube/Google handles all ad placement within the site.”
Jared also revealed that all proceeds from the channel go into investment and savings accounts for Evan and his little sister.
“He goes to school, he does his homework, hangs out with his friends, attends karate class, and, of course, he has his computer time. I don’t think he realises the magnitude of the channel’s popularity.”
Jared, who runs a photography and video-production company, said that he and his wife would like to keep Evan’s life as normal as possible. That’s why the channel has no information about their last name, or any other form of identification.
“My wife and I are a bit hesitant about publishing anything that could be used to track where we live or where the kids go to school,” he explained.
Source: Business Insider
