Evan is an adorable little 8-year-old boy with the world’s best job. He makes hundreds of thousands of dollars for 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 said. “It was interesting to see who was watching.”
The videos were so cute that they really got more and more popular, and when their first video hit 1 million views, Jared realized 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 says that all proceeds from the channel go into investment and savings accounts for Evan and his little sister.
Go on and head over to YourTube to check out the videos, they are super adorable. Evan has great camera presence and his reviews are really great that you feel like going out and get those toys, irregardless of your age. His 6-year-old sister Jillian makes cameo appearances, increasing the cuteness factor 10x.
There’s this one video where the two kids are playing with Angry Bird Softee Dough toys at the park – they proceed to tie their mom to a tree and throw the softee toys at her. A warning appears on screen: “For your safety, we do not recommend tying your mom to a tree and throwing toys at her. It may result in a serious time out.” Believe it or not, the video has over 50 million views!
When he is not on YouTube, Evan is as normal as any other kid. “For the most part, Evan goes about the day like any other second-grader,” said Jared. “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 realizes 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 careful about publishing anything that could be used to find out where we live or where the kids go to school,” he explained.
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