How much money can you earn on YouTube?
The range of revenue that can be generated through the YouTube platform is tremendously broad. The minimum is as disappointing as zero euros and, in fact, is how any channel begins, while minimum requirements have to be met to start generating revenue. The maximum cannot be set, but it can be several thousand euros per month. And this, taking into account only the income generated by reproductions by the platform’s own monetization system, which is AdSense, and that will depend on multiple factors such as, for example, the category within which the contents fit and, therefore, , the public that reproduces them.
How to know how much money a youtuber earns?
You won’t know for sure, but you can see estimates. There are platforms, such as SocialBlade, that allow us to review statistics and analytics data from any YouTube channel. Among these data, we can effectively see the revenue generated by a channel. However, this platform takes into account typical CPM forks and, based on this, knowing the reproductions, calculates a minimum and maximum monthly income -estimated-. But is it reliable? It is a reference to take into account, but the CPM of a YouTube channel depends on many factors and, among others, the audience that plays the videos and the content category. In addition, only revenue generated by AdSense is taken into account.
What is the CPM and why does it determine the income of a youtuber?
There are other ways of exploiting a YouTube channel, or monetizing videos. But the basic income of a YouTube is generated by AdSense, which is Google’s ad system; the video ads that appear before, during and after playback. And these ads work, mostly, according to an automated auction system that causes the price paid by the advertiser to be variable; The one who pays the most is the one that appears.
The CPM is the ‘Cost Per Thousand’; that is, the average income in euros per thousand reproductions. The CPM depends, as we said, on the category in which the videos fit and, therefore, the audience that plays them. From the sex of the audience to age, also through its geographical location. For example, ads played on engine content are better paid than videogames. The CPM can vary even from month to month, due to the supply and demand of advertising spaces.
By having a reference, a CPM of 2.30 euros is possible and, in this case, we would be generating revenues of 2.30 euros for every 1,000 reproductions. That is, a channel that reaches 100,000 monthly reproductions would be generating 230 euros. But you have to keep in mind that hardly 100% of the views will show ads – due to various factors – and also that YouTube stays a part.
Income sharing: How much YouTube stays and how much you pay to youtubers
Of the total reproductions generated by a channel, on a monthly basis, only a part of them shows advertising. It may be 90%, for example, but it will hardly be 100% for various reasons. One of them is that there are platforms on which you cannot display ads; In addition, there are users who block them with specific software and, on the other hand, from when a video is recently uploaded and available to play, until they start showing ads on it, it is common for some time to pass and, therefore , with some of the first views no ads are shown.
The relationship between the content creator and the owner of the channel, and the YouTube platform itself, is defined by the YouTube Partner Program. There is a contractual relationship between both parties, and the details of it are included in this agreement. In it, among many other things, the following is established:
«YouTube will pay you 55% of the net revenue recognized by YouTube for ads displayed or streamed on YouTube or by an authorized third party on the pages of your Content display or on the YouTube video player in conjunction with the streaming on streaming your Content. »
This means something as simple as the distribution of revenue generated by advertising on YouTube, in relation only to AdSense, is 55% for the content creator and 45% for YouTube. In other words, the platform keeps almost half of the income generated by the channel with the reproductions. Therefore, from the same previous example in which we would be generating an income of 230 euros, as content creators we would only take 126.50 euros to our pocket.
When and how does YouTube pay?
The streaming video content platform has an “internal” or private analytics tool for content creators or YouTube channel managers. This tool is YouTube Studio, and it is the one that shows among other data the income that the channel is generating. There, the owner of the channel can check how much he will charge for the reproductions of a month. When the month ends, the platform will automatically confirm the revenue generated and around the 15th of the following month will add it to the AdSense balance.
However, that money is not collected until approximately the 20th of the month following the close. That is, May, for example, would not be reflected in the AdSense balance until approximately June 15, and will not reach the bank account until June 20, approximately. The deposit is received by bank transfer, and the whole process is carried out automatically when the AdSense account is already set up and the user has it linked to his YouTube account.
Requirements to monetize videos and earn money on YouTube
YouTube offers, directly to content creators, several monetization options for their channel. To access payments you must be over 18 years in any case, or have a legal guardian over 18 years who can manage the payments. On the other hand, it is always required that the appropriate content guidelines for advertisers are met when creating the content. And from here, it will be essential that the minimum 4,000 hours of viewing are reached during the last 12 months and at least 1,000 subscribers are available. The latter, so that you can grant access to the YouTube Partner Program.
Once within the YouTube Partner Program, then revenue from ads will be activated, with payments through AdSense. But in addition, the Channel Members option can be accessed by having a minimum of 30,000 subscribers, as long as there is no notice of breach of community rules. And access the merchandising showcase with a minimum of 10,000 subscribers. For Super Chat, the requirement is that you live in a country or region where this function is available. On the other hand, YouTube Premium revenue will be generated as long as subscribers with this service see content created by us.
The requirements that YouTube imposes to start allowing the monetization of videos on its platform came, or at least in a more restrictive way, after important controversies that YouTube suffered by certain content creators. These requirements are about guaranteeing the attractiveness of the platform to advertisers and that, to some extent, it is the audience itself that determines the quality of a channel. That is, if you have public and support from it, then YouTube grants you access to the economic exploitation of the YouTube channel with its own tools.
How to set up monetization of videos on YouTube
YouTube video monetization is set up within the YouTube Studio, the internal panel for content creators. However, there are two important sections: one of them corresponds to the default values for the uploaded videos, and the other to the specific configuration for each video.
Predetermined values
In this section there are several options to consider. The first is ‘Monetization’, which appears with the message ‘Earn revenue with ads’. When activated, then the rest of the monetization settings will be enabled to make money on YouTube with the videos uploaded. From here we will see the Ad Formats and, obviously, it depends on the creator of content that is activated, one or the other, to generate higher or lower income. The most advisable thing, of course, is to activate all possibilities in terms of advertising formats. And also, activate the “Pauses for ads”, with mid-roll ads placed automatically.
All these default values will be applied to new videos that are uploaded. Thus, although perhaps after we want to configure the monetization of the video manually, each video that is uploaded will automatically have this setting enabled by default.
Monetization of videos
In addition to the default values, we have specific configuration options for the monetization of each and every one of the videos uploaded to the channel. Keep in mind that some of the options will only be available for videos of at least 10 minutes, which explains why some content creators strive to reach, at least, this duration.
In YouTube Studio we will click on the Videos option, in the left sidebar, so that all the uploaded content is displayed. Now we will have to click on any video, and the specific metadata editor of that content will open, but the option we are interested in will reappear in the left sidebar, and it is the ‘Monetization‘ section. Click on it, and then we will find the specific configuration of the video, in terms of monetization.
Here we can enable or disable monetization, which is the first option, and then we can enable or disable each and every one of the advertising formats. We have the options of ‘Display ads’, which cannot be deactivated, ‘Overlay ads’, ‘Sponsored cards’, sal Jutable video ads ’and also‘ Non-skip video ads ’. On the other hand, just below we will find the options ‘Before the video’, ‘during the video’ and also ‘after the video’.
YouTube video ad editor
For uploaded videos that are at least 10 minutes long, the platform will allow us to manually place video ads that play along our content. We will do this by following the previous steps, but entering a specific option. Within ‘During the video’, in the details of this option, we will find the link Manage in the editor. We have to click on it and the video editor will open, which you can see in the screenshot above.
The video editor is something as simple as a player with the preview of the content and a timeline in which image and audio are shown on separate channels. But also, at the bottom, with an icon similar to the dollar symbol, we have a bar in the timeline corresponding to monetization. Simply, we will have to place the play bar in the second or minute that we want and press, just below, in + advertising pause, to add the specific pause.
By adding advertising breaks we will be telling the platform at what exact times we want to allow ads to be shown, although it is possible that these breaks are not always taken advantage of. However, the greater the number of breaks, the greater the potential income. We should also take into account the average retention time of the videos, to place them strategically and that they are consumed by the audience and, obviously, not abuse because you can lose audience for this reason.
Other forms of advertising to earn money on YouTube
If we talk about how to make money on YouTube, obviously you have to talk about AdSense, which is the system that generates revenue from the platform itself. They are the revenues that are generated with the video ads that appear before, during and after the reproduction of a video automatically, and served by Google itself. But with this tool, revenue is almost negligible for most content creators. If we really want to make money on YouTube, then we must exploit the channel and its contents in other ways, and they are as follows.
Sponsorship
The sponsorship format is not exclusive to YouTube, or the video, nor is it something new. Sponsorships can be carried out in a variety of ways, in a timely manner or in the long term, and the sponsor has different options that can be offered to make it interesting to “invest” in the channel, in the creator or in the content. The fundamental aspect is that the audience interests the sponsor by age, gender or location – among others – and that the contents or the creator serve to disseminate the sponsor’s product or service.
You can make sponsored videos, paid in full by a brand; or partially sponsored, reserving a space of time to show a product or service, for example. Depending on the characteristics of the sponsorship, and the audience, among other factors, the price to be paid will be higher or lower by the advertiser. This advertising format includes what is called ‘influence marketing’ and, of course, depends on the connection between the content creator and his audience.
Membership
Through third parties, we can resort to membership. Amazon, for example, offers a specific program. This monetization system, applied to YouTube, consists of something as simple as providing the audience with a series of links to products; These links are special, obviously, and are tracked and associated with our account. For each sale or subscription we generate –also for certain services sites-, we will be obtaining a fixed income –CPA- or a variable income depending on, for example, the price of the product.
Paid subscriptions
For some time now, YouTube has included payment subscriptions, or ‘memberships, among its monetization options. If a channel has at least 30,000 subscribers, this option is activated and users can pay a fee of 4.99 euros per month to support the content creator. In exchange for this monthly fee, the creator can define specific advantages in his channel as badges or emojis, for example, or more direct forms of communication, among others.
Merchandising
Through YouTube you can offer official merchandising of the channel, as long as you have a minimum of 10,000 subscribers. The Mountain View company itself, through its partner TeeSpring, gives us the possibility to customize different products such as cell phone covers, t-shirts and cups – among others – and sell them directly from the channel, with a specific section with great visibility.
However, merchandising was already sold on YouTube channels before it was directly and officially supported by the platform. There are many companies that can make personalized products such as clothing, utilities – and so on – and here it is up to the creator to choose the sale price calculating the costs, and so on, to get some additional benefit with extra income.
Super chat
The Super Chat is another option of economic exploitation of a YouTube channel officially. It is an option that is enabled for all channels that are already monetized, although only in some countries – among them is UK and US. Thanks to Super Chat, subscribers can make their messages, in live broadcasts, stand out from the rest and, in this way, the content creator will be more likely to read them when the volume is high. If there are several who are paying to highlight their messages, in addition to the amount they have paid, those who have assumed a higher price, determined by the subscriber himself voluntarily, will be highlighted to a greater extent.
Is MCN or Network necessary to make money with a YouTube channel?
No. The ‘Network’, MCN of YouTube channels, are effectively networks. That is, behind them there is a company that is dedicated to the management and administration, partially, of a certain number of third-party YouTube channels. If we have achieved a relatively large channel, by monthly reproductions or by number of subscribers, it is possible that we will receive the offer of a network to join your group and thus enjoy some advantages, but always with a percentage of the income that will remain They every month. In addition to that, due to the particularities of the platform, they will be the ones who manage AdSense charges.
What are the advantages of content creators being in an MCN or Network?
Each network offers different advantages, but they start on the same principles. A single YouTube channel may be great, yes, but the bargaining power with advertisers, for direct marketing advertising marketing is greater if several of them are associated and ‘sold’ to advertisers as a single audience. A priori, the capacity of a network to achieve advertising campaigns should be greater. On the other hand, the management of this issue by the network is, to a certain extent, a relief for the content creator, who will not have to spend resources or time in the commercial management of his channel.
The previous one is one of the advantages, and it would be necessary to add -in some cases- the training and support offered by MCNs to adapt to the evolutions of the platform in terms of criteria and in terms of positioning of content –YouTube SEO-, or in terms of recording and editing techniques. There are also many MCNs that provide their creators with training for the optimization of their social networks, among others.
Another additional advantage is that, being within a ‘group of creators’, made up of all the partners of the network, collaborations between content creators are facilitated, something that well used is an exceptional tool for the growth of the impact of a channel. And of course, many MCN or network lend their content creators resources such as video recording spaces, or even equipment and recording and editing materials, which can be interesting. This, and software resources. or access to music sources, to nourish the contents without suffering problems with copyright.
How many visits or how many subscribers can you live on YouTube?
Stop searching, because there is no exact figure. It is very variable. The volume of revenue depends not only on the visualizations, but also on the audience that the contents are served, the retention time, the category in which the contents fit, and the seasonality of the advertising business in online videos. In short, there are many factors on which the volume of income depends, and not only on visualizations.
And in relation to subscribers, our volume of income does not depend at all on the amount of them. Although a high volume of subscribers can be used as a negotiation argument in direct selling advertising campaigns, it does not define by itself the revenue that a youtuber will obtain. Only in case those subscribers are eligible, all of them, to the membership of the channel that has a fixed price of 4.99 euros per month.
So how do you really make money on YouTube?
As we have seen throughout this video, the revenue from visualizations according to YouTube’s own exploitation model – with AdSense – means that only a few can get ‘a salary’ on the platform. The volume of reproductions to be counted on is really high so that it is because of the visualizations themselves that generate a significant income. And virtually any youtuber who has spoken on how much you earn on YouTube, has spoken on exactly the same terms. YouTube, as such, gives little money. And in addition, it remains a part as important as 45%; To this we should add that, in many cases, the MCN or Network stays the same.
To make money on YouTube, speaking in terms of a profitable or interesting project as a job, it is essential to resort to the economic exploitation and monetization options external to the YouTube platform. Negotiate full or partial sponsorships and, ultimately, manage the YouTube channel and its contents, commercially, in parallel to the streaming video platform. In fact, many youtubers not only commercially exploit the YouTube channel itself but the rest of their social networks, in association with this platform, to optimize their income.
Other platforms to monetize Video content like Youtube:
To avoid relying on YouTube only, we recommend creating a blog in WordPress and uploading all your video content. Then you can register for free on various monetization platforms such as MediaFem. You can register and start right now from here.
Also published on Medium.