Top 20 Sellers on YouTube Earned $29.9M From Branded Merch Sales

By Joseph Myers

Ah, YouTube, the place where someone can go to see a quick video and then become fixated on the gazillion other appealing clips to view! While many take to the video-sharing website purely for entertainment—dogs dozing off and people doing dumb stunts come to mind—others rely on the space to make a living. As YouTubers, these individuals can make a pretty penny, with a recently released list from Purple Moon Promo detailing branded merch sales figures that might make some people seriously consider a side hustle gig through the site.

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, who goes by PewDiePie on YouTube, romped to victory on the list, hauling in $6.83 million through sales of branded merchandise. The Swede amassed nearly $4 million more than the second-place finisher, Dude Perfect, the Guinness World Records-holding quintet from Texas that last month put together a great segment for ESPN’s My Wish series. Their $2.96 million in branded merchandise sales was good for second on the list followed by VanossGaming at $2.28 million, DanTDM at $2.21 million and JuegaGerman at $1.96 million.

Altogether, the top 20 brought in more than $29.9 million through the sale of branded merchandise. These creators have accumulated their riches through good old-fashioned awareness of consumer psychology, but they have also been the beneficiaries of the growing enthusiasm that YouTube has for helping them (and itself) to take considerably large slices of the pie that is contemporary selling.

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— vidIQ (@vidIQ) August 7, 2019

As we have noted twice through our site, YouTube has gained branded merch clout through its alignment with Teespring, which, while occasionally quite controversial, has proven a big draw in helping content creators like PewDiePie generate additional revenue. Since the marketing of products through YouTube figures to continue to grow as more people see the site as a dependable way to reach large audiences, it is not crazy to envision that the next list that Purple Moon Promo puts out could have more than the dozen who appear on the present rundown, including Jake Paul, who, along with brother Logan, is one of the website’s most polarizing individuals.

Regardless of character assessments, YouTube is the story here, and given the not-insignificant merch sales totals in play, it could be an emerging opportunity for promo businesses. YouTube creators can promote their online branded merch offerings as frequently as they would like, and while Teespring is the default, built-in platform for sales, plenty of creators have their own separate web stores. The people who comprise the Top 20 list are definitely not averse to taking risks. Will promotional products presences likewise come to enjoy venturing outside their comfort zones to gain a broader following and increased sales results?