Two of the most common questions asked these days are “How much do YouTubers make?” and “How to become a YouTuber”.
You probably have a long list of YouTube channels you are subscribed to, enjoying their content daily. You’re most likely wondering how much they’re paid for producing their intriguing, watchable content.
In this article, we will answer all your YouTube based questions – “How to become a YouTuber” to “How much do YouTubers make?”.
Let’s check it out below!
How much do YouTubers make?
It’s dependent on the YouTube channels CPM (Cost per thousand). YouTubers can make anywhere between $0.01 to $0.03 per view but depends on a few factors.
- Number of views your video receives
- The genre of your channel
- Number of clicks an ad receives
- The quality of the adverts
- Viewers downloading AdBlocking software
- The length of your video
Multiple factors affect a YouTubers CPM that it fluctuates depending on multiple factors mentioned above.
Overall you will expect it to be on the lower end, around the $0.01 per view.
How do YouTubers make money, and how do I make money on my channel?
There are many ways YouTubers make money. Firstly is the YouTube partner program, this allows you to be paid through advertisements on your YouTube channel. To qualify for the YouTube partner program, you will have to have the following credentials:
- At least 1000 subscribers to your YouTube channel
- Have at least 4000 public hours of viewed footage
- Create an AdSense account
- Have been reviewed and accepted onto the YouTube Partner program
The above is the most common way to make money on YouTube. Once accepted on the YouTube Partner program, you will bring in money through a CPM and cost per click basis.
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A CPM is simply the cost per thousand views. CPMs usually are around the $5 mark but can fluctuate above and below, dependent on your content. The finance genre does incredibly well in terms of high CPM’s.
There are other ways that YouTubers make money. Scroll below.
What are additional ways to make money on YouTube?
There are a few additional ways to make money on YouTube to complement your AdSense revenue.
- Content subscriptions (Nelk’s SEND Club or Logan Paul’s Maverick Club).
- Affiliate links
- Paid sponsorship
- Merchandise
Content subscriptions
Not necessarily on YouTube, but content subscriptions are a new way YouTubers will monetise their channel/brand. Two of the top YouTube channels have recently set these up, including Logan Paul with the Maverick Club and NELK with their SEND Club.
These are subscriptions to access unseen footage, additional content, chances to win prizes, including cars, meet-ups, trips, and more.
These are marketed to their current YouTube viewership in the middle of videos they post, and the audience will be quite receptive to trying your new product out as long as it’s reasonably priced with value to them.
Affiliate links
In simple terms, this is a link the YouTuber generates from their affiliate account with an affiliate company. When a viewer clicks on the link to buy the product, they receive a percentage of the sale.
These are best implemented with products related to your niche. For example, if you are a finance vlogger, links to trading accounts or online bank accounts will perform well. But say you are a makeup vlogger, and you put an affiliate link for a Playstation, it will tank.
Try an partner with brands that fit into your niche, and you’ll do well.
Paid sponsorship
If you grow a strong following on YouTube, you will start to be approached by brands to collaborate with them in numerous ways as part of a sponsorship. Mainly this is offered where you talk about their product at the start of your video or midway through.
Occasionally, you’ll be asked to collaborate on some sponsored content. For example, a travel brand may approach you, and you will be paid a lump sum to go on one of their trips.
You’ll be tasked with vlogging the trip, and they will have some specific points they will want you to include in the video, so it’s best to negotiate these well and be aware of what is asked of you when signing the contract.
These pay extremely well, and if you can get one that’s relative to your YouTube niche, you’ll be well on your way to securing a successful partnership for years to come.
Merchandise
You’ve definitely witnessed your favourite YouTubers donning their hoodie. YouTubers who have a huge following will start to bring out merchandise as another income stream.
This usually consists of either clothing or accessories. With a strong YouTube following, you will slowly develop a brand, and your most loyal fans will be interested in buying the merchandise.
It’s important you design and produce quality merchandise as the customer retention rate will be a lot higher than someone whos doing it as a one-off to make fast money. That will upset your fans, lose viewership, and ultimately damage your brand.
Ensure you develop and produce the best; your fans will be happy with that and willing to part with their hard-earned cash.
How much money do YouTubers get paid per video?
This, again, is subjective. It depends on multiple factors, these include:
- The number of views your video receives
- Your CPM
- The videos niche
- The length of the video*
*The length determines how many adverts you can put during the video. Videos over the ten-minute mark will earn more than the same video under the ten-minute mark. As YouTube allows YouTubers to add mid-video ad rolls.
How do I become a YouTuber?
It’s quite simple.
- Decide on a niche
- Come up with content ideas.
- Create a content schedule
- Gather your video and audio resources
- Optimise your YouTube channel
Read the full article here on how to become a YouTuber: The steps to success.
1. Decide on a niche
Deciding on a niche is the first step when creating your first ever YouTube channel. When starting your channel, you will want to decide your channel’s specific niche and what genre your ideas will be based on.
Create a channel based on your key interests or your expertise. It’s quite easy to float about and have ideas all over the place, but this won’t help you build an identity.
For example, if you love gaming you could set up a gaming commentary channel or a game streaming channel, where you play your favourite games.
This strategy will help you build a strong relevant audience, maintain consistency, and stay organised in what you create.
2. Come up with content ideas
Next, you’ll have to come up with some video ideas. This is integral to developing a YouTube channel. It will allow you to follow your schedule and be able to post consistently without falling by the wayside.
For ideas, you could look at current trending videos in your niche and add your own spin to it. It’s always good to look at websites like Quora or Reddit and look at the questions being asked by people in your own niche to help give you ideas.
This is a great tactic as you are providing entertaining, useful content that people will be searching for (we will look into this more in point 5: Optimising your channel).
3. Create a content schedule
Creating a content schedule is the least creative aspect of YouTube, but is equally as important. The content schedule guarantees you consistent content and will give your audience the assurance that you will be posting every week at a specific time and date.
It is important to create a content schedule, one it allows you to develop your strategy and stick to a timeline that you are comfortable with. Two, it allows your subscribers to know when the next video will be uploaded without fail; this builds trust and loyalty when building your channel.
Why not highlight when you will upload your next video as Shelby Church has done below:
4. Gather your video and audio resources
You’re nearly there; it’s time to film! Now you need to gather up your equipment. You’ll need a camera, microphone and editing software.
Don’t worry; you don’t need to go out and buy the most expensive camera equipment; you can use your phone camera, get a shotgun microphone from Amazon and use a free video editing software package, like DaVinci Resolve.
Once your channel starts to grow, you can invest in higher quality equipment as it will be worth the investment.
READ MORE: Low budget filmmaking equipment list: The essentials
5. Optimize your YouTube channel
Now you’ve started to create your YouTube videos; you can now optimise your YouTube channel to ensure you are getting as much exposure as possible to grow your channel.
Firstly choose a name for your channel. You can even name the channel after yourself. In the about section, make sure you describe your channel and what your ethos is. Ensure you add a couple of keywords that fit in with your channel naturally to boost the channels search rankings.
Add a YouTube banner and a catchy icon. These can be created for free in Canva. These can be colours or logos relating to your subject.
Finally, when uploading videos, have a look at high volume search terms relating to your video. This way, it will rank higher when searched by a user on YouTube.
One of our better performing videos is on Dan Harmons Story Circle. We’ve included that right at the beginning and followed on with “How to become a better storyteller.”
This helps it rank higher in organic search but also provides a unique title to complement the video.
Read More: How to become a YouTuber: The steps to success
Who is the top paid YouTuber?
Who are the top paid YouTubers? It’s what everyone wants to know. Here is a breakdown of the top paid YouTuber’s; here is the top 10 breakdown from 2019’s report, found here. Below are the top ten paid YouTubers in 2019:
- Ryan Kaji – $26 million
- Dude Perfect – $20 million
- Anastasia Radzinskaya – $18 million
- Rhett and Link – $17.5 million
- Jeffree Star – $17 million
- Preston – $14 million
- PewDiePie $13 million
- Markiplier – $13 million
- DanTDM – $12 million
- VanossGaming – $11.5 million
*PewDiePie and Markiplier came joint 7th.
We hope this article was helpful to you and build your YouTube channel. Check out some of our latest posts on how to create, script, and edit your videos.
- How to become a YouTuber: The steps to success
- The top YouTube channels for filmmakers
- What’s the best export settings in Premiere Pro CC for YouTube?
- 14 Must-Have Free Transitions in Premiere Pro
- iFilmThings YouTube Channel
- How to add transitions in Premiere Pro
- What is a keyframe?
- How to reduce background noise in premiere pro
