Ryan’s World was a huge success on YouTube. Will movies have the same appeal?

Living in an idyllic Honolulu neighborhood with his parents and twin sister, 12-year-old Ryan Kaji feels like he’s worlds away. Away from the tourist hub of Waikiki Beach, the towering timeshare towers and overpriced T-shirt shops begin to fade, replaced by the winding roads and lush landscapes revered by the people of Kamaena. The Kajis are immigrants, having left Houston for these greener climes at the height of the pandemic. Ryan had recently become the most famous kid in the world, and his parents, Loann and Shion, thought the idyllic setting would provide him with the peace and respite he needed to build an empire from his YouTube success.

In the spring of 2015, Ryan was 4 years old and a fan and viewer of the then-nascent toy review trend on YouTube. His parents agreed to let him upload his own videos, in which he would dramatically unpack his latest toy purchases. The videos seemed to have a hypnotic effect on their young viewers, and the views began to climb. Loann noticed that Ryan was having a lot of fun, and the cost of purchasing toys to review was quickly increasing. A few Google searches revealed that if she monetized the videos, she could potentially make enough money to break even. “When we started making 50 cents a day, we were ecstatic,” she says. “Then (YouTube) sent us a check for $100, and we couldn’t believe we were able to pay for his hobby.” Now, the brand, Ryan’s World, has 83 billion lifetime views across its various YouTube channels, with 34 billion minutes of watch time last year alone. (Forbes The family is reluctant to discuss their finances, but their net worth is estimated to be in the nine figures.) The Kajis also serve as Ryan’s managers — Shion, an engineer, is more focused on the business, while Loann, a former high school chemistry teacher, oversees the children’s education — and she brought Ryan’s sisters Emma and Kate into the team and formed their own production company, Sunlight.

Ryan may seem to have little in common with the super-famous child stars on cable TV. Sure, there are signs of his success; their spacious, impressive home is a far cry from the humble space the family first launched their channel, and toys adorn nearly every wall. (In 2018, the team launched its first major toy line from digital creators, and those products—which include mystery eggs, games, branded backpacks, and T-shirts—have since made more than $1 billion at retail, according to Sunlight.) But hang out with Ryan, and you’ll learn that success is the least interesting thing about him. He attends an academically rigorous school in Honolulu, and his days are packed with extracurricular activities like Japanese language classes, skateboarding, tennis, and swimming. What’s his favorite side hustle? “Hanging out with my family,” he answers with the endearing filial piety of a teenager who hasn’t yet rebelled.

The Kajis have a three-phase business plan. Phase one covered their relatively low-key beginnings, when they were just a family making videos and Ryan was the face of it all. They’re currently a few years into Phase Two, with Ryan’s 7-year-old sister Emma and Kate Kaji joining in. The eventual Phase Three will involve even more talent in front of the camera. The Kajis have also struck a lucrative partnership with pocket.watch, a studio that builds kid-centric digital creators into full-scale entertainment franchises. CEO Chris Williams, who has worked in the creator economy for decades at brands like Maker Studios and Disney, launched pocket.watch in 2017 after noticing the surge in popularity of kids and family content on YouTube and the decline of linear kids TV. “I was looking at kids talent and IP online and wondering, ‘Why aren’t we expanding it like we’re expanding all these traditional brands?’” Williams said.

When Williams met with the Kajis, he found that their goals mirrored his own. With interests in animated content, television, and consumer products, Shion and Loann ultimately hope to shift the brand away from Ryan and take the burden of its success off of him. “It’s clear that the Kajis are the most amazing parents in the world,” he says. “They prioritize their child’s health, happiness, education, and social development.” For their part, the Kajis knew they needed help beyond YouTube and trusted executives to understand their needs. “If Ryan feels like this is work, he’s not going to be happy,” Loann says. “I need him to be really happy.”

Shortly after signing Ryan, pocket.watch created the series Ryan’s Mysterious Play Date The semi-educational show, which revealed a playdate through puzzles, games and challenges in each episode, ran for five seasons on Nickelodeon. “There’s always been a bit of a stigma around YouTube kids content and screen time on devices, so putting an IP like Ryan on the map is a big deal.” Paw Patrol and SpongeBob “Now that we have that context for parents, as we see an accelerated decline in linear audiences, we can drive people to our own subscription service with the same IP.”

Ryan paved the way for a generation of kid-driven, family-run YouTube giants. While some of his imitators now have more subscribers than his original channel — Ukranian American Kids Diana Show, another pocket.watch client, has 124 million YouTube followers, while Ryan’s World has 38 million — he is undoubtedly the most influential of the bunch, the poster child for the kids who post content.

This summer, he will lead the trend again, releasing Ryan’s World Movie: Titan Universe Adventure On August 16, he became the first digital creator to acquire the rights to a theatrical film. Williams said the live-action/animated film, which will debut in 2,100 theaters across the U.S., was crucial to extending the life of Ryan’s World, which was shot on a budget of less than $10 million and tells the story of Ryan entering a comic book world to save his sister.The Neverending Story was a key inspiration.) Shion and Loann served as producers on the project, overseeing creative direction, recruiting talent and other creative partners, and even starring in the film with their children. (Shion also appears in Ryan’s video.) They brought in Albie Hecht, the head producer of Nickelodeon programming, to direct the live-action portion, and hired Shin-Ei Animation, the Japanese animation studio that produced the hit series. Doraemon and Crayon Shin-chancreate the rest.

As the film’s release date approached, the family felt the pressure to be the first out the door. “It can be hard to be the first,” Shion says. “It feels like if we fail, other YouTubers might not have a chance.” Williams was quick to notice the impressive marketing machine behind the film. In addition to its other services, pocket.watch operates a division called Clockwork, which leverages the company’s assets on behalf of traditional studio clients. “We are one of the few companies that Google has granted third-party ad sales rights to be able to run ads directly on YouTube Kids,” he says. “As a result, we control hundreds of millions of ad impressions, in addition to over 50 creators who can create custom content on behalf of clients. I’m leveraging 30 years of karma to achieve success.”

It’s hard to calculate what counts as a theatrical success on its first release. The Kajis put what they call a “huge” personal investment into the film’s production, but say they’re already proud of having created a story centered on their own family values ​​that shows kids they can achieve anything if they put their mind to it: “You start out as a toy review YouTuber on a $20-a-week budget, and a few years later you can be a movie star,” Shion says. Ryan says he enjoyed making the film, and that participating in promotional events — including appearances at the Kids’ Choice Awards and the Bentonville Film Festival — gave him a chance to meet more fans and get to know him as a person. “Plus, it’s really cool that people are going to the theaters to see something I had a hand in creating,” he adds. Williams and the pocket.watch team say the film’s relatively low budget means the bar for success isn’t high. “It’s not Inside Out 2 — More like Paw Patrol“The results of theatrical projects vary widely, but based on the data so far, we feel pretty confident. We know success when we see it.”

Ryan’s World Movie This will also help the Kaji family as they move into the third phase of the business, which is the search for the next Ryan. He’s a teenager now, and as he gets older, the age of his core audience has remained the same (3-7 years old). “The relationship between Ryan and his fans has evolved over time,” Shion says. “Initially he was their best friend, someone they could relate to. Now he’s a role model.” The family is careful not to let his career income limit him—Loann, in particular, wants him to go to college and choose his own path. The Kaji family has spent the past year auditioning in-camera talent, looking for kids with an authentic, unique energy and, most importantly, parents whose moral values ​​align with theirs. Before they fully move into the third phase, the family and pocket.watch executives are looking to expand the business in ways that don’t require more of Ryan’s time or energy (for example, by leaning into animation and pushing further into consumer products).

Ryan’s parents, however, are happy to keep going. Shion says he gets so much joy out of his work that he and his wife still can’t believe the business is allowing them to support their family. The financial struggles of raising three kids had been looming when Ryan began posting his unboxing videos and toy reviews. Now, in addition to their new home in Honolulu, they’re (easily) able to pay for private school tuition, expensive extracurricular activities, piano lessons and trips to Japan every winter (Shion was born in Tokyo) so the kids can practice skiing. “We want the whole world to be their playground,” he says. “We’re trying to make sure we use this opportunity that we’ve just started with YouTube to benefit the kids. We hope it all comes back to them.”

This story originally appeared in the Aug. 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.