Many parents are already familiar with Diana, a pint-sized YouTube personality. The now 9-year-old, who looks like a little Drew Barrymore circa E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, stars alongside her brother Roma and parents Olena and Volodymyr Kidisyuk on Kids Diana Show. The Youtube channel, which consistently sits in the top three most-viewed channels in the US, features the siblings getting into hybrid live-action and animated adventures.
But Diana's star power is linked to more than one show. She appears across 20 channels, translated into multiple languages, garnering more than 200 million subscribers and more than 100 billion views. In 2019, Business Insider estimated that Kids Diana Show earns anywhere from $2.8 million to $44.7 million yearly, and the numbers have exploded since then.
In 2020, the family partnered with pocket.watch to launch the Love, Diana series and the Love, Diana brand available at Walmart, featuring dolls, toys, dress-up kits, play sets, and more.
Parents caught up with Diana's mom Olena Kidisyuk, who shared the story of her family's success.
How It All Began for Diana and Roma
In the beginning, creating videos with their kids was just a hobby, explains Kidisyuk. "When our son Roma was born, we wanted a way to share with our families the joys of him growing up, so we started a video scrapbook on YouTube," she shares. "When Diana was born, we decided to do the same with her and have been documenting their lives ever since. It is a fun family activity and the best job in the world."
The reason Kidisyuk believes their videos have proven to be such a hit with kids around the globe? "Diana's videos show her as she is, a young girl who loves to pretend play, be silly, play with her brother, and who loves her family," she says. "Diana has a great imagination, and a lot of the videos we create are born from that special place most kids love and enjoy."
What It's Like to Achieve YouTube Fame
The family never expected that their videos would gain such a vast audience or lead to them launching a business. "When we saw that Diana and Roma's channels first gained 100,000 and then a million subscribers, we were really excited and grateful," says Kidisyuk. As a result, they could quickly leave their jobs and spend more time together as a family.
The family also loves connecting with their growing audience. "In fact, when we see children from around the world in person, they usually act like they know Diana and Roma because of all the time they've spent together on YouTube," explains Olena. "Diana likes it because she always has friends anywhere she goes."
The Parents' Guide to Family-Friendly YouTube Channels
Nonetheless, Internet fame has come with its fair share of specific challenges. "Regarding fame, we teach children not to be arrogant and not to boast that they are stars, as it's not fitting to do so in our culture," says Kidisyuk, who grew up in Ukraine. "While they have this advantage in life, it does not mean that other people are very different from them."
What Life Was Like During the Pandemic
The demand for kids' video content increased when the COVID-19 pandemic forced families to spend more time at home. This soaring screentime kept the family creating videos, which Kidisyuk explains Diana and Roma see as playtime. But they've also found time to connect with one another.
"We are fortunate to have been using the time to spend more 'fun time' with our kids," says Kidisyuk. "We bought crafts and some educational games for us to play together. We live near the ocean, so it's great to go outside and breathe the clean air, too. Outside of that, the children continue to study through online school."
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Future Hopes for the YouTube Kids
The parents behind an undeniable entertainment sensation are like any parents in that they're proud of their kids and support them in their dreams. "The only difference, perhaps, is that for several hours a day, they are involved in filming, and we have to keep an extra eye out to watch them very carefully when we are in public places," says Kidisyuk.
Ultimately, she says she and her husband are excited to see their kids grow and learn, noting, "We want to educate them to be kind, cultured, tolerant, give them more knowledge and skills that will be useful to them in life."
