The Economist has spotlighted Kids Diana Show, a YouTube channel created by a Ukrainian family and fronted by 11-year-old Diana Kydysiuk. The channel is a global powerhouse in children’s content, and it’s only growing.

With a staggering 135 million subscribers on its main channel, Kids Diana Show ranks sixth globally among all YouTube channels. The franchise spans 20 mirror channels in different languages, including Ukrainian, though its primary audience is English-speaking. Across platforms, the Kids Diana Show brand boasts over 200 million subscribers and generates an eye-popping 10 billion monthly views on YouTube.

While MrBeast leads the YouTube world with over 400 million subscribers, Kids Diana Show stands out as the only channel in the global top tier that openly identifies as Ukrainian. And although its content is simpler in nature than MrBeast’s high-concept productions, the scale and impact are undeniable.

• The Kydysiuk family began their YouTube journey in 2015 when Diana was just one year old. What started as casual home videos for friends and family quickly evolved into a media empire.
• In 2018, the family relocated to Miami and later moved to Dubai, where they continue to live and work. They haven’t returned to Ukraine since their move.
• Content creation is a family affair. Diana’s brothers rotate appearances in the videos to keep the content fresh. Her mother comes up with story ideas, while her father oversees the financial and legal side of the business. Both parents also occasionally appear on screen.
• Despite the channel’s playful appearance, the production is far from amateur. Some videos take up to four months to complete and involve hired decorators, a film crew, writers, and even professional actors when needed. The family has built its own film sets, and a PR manager, a family friend from Ukraine, handles promotion.
• According to public estimates, the channel earned $10 million from YouTube alone in a single year. Additional income comes from advertising partnerships, though the family and journalists declined to reveal the full extent of those earnings.

As The Economist notes, children’s content on YouTube is increasingly a legal gray area. While kids under 13 technically aren’t allowed to use social platforms, Diana — just 11 — is already an international star. In some US states, laws require that if parents earn more than $150,000 from content featuring their children, they must place 15% into a trust fund. This fund becomes accessible to children at age 18 when they also gain the right to request the removal of any videos they appear in.