After learning how to stream on YouTube and spending a certain amount of time on the platform, you are probably thinking of ways to get rewarded for your effort. And the good news is that the methods to make money have been substantially growing with the number of creators! If you're ready to harness your energy and patience, YouTube makes sure to bring you an income decent enough to make a good living. Let's get down to the common revenue sources and cover additional tips to maximize your desired outcome.
The YouTube Partner Program
There are plenty of ways to monetize your channel, but they all converge on the same route to YouTube Partnership Program. Although you don't have to become a Partner to earn money from an AdSense account, YPP is a worthwhile endeavor because it provides the gateway to chat support, additional copyright content protection, and multiple income streams: Ad revenue and YouTube Premium subscribers' fees, Fan Funding revenue like SuperChat, SuperStickers, SuperThanks, and Channel Memberships, YouTube Shorts revenue, which has recently replaced YouTube Shorts Fund, and YouTube Shopping tool.
To qualify for the Partnership, you need to meet the specific criteria:
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Follow YouTube Monetization Policies, including the Terms of Service, Community Guidelines, and AdSense program policies.
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Have an active AdSense account.
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Check if the YPP is available in your country.
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Surpass the 1000 subscribers threshold with either 4000 valid public watch hours in the last year or 10 million valid public Shorts views over the previous 90 days.
You can read short descriptions of every monetization method available exclusively for Partners below:
Ad revenue is the most known way to earn money through the YouTube channel. After you've turned on monetization, ads that appear during or between your videos, streams, or YouTube Shorts work for the good of your pocket. Channels get paid when people indeed watch or click on advertisements, while YouTube takes 45% commission and gives the other 55% to creators. While payments depend on many factors and differ, you can expect from $3 to $5 for every 1000 views, taking into account the percentage of really viewed commercials and ad blockers' existence.
YouTube Premium allows you to obtain a portion of Premium subscribers' fees when they watch your content.
YouTube Shopping lets you directly sell merchandise from your or other brands' stores to the followers. After you link your shop and YouTube account, all items can be seen on a product shelf under videos, live streams, or YouTube Shorts or as a pinned product on live streams.
YouTube Memberships allow you to reward fans on paid subscriptions with special privileges like personalized loyalty badges, emoticons, and members-only material. You decide what benefits to provide and how much to charge for each membership level.
YouTube BrandConnect is a monetization tool that brings together creators and businesses to provide branded content campaigns and ensure both sides' creative control and freedom of choice.
Super Chat & Super Stickers are both additional ways to connect the fanbase and creators during live streams. Depending on how much viewers pay, SuperChat highlights or pins their messages in chats for a certain amount of time, and SuperStickers lets them see pop-up images in the feed.
Super Thanks is another income stream that provides people with an amusing method to express their thankfulness, shown as a clapping emoji. You can observe your biggest fans in the comments section because they get special bright-colored messages.
YouTube Shorts Fund is a program that has given access to $100M to aspiring Shorts creators. However, starting from February 1, 2023, it has been replaced with the YouTube Shorts revenue sharing model that works basically like Ad revenue for regular videos and streams.
How soon can you expect earnings from YouTube?
There's a simple rule: once your account hits the $100 verge, you get paid, and payments are issued monthly. If your channel is small, your reward may come once every couple of months, and you have to ensure that your content is ad-friendly not to decrease your chances of making money.
How much can you make as a YouTube Partner?
There's only one response to this question: it depends on too many factors to talk numbers, but the potential is unlimited. In general, the amount you may count on varies from the number of videos you've uploaded, the following size, your channel's niche, and more. So, AdSense plays a significant role in your earnings from YouTube, channels get a fee for each view, but pricing differs among countries, businesses, and demographics. YouTubers earn $3-$5 for every 1000 views, so you count, but prominent creators often have 6-digit payouts, and there's no limit to your ambitions.
Selling merchandise
Give your fans the opportunity to support you by buying some merch, and you'll bond your connection and simultaneously advertise your brand. To make merchandise, design it while keeping in mind that it should be unique and representative. Tangible goods and downloadables are demanded equally, so it's quite a good idea to do both. Plenty of print-on-demand services will take over manufacturing, and some will even exempt you from troubles associated with shipping. The following main tasks are to set up your store, link it directly from your videos, and add it to the YouTube Partner merchandise shelf.
And last but not least, remind your audience about the merch by advertising it in videos and socials as well to increase its chances of being recognizable and desired.
Affiliate Marketing
If you cannot boast about the size of your audience yet to become a YouTube Partner, but your followers are devoted and active, look for companies that consider investing in affiliate marketing. It may be the easiest way to monetize your YouTube channel, especially if you do product reviews. The scheme is simple: you look for a seller that offers an affiliate deal and apply to be a partner.
Once you've been approved, feel free to use their system to create custom links to goods you plan to show. Mention the products in your videos, paste links in the description, and wait for the first results! As an affiliate partner, you earn a commission when any user clicks on your unique link and makes a purchase. Don't be shy and browse the websites of your favorite brands, or look for sites specialized in affiliate marketing to find all the necessary information.
Sponsored Content
The logistics and principles of making sponsored content have much in common with affiliate deals, so it's easy to delve into one when you already know another. If your audience is engaged and active, congrats, you have what businesses exactly search for!
You don't necessarily need to have a cosmic following to use this strategy either, and you don't have to wait until companies find you because you can always contact the brands you'd like to work with yourself or search them on platforms like, for example, Powerspike, Hello Gamers, or Pillar. The best part is that when you negotiate directly with brands, they also pay you directly. By the way, don't hide from your followers that certain content is sponsored because trust and transparency is the key to maintaining a connection with the audience, thus assurance of further deals and channel growth.
Crowdfunding
Streamers often encourage their audience to subscribe to third-party membership platforms like Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, or Ko-fi. It's a great way to increase income, especially if you offer some perks, such as bonus content or early access to footage in exchange for a monthly payment.
Summing up
It takes a lot of effort, consistency, and good fortune to produce and promote a YouTube channel and even more to stand out among the thousands of other striving creators. YouTube isn't a platform that leads to instant wealth; frankly, there's hardly any magic wand to make someone rich overnight. The great news is that you can gradually turn your passion into a money-making opportunity following the above points and heeding the following bonus tips:
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Grow your audience and enhance your streaming skills
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Upload more videos and stream more to reach the viewing hours' threshold
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Regularly remind your fans about YouTube memberships, merch, SuperThanks, SuperStickers, and SuperChat
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Motivate viewers to become "patrons" by providing intriguing incentives
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Determine your target audience so that the viewers will be related to the topic and follow for more content
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Devote more time to planning and setting yourself goals to increase your productivity and confidence in the future.
