YouTube is a major source of entertainment and/ or revenue for many. It is relatively easy to make money on YouTube, and almost anyone can earn do it with some hard work. One question many may have is why it is easier to make money on YouTube than on other streaming platforms. There’s actually a simple answer to that: the scale and reach of YouTube as a platform. YouTube is the third most-visited site after Google and Facebook. Over 500 hours of video are uploaded on the platform every minute, and over 500 million hours of videos are viewed on the platform each day.
With such a large audience to cater to, there is a good chance you have something to show that YouTube audiences would want. YouTube itself offers several ways to make money from the platform. You can even make money on YouTube if your channel is small and doesn’t have many subscribers.
Here are the ways you can make money on YouTube:
The YouTube Partnership Program or AdSense is the easiest way to make money on YouTube, but for this to work, your channel must enjoy some popularity. If your YouTube channel is approved, you will get a small cut from the ads that are shown in your videos. However, there are a few eligibility requirements for the program, which you can read here.
Even if you don’t currently meet all the requirements, you can still sign up to have your account reviewed when your channel does meet them all. Once your channel meets all the requirements, your account would then be submitted instantly for review. The process may take a few days because it involves automatic systems and human assessors.
Merchandising is a profitable option for popular YouTube content creators to make money through their subscribers. There are plenty of merchandising options available, such as t-shirts, caps, notebooks, mugs, hoodies, smartphone covers and more.
To make it easy for you to come up with your merchandise, YouTube has partnered with a few merchandising companies. You can view the list here. These partner companies handle everything from production to distribution, and you get a solid profit per piece.
However, there are a few requirements to qualify for YouTube’s own merchandising option, including having at least 10,000 subscribers. Even if you don’t have so many subscribers, there are still ways to sell branded merchandise. For instance, you can use sites like Spreadshop to design your t-shirts. These t-shirts are printed on demand and shipped to your subscribers without you have to do anything.
YouTube’s Super Chat is another easy and relatively new way to make money from the platform. YouTube added this feature in late 2017, allowing anyone to make their comment stand out during a live feed. The money paid for the service goes directly to the YouTuber. Again, there are a few requirements to be eligible for this, including having over 1,000 subscribers.
Patreon works like a crowd-funding tool allowing fans to support their favorite YouTube channel or content creators. This monetization method helps content creators cover the cost of making more content or making customized content for paying “patrons” However, there are fees involved in setting up an account to accept money from patrons. To learn more about it, visit this link.
Channel membership allows eligible content creators to collect a monthly subscription fee from subscribers. In return, subscribers get access to exclusive content, perks, and badges from the content creators. However, there are quite a few requirements to be eligible for having a channel membership.
With Brand sponsorship, a company or brand pays you money to promote their product or brand. You can directly approach companies for sponsorship or use third-party services like Famebit, which helps connect brands with YouTubers.
Affiliate programs are the easiest way to make money on YouTube, provided you have viewers who listen to you. All you need to do is create a video around a product and add a link to it in the description. To put it simply, you first market a product and then add a referral link for that product in the description of the video. You will get a cut on each unit sold via the referral link you gave.
There are several affiliate programs that you can join, but most have an approval process. One of the easiest programs is Amazon Affiliates, which allows you to make money by promoting Amazon products.
Now you are aware of the relatively easy ways you can make money on YouTube. It is not all as easy as it sounds, but still, a bit of hard work should be enough to help you earn money via YouTube. There is almost no limit to how much you can earn from YouTube, but for that, you will need to be among the top content creators. Even if you are not, you can earn a decent amount of money from YouTube by putting in a few hours of work.
