How to Make Money on YouTube

YouTube is one of the most popular platforms for sharing user-generated video content.

The website offers several opportunities for making money, including paid adverts, sponsorship, merchandise and affiliate marketing.

To stand the best chance of making a living by posting content on YouTube, you should consider joining the YouTube Partner Program, which will give you access to special features that make it easier to earn money.

Read on to discover some of the best ways to make monetization on YouTube.

How Do YouTubers Get Paid: Making Money on YouTube

How much money does a YouTuber make?

This figure varies wildly from one content creator to the next but high channel engagement and a lot of followers are key for YouTube to be a lucrative source of income.

Luckily, there are several ways you can maximize earning potential through YouTube.

Paid Adverts

Advertising revenue (ad revenue) is probably the most obvious way to make money from your YouTube videos.

However, to earn money from ad revenue, you will need to be 18 years old or above and create advertiser-friendly video content.

If you are creating highly controversial video content, fewer YouTube advertisers will be willing to run adverts on them, which will limit the amount of money you are able to make from this income stream.

YouTube channels can be set up to receive a share of the advertising revenue from YouTube.

When a video is shared, Youtube ads are set up to play at the beginning and end of the video and at various other points during the video.

But how many views to make money on YouTube are necessary?

Once a YouTube content creator has gained over 1,000 subscribers and stacked up at least 4,000 watch hours within the last year, they will have met the YouTube Partner Program requirements and be eligible to apply for a share of the revenue for paid adverts.

However, to receive payment, adverts must be played for at least 30 seconds by subscribers watching the videos.

If you are a YouTube Partner, earning YouTube Premium revenue is possible. This means that when a Premium YouTube member watches your video for the minimum timeframe, you will automatically receive a percentage of their subscription fee.

So, how much does a YouTuber make?

YouTube uses AdSense to pay content creators for ad views. However, it can take several months for the money to be paid, and how much you receive depends on many factors, including location, industry and audience demographics, so it can take a lot of views for content creators to make a significant amount of money.

An adsense account will depend on the watch time and video views.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the average YouTuber makes $0.018 per view, which is around $18 for every 1,000 ad views.

When you know how many views to make money on YouTube are required and the average amount you might make for ad views, it may not seem very lucrative at the start.

With this in mind, many YouTubers look at other ways of using the site to generate revenue.

Channel Membership (YouTube Partners Only)

Another option for YouTube Partners is to sell channel memberships to your subscribers.

This means that people who enjoy watching Youtube creator’s content can opt in to pay an additional amount for exclusive content.

To access this feature, you must be 18 or older and have over 30,000 YouTube subscribers.

YouTube Partners can also set up payments for Super Chat.

This is where subscribers can pay a fee to have their messages appear in highlighted text during live-stream chats on your channel.

This feature is only available in certain countries, and you must be at least 18 years old to activate it.

Making Money on YouTube Through Sponsorship

Sponsorship opportunities are another way to make an income on YouTube.

Certain brands will agree to pay content creators a fee in exchange for being featured in their videos.

The amount charged varies according to several factors, including the content creator’s niche, how many followers they have and their overall engagement rate on the site.

Once a sponsorship relationship is set up, the content creator must nurture it.

Generally, brands will work with content creators more than once, and the income can be anywhere between $50 and $5,000 per video.

One of the best things about sponsored content is that you will not have to give YouTube a cut of the profits.

Instead, you can make arrangements directly with the brand, and it will pay the money straight to you.

When approaching brands for potential sponsorship, you must show them why your channel is relevant to their audience.

If your videos appeal to their target market, they will likely want to work with you.

If you want to start posting sponsored content, you must always be transparent about it.

In line with YouTube’s visible disclosure feature, you should tag videos containing sponsored content with #ad or #sponsored so your followers know you are being paid.

If you are in the US, you must work in line with the rules set out by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In the UK, you must work in accordance with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) guidelines.

Merchandise

Merchandise on YouTube is another great way to make money from your videos.

Using merchandise allows content creators to print on-demand products, which can be supplied with the difference between the sale price and production price, helping them to generate a profit.

If you want to sell merchandise, you must think carefully about the product(s) you will sell.

If you have a logo or slogan, you might want this printed onto T-shirts, stationery products or coffee cups.

The best way to decide is by involving your followers – what merchandise would they actually be interested in buying from you?

Whatever you decide, you should use unique merchandise to strengthen your connection with your target audience.

Once you have designed your product, you must find a suitable manufacturer, wholesaler or supplier to create and deliver it.

After that, you must set up a shop website to handle purchases. You can use YouTube’s shelf feature to sell your merchandise if you are a YouTube Partner.

Finally, you will need to use your content to sell your merchandise.

If you sell T-shirts or other clothing, wear it in your videos and tell people why they should buy it.

If someone appears as a guest in one of your videos, ask them to wear it too.

Product reviews of your own products will help create viewership and revenue streams.

However, it requires time and resources to manage the supply chain and resolve any complaints.

If you are a YouTube Partner and want to sell merchandise directly from YouTube’s merch shelf, you must be 18 years old or above and have a minimum of 10,000 subscribers.

Appearances

Appearing at events can be very lucrative for YouTube content creators.

This is especially true for high-profile YouTubers. Appearing at an event can yield an income of up to $10,000.

Events can be anything from TV appearances to public opening events, schools and universities.

Patreon/Buy Me a Coffee

This is another type of sponsorship opportunity for YouTubers. In this example, sponsorship is from the audience. Several sites are set up to facilitate this type of sponsorship, including crowdfunding site Patreon and Buy Me a Coffee.

These two sites allow for packages to be created, where the content creator can collect a monthly amount from viewers in exchange for giving them access to exclusive content. These funds can be used to help the content creator remain solvent.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is another option for how to make money on YouTube.

Affiliate marketing is when a YouTube content creator advertises a product on their channel and receives a commission for sales.

It is relatively simple to set up, with Amazon allowing for affiliates.

This is a great option for content creators with engaged followers, even if you do not have the number of subscribers required to benefit from paid ads on YouTube.

As with sponsored content, you must make it clear to followers that you are posting affiliate links.

For affiliate marketing to be worthwhile, traffic needs to be high.

The more traffic and engagement a YouTuber has, the more likely it is they will profit from affiliate marketing.

License Your Content

If a video goes viral, many news sites and websites will likely want to play it to their audience.

However, media companies must pay for a copy of the content to do so.

To make things easy, post details of your email address (or a generic email address for general enquiries about your video content) and make sure this is visible on your About page.

After that, set up an account with a video rights marketplace, such as Jukin Media).

Consider the Algorithm

In 2024, the YouTube algorithm delivers recommendations to users based on the following:

• Videos they have previously enjoyed. If a user has previously watched 40-minute instructional videos on plumbing or carpentry, they can expect to see other similar videos on their feed.

• Channels and topics they have watched in the past. If a user subscribes to a culinary channel, the algorithm is set up to show similar cooking channels.

• Videos that are likely to be watched in sequence. For example, suppose you watch a video about how to clean your washing machine filter. In that case, the algorithm is set up to recommend videos on washing machine maintenance as follow-up viewing options.

If you want to make money from YouTube, you need to capture people’s attention so that they actually watch your videos.

What’s more, if your video is recommended, they must watch it all the way through if you want to maximize your chances of making money from it.

The algorithm is also based on likes and dislikes, time of day and the language spoken in the video.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

There are many different ways to earn money from YouTube, and they are all relatively simple to set up.

However, you should bear in mind considerations such as how many YouTube views to make money are needed and how you can engage and grow your audience.

The question of how much money does a YouTuber make can’t be answered with a single figure.

When it comes to making money on YouTube, the sky's the limit.

Some people post content on YouTube as a side hustle; others use it as their main source of income.

Some creators may never make any money, while others can make millions each year.

To stand the best chance of success when it comes to how to make money on YouTube, you will need to have a high follower count and high level of engagement.

Gathering a loyal following is crucial before you can start to make money from posting videos on YouTube.