KSI's earnings accidentally leaked by TV host and people are stunned at the number
His phone was taken over live on air
Everybody knows that most of the big YouTubers earn a sizeable wage every year, but few are willing to specify exactly how much money their content generates, keeping it all a secret.
Long gone are the days when people would upload to the internet just for fun, as almost every popular website or app has a means to generate an income these days, with some being more profitable than others.
YouTube was one of the earliest social media platforms to offer its users a way to make money though, and while revenue from adverts alone has reduced over the years following notable controversies, the top creators still rake in the big bucks.
It's very rare that we get to see behind the curtain of a YouTuber's earnings though, and often when we do it's by mistake, yet a recent mishap on a live TV show saw social media star KSI, real name Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji, expose his revenue.
Advert
One of the most popular segments during BBC series Michael McIntyre's Big Show is called 'Send To All', and it sees the comedian take control of a celebrity guest's phone while they watch in horror from the comfort of their seat.
As the same suggests, it often involves sending inappropriate or unexpected messages to various individuals in their contacts list, yet KSI's appearance on the show saw McIntyre accidentally reveal a key piece of information.
McIntyre spotted the YouTube Studio app on KSI's phone and promptly asked the creator what it was for, where he explained that it was one of the main things he checks on his phone every day.
However, while he was in the process of explaining, McIntyre went ahead and opened it up, revealing a plethora of channel statistics that included KSI's estimated earnings.
While KSI had his head in his hands, we were all able to see that at the time of filming, YouTube estimated his earnings to be around $105,000 in the last 28 days, which was accumulated from 17.8 million views and 3.8 million hours of watch time.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry, I shouldn't be looking into your revenue streams," declared McIntyre, while delving further into the topic and noting that it was "very impressive."
People on social media weren't quite as impressed though, as they believe that the estimated figure doesn't match up to how many people have engaged with KSI's videos.
"105k for 17M feels low to me btw," wrote one comment on X, with another noting that they "thought it'd be higher ngl."
A third remarked that they "thought he'd earn more than that, considering how many subscribers and views he has," adding that it's "still pretty impressive too by the way."
It perhaps proves a point that most big creators earn far more from sponsorships and other revenue streams compared to money they get from YouTube directly, but you still can't exactly scoff at roughly $1.26 million across the course of a year.