A couple of several years ago, Kevin Paffrath, a 29-12 months-aged true-estate broker and father of two who lives in Ventura, Calif., attained most of his income from commissions on residence revenue, and stored up a aspect gig recording on the web films about house acquiring.

Right now, he’s MeetKevin, a YouTube influencer with 1.7 million subscribers. Most times, he stay-streams on the system for several hrs, conversing about the stock industry and doling out investing suggestions in a speedy-hearth, self-deprecating fashion. He banters with commenters, hams it up with silly British accents and sips espresso in front of a wall in his dwelling studio hung with brightly colored cartoon posters and a turquoise electric powered guitar. In addition to the stay streams, he’s produced hundreds of video clips on a assortment of expense-guidance topics.

“I utilised to shell out three or 4 several hours with just one shopper conversing to them about authentic estate they could buy for down below market benefit, and if I was blessed, it’s possible following 90 times, that a person particular person would flip into $10,000 pounds in revenue,” Mr. Paffrath said. “Today, $10,000 in profits is a undesirable working day for me. Influencing has crowded every little thing else out.”

Mr. Paffrath states he gained $5 million in the first three months of this year, as page views and need for his assistance have skyrocketed for the duration of the pandemic. Receipts he offered to The Wall Street Journal demonstrating YouTube profits payments confirm that he earns various million pounds a yr in advert profits on your own.

As the U.S. retreated amid the pandemic to its couches, tens of millions of would-be inventory pickers—some flush with stimulus cash—fired up social-media and messaging applications and dove headlong into the world of retail investing.