The 10 highest paid YouTubers of 2019 earned $162 million between them, with an eight-year-old boy topping the list, according to an annual ranking by Forbes. 

Forbes published its YouTube Stars of 2019 ranking under the headline, "The kids are killing it."

Eight-year-old Ryan Kaji earned $26 million based on estimated earnings between June 2018 and June 2019.

Russia-born five-year-old Anastasia Radzinskaya came in at number three, earning $18 million in 2019. 

According to data from the Pew Research Center, "videos featuring a child or children who appeared to be under the age of 13 […] received nearly three times as many views on average as other types of videos."

The videos uploaded by these YouTubers range from make-up tutorials to playing live games and unboxing and reviewing products.

At the bottom of the list was 27-year-old gaming YouTuber Evan Fong, earning a hefty $11.5 million.

YouTube stars are often dubbed "influencers" alongside their counterparts from various other social media platforms such as Instagram.

"These people are hugely influential, the clue is in the name there," said Chris Stokel-Walker, an internet culture journalist and author of the book YouTubers. "They talk about products and what they like and dislike about them, and that really drives people to go out and buy them."

Stokel-Walker said that, although the rise of these digital media platforms and the influencer industry has removed the levels of hierarchy in the business and allowed for broader access to fame, it is still important to have checks and balances.

He warned that people should worry about the power of influencers and that mainstream media companies face a great challenge from YouTube.

Here's what Stokel-Walker had to say: