Inside the businesses of 5 YouTube creators who grew rapidly in 2019

Jennelle Eliana Long: 2.26 million subscribers

The solo van traveler Jennelle Eliana Long went viral this summer after gaining 1.5 million YouTube subscribers in a month of posting her first video.

Her second video posted to YouTube, titled "How I Shower Living in a Van," amassed 12 million views in two weeks. There has been a rise in interest around sustainable living on YouTube, and Long isn't the first in this genre to have a video be picked up and recommended by the platform.

Business Insider spoke to Long in July about how it all happened and her reaction. She said that she wasn't prepared to get so many views at once and that her popularity had come with some downsides.

Long said shortly after her online fame, a stranger showed up where she was visiting family and asked to see her. The incident led her to question whether she should be thinking about her personal security with her newly acquired online success.

Long's rise on YouTube also shows how creators don't need fancy or expensive equipment to build a successful channel.

Long said she uses only her iPhone X to film and edit her videos and uses the $29.99 LumaFusion app to edit them, a tripod, and an occasional microphone.

Read the full post where she tells us how it all happened.

Ryan Kaji: 23 million subscribers

Ryan Kaji, 8, is the highest-earning YouTube star in the world, making $26 million a year on YouTube reviewing toys, according to Forbes.

Kaji's channel started out slowly until a July 2015 video went viral. The video featured Ryan opening and reviewing a box containing more than 100 toys from Pixar's "Cars" series. It now has more than 1 billion views.

As the channel began to grow in views and subscribers, Michael Bienstock, chief executive of the influencer-focused wealth-management company Semaphore, talked with Ryan's dad about how complicated things would get financially if the channel continued to grow at this pace, Bienstock told Business Insider in a previous interview.

In October, Kaji renamed his channel "Ryan's World" from "Ryan ToysReview" to reflect his larger brand, which works with kid entertainment company Pocket.Watch.

With Pocket.Watch, a company that takes YouTube stars like Kaji and turns their online brands into lucrative empires, Ryan's World now has partnerships with companies like Walmart, Amazon, and Nickelodeon. This year, Pocket.Watch placed Kaji's face on the shelves of Walmart, on toothbrushes, and on TV.

Kaji is known in-stores for his toy the "Ryan's World Giant Mystery Egg," with Ryan's World branding. The toy was developed with the toy company Bonkers Toys and Pocket.Watch.

Read the full post on the company that turned YouTube's Ryan ToysReview into a business empire making tens of millions per year.

And read more about Kaji's partnership with Bonkers Toys and his toy business.

MrBeast: 28 million subscribers

Jimmy Donaldson, known online as MrBeast, is a 21-year-old YouTube star famous for his videos where he gives away cars, houses, and cash awards.

His channel is managed under the YouTube-focused management firm Night Media. In his latest video, "Last to Take Their Hand Off $1,000,000 Keeps It" Donaldson gave away $1 million in cash to the winning contestant.

Donaldson launched a campaign in October to raise money to plant 20 million trees to celebrate his reaching 20 million subscribers on YouTube. The #TeamTrees campaign surpassed its goal in under two months, and raised $20 million (at a dollar a tree) with support from the Arbor Day Foundation and more than 600 influencers.

Donaldson's use of keywords like "24-hours," "prank," and "challenge" in the titles of his videos has driven views on YouTube and promotion by the platform's algorithm.

Donaldson's talent manager, Reed Duchscher, president of the talent management firm Night Media, explained to Business Insider how Donaldson uses images with a "shock" and "awe" effect to drive a wider audience.

Read more on how YouTube star MrBeast uses keywords and the 'shock and awe' effect to maximize views.

David Dobrik: 14.9 million subscribers

You may recognize YouTube star David Dobrik from Instagram, the 23-year-old who went viral late December for his Tesla Model 3 giveaway that trended on Twitter and received 4 million likes and 2.9 million comments. Or you may recognize him as the previous cohost of this year's Teen Choice Awards, or from Nickelodeon, where he starred as a judge on "America's Most Musical Family."

Dobrik's YouTube business, which he started in 2015 after finding success on Vine and moving out to LA, expanded far into traditional media this year.

With the help of his long-lasting influencer marketing partnerships, like the one he has with the ticket-selling service SeatGeek, Dobrik was able to fund his wild stunts and surprises sometimes found on the trending page of YouTube (like his viral car giveaways) this year.

Since 2017, thanks to creators like Dobrik, SeatGeek has doubled down on influencer marketing, which has grown over 1,500% into one of the company's largest marketing channels, said Ian Borthwick, SeatGeek's director of influencer marketing.

Dobrik's partnership with SeatGeek has generated as much search interest as "mainstream partnerships," like Chrissy Teigen and Target, or Ninja and Red Bull, according to Google Trends data. It has led to over 25,000 Twitter mentions, fan videos with 1 million views, and shout-outs from other influencers. The 30-plus videos SeatGeek has sponsored have gotten a total of 200 million views. On Twitter, fans of Dobrik will often share videos or tweets, reciting the ad Dobrik reads in his vlogs with Borthwick.

Read the full post on how Dobrik and SeatGeek created one of the most effective influencer marketing partnerships.

Tana Mongeau: 5 million subscribers

YouTube star Tana Mongeau started her channel in 2015 and has since has captured the attention of major news outlets and mainstream media for her controversial content.

Mongeau, 21, was named this year's 2019 Streamy Awards Creator of the Year. Mongeau attracts audiences for her authentic and sometimes controversial, story-time videos and large-scale media spectacles like this summer when she "married" YouTube star Jake Paul in an event that led to media coverage and people speculating whether the marriage was real or fake.

Mongeau has successfully used her YouTube platform and fame to break into traditional media. This year she launched a reality show with MTV called "No Filter," which will return to MTV in February 2020, according to Insider.

Mongeau has built a lucrative money-making business with the help of her talent manager Jordan Worona, CEO and founder of the management firm We Are Verified.

Read the full post for more inside Mongeau's YouTube business and how with the help of her manager, she's built a money-making business despite controversy.