For new and aspiring YouTube creators wondering how much money can you make on YouTube, we’ve got you covered. Did you know there are YouTubers making millions per year?
Creating YouTube videos can actually be quite lucrative, believe it or not. You can create content around your passion, work from home, choose your dream work schedule, and earn an unlimited amount of income!
There are many ways you can make money on YouTube. We’re going to cover them in this article.
Read about:
- YouTube monetization and how much money you can make on YouTube
- How YouTubers make money
- 5 ways to monetize your YouTube Channel
- How much a YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers makes
- How much you can make from one million views
- Realistic earnings as a YouTube creator
Let’s dive in!
How Much Do YouTubers Make?
YouTube monetization is about making money from your YouTube channel. How much money do YouTubers make? There are various monetization paths you can pursue. We’ll cover that in this article, including how to qualify for some of them, how they work, how much you can make, and more helpful info.
According to this source, YouTube creators reported earning between $82 and $83,000 per month! Quite a large range, indeed. The amount you can make as a YouTuber boils down to many factors. Some can be beyond your control, but with time and consistency, you improve your chances of making money as a YouTuber.
What Can You Do to Ensure You’re Making the Most as a YouTuber?
There’s no tried and true formula, but there are best practices you can put into place to help you make the most money as a YouTuber:
- Choosing multiple income streams to monetize your channel
- Creating and publishing YouTube videos consistently
- Creating high-quality YouTube videos
- Engaging with your audience
- Focusing on building a strong personal brand
Now, let’s get into five ways YouTubers make money!
How Do YouTubers Make Money?
YouTubers make money in many different ways. That’s the beauty of YouTube. There’s more than one income stream available to monetize your content!
The highest-earning YouTubers monetize their channel in multiple ways. Here are 5 ways YouTubers make money with their channels:
- YouTube Partner Program
- YouTube Shorts
- Affiliate marketing
- Brand partnerships and sponsored posts
- Selling products and services
How to Make Money with the YouTube Partner Program?
The YouTube Partner Program is YouTube’s ad network. Once eligible, YouTube creators have advertisements placed on their videos, earning money based on the number of views their ad-monetized videos receive. As a YouTube partner, you’ll earn money on each ad view you receive.
For example, a YouTube video with a $20 RPM (revenue per thousand) on a 200,000-viewed video will earn $4,000 for that video from ad revenue.
Imagine 10 YouTube videos per month performing at that level.
One video alone can support a full-time income in this example. More videos can produce a very lucrative income stream for the YouTube creator.
But, the RPM you earn per video fluctuates, and the number of views received on YouTube videos fluctuates as well. So, it’s not as clear-cut as you might imagine.
Also, YouTube creators must qualify to join to YouTube Partner Program by meeting these requirements:
- Receiving 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months
- Have more than 1,000 subscribers
- Agreeing to the YouTube Partner Program Terms and Conditions
Once you’re a YouTube partner, you’ll have the chance to start monetizing your videos with ads.
How Does YouTube Premium work?
YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red) gives viewers a way to view YouTube ad-free, offline, and in the background. This is a recurring paid service that also includes:
- YouTube Music
- YouTube Kids
For YouTubers that are monetized from the YouTube Partner Program, you might wonder how they get paid for the ads on their videos if Premium users pay to skip the ads. YouTube partners that get their videos watched by Premium viewers get a cut of their membership fee as compensation. So, YouTubers can still financially benefit from Premium users viewing their videos.
What Are YouTube Shorts, and How Can YouTubers Make Money with Them?
YouTube Shorts is YouTube’s short-form video experience. Creators can post short video clips up to 60 seconds long on YouTube. Using creative tools like music, text overlay, and adding music can make these short-form videos extremely engaging and garner up to millions of views.
Current YouTube Partner Program creators who make YouTube Shorts will be eligible to have ads placed on the short-form videos (and we discuss more on YouTube shorts monetization here). Those ad-monetized videos will give YouTubers a chance to earn money from their Shorts.
Read more about how to create a YouTube Short and how they work.
How Do YouTube Super Chat and Super Stickers Work?
Monetizing your YouTube channel with Super Chat and Super Stickers is available if you’re in the YouTube Partner Program.
- Viewers can buy live chat messages that stand out
- Messages can be pinned to the top of the live chat feed
How Do YouTube Channel Memberships Work?
YouTube channel memberships are like exclusive clubs that YouTube creators set up. Channel members get:
- Exclusive content
- Access to perks like loyalty badges and live streams
- Access to exclusive posts and chats
- A chance to show their support to YouTube creators
Becoming a channel member happens from the YouTube desktop site or YouTube app. It’s available on YouTube creators’ accounts that have channel memberships in place. If a channel membership is available, viewers can click the “Join” button to join as a member. Not all creators have set up a channel membership.
For YouTube creators, you get 70% of the membership revenue after taxes and fees. This is a smart way to create community among your viewers, giving your top fans a way to support your content.
Read more about how YouTube channel memberships work.
How to Make Money Through YouTube Affiliate Marketing?
YouTube affiliate marketing is about monetizing your YouTube videos with affiliate marketing.
This can be a lucrative path new Youtubers take to monetize their channels while waiting to qualify for the YouTube Partner Program. It’s also a good way for seasoned YouTubers to make money as well.
Creators like Eric Worral are making up to $40,000 per month from YouTube affiliate marketing!
It’s a smart way to monetize your YouTube content and a path to passive income, too!
How Does YouTube Affiliate Marketing Work?
Refer your viewers to affiliate products related to your videos. Then, post your affiliate link:
- In the video description
- As an end screen
- As a pinned comment
- In the Community tab
When viewers click the affiliate link and take action (like making a purchase), you earn a commission!
Monetizing Your YouTube Channel with Brand Partnerships and Sponsored Posts
Brand partnerships and sponsored posts happen for YouTube creators when a company wants to be advertised on the YouTube channel. An agreement is forged between the company and the YouTuber in which the YouTuber is paid to talk about the brand with their audience.
This can be:
- A brief mention at the beginning, middle, or end of the video
- A full feature video entirely dedicated to the company
- An ad segue embedded somewhere in the video
There are many ways to structure a YouTube sponsored post, and it’s one of the best ways to monetize a YouTube channel.
How to Monetize Your YouTube Channel by Selling Products and Services
Selling your own products and services gives you an opportunity to monetize your influence and sell to your YouTube audience.
This can be selling:
- Merchandise like hats, hoodies, socks, or T-shirts
- Handcrafted goods like candles, soap, jewelry, etc.
- Digital goods like digital planners, MS Excel spreadsheets, Notion templates, ebooks, etc.
- Services like personal coaching, consulting, accounting, bookkeeping, or other services
The sky’s the limit!
Create your product, then connect it to a payment processor and distribution channel, and you can have a functional business on your hands!
Examples of payment processors are Stripe, PayPal, etc.
Examples of distribution channels can be a Shopify online store, Teachable school account, or Gumroad store.
How Much Does a YouTuber Make With 100k Subscribers?
A YouTuber with 100K subscribers can make thousands per month. Sarah Lavender, with 100K subscribers at the time of this publishing, earned between $1,000 to $6,000 per month.
This source estimates $600 to $4,000 per month for a YouTube account with 100K subscribers.
How Much Do You Make From 1 Million Views on YouTube?
From 1 million views on YouTube, with an average RPM of $4, you would make $4,000. That could be:
- $4,000 from 1 one-million viewed YouTube video or,
- $4,000/month for one million views in a month with that average RPM or,
- A total of $4,000 earned for one million views lifetime
Keep in mind, though, that this is an estimate for YouTube Partner Program income only. You can earn far more from other monetization channels like sponsored posts or selling your own products.
For example, a brand may pay $20,000 for a sponsored post on YouTube that results in one million views.
Or, if you sell products at an average conversion rate of 2.5% on one million views for a $10 product, that could result in $250,000 in sales!
You can see how earnings can range a lot for one million views, depending on the monetization channel you’re using.
Check out this post if you’re wondering how much money is 1 billion views on YouTube worth.
How Much Money Can You Realistically Make on YouTube?
How much YouTubers can realistically earn from YouTube can swing wildly in both directions. This article shares an income of $82 to $83,000 per month, according to creators!
But, how much you make as a YouTuber is based on so many fluctuating variables from:
- The number of subscribers your channel has
- How active you are on the platform
- What your ad RPM is and,
- How you monetize your channel
- Location
And this is just the tip of the iceberg! Many more factors can come into play here.
What’s the bottom line?
Some YouTubers can earn a very lucrative living. Others can financially struggle as they try to find their audience and get their channel off the ground.
Like blogging, there’s no way to know how successful a channel can be, but there are YouTube tools that can help you improve your chances.
One such tool is TubeBuddy, a keyword research and optimization tool to help you get more views on your YouTube videos with YouTube SEO. This TubeBuddy review shares more about how it works, its features, its pros and cons, and more.
Do you think the potential money is worth it to be a YouTuber?
