A new report confirms the highest paid YouTube stars of 2019, and there are five gaming YouTubers on the list. While gamers miss out on the top five slots, which are taken by trick shot group Dude Perfect, child YouTubers Ryan Kaji and Anastasia Radzinskaya, make-up artist Jeffree Star, and comedy duo Rhett and Link, they have still earned the tenth, ninth, seventh, and sixth spots on this year’s YouTube earnings list.
In the tenth position is Vanossgaming (Evan Fong), who made $11.5 million this year by posting videos of Grand Theft Auto 5 and Minecraft. DanTDM (Dan Middleton) earned a bit more, making $12 million by posting videos of Minecraft and Fortnite.
Markiplier (Mark Fischbach) and PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg) had a great year as well, each making $13 million from their gaming videos and coming in at seventh place. In sixth place is Preston (Preston Arsement), who made $14 million in 2019 by posting videos about Call of Duty and Fortnite and by running Minecraft servers.
While this year’s Forbes list only features two new content creators, with the other eight YouTubers all appearing on 2018’s version, next year’s list of the highest paid YouTubers could look very different. One reason for this is that PewDiePie is taking a break from YouTube in 2020, and this could have a huge effect on his earnings. The YouTuber does make money from his line of merchandise and mobile games, but without his YouTube videos or Twitter account to promote these ventures, they may not be as lucrative.
The earnings of these gaming YouTubers could also be affected by changes to games that their audiences enjoy. If fewer people start playing Minecraft, for instance, Preston’s Minecraft servers and videos may not be as popular and may not earn him as much. New games could also come along and help other YouTubers make millions of dollars, moving some of these YouTubers out of the top 10.
Changes to YouTube’s policies and algorithms could also put videos by these creators lower down in the search results so that they get fewer views. Any of this could happen, which is why so many YouTubers are releasing merchandise and creating new businesses that will make them money when YouTube does not.
Source: Forbes
