Meet Evan, a cute little 8-year-old
with the world’s best job. He rakes in hundreds of thousands of dollars
while 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 recalled. “It was interesting to see who was tuning
in.”
The videos were so cute that they
started to get really 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 also revealed that all proceeds from the channel go into
investment and savings accounts for Evan and his little sister.
I headed over to the channel to check out a few videos, and
I have to say, they are super adorable. Evan has great camera presence
and his reviews are so compelling that you’re going to want to go out
and buy those toys yourself, regardless of your age. His 6-year-old
sister Jillian makes cameo appearances, increasing the cuteness factor a
million times over.
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 thest name, or any other form of identification.
“My wife and I are a bit hesitant about publishing anything that could
be used to track where we live or where the kids go to school,” he
explained. 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!
So how does all the fame and
fortune affect little Evan? It turns out, he’s 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 la
The family also has two other YouTube channels –
EvanTubeRaw, which features behind-the-scenes content, and
EvanTubeGaming, which focuses on father-and-son video game commentary
and gameplay. And Jillian says she wants to have a channel of her own
called JillianTube. “There’s a pretty big market for makeup and fashion
related videos, but I think we have a few years before we have to start
worrying about that,” said Jared. “At least, that’s what I’m hoping
for.”
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