Top of the morning to you laddies, Jacksepticeye is making millions of dollars entertaining you, and has now landed on a prestigious Forbes list.
Seán McLoughlin, aka JackSepticEye, an Irish video game YouTuber, is the eighth richest on Forbes Top Ten list, earning a reported $16 million from June 2017 to June 2018.
That’s just a lot of cash for a guy who curses his way through a variety of video games each day.
“Foulmouthed, energetic Seán McLoughlin is the most popular YouTuber in Ireland thanks to his colorful video-game commentary,” writes Forbes.
The 28-year-old has broken into the mainstream, and currently has over 21 million YouTube subscribers.
“A few bad words haven’t kept him from going mainstream: He did a series for Disney and is developing exclusive content for live-streaming platform Twitch.”
McLoughlin has never shied away from his own style.
“There’s lots of swearing. The more you swear, the better. People react very positively to that apparently,” he said. “I do get a lot of complaints from parents who say I swear too much. I’m not kid-friendly, which I never said I was from the beginning.”
He is kid-friendly in other ways, however, which are often overlooked.
Earlier this year, for example, a three hour telethon on his YouTube channel raised over $100K for St. Jude’s children’s hospital.
On his channel Sunday he hosted the Christmas Charity Livestream for Crisis Text Line.
Over an eight hour period he helped raise over $250K for the text-based service providing free, 24/7 support for people in crisis.
Regarding his wealth, he said, “It puts a lot of responsibility on you very quickly and you have to be wise about it. A lot of YouTubers out there get a lot of money very quickly and splash it all on Lamborghinis and penthouse suites. If I ever buy a Lamborghini, someone can shoot me.”
If the millions he makes from gaming doesn’t prompt a Lamborghini purchase, perhaps a clothing company will.
In October, he cofounded an athleisure line, Cloak, with fellow list member Mark Fischbach, better known as “Markiplier” (No. 6, $17.5 million).
The workout line includes $85 sweaters and $35 T-shirts.
Even if they intend to exercise nothing more than their thumbs, fans have snapped the gear up: The presale items sold out in 48 hours.
Merchandise has become an increasingly important revenue stream for these top digital stars, almost all of whom are in their 20s and 30s.
Each of the 10 on the Forbes list now has a line of merchandise, whose blossoming sales help account for that 42% income increase from a year ago.
Logan Paul’s (No. 10, $14.5 million) merchandise line, Maverick, is the reason he was able to stay among the highest-paid YouTube stars despite what could have been a career-ending video.
Founded in 2017 and named after his parrot, the clothing line is estimated to clock upwards of $10 million in annual revenue.
Top 10 Highest-Paid YouTube Stars Of 2018
10. Logan Paul – $14.5 million
9. PewDiePie – $15.5 million
8. Jacksepticeye – $16 million
7. VanossGaming – $17 million
6. Markiplier – $17.5 million
5. Jeffree Star – $18 million
4. DanTDM – $18.5 million
3. Dude Perfect – $20 Million
2. Jake Paul – $21.5 million
1. Ryan ToysReview – $22 million
The No. 1 earner on YouTube this year is not your average millionaire — far from it.
He’s a 7-year-old boy named Ryan who reviews toys for other kids.
Last year, it was reported Ryan made $11 million from his YouTube channel, coming in at number 8 on Forbes’ 2017 list, but the toy critic is moving on up.
His YouTube channel has attracted a huge following of parents and children who watch Ryan test out new toys and share his thoughts on them.