iShowSpeed Net Worth: How Much Money He Makes On YouTube
IShowSpeed Net Worth – $28 Million
IShowSpeed is a YouTube streamer whose real name is Darren Watknins Jr. He is from Cincinnati, Ohio in the United States of America and has an estimated net worth of $28 million. He is known for his gaming and entertainment live streams. Some of the games he plays include NBA 2K, Fortnite, Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddy’s and many others. In addition to that, he reacts to different viral videos live on stream. He streams an average of 3 times a week on a regular basis.
How Much Money Does IShowSpeed Earn On YouTube?
The main channel has over 29 million subscribers as of 2024 and has accumulated over 4.6 billion views so far. It is able to get an average of 4 million views per day (approx 10% of the views are from Shorts) from different sources. This should generate an estimated revenue of $29,000 per day ($10.5 million a year) from the ads that appear on the videos.
The second channel IShowSpeed Vods has over 150,000 subscribers and has accumulated over 200 million views. It is able to get an average of 600,000 views per day and this should generate an estimated revenue of $4,800 per day ($1.7 million a year)
The third channel Live Speedy has over 8 million subscribers and has accumulated over 5 billion views. It gets an average of 6 million views per day (approx 50% of the views are from Shorts) which should generate an estimated revenue of $24,000 per day ($8.7 million a year).
The fourth channel, Speedy Boykins is mainly dedicated to short videos hence lower ad revenue. It has over 2 million subscribers and accumulated over 1 billion views. It gets an average of 800,000 views per day (approx 30% of the views are from Shorts) which should generate an estimated revenue of $2,800 per day ($1 million a year).
YouTube content creators based in the US, UK, Canada and Australia generally get paid $2 – $12 per 1000 monetized views after YouTube takes its cut. Monetized views usually range from 40% – 80% of the total views. All these are influenced by several factors like the device played on, time of the year, the location of the viewer, ad inventory, how many ads there are on a video, how many people skip the ads, type of advertisement, ad engagement, type of content, etc.
The cost of an ad view is based on an auction between advertisers based on views. Advertisers have to bid a minimum of $0.01 per view.
There is also a program known as Google Preferred where deep-pocketed companies can target ads on the top 5% most popular content. The ad rates here are higher than normal.
Apart from ads, YouTubers also generate extra from YouTube Red viewers who pay a monthly fee to view premium content on YouTube plus watch videos without ads. Here they get paid based on watch time on their videos. The longer the viewers watch their videos, the more money they earn.
YouTube Premium viewers pay a monthly fee to view premium content on YouTube and watch videos without ads. Here, content creators get paid based on watch time on their videos. The longer the viewers watch their videos, the more money they earn.
Super Chat and Super Sticker are used by fans to connect with creators during live streams and premiers. When one buys a Super Chat, their comment is highlighted within the live chat while the Super Stickers get an animated image that surfaces in live chat. Super Thanks lets creators earn revenue from viewers who want to show extra gratitude for their videos. Fans can buy a one-time animation and get to post a distinct, colorful, and customizable comment in the video’s comment section.
Shopping allows eligible creators to connect their stores to YouTube to feature their own products.
YouTube Shorts generate revenue in a different way as compared to traditional videos. The revenue from ads appearing between Shorts will be pooled together then a portion of the total revenue will be allocated to a Creator Pool. Each country has its own Creator Pool. Eligible creators will be paid based on their share of total views. Shorts that use music make less money due to licensing costs.
General Expenses
Content creators incur a wide variety of expenses to create their content. These can include production costs, employee salaries, travel expenses, rent, buying new equipment, utilities, amenities, entertainment, subscription fees and other living expenses. One of the biggest expenses for most creators is taxes. Your tax brackets generally depend on your income. In a country like the United States, the highest tax rate is 37%. A combination of all these expenses determines one’s ability to save and invest, consequently how much one’s net worth grows.
Other Significant Sources Of Income
i) Superchat
Due to Darren being a streamer, he generates a significant portion of his income through the super chat feature where viewers purchase live chat messages that stand out and sometimes pin them to the top of a live chat feed. Viewers can also pay a monthly membership fee to support the creator.
ii) Merchandise
Speed sells merchandise to his loyal fans through his website. They include things such as hoodies, t-shirts, lanyards, etc.
iii) Investments
These are generally assets that one can acquire to generate passive income through income generation or capital appreciation (increase in value). An example can be the stock market which has delivered an average annual return of 8% over the past couple of decades. Other investment options can include real estate, bonds, savings accounts, art, collectibles, etc.
iv) TikTok
On average, TikTok pays approximately $0.03 per 1,000 views from the TikTok Creator Fund. The fund is essentially a big pot of money TikTok uses to pay a subset of creators with at least 10,000 followers who have generated 100,000 video views in the previous 30-day period. TikTok considers factors like video view counts, video engagement, and the location in which a video was seen when determining Creator Fund payouts.