As a bona fide social media superstar, David Dobrik is living the dream. In 2020, the 24-year-old ranked ninth on Forbes’s list of “Highest-Paid YouTube Stars.” And despite the fact that Covid put a brief pause on content creation, his career shows no signs of slowing down.
But just how much money does it take to make it on that list? The actual sum is jaw-dropping. Find out David Dobrik’s net worth, and learn how some of that money is spent.
David Dobrik Is A Very Successful YouTuber
If you’re not a Gen Zer, you might be asking yourself, “Who is David Dobrik, anyway?” Dobrik is a popular internet personality who got his start on the now-defunct app Vine back in 2013. When the app shut down, he found a new home on YouTube.
Since 2015, Dobrik and his crew—affectionately known as the Vlog Squad—have gained fame by posting pranks, interviews, and snippets of their everyday life. His main channel has 18.9 million subscribers as of this writing, while his secondary channel, David Dobrik Too, currently boasts 8.7 million subscribers. For a sample of what keeps viewers coming back to his channels on a regular basis, check out this silly video where he drives a convertible through a car wash (complete with a random John Stamos cameo):
Dobrik is also active on TikTok, where he entertains 26.3 million followers and counting. In 2019, the platform announced that one of his posts had been ranked the number one viral video of that year. We’re still not quite sure what elephant toothpaste is, but check out the massive foam explosion that earned 18.1 million likes and over 777,000 shares:
David Dobrik Has Some Lavish And Generous Spending Habits
It’s true that being a top influencer can be lucrative. However, few viewers know about the revenue potential of creating content. In 2019, revealed his financial swings to Men’s Health.
“I was getting around 60 million views per month and my [monthly] check would be a little over $275,000,” said Dobrik. “It literally felt like I was a drug dealer.”
But in 2017, after learning that their ads were being matched with inappropriate content, major companies began pulling their advertising budgets from YouTube. The mass exodus was coined the “Adpolcalypse”, and it had a major impact on Dobrik’s bottom line. He says his views jumped to 200 million per video, but that he only received $2,000 a month for his efforts.
“Right now, I’m actually making less money a month on YouTube than I was when I was waiting tables at a retirement home,” he said.
“I feel like my ‘paycheck’ being cut on YouTube was almost like a wake-up call to be like, ‘Hey, don’t be conformable, expand the business,’” he added. For more insight into his finances, check out the interview below:
Despite the cut in pay, the YouTube star still has a handsome bank account. In the summer of 2020, he closed on a $9.5 million Sherman Oaks mansion —a far cry from his humble beginnings in the Chicago suburbs. The six-bedroom, seven-bath home has 7,800 square feet of living space and includes a movie theater, gym, and infinity pool.
It’s not his only recent luxury purchase, either. Last year, Dobrik splurged on a 2020 Aston Martin DB11—a model with a base price that’s north of $200,000. He celebrated its arrival in predictable influencer fashion: by filming himself eating fried chicken with a buddy in the car.
Dobrik doesn’t just spoil himself. A number of his friends have been on the receiving end of fancy cars. He even offered Miranda Cosgrove a new ride when she appeared in a 2018 vlog.
His generosity also goes beyond close friends and celebrities, who already have comfortable lives. Dobrik has donated time and resources to help complete strangers in need. His philanthropic spirit puts him in the same category as fellow social media star MrBeast.
In April 2020, he posted a video addressed to those who were suffering through the pandemic. To help some of them out, he partnered with EA to give away iPads, game consoles, cars, and even $10,000 checks. Random strangers who received the gifts were reduced to tears on camera.
Less than two months later, Dobrik announced that he had donated $50,000 to various causes tied to the Black Lives Matter movement. (He literally had the receipts to prove it.)
What Is David Dobrik’s Net Worth?
We estimate David Dobrik’s net worth to be in the neighborhood of $20 million.
Even if he took a hit in ad revenue on YouTube, he has plenty of other income sources. In January 2020, he released his own app called David’s Disposable (now known as Dispo). The app puts a retro filter on smartphone photos and allows users to have real prints processed from the pics. For a brief moment, it surpassed Disney+ and Instagram in popularity.
He also has plenty of brand partnerships with major companies including Honey, Warners Bros., and Chipotle.
And let’s not overlook his growing career in traditional media. In 2019, he served as a judge on Nickelodeon’s program America’s Most Musical Family. The following year he co-hosted the Discovery Channel’s Dodgeball Thunderdome with Erin Lim and Andrew “Hawk” Hawkins.
Although some websites value Dobrik’s fortune as being worth $15 million, his new home suggests the real figure is higher. He built a brand new studio in the digs for his podcast Views; he also sounds pretty adamant about using it as a launchpad for even bigger things.
“I’ve always wanted to be a late-night host—that’s my big dream,” Dobrik told Variety in February 2021. “Now that I have a studio and can interview my friends and celebrity guests inside my home, it’s the best of both worlds.”
“I think the way we define entertainers and celebrities is going to change in the next couple years, especially with TikTok’s huge impact on younger kids. You ask anybody under the age of 17 who Charli D’Amelio is and they can tell you, but name another actor and it’ll be tougher,” he added. “TikTok and YouTube are becoming the new Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. A lot of stars emerge from those platforms. From radio came television, from television came the internet, so whatever’s next is next.”