It all began with a Lego choo-choo train. The video shows a three-year-old Ryan Kaji picking it out from the store “because I like it”, he tells his mother. Once back at their Houston, Texas home in the US, the toddler excitedly unboxes the toy and begins playing with it. Although a regular occurrence, it turned the Kajis into millionaires. His mother had filmed and shared the video on their recently created YouTube channel, “Ryan Toys – Review.” Success!

Eight years, many toy unboxings and 35 million subscribers later, the channel, now fondly known as “Ryan’s World,” holds a prestigious status as YouTube royalty. He belongs to a fresh wave of child social media influencers (aged below 18) who are reshaping the landscape of children’s entertainment and earning handsomely while they are at it.

At the age of 11, Ryan, alongside “Like Nastya,” a nine-year-old boasting 106m subscribers, is at the forefront of YouTube’s success. They earned $27m and $28m in 2021, respectively, according to Forbes. Cocomelon, the kids’ YouTube channel, had the most subscribers, at 155m, while Kids Diana Show ranked second, with almost 109m subscribers. Content for children has reached soaring popularity in recent times, with a few of the absolute highest-earning YouTubers being under the age of 16.

Speaking of local kidfluencers, MAMASAYSSO.PK is a platform with more than 25,000 followers, making waves with hashtags #momlife and #karachimombloggers. It curates content surrounding mompreneurs, restaurants, clothes, parenting, and entertainment. The Pakistani landscape of kidfluencers is in its nascent stages and many young parents are only testing the waters of how to monetise the time spent by stay-at-home mothers.

Influencer marketing expenditure is expected to rise substantially from $1.7bn in 2016 to an estimated $21.1bn this year

Youtube Kids is being followed extensively by Pakistani kids, especially when many children’s

movies have been dubbed in Urdu. Kids Zone Pakistan is another YT channel with 4,600 subscribers that entails localised content. For kids who are interested in creating and sharing content, it’s important for them to engage in these activities under parental supervision and within the guidelines of YouTube Kids.

The majority of social media platforms mandate users to be above 13 years old, yet parents/guardians have the option to create/manage accounts on behalf of their children. They can monetise their content through ads, channel memberships, Super Chat, and merchandise shelves. However, this is not available for Youtube Kids.

Kid content creators speak to other kids through their videos, engage in imaginative play with friends and family, showcase new toys, and offer tutorials on dancing, handwashing, etc.

Youtube channels can also be monetised by collaborating with brands seeking to target extremely young audiences. According to Allison Fitzpatrick, who negotiates influencer deals at Davis+Gilbert, the management of these accounts is akin to managing a family business.

However, things have now transitioned to being controlled by production companies. For example, Ryan’s World collaborates with pocket.watch, an entertainment studio that assists 45 prominent kid creators. The firm has also facilitated Ryan’s partnerships with Nintendo and Mattel.

In Pakistan, Ahmed Shah became a celebrity at ARY Digital and Jeeto Pakistan. A little kid, Ahmed is a constant fixture on Fahad Mustafa’s game show and with his adorable antics, keeps the audience entertained.

Certain child influencers are born into the world of “momfluencers,” inheriting significant followings even before they’ve walked their first steps. The mothers have managed to garner millions of

followers as they document their lives online. These parents manage separate Instagram accounts for their children.

Like adults, young influencers are brand ambassadors for clothing lines, often managed by talent agencies. This shift highlights the transformation in advertising, with influencer marketing expenditure expected to rise substantially from $1.7 billion in 2016 to an estimated $21.1bn this year, as reported by Influencer Marketing Hub.

While all of it sounds easy, not everything behind it is hunky-dory. The constantly evolving landscape of social media has added complexity to the ascent of new stars striving to reach the top. There was this sense that any kid could suddenly become the next Irfan Junejo and Mooro, or Ryan and Nastya. Now it is much harder.

Extrapolating Ryan’s example, the family has branched out to educational content, employing more than two dozen people to run the channel and began their own production company.

Other child influencers have transitioned from playing with toys on YouTube to producing lifestyle content on TikTok and Instagram. Some creators may eventually grow tired of the

overwhelming chaos to constantly curate content and return to reality. Yet, the cycle continues, with new stars and pushy parents always ready to step into the spotlight.

It is not the adults alone running the world and wielding opportunities. There is no age to work. This sentiment was primarily driven by the emergence of Covid-19, and the ensuing lockdown caused the screen time of kids to be at an all-time high, regardless of the digitalised world.

Today, kidfluencers have cracked the algorithm and successfully managed to bring their “A” game to the influencing space. These social media sensations, when not in school, are busy dominating the Internet. n

The writer is a content lead at an agency. Email: sara.amj@hotmail.co.uk

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, August 14th, 2023