Making money on YouTube is a dream for many people. After all, YouTubers have a great life, and their fans love it. And since making a YouTube channel is easier than ever, there’s nothing wrong with thinking big and aiming high.
But, while making a YouTube channel is easy, turning it into a cash machine is more complex. You can make your first hundred dollars by selling something or doing a sponsorship deal, but you must understand your options to maximize your earnings.
We have created this article to tell you all the information you need to know if you want to know how to make money on YouTube. At the end of this article, you will learn different ways to make money on YouTube, and you will be able to grow your business with one of the largest internet platforms in the world.
Can You Make Money on YouTube?
The short answer is yes. Thousands of people are doing it. And not all of them have millions of subscribers to boot. Contrary to popular belief, YouTube isn’t just a numbers game – your earning potential also depends on the niche you cater to, your engagement level, and the revenue streams you use. That doesn’t mean subscribers and views aren’t necessary. Check out our easy tips to get more views on YouTube.
Do you get paid to upload videos to YouTube?
YouTube does not pay creators to upload videos to YouTube. Also, videos are not monetized by default. You must enable monetization from your account settings to start making money on YouTube. YouTube allows you to join its mate agenda or have your videos featured on YouTube Premium.
How to Make Money on YouTube
- Join the YouTube Partner Program.
- Sell products or goods.
- Crowdfund your next creative project.
- Get Featured on YouTube Premium.
- Work with brands as an influencer.
- Become an affiliate marketer.
- Courses.
- Monetize Live Streams via Super Chat.
Join the YouTube Partner Program.
The first revenue stream you’ll likely look for is advertising. Whether you want to make money on YouTube without making videos or as a content inventor, joining the YouTube Fellow Program (YPP) and setting up monetization is essential.
You must agree to follow all of YouTube’s monetization policies and reside in a country or region where YPP is available. After that, you can apply for monetization once you’ve completed 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the past year or 10 million valid public Shorts views with 1,000 subscribers in the past 90 days.
Here’s how to allow monetization on YouTube:
- Sign in to the YouTube account you want to monetize.
- Click on your account icon in the top right corner.
- Click on YouTube Studio.
- In the left menu, select Other Components > Monetization.
- Read and agree to the YouTuber Partner Program Terms and Eligibility Requirements.
- Create a new Google Adsense account or link an existing account to your channel.
- Set your monetization preferences.
Once this is done, go back to the dashboard and click on the Analytics tab on the left. From there, you’ll need to select Income from the tabs above, then scroll down to the Chart Monthly Estimated Income to get an estimate of your projected YouTube income.
Sell products or goods.
You can sell different products to earn money through your YouTube channel. Merchandise of sale, such as T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, and snapbacks, has benefits beyond revenue.
Merchandise increases your exposure by projecting your online brand and personality into the offline world and deepens the connection between you and your fans as they directly “buy” your work. Creator Roman Atwood sells various goods under the Smile More brand in his store.
Selling branded swag is more comfortable than it might first seem. Using freelance sites like Fiverr, you can order custom designs for specific products, such as t-shirts.
When it comes to handling orders, you can merge your store with services like DSers or one of the print-on-demand providers that take care of shipping, fulfillment, and customer support, giving you all the benefits of print. On-demand business that requires less effort on your part.
Alternatively, you can partner with an existing trade network for creators, such as DFTBA (remember to be awesome). However, you’ll have to compete with other YouTubers and need more managing over adding products, offering discounts, integrating your content, and all the benefits of owning your e-commerce site.
As a YouTuber who’s already built an audience, you’ll have two advantages right from the start that other store owners would envy:
- A content engine that always drives traffic to your store.
- Your audience’s belief, which you’ve earned by regularly offering them your brand’s content for free.
Crowdfund your next creative project.
When money is the only thing standing between an idea and its implementation, crowdfunding is a lavish way to make it happen.
Whether you need help buying better equipment, hiring actors, or covering other production costs, you can talk to your audience and the crowdfunding community if your idea is compelling enough.
Many successful crowdfunded creative projects offer a sneak peek or “trailer” that excites people, so consider shooting a video explaining your project or showing a taste of what it’s like. Like this popular Kickstarter for Kung Fury, there will be a short film paying homage to 1980s action movies.
Popular crowdfunding sites with proven track records of YouTuber YouTuber campaigns include:
- Kickstarter. It is one of the most popular crowdfunding sites, perfect for funding excellent products and creative projects. Set an achievable funding goal, as you will only secure it if you meet the goal you set.
- Indiegogo. A Kickstarter option that offers more flexible funding options.
Get Featured on YouTube Premium.
How do you make money on YouTube by running channel ads? YouTube Premium is the answer.
YouTube Premium is a paid subscription favor that enables people to watch videos without advertisements. Creators don’t have to do anything, as YouTube Premium members automatically receive a second stream of Income when their videos are played.
As with YouTube’s monetization rules for ad-based revenue, most revenue generated through premium membership fees will go to creators (the total revenue split depends on how much premium members view your content, let’s see).
Premium members can also download and watch your videos offline and play them in the environment, contributing to your viewing time.
Work with brands as an influencer.
With the rise of influencer marketing, there’s ample chance for you, as a creator, to get in on the action.
But where do you start? According to YouTube marketing expert and influencer Brandon Gahan, creators should establish a flat fee by multiplying the views their videos typically receive by 15 cents per view.
Digital marketing agency WebFX has listed the following figures on how much YouTube influencers can desire to make:
- $20,000 per video for a creator with a million subscribers
- $2,000 per video for a creator with 100,000 subscribers
- $200 per video for creator with 10,000 subscribers
Partnering with brands whose products benefit your audience is the key to earning more.
Here are some inspiring markets to explore with potential partners:
- Channel Pages – Partners with brands as well as other YouTubers
- Grapevine Logic – Only 1,000 followers are needed to join.
Some influencer trade platforms will connect you with big brands willing to pay a high price, while others will get you free products. Agree on opportunities that suit your needs.
Become an affiliate marketer.
Affiliate marketing means making a commission by promoting a product or service produced by another trademark. You can become an affiliate marketer for brands and add product placements, endorsements, or other types of content. However, you must disclose contributions to viewers in your videos.
This works exceptionally well if you review products on your YouTube channel. Because there’s no risk involved on the brand’s end (they only pay when they make a sale), there’s usually less time to get started.
ClickBank is a famous affiliate program offering 1% to 90% commission, turning on the vendor’s setting. You can also get brands in your niche by running their affiliate programs, which is not uncommon in the e-commerce space.
Courses.
For many YouTubers, nothing is more profitable than teaching people what you know, whether for free or through a course. Courses have become an increasingly popular way to make money on YouTube as creators leverage their skills and work on platforms like Kajabi and Teachable SpringUp.
A great example of the power of monetization courses is Ali Abdal. In a video of his 2022 income stream, he revealed that he made nearly $3 million selling courses.
While that’s a considerable number, and Ali has the team and audience to explain those numbers and help create these courses, smaller creators have much more leeway in course creation.
Monetize Live Streams via Super Chat.
SuperChat is a popular new way to earn money from YouTube. So this feature lets your audience buy chat messages that are featured and, in some cases, pin them above the comments section of the live stream. So, when you go live on YouTube, you can use SuperChat to monetize your stream.
YouTube monetization rates for SuperChat capacity from $1 to $500, and the company takes a 30% revenue cut. Organizing and promoting a live stream is critical for anyone wondering how to make money from YouTube SuperChat.
Promote them in videos, on other social media outlets, and anywhere your audience likes to hang out.
How to get paid on YouTube
- Publish ads on your channel
- Offer channel subscriptions
- Offer channel memberships
- Sign up for affiliate marketing
To earn money directly via YouTube, you must have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past year, or 1,000 subscribers with 10 million valid public Shorts views within the past 90 days. Once you reach either of those, you can apply to YouTube’s Partner Program and monetize your channel.
How many views do you need on YouTube to make money?
According to data from Influencer Trade Hub, the average YouTube channel earns about $0.018 per view, which equates to $18 per 1,000 views.
The number of views you get is not related to the Income earned. You won’t make any money if your video gets thousands of outlooks, but no one sees or clicks on the ad. This is due to YouTube’s standards for billing advertisers: a viewer must click on an ad or watch a video ad in its entirety (10, 15, or 30 seconds) to pay you.
How much money do YouTubers make per year?
Top YouTubers like MrBeast can make tens of millions of dollars annually through their channels. Although their earnings are high, smaller accounts can still make a living on YouTube.
Take Justin LeConte’s YouTube channel, for example. Her channel has 1,000,000 subscribers, helping people dress better and understand fashion. According to Influencer Trade Hub’s YouTube Money Calculator, based on her total video views and ad revenue, her estimated revenue is around $259,304, earning an average of $979 per video.
Based on these estimated numbers, Justin can earn a living from her YouTube channel by posting one or two weekly videos. It is important to note that these are only estimates. Justine may make more or less than the numbers above, depending on the YouTube monetization approaches she uses for her business.
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