How YouTube Kid Toy Testers Make Millions
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Photodisc/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Home videos of 3-year-old Maya and her brother, 5-year-old Hulyan, may make them look like your average siblings — but the pair are toy-testing sensations whose YouTube videos generate three million views per day.
The siblings’ success started with a single YouTube video in 2011 of them playing with Thomas the Tank Engine toys. Four years later, Maya and Hulyan try anything from motorized toy jeeps to train sets.
Their cupcake Play-Doh demo generated more than one million views on its own. In total, the videos on their Hulyan Maya YouTube channel have 95 million views.
“We never planned it,” Maya and Hulyan’s father, Mark, told ABC News. “It just happened. It was just a hobby.”
The toy-testing videos are no longer a hobby for the California-based family, which also includes the kid’s mom, Rhea.
“This year, for 2015, we are estimating to make $1.5 million,” said Mark, who asked that the family’s last name not be used, of the channel’s ad revenue.
Maya and Hulyan are not the only kids making money on YouTube.
Toy reviews from 9-year-old Evan have earned him $1.3 million through YouTube, with his videos generating more than one billion views and counting.
“You can make a pretty good living from these YouTube videos if you can get the viewership,” said Evan’s father, Jared, who also asked that his last name not be used.
Marissa DiBartolo, senior editor at Toy Insider, explained how kid toy testers are able to generate revenue on YouTube.
“If you’re making $5 per 1,000 impressions, and you get one million views, and you post one new video for every day for 365 days, you’re talking about close to $2 million already,” DiBartolo said.
Mark and Rhea said the secret to their family’s success is making sure the kids are having fun while shooting the videos and keeping the videos short to avoid bored and cranky kids.
Mark, who, like Rhea, moved to the U.S. from the Philippines, said he has “no doubt” the family is living the American dream.
“No question,” he said.
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