YouTube Millionaires

Who would have thought that buying a camera and sitting in front of a computer could make someone a millionaire? According to Forbes financial magazine, several YouTube stars earn over two and a half million dollars a year just from their YouTube channels. At the top of these stars is 25-year-old Felix Kjellberg, who earned around twelve million dollars last year. Among the top ten YouTube stars by income, half of them are comedians, while the others do various activities in front of the camera. Together, these ten stars earned 55 million dollars in the past year through advertisements, brand endorsements in their shows, books they have written, or even their special product lines. Felix Kjellberg, a Swedish video blogger known by the pseudonym PewDiePie, earns his income through gaming and commenting on video games. The next rank, with an income of 8.5 million dollars last year, is jointly held by the comedy groups Smosh and Fine Brothers. Smosh, whose videos have been viewed nearly five billion times, engages in live comedy. In July, two California stars of this group, Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla, released their first movie titled Smosh. The Fine Brothers, whose channel features two brothers named Benny and Rafi Fine, won an Emmy Award in 2014. Next is Lindsey Sterling, a 29-year-old American violinist and dancer. In 2007, after her performance and song were not accepted for recording, she started her own video channel. Since then, she has released two CDs of her work with her personal funding and is currently writing a book about her life. Her income in the past year was six million dollars. The fifth rank is jointly held by Olajide Olatunji, a British rapper, and the hosts of the web show Rhett and Link. Olatunji managed to produce his first rap video through an internet Kickstarter campaign and made it into the top 50 songs in the UK this year. However, what is interesting about Rhett McLaughlin and Charles Lincoln Neal, the creators of the Rhett and Link news show, is that at ages 37 and 38, they are older than all the other ten highest-earning YouTube stars. Michelle Phan, although probably the most recognized YouTube star among young people, ranks seventh among the highest-earning YouTubers with an income of three million dollars. Phan started her YouTube channel with makeup tutorials and now produces a line of cosmetics and monthly videos that are available through subscription. YouTube, which started in 2005, adds sixty percent to its viewership each year. This website has over one billion active users worldwide.