Legislation has recently been introduced in the Senate that may curtail the activities of Ryan and his fellow YouTube toycoons. YouTube channels with the most subscribers are geared toward young children. Ryan’s prominence, and the existence of the genre of human known as “kidfluencer,” is a source of consternation to many parents, authorities and child-development experts. How did we get to a place where a person can be the linchpin of a media empire before he has armpit hair? And of all the exuberant folks on YouTube, why has this kid raked in the most cash? Part of the answer is that this is no ordinary child, but another part is that Ryan’s rise speaks volumes about the way entertainment, business, technology and family life have changed in the past decade. Most of that was from his far-flung merchandise empire: he (or his parents) has lent his name to 1,600 licensed products in 30 countries, including Skechers, pajamas, Roblox, bedding, watches, sporting goods, water bottles, furniture, toothpaste and, of course, toys. His revenue last year, according to Forbes, was about $30 million. Ryan has been the highest paid YouTube star for three years straight, partly because he has nine channels on the platform.
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Except for the part about peace and harmony, we are in an age where a child does indeed rule a significant subsection of the Internet. The kicker is that a child is in charge of it all. There’s a sacred text that talks about an era of peace and harmony, where lions lie down with lambs. Another way of putting it is that even if every one of Ryan’s YouTube views were just 30 seconds, he has been watched 4,500 times longer than he has been alive. If, in our digital age, a person’s life can be measured by their online footprint, Ryan’s is the size of a brachiosaur’s, which, as a lot of Ryan’s fans know, is gargantuan.