Making money with YouTube is not a pipe dream. Like all jobs, however, it requires skills, passion and time.
In this article you will find useful information about the Youtube partner program, you will find out how to open a channel and how to monetize a video. In addition to the classic earnings per views, we have also compiled a list of alternative methods with which to work on YouTube and generate income thanks to collaborations and influencer marketing.
The program is rich, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
How many subscribers does it take to earn with YouTube?
Under the Partner Program rules, you need at least 1000 channel subscribers to start earning on YouTube.
However, a channel’s earning potential depends not only on the number of subscribers, but also on the level of user interaction, the market niche the channel is targeting, and the methods used to monetize.
Suffice it to say that the highest paid YouTube stars not only earn from views but also have other income from their channel thanks to partnerships and sponsorship agreements with other brands.
For example, channels like PewDiePie, one of the most followed in the world with over 100 million fans, earn hundreds of thousands of dollars for a sponsored video !
However, members give access to bonuses. In fact, there is a YouTube Reward program with different levels of benefits:
- Graphite (up to 1000 subscribers): Newsletter Creator Monthly and access to the Academy
- Opal (up to 10,000 subscribers): Access to Academy-specific courses to grow your follower count
- Bronze (up to 100,000 subscribers) : Access to YouTube Space production resources, participation in the NextUp competition
- Silver and above (100,000+ subscribers): Dedicated YouTube Partner Manager, YouTube Play Button (Silver for 100,000 Subscribers, Gold for 1M, and Diamond for 10M Subscribers).
How many views does it take to earn on YouTube?
To start earning on YouTube you need to have accumulated at least 4000 views over the last 12 months.
That said, views don’t have a direct impact on the total revenue you can get from YouTube.
So let’s try to understand together how much YouTube pays and what are the evaluation criteria of a channel to determine its total earnings.
How much does YouTube pay?
As we have already mentioned, to make money with YouTube there are several options for which it is not easy to determine the compensation received by a creator.
YouTube does not pay for the views of the published content but offers a fee for other complementary elements to watching a video (one above all advertising). Clearly this has an indirect implication: the greater the number of views on YouTube, the higher the financial reward.
To give you an idea of how complex it is to calculate how much you earn with YouTube, let’s take advertising as an example. An ad can be rated based on CPM (cost per 1000 views) or CPC (cost per click). Basically, with the same number of video ads and views, two youtubers could earn completely different figures because they are evaluated on different metrics (views vs clicks).
Fun fact: the highest paid YouTuber of 2020 was Ryan Kaji, who earned a whopping $ 25 million… and he’s only 9 years old!
How to increase revenue? By creating quality content. In this way you will open the doors to many collaborations even outside the platform. An emblematic Italian case is that of The Jackal team: thanks to its irreverence and creativity, it has made many YouTube videos in collaboration with brands of the caliber of Huawei and Carrefour. Below is an episode of the Reality vs Mom miniseries made in collaboration with Huawei.
How to make money with YouTube: 6 strategies
To monetize with YouTube you have several strategies available, many of which come out of the simple use of the platform:
- Join the YouTube Partner Program
- Make money with YouTube by selling your products
- Financing your project thanks to crowdfunding
- Relying on “fan financing”
- Allow third parties to use your content
- Working with other companies as an influencer or affiliate
- Let’s go through each of these ways to make money on YouTube in detail.
1. Join the YouTube Partner Program
The YouTube Partner Program allows video content creators to access the many features offered by the platform. Which ones are they?
- Creator Support Team
- Copyright Match Tool
- Monetization functionality
Obviously, to make money with YouTube, you need to demonstrate to the platform that you have a suitable and deserving channel for this opportunity. It is therefore necessary to meet the requirements, to join the Partner Program and to be able to monetize a video through advertisements.
- Eligibility Requirements
- Comply with all YouTube monetization policies
- Live in a country or region where the Partner Program is available (you can check the list of countries here )
- Have more than 4000 public viewing hours in the past 12 months
- Have more than 1000 subscribers
- Link the channel to an AdSense account
- Access to the Program
Once the program access threshold is reached, your channel will go through a review process. YouTube will check your channel as a whole to make sure it complies with all policies. Once accepted, the platform will allow you to activate monetization and you can start earning with YouTube.
How to make money with YouTube thanks to the Partner Program
Now that you are a YouTube Partner, you have access to several ways to make money with YouTube:
- Advertising revenue : Make money with YouTube thanks to the ads that appear on your videos.
- Channel memberships: Offer your subscribers special benefits in exchange for monthly payments.
- Merchandising : Your subscribers can purchase items linked to the channel and brand displayed on your pages.
- Super Chat: Your fans will pay an amount to highlight their messages in the chat.
- YouTube Premium : When a YouTube premium subscriber watches your videos, you will receive part of their subscription fee.
- Each of these ways to make money with YouTube has requirements, you can see the full list here.
2. Make money with YouTube by selling your products
Choosing what to sell online is almost always a business if you don’t know where to start.
But if you have a YouTube channel with a loyal following, your fans may be interested in purchasing products related to your brand!
In addition to being another way to make money on YouTube, selling personalized products comes with additional benefits. In fact, you will transport your channel into the real world, strengthen the relationship with your fans and significantly increase your visibility.
Imagine creating a logo that is so eye-catching that your fans want it printed on t-shirts, mugs or caps. If your logo is also stylish and trendy, as well as being connected to your brand, you can be sure that they will wear your products to go out with their friends, or just to go out and about. Your fans will then become a kind of passive spokesperson for your channel! Their friends, or simply the people they meet, will notice your logo, be intrigued and may be looking for you and finding your channel.
You could also think about creating an online store with Shopify, to make it much easier, so you can focus on the most important things, which is to continue to publish quality content that will interest your fans!
3. Finance your project thanks to crowdfunding
Have you started uploading videos to YouTube but don’t have enough funds to scale? If money is the only thing that hinders your growth on the web or the creation of your own idea, you could find the solution to your problems thanks to crowdfunding.
The crowdfunding is a fundraiser done online through many small contributions from large groups that share an interest or a project, or want to support an innovative idea.
There are four different types of crowdfunding:
- the donation based model, for non-profit initiatives;
- the reward-based model, which provides for a non-monetary reward;
- the lending-based model, which is based on microloans;
- the equity-based model, according to which the financing takes place in the form of risk capital, in exchange for shares of the company.
What is the relationship between crowdfunding and making money with YouTube? Many projects created thanks to crowdfunding offer a sort of preview, to capture the attention of the public and keep interest alive. You could then create a video, explaining or presenting your project. Not only that, many YouTubers run their channel on a tight budget, and therefore use crowdfunding as a way to make money on YouTube, creating interest in their videos and incentivizing people to participate as they can.
Among the most popular crowdfunding sites used by different YouTubers for their campaigns are:
- Kickstarter
- Indiegogo
- Crowdcube
When you open your project to crowdfunding, try to establish a viable financial goal. You will only get the loan if you manage to reach your initial goal!
An example of Youtube and crowdfunding? The It’s Muffin Time! Born from the mind of Thomas “TomSka” Ridgewell, known to the internet world as the creator of asdfmovie. Below is his Kickstarter campaign to finance the board game, which has now ended having reached its goal.
4. Relying on fan funding
An alternative to the crowdfunding is the fan funding or financing of the fans. This method of earning with YouTube will allow you to obtain funding, or rather donations, directly from your audience.
The concept behind fan funding is: you post content on your channel without forcing the audience to pay to access this content. By continuing to post content that is interesting to your audience on a regular basis, your fans will be loyal to you and your channel, and may be pushed to help you financially.
You may also find innovative ways to engage loyal visitors and reward them for their support.
Also for fan funding, there are several options:
YouTube had a built-in fan funding option, a sort of “offer jar” where visitors could leave their donations. This option has now been replaced by the YouTube Super Chat we mentioned earlier. Super Chat allows creators and fans to interact in a fun way during live chat. Your fans can then buy Super Chat messages to highlight their messages in this chat. Super Chat messages will be highlighted with a color, and will remain in the chat box for a period of time based on the amount paid by the fan.
Patreon is a platform that allows users to subscribe and pay whoever posts content. Fans can then subscribe to your channel, paying reduced amounts each month and receiving exclusive rewards. In this way you will develop a direct relationship with your most loyal fans and you can make money with YouTube on Patreon, generating a constant income thanks to your work.
Another option is to use platforms like Tipeee, which allow content creators to receive “tips” from their fans. Users discover your work on your Tipeee page and can choose to financially support you on your journey with tips, tips, single or recurring, for a single piece or every month. On Tipeee there are no minimum durations or minimum objectives to be achieved. Your Tipeee page will be active all year round and you will receive your tips every month.
5. Earn money with youtube through affiliate links
Promoting affiliate links can be a huge earning opportunity for channels that offer in-depth tutorials and in-depth product reviews. For example, if you recommend a product and a user visits your link to buy, you will start earning commissions. You can place these links in the first few lines of your description and talk about your link in your video content.
Posting affiliate links on YouTube shares a typical resemblance to promoting affiliate links on a website.
Just like a website, an affiliate link on youtube performs well if you share good content in your videos.
To build trust with your audience, help them solve real problems and provide tutorials . As a bonus, you can create videos that offer solutions that you have previously made.
There are many affiliate programs that you can join. You can create partnerships with different companies through portals such as Awin or by inserting links directly to the products you are talking about by contacting the manufacturer himself .
Remember that most of the successful youtubers also have a blog or a personal website alongside their youtube channel .
In fact, the best step to maximize revenue is to start a blog in unison with your YouTube channel.
This in fact brings several advantages, first of all the fact that the blog will be YOUR property (on Youtube instead you will always be a “guest”) and will be the perfect platform both to introduce yourself to companies and to double the monetization possibilities.
On youtube you will always be a “guest” of the Youtube platform and you will always have to follow its rules.
The ideal, and this is what the greatest youtubers in the world do, is to attract traffic and attention through your youtube channel, and then put the links to your website in the description of the video and in your youtube “information” section.
This way you can monetize your audience twice: both on youtube and on your website.
Remember that you could also link to your site with a small online shop, and therefore monetize any merchandising sold much better.
If you are interested in creating a blog, I refer you to the step by step guide, where you will really find all the useful information to create a blog in 60 minutes.
6. You can also earn with Youtube with Youtube Premium users
YouTube Premium allows users to pay $ 9.99 per month for ad-free YouTube viewing.
However, even without ads, content creators can still generate money and make money from videos, based on watch time. There are conflicting reviews on the increase or decrease of CPM rates by YouTube Premium compared to the classic monetization with ads, but the truth is that Youtube averages the earnings of “similar” videos so your earnings will be similar.
Remember that YouTube Premium pays you according to viewing times , so always check this in your Youtube Analytics. It will be crucial in the budget of monetizing your videos!
How to make money with youtube: the most frequently asked questions
👉 Why do you make money on Youtube?
Youtube is the most used video platform in the world, but it is also the most used website in the world, with around 2 billion visitors every month.
Uploading videos to Youtube allows you to have a huge audience, which if monetized can lead to huge numbers.
Also remember that once the video is uploaded it will continue to create views (and generate money) for a long time.
This is why youtubers earn exponentially over time : because past work continues to generate cash flows that add to the monetization of today’s videos.
👉 How to make money with youtube quickly?
The fastest way to make money with youtube is through Google Adsense advertising, which you can implement in your videos as soon as you become a Youtube Partner.
However, advertising is only one of the many ways to monetize youtube. You can put affiliate links in the description, ask for partnerships with companies or implement customized crowdfounding systems as we have seen in the 9 rules for making money with youtube!
👉 How much can you earn with youtube?
The short answer is: it depends.
By using ad monetization, sponsorships, and selling affiliate products in your videos, you can make significant gains as well.
On YouTube, you can earn money from ads on a CPM, CPV, and CPC basis. With cost per impression (CPM), a typical YouTuber earns $ 1 to $ 5 in ad fees per 1,000 views.
However, if you are able to build a steady following on your channel, brands will pay you to have their products appear in your videos. In this case the prices change a lot, but usually it is about 10 € per 1000 views.
👉 How much do you earn with 1,000 views on YouTube?
There is no definitive answer to what 1,000 views are worth on Youtube. Factors to consider include the industry and topic of the video, the number of people clicking on the advertisements, and the country where the video is viewed. All of this affects the average CPM.
Additionally, advertisers create a Google AdWords account to place YouTube ads, then choose their advertising strategy based on either pay based on cost per view (CPV) or cost per click (CPC).
Remember that if 1000 viewers never click on the ad, you will earn 0 euros. Just as a single click on an advertisement could be worth up to 5 euros.
As a rule in Italy it is calculated on average from 1 to 5 € per 1000 views.
👉 How many writings do you need to earn with youtube ?
Based on the YouTube Partner Program eligibility requirements, 1,000 or more subscribers are required to monetize your channel. You also need at least 4,000 viewing hours in the past 12 months and have an active Google AdSense account.
The 4000 hours (or 240 thousand minutes) you will reach by multiplying n ° views x n ° minutes viewed x n ° videos uploaded.
So, for example, if you create 10 videos of 10 minutes each, you will need 2400 views for each video in order to become an Official Youtube Partner.
👉 Is it difficult to make money with YouTube?
No more than for any job: you have to commit!
Youtube is the most used web platform in the world after Google, so the possibilities are endless. However, to make money on youtube you have to create high quality content.
Additionally, you must have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past 12 months to participate in the YouTube Partner Program. So before you can make money with advertising you will still need to have a channel with a minimum following.
If you don’t have a lot of views, a great way to monetize your channel is affiliate marketing.
You can review products or describe products and insert affiliate links in the video description. In this way, you can earn commissions on every sale and earn on youtube beyond the advertising inserted in the video.
To maximize your web presence, it might also be useful to start a blog and associate it with your YouTube account. This way you can promote affiliate links both on your YouTube channel and on your blog and embed your videos in your blog posts, as well as send visitors from youtube to your blog (which will be owned by you).
👉 Who are the highest paid YouTubers in the world?
Top YouTube stars like Logan Paul and PewDiePie make millions of dollars a year by monetizing their channels. Whether it’s reviewing and playing video games or creating compelling content, these YouTubers go to great lengths to increase their audience and create engaging, quality content. Obviously it is a full-fledged job!
Here are the earnings of the 10 richest Youtubers in the world according to Forbes (in 2020):
- Ryan Kaji: $ 26 million.
- Dude Perfect: $ 20 million.
- Anastasia Radzinskaya: $ 18 million.
- Rhett and Link: $ 17.5 million.
- Jeffree Star: $ 17 million.
- Preston (Preston Arsement): $ 14 million.
- PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg): $ 13.5 million.
- Markiplier (Mark Fischbach): $ 13 million.
- DanTDM (Daniel Middleton): $ 12 million.
- VanossGaming (Evan Fong): $ 11.3 million.
Youtube is more recent than Google and monetizing videos on youtube is easier also for reasons related to youtube SEO which is even less competitive than Google’s organic SEO.
By opening a channel on youtube and creating good quality content, you can easily expect a growth to thousands of subscribers within a few months.
My advice is not to hesitate in launching into this world, which is still very rich in opportunities.
I sincerely hope I have given you some useful tools with which you will be able to face this beautiful challenge that is to establish yourself in the World of Youtube.
Conclusions
Being able to make money with YouTube is a full-fledged job, you need a lot of passion and perseverance as well as a great deal of patience, but if you stay focused on the goal, the results will not be long in coming.
In this guide I have shown you the 3 main methods to monetize your channel, of course my advice is to use all 3 methods in unison.
YouTube is by far my favorite platform and I’m sure it will still grow a lot in the next few years, so don’t waste any more time and hit it off.
