While some people look down on YouTubers, the reality is that they make a ton of money.
These YouTubers have made a combined $70 million dollars so far this year.
That's not pocket change, that's real foldin' money.
You can go ahead and click on that subscribe button and it won’t cost you a penny and
we’ll look at the Top 10 richest YouTubers of 2017 (so far).
Colleen Ballinger Colleen Ballinger is also known as her meme/most
popular "comedian" online doppelgänger "Miranda Sings."
Ballinger is an actress that performs in theaters across the country and became so popular on
YouTube that she was offered a show on Netflix — Haters Back Off.
She, perhaps more than anyone on this list, has diversified her offerings by engaging
in products outside of YouTube.
From off-broadway shows to the Tonight Show, or even Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars
Getting Coffee, Ballinger has really used her YouTube status to leverage her career
in ways that other YouTubers have tried to, and mostly failed — see Jake Paul.
As most every cast member of Saturday Night Live will tell you, though, a character is
only popular for a limited amount of time.
So while Ballinger has been on this list before and will continue to make bank, it'll be interesting
to see where her characters and videos go in the future.
People might move on from Miranda and the style of make-up she wears that can only be
named the Borderline Personality Disorder look.
Twitter: 1.41 million followers Facebook: 294k page likes
Instagram: 4.3 million followers YouTube Channel: 7.6 million subscribers
Estimated Earnings: $5 million
Rhett & Link The comedy duo of Rhett and Link may not be
household names, yet, but they've been establishing a great following online the past few years.
Like Ballinger, they've elevated themselves above YouTube and created content for other
platforms, like the Independent Film Channel — where they hosted a show called Rhett
& Link: Commercial Kings.
They're mostly known for their morning show, Good Mythical Morning, which is one of the
most professional and hilarious shows on YouTube.
The duo brings in about $5 million a year, which is pretty impressive considering their
humble beginnings.
Like most everyone on this list, they've amassed a following and the money and internet fame
that comes with it simply by trying.
Really, really hard.
We live in an age where you can really do anything you want to, thanks to the internet.
It's like a gold rush that everyone has access to in their pockets.
People like Rhett and Link really are just taking advantage of a platform that literally
anyone can use to do the same.
It's always interesting to see the how behind the why when it comes to what makes a channel
successful.
Twitter – 705k followers Facebook – 1.3 million page likes
Instagram – 1.6 million followers YouTube Channel – 4.3 million subscribers
Estimated Earnings: $5 million
German Garmendia German is probably the least known YouTuber
on this list — to the American audience.
He's from Chile and most of his videos are in Spanish.
He may be the most popular non-English speaking Youtuber there is, with two channels that
have a combined following of over 50 million subs — those are PewDiePie numbers.
He's expanded beyond YouTube, a bit, by writing a book and doing voice overs for cartoons
like one of the Ice Age films.
His videos are extremely high energy and he speaks very, very fast.
It's that type of energy — and the editing style that goes along with it — that makes
his videos interesting and watchable.
He's another perfect example of someone who just applied their personality to their videos
and used that to grow an audience.
The quality of his videos isn't great.
Yet, he's great motivation for those who are on the fence about creating their own channel.
He shows that as long as you have a great personality and the ability to come up with
new topics on a daily basis, you don't even really need a great camera to get your channel
established.
With earnings of near six million dollars a year, if that doesn't get you off the fence
I don't know what will and if he doesn't buy a new camera eventually you'd have to wonder
where all that money is going.
Twitter: 9.2 million followers Facebook: 1.9 million page likes
Instagram: 6.8 million followers YouTube Channels:
HolaSoyGerman.: 31.3 million subscribers JuegaGerman: 18.3 million subscribers
Total: 49.6 million subscribers Estimated Earnings: $5.5 million
Markiplier Mark Fischbach, better known as Markiplier,
got his start the PewDiePie way by focusing on playing video games in front of an audience.
While most YouTubers have transitioned from that to more of a vlog style of videos, Markiplier
still stays true to his origins and plays a lot of video games to this day (in addition
to Vlogging, as well).
His Let's Play style sticks out from the legions of other Let's Plays because of his unique
personality and approach to each game.
He's well liked among other YouTubers — irprising considering all the "drama."
He's partnered up with other YouTubers — mostly in the gaming realm— by simply being a genuinely
nice guy.
He also does comedic shorts and vlogs, which show his potential.
He has a lot of opportunities for growth in the coming years.
Twitter: 5.5 million followers Facebook: 3 million page likes
Instagram: 5.5 million followers YouTube Channel: 16.9 million subscribers
Estimated Earnings: $5.5 million
Tyler Oakley When PewDiePie fell from grace (see below),
Tyler Oakley replaced him as the new face of YouTube — mostly.
Tyler is a nice guy and the people behind Youtube (*cough* Google *cough) can rely on
him to not blurt out racial slurs at any given time.
While he is well known, he only made the "richest YouTubers" list this year.
With earning around six million dollars per year, he's been an amazing representative
of LGBTQ people.
That has gotten him in touch with TV personality and Oprah replacement, Ellen Degeneres.
Tyler has expanded his content to host a show on "EllenTube"— Ellen's YouTube channel.
An outspoken activist, Tyler uses YouTube as a way to educate the youth on social issues.
While that does cause a lot of controversy — and people using the word "cuck" and "snowflake"
as if that's somehow clever in 2017 — he still remains outspoken letting people live
whichever way they choose — as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else.
Twitter: 5.7 million followers Facebook: 2.9 million page likes
Instagram: 6.9 million followers YouTube Channel: 8 million subscribers
Estimated Earnings: $6 million
Rosanna Pansino Rosanna Pansino perhaps best represents the
diversity of content that YouTube has as her channel isn't so much about vlogging and doing
the typical "YouTube thing" but rather she focuses on a lot of DIY/"how-to" type videos.
She's a self-taught cook who was inspired by her grandmother — and her cooking — to
pursue a career as a neo-Martha Stewart.
She has even written her own cookbook, titled The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook: Sweet Treats for
the Geek in All of Us — also the title of her YouTube channel.
While you may not want to spend real money on a cookbook, you can get a ton of great
advice and tips by watching her channel each week.
Pansino represents the fact that YouTube has content for EVERYONE.
Regardless of what you're interested in, you'll be able to find a channel/community filled
with likeminded people.
Twitter – 451k followers Facebook – 748k page likes
Instagram – 2.6 million followers YouTube Channel – 8.1 million subscribers
Estimated Earnings: $6 million
Smosh Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox are a comedy
duo that go by the name Smosh.
They've been balling out of control on YouTube for quite some time — they were the number
two earners on the platform back in 2016.
They focus a lot on doing satire videos but have expanded to create multiple channels.
Outside of their main channel (which has 22 million subscribers) they have a game channel
(which has five million subs) and a channel called "Smosh Pit" (nearly eight million subscribers).
So, it's no surprise that they're making significant bank and that they've been handed a lot of
great opportunities outside of YouTube, as well.
One of the results of that was the film titled Smosh: The Movie.
Considering how clever and funny both are, you'd think they'd have a better title for
their movie than that.
But it's on brand and in their minds — and the minds of Hollywood execs — they're making
sure that your 30 million subscribers know that it's your movie is more important than
some zany title.
The movie was released on demand and on Netflix after premiering at Vidcon 2015.
Though it received mixed reviews, but a lot of critics praised the film.
While they did have low expectations — thanks, Miranda Sings — the fellas made a successful
transition from YouTube to a full length movie.
The New York Times said the following about the movie:
"[Smosh: The Movie is] a fairly successful effort to apply the tone and comic style of
those hastily produced weekly shorts to a feature-length script with an actual plot.
[It was] clever and surprisingly easy to sit through" That success should've opened a lot
of doors for the duo so it looks like the sky is quite literally the limit for these
two.
Even if that doesn't work out, though, they still have an estimated income of around $8.5
million dollars to fall back on.
Not too shabby!
Twitter – 3.33 million followers Facebook - 7 million page likes
Instagram – 2.9 million followers YouTube Channel - 22.6 million subscribers
Estimated Earnings: $7 million
Lilly Singh Lilly Singh is another YouTube "comedian"
who hails from Canada.
She lives in Toronto and is known for her ethnically-themed parody and satire videos.
She is better known as "IISuperwomanII".
She's somehow been able to work with a ton of super famous people, including Selena Gomez,
Dwayne " The Rock" Johnson and more!
That has helped up her subscriber count to a staggering 12 million (on her main channel).
The videos that made her famous were similar to Eddie Murphy movies.
She plays every character in a lot of her videos (at least those about her family/parents).
She parlayed that into an almost 30 city tour in 2015, that stretched across the globe.
Titled A Trip to Unicorn Island, the tour turned into a documentary that debuted on
YouTube Red— "Only thing worth watching on YouTube Red" (ouch!) by Odyssey Online.
Perhaps because of that tour/documentary, she leapfrogged many of last year's top YouTuber
earners.
She went from (a still amazing) $2.5 million dollars in 2016 to over $7.5 million dollars
so far this year.
This should remind everyone to go buy a webcam, a microphone and some wigs.
There's money to be made!
Twitter – 2.2 million followers Facebook – 3 million page likes
Instagram – 6.1 million followers YouTube Channel – 11.3 million subscribers
Estimated Earnings: $7.5 million
Roman Atwood Roman Atwood, is the "King of Pranks" on YouTube.
While Atwood has mostly avoided a lot of the backlash that have sunk other pranksters'
channels.
First and foremost, most "pranks" on YouTube are completely staged and thus sort of lame.
What makes a good prank is the genuine reaction from the victim.
If they're in on it, it becomes pointless.
Atwood is a pretty talented guy though.
He directed his own feature film that he also starred in, titled Natural Born Pranksters.
Critics and audiences alike enjoyed it.
He's also done a lot of co-branded videos — with Nissan, for example — that have
made him a ton of money and success.
He's leap-frogged a ton of people to reach this spot.
A few years ago he wouldn't have been anywhere near this list.
But thanks to massive gains to his sub count in 2015 and then again this year, he's nearly
at the top!
Twitter – 1.79 million followers Facebook – 1.5 million page likes
Instagram – 4.9 million followers YouTube Channel – 10.4 million subscribers
Estimated Earnings: $8 million
PewDiePie (for Now) There's no denying that PewDiePie is the king
of YouTube.
He's amassed nearly double his competition's following, reaching an unreal 57 million subscribers
as of the writing of this article.
Felix Kjellberg was once the face of YouTube, participating in YouTube Red shows like Scare
PewDiePie and showing up on billboard ads.
That was all before the "Fiverr.com Incident."
PewDiePie decided to test the limits of what human beings will do for money.
He reached a couple of guys through the site Fiverr.com and gave them $5 to hold up a sign
that said "Death to All Jews."
He later defended that "joke" and went after the New York Times for reporting
about his "anti-Semitic" views.
This week, while doing a "Let's Play" — a live stream of Kjellberg playing various video
games — he got upset at another player and ended up blurting out the dreaded "n-word".
While he apologized, PewDiePie's reign at the top may be coming to an end.
With an estimated $15 million dollar a year income through his various channels, he's
lost a ton of sponsors because of his racist leanings.
Regardless, he's made enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
Twitter – 9.8 million followers Facebook – 7.4 million page likes
Instagram – 12.2 million followers YouTube Channel – 54.4 million followers
Estimated Earnings: $15 million
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