When gyms closed over the COVID-19 lockdowns and people were turned to things like fitness apps and YouTube to keep fit (and get as many endorphins as possible in a pandemic), we all became a lot more acquainted with fitness influencers. I personally fell back in love with Adriene Mishler and her Yoga With Adriene channel, and now the stats have been crunched like our sore abs and it turns out these influencers earned some serious cash over 2020.
A recent study has ranked the top 10 fitness influencers that flexed their bank accounts just as hard as their muscles over the last 12 months, with our fave Adriene coming in second on the list. Turns out the friendly Texan took home an estimated $3,212,850 AUD (!!!) from YouTube alone, and when we look at who definitely did like and subscribe, Adriene scored a whopping 441 million views and clocked in 4.3 million subs at the end of last year.
Adriene maintains that it’s important to “find what feels good”, and I’m sure as hell a tidy $3 million feels pretty bloody good.
What I’d like to know is how much of this is spent on Benji, or put in Benji’s snack account. Please, do tell us what Benji’s cut is here Adriene, because that’s a fair few packets of Schmackos.
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Sitting above Adriene in the top 10 fave fit folks is Pamela Reif, who might have only taken home an estimated $2,458,404 AUD but clocked in a huge 4.2 million subs and notched up over 778 million views. Fuck me that’s a lot of burpees, it makes my guts hurt just thinking about it.
Once again, that’s only YouTube – Pamela’s also got a casual 7 million followers on Instagram too, and at 24 she has already found herself in the Forbes 30 Under 30 and recognised as Germany’s most successful fitness influencer.
If we’re talking money, the highest-earning influencer according to the research findings came in third with YouTube views – Athlean X. The influencer persona of ~fitness guru~ Jeff Cavaliere, Athlean X pocketed a truly fucking wild $5,697,209 AUD from YouTube over the last 12 months.
He’s also built like a brick shithouse, too.
Jeff has a bit of a different approach to his videos than Adriene and Pamela, with bringing in education on how muscles work (and how certain exercises work those muscles) as well as nutrition and science-backed training advice. He’s also apparently a physio and trainer to celebrities and athletes, and is very much no-bullshit in his approach as a fitness influencer.
Honestly, I’m puffed out just thinking about how much money that is.
