Blade and Nikki, Like Nastia, Kids Diana Show Rapidly Growing
Business Expansion Through Tens of Millions Dollar Toy Product Placement and Licensing Deals
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jung-wan] Children's YouTuber channels are rapidly growing to an enormous scale, each reaching around 100 million subscribers.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 26th (local time), it is reported that the three major children's YouTuber channels have grown rapidly, with a combined subscriber count reaching 300 million.
Among the three major children's YouTuber channels, "Blad and Nikki" has 90.2 million subscribers, "Nastia Cheoreom" has 102 million, and "Kids Diana Show" has 104 million, totaling nearly 300 million subscribers. This number is close to the world's top individual YouTubers, "MrBeast" (114 million) and "PewDiePie" (111 million).
Although these three YouTubers are not yet 10 years old, they are expanding their businesses through toy product placements (PPL) worth tens of millions of dollars and licensing agreements. Ayal Biumal, a strategist for YouTube celebrities, said, "These suddenly famous kids have become more influential than Mickey Mouse."
Children YouTubers film themselves playing in superhero costumes at cool locations or driving toy cars. They also shoot overseas in places like Italy, Hawaii, France, and Thailand. Parents appear as assistants.
The content featuring them is characterized by exclamations like "oohs" and "aahs," applause, and is easy to translate into foreign languages such as English, Arabic, and Spanish.
Toy companies reportedly have to pay between $75,000 and up to $300,000 (about 420 million KRW) or more for these YouTubers to play with their products in videos.
They also promote dolls modeled after themselves or exclusive brand toys named after them. These products are sold worldwide, including at major U.S. retailers like Walmart and Target, as well as in countries such as Sweden and Mongolia.
Hollywood is also showing interest in them. "Blad and Nikki" reportedly signed multi-million-dollar licensing deals with HBO Max to produce two programs, including an animated series. Nastia is producing an animated series with Westbrook, the content production company of Hollywood superstar Will Smith, and Netflix is reportedly interested in the series and is conducting related negotiations.
The families of these YouTubers are concerned that their children will no longer be able to create children's content once they become teenagers. In response, Blad is continuing video work while dreaming of becoming a YouTube creator and musician. Blad's parents recently purchased an eight-bedroom mansion on the outskirts of Miami for $12.5 million (about 16.7 billion KRW) for education and other purposes. Blad's father, Sergey Bashketov, said, "Videos filmed without the children's consent lack authenticity, so if the children want, they will stop producing content at any time."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
