YouTube Star David Dobrik Says He Made $275K a Month at 21 Years Old

For those who dont recognize the 23-year-old, Dobrik is essentially your childrens equivalent to your Jay Leno. Hes a YouTube host, blogger, and voice actor, and being able to pick him out of a lineup may signal just which generational cohort you fall into; even millennials probably dont know Dobrik. We sat down with video-dealing star for a new Men's Health video series on personal finance. Primary question: how much do you really make?

Dobrik went from Vine star (look it up) to hosting a YouTube channel that featured what can only be described as a hectic, hand-held variety show. Thanks to 14 million subscribers and a bevy of original content published weekly, that series made Dobrik mega-rich and mega-famous, mega-quickly. Hes since catapulted over the corpse of Vine-like platforms into Instagram where he mostly poses with girls and buds and dogs and carsand sometimes cars with dogs and buds and girls.

Dobrik seemed to demur when asked exactly how much revenue his YouTube channel was generating. Its weird to talk about money, but as a kid my biggest fascination was how much do these you tubers make, how much do actors make, how much does anybody in the entertainment industry make? Dobrik says he owed it to his younger self to talk about his own salaryhimself now being a YouTube celebrity.

Dobrik began by explaining how videos can be expensive, especially certain gimmicks. When he wanted a quick 4-second shot of a pony in his bathroom, he had to drop $400. But like, pocket change, amirite? (Dry ice for $10,000 and a Lamborghini for $300,000 may seem like less prudent investments. But again: pocket change.)

But those days of the YouTube boom have since ended. What used to be a 60 million views, $275,000 check each month has turned, Dobrik says, into 200 million views and only $2,000 dollars a month. Right now, Im actually making less money a month on YouTube than I was when I was waiting tables at a retirement home, he says. (And you know he wasnt making tips with that crowd; hopefully he saved money from his cash-filled YouTube days. )

Part of the reason for this reversal was the adpocalypsewhere hundreds of advertisers pulled out of YouTube due to the perception that some content might not be viewer friendly. The exodus made it more difficult for content creators to gain sponsorship.

I feel like my paycheck being cut on YouTube was almost like a wake-up call to be like, hey, dont be conformable, expand the business.

Dobrik says there are plenty of ways he could generate more ad revenue. He could forgo using copyrighted music (which requires fees, obviously). He could make his videos more age appropriate (which would attract more advertisers). But Dobrik says those monetary efforts would lead to a drop in video quality. And thats a sacrifice hes not willing to make.

I feel like my paycheck being cut on YouTube was almost like a wake-up call to be like, Hey, dont be conformable, expand the business.

Dobrik has now turned to partnershipslike one with video game company EAin order to maintain his car-buying video content. And when he buys cars, its usually for someone else. His self-admitted cheesy slogan is always give back. Once you have money, says Dobrik, youre gonna want to give back. And its the best, best feeling.

We bet it is.

Check it out here!

YouTube Star David Dobrik Says He Made $275K a Month at 21 Years Old

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