Inside the business of a YouTube child star

Ryan Kaji was just three years old when his YouTube channel, Ryan’s World, took off. Initially launched by his parents in 2015 as a way to keep friends and family in Japan updated on Ryan as he grew up in the States, the channel now has more than 37 million subscribers and 58 billion views.

As Ryan has grown from a kid to a teen, his videos have evolved from toy reviews to science experiments and even animation. His empire now includes a Nickelodeon TV show, a licensed toy brand, and a number of other YouTube channels, including a Spanish-language one, a gaming-focused channel, and one featuring the animated adventures of his sisters, Emma and Kate. A spring-off film, Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure, hit theaters this summer. (It struggled at the box office, making just $624,000 on an estimated budget of $10 million.) It’s now available to watch on several streamers including YouTube.

For a recent episode of the Most Innovative Companies podcast, we spoke to Ryan’s father, Shion Kaji, and Albie Hecht, Ryan’s manager and the chief content officer at digital media studio PocketWatch, about raising a child in the spotlight and building a brand that can grow with him.  

Shion, you and your wife, Loann, started the original YouTube channel as a way to stay in touch with extended family. Did you ever expect or plan for it to become such a global phenomenon? 

Shion Kaji: We had no idea how big this became. Our intention was to share Ryan’s daily life to our extended families, and [it] quickly evolved into something bigger. Four months after we launched our channel, the views exploded. We started getting lots of comments from viewers around the world. We quickly reached the top 10, top 20 among all the different channels, within the first year. That’s when we started our production company to help streamline the production and minimize the participation requirements for Ryan. When we started, Ryan was only three years old, and all our content centered around him. I felt creators had the power of influence that could go beyond the YouTube platform, even though at that time there was no other channel that became big and broke out from YouTube.

When did you start making money off of your content?

SK: We received an email from YouTube telling us we were hitting some milestones. Then we started getting emails from brands—big companies in toys and gaming, like Nintendo—saying they would like to collaborate. But I wondered whether we could establish our own brand if we had that much influence. That recognition helped us break out. We reached out to the PocketWatch team. We worked together to launch a consumer product line and TV series. Now we’re doing the movie.

How did you let Ryan have a childhood while growing this business, and managing his brand as “the world’s most popular kid.” I know he couldn’t come on this podcast because he’s having a digital detox at the moment.

SK: Lots of planning. Ryan’s private life as a normal child is important to us. The YouTube filming takes up 30 minutes to an hour each week. When we moved forward with the [Nickelodeon] TV series Ryan’s Mystery Playdate for four seasons, we would film in the summertime because we don’t really interfere with Ryan’s schooling. There was also a teacher on set every time he came. To fit the entire production in the summer, we would shoot multiple camera angles at the same time so there wouldn’t be too many repeated scenes and we could get the best out of Ryan. The crew became his friends. He did a lot of pranks on them.

You began making videos when Ryan was three, before he could really make his own decisions about being online. How do you figure out whether he still wants to do this?

SK: We always have open communication with all our kids, whether they still feel excited to film videos, what kind of videos they want to film. When Ryan started at three, he was reviewing toys, but now he doesn’t review toys as much. Now he does science experiments as well as videos about gaming. We’re trying to evolve the brand toward his current interests and expand our connection with our fanbase through Ryan’s growth. I think about our work like parents whose kids are interested in doing sports seriously. They start early: Many pro athletes start when they’re three or four. They didn’t necessarily have a decision, but parents always make a commitment believing that’s the right choice for them, which can change depending on the reaction from the kids.

But the difference between sending your kid to sports camp and having them star on a YouTube channel is that a large part of your income probably depends on him working, right?

SK: We’ve diversified our business. We have some animated characters within the brand independent of Ryan.

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about how child stars and kids who are involved in the creator economy get compensated. How do you handle that?

SK: We study a lot to figure out the best way to set up financially, for our kids. The first thing we did was set up a trust account for all three of our kids and compensate them through it. That way, the fund is secure and safe and when the time is right, Ryan can use his own money for himself. For the movies and TV series, we set up a Coogan account [a protected trust fund]. We are legally required to have 15% of the revenue [from projects] deposited there, but that’s the bare minimum and we always strive for more. A hundred percent of his talent fee goes into the Coogan account.

What happens when Ryan becomes an adult? Would you still work with him?

Albie Hecht: There’s no cutoff. But one of the reasons we made the movie is that it’s animated. Ryan has animated personas, Red Titan and Super Spy Ryan. Through animation, he has an opportunity to keep servicing his preschool and young audience. 

Do people recognize Ryan on the street?

AH: Going to Chuck. E. Cheese with them is like . . . oh my God!

SK: What’s fortunate for us is that a lot of parents are very supportive and those fans are with their parents. When Ryan’s tired or when we’re in a hurry, they understand.

What advice would you give parents who want to pursue this?

AH: You need to have parents who have an understanding of the business side of things. They need to supplement the kid’s talent and take an active interest in it. It isn’t just putting a video up and suddenly it goes viral. It can catch on, but what you do with that and how you build a business and a brand and create an environment that the kid can thrive in is something that parents have to take an active interest in.