---
title: 'How Much Did My Small Gaming Channel Make in 6 Months?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=M6klu95oP30'
video_id: 'M6klu95oP30'
date: 2026-08-05
duration_sec: 486
---

# How Much Did My Small Gaming Channel Make in 6 Months?

> Source: [How Much Did My Small Gaming Channel Make in 6 Months?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=M6klu95oP30)

## Summary

Hannah Bart, a Twitch streamer since 2015, shares her first six months of YouTube monetization as a small gaming channel focused on Nintendo and challenging Mario games. She details her subscriber and watch hour journey, breaks down her revenue sources, and offers practical advice for new creators.

### Key Points

- **Creator Background and Niche** [00:02] — Hannah Bart started streaming on Twitch in January 2015. In February 2024, she committed to consistent posting, focusing on Nintendo games, especially challenging Mario titles like Super Mario Maker 2 and Kaizo Mario. Her target audience is fellow Nintendo enthusiasts who enjoy a challenge.
- **Path to Monetization** [01:10] — To get monetized on YouTube, you need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. Hannah hit 1,000 subscribers quickly due to prior content, but took about 6 months of consistent posting to reach 4,000 watch hours, focusing on long-form videos.
- **Channel Analytics Overview** [02:04] — As of September 2025, Hannah has about 4,800 subscribers. She got monetized on October 5th, 2024. In the period from October 5, 2024 to April 5, 2025, her total views were 279,000: 200,000 from shorts, 51,000 from long-form videos, and 24,000 from live streams.
- **Watch Time and Posting Frequency** [02:46] — Total watch time in the six-month period was 8,821 hours. She posted at least one long-form video per week, plus one to three shorts per week. Some videos performed exceptionally well, while others got around 500 views.
- **Subscriber Growth and Impressions** [03:26] — She gained about 1,400 subscribers in that time frame. Her channel received 1,300,000 impressions, showing that YouTube pushes content to many people even for small channels.
- **Revenue Breakdown** [04:27] — Total YouTube revenue was $549.84. Breakdown: watch page ads $224.30 (40%), super chats $12.55 (18.7%), memberships $70.44 (12.8%), YouTube Premium $50.12 (9%), shorts feed ads $34.69 (6.3%), gifted memberships $27.94 (5%), super stickers $27.90 (5.1%), and super thanks $11.90 (2.2%).
- **Additional Income Streams** [05:25] — Hannah also earns from Twitch, Patreon, and sponsorships. She made about $800 from sponsorships in the same period, proving small channels can get sponsorships.
- **RPM Comparison** [06:06] — RPM (revenue per 1,000 views) for long-form videos was $4.68, for shorts it was $0.20, and for live streams it was $1.14. Gaming niche tends to have lower RPM due to audience demographics.
- **Tips for New Creators** [06:59] — Consistency is crucial; pick a schedule you can maintain for at least a year. Create content that attracts an audience, even in a small niche. Diversify income streams, as sponsorships can outweigh ad revenue.

### Conclusion

Hannah's experience shows that a small gaming channel can earn modest income from YouTube, but diversification and consistency are key. She emphasizes that growth compounds over time and encourages new creators to stay patient and strategic.

## Transcript

YouTube? In this video, we're going to talk about getting monetized, strategies to earn outside of YouTube, and what my actual revenue was for my first 6 months. To give you a quick introduction, my name is Hannah Bart. I
started my creator journey streaming on Twitch starting in January of 2015. I been streaming on Twitch for over 10 years. In February of 2024, I really so I made a commitment to start posting consistently. I've always had a passion
for gaming and I especially love Nintendo games. So, I decided to turn my passion into content. So, I would say my niche falls into Nintendo, but more challenging Mario games like Super Mario Maker 2 and Kaiso Mario, but I also
here and there. My target audience is for other people like me, people who are Nintendo games, and like a good challenge. My content style is usually just getting through a game or a level or something and adding a little bit of
entertainment flare to it. As you may or may not know, in order to get monetized on YouTube, you need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. My path to monetization was through long form videos and those 4,000 watch hours. You
can get monetization through shorts as well, but I focused more on long form videos. I hit the 1,000 subscriber mark pretty quickly because I had subscribers kind of built up from sharing shorts and doing some content earlier in 2020. But
I didn't hit the 4,000 watch hours until probably like 6 months after I started posting consistently. So, there's a few different ways to bring in revenue from chats, and there's memberships. Keep in mind, this can be a little bit different
different on how much you can make. It's important to pay attention to your CPMs and RPMs to know how much you're going to make. Gaming content has its own little bit harder to have a higher RPM in the gaming space, but we can take a
look at what I'm making just to give you an idea. Okay, let's take a look at my channel analytics here. So, you can see right now that I'm at about 4,800 subscribers as of September 2025, just to give you some context on where I'm
at. I got monetized on October 5th. So, I just did my time period from October I just did my time period from October 5th, 2024 to April 5th, 2025. All right, so taking a closer look at views here. So my total views during that time frame
was 279,000. Um, just to break it down by video Um, just to break it down by video types, um, my shorts brought in 200,000 of those views. My videos, my long form videos, 51,000 views, and my live
streams brought in 24,000 views. So you can just kind of take a look at that um, to get an idea of where my views are coming from. Okay, now we're going to take a little bit closer look at watch time. So, my total watch time in this
time. So, my total watch time in this time frame was 8,821 hours. So, just to give you guys some context on how often I post. Um, in terms of long- form videos, during this time frame, I was posting at least one
long form video per week. I usually post like one to three shorts per week as long form videos and that's where I'm So, as you can see on the chart here, you know, I had a few videos that had
performed really well for me. You know, sometimes I post a video and it gets like 500 views and then I'll have a video every once in a while that'll kind watch time and a lot of ad revenue in. Next, we can take a quick look at
subscribers here. So, in that time frame, I got about well, I got about 1,400 subscribers in that time frame if you round up. It looks like I got a lot of subscribers from the last video I did like this. So, this is your reminder to
content. And then next up, you can see kind of just as we go down a bunch of videos that are just Super Mario Maker 2 related. Um, it looks like I had one the first time that got quite a few subscribers. One other interesting stat
that I like to look at is impressions. So, I had 1,300,000 impressions on my channel in that time period. That is a lot of impressions. small channel, like YouTube will definitely still push out to your
content to a lot of people. So, there is a ton of opportunity out there for you small channels. Okay. And finally, let's get into the revenue. Okay. So, my total revenue during this time frame from YouTube was $549.84.
some money off of YouTube. And it's a little bit of extra fun spending money I can use on gaming stuff. Okay, so let's break this down. So from watch page ads, I made $224.30. That was 40% of my income. Super chats
was $12.55, 18.7% of my income. Memberships was $7044, 12.8% 8% of my income. From YouTube
12.8% 8% of my income. From YouTube Premium, I made $50.12, 9% of my income. Shorts feed ads, which is a little bit higher nowadays, is $34.69, so 6.3% of my revenue. Gifted memberships was $27.94,
5% of my revenue. Super stickers was $27.90, 5.1% of my revenue. And then Super Thanks was $11.90, about 2.2% 2% of my revenue. A couple other things I want to add is yes,
money, but I also make money from Twitch. I make money from Patreon, and then I've also done a couple sponsorships on YouTube. It is possible to get sponsorships as a small channel. I made about $800 in sponsorships in
this time frame. So, even though I'm not a super huge channel, I just want to let channel like me to get sponsorships. I don't have my exact numbers of what I time frame, but if that's something you'd be interested in learning about,
always make a separate video on that. So, the final thing I want to look at is RPMs. For those of you that may not know, RPMs are basically how much they'll pay you per 1,000 views. So, we'll take a look at my videos, shorts,
and lives, and just see the difference there. So, for my long form videos, my RPM is $4.68. For shorts, my RPM is a walloping 20. And then for live streams, my RPM is $114.
opinion. So, like I said, for RPM, it's going to be a little bit different for everybody. The gaming niche is a little bit harder to get a higher RPM just audience, which doesn't have as much buying power. But, you'll have to let me
know how my RPM compares to maybe yours or another channel that you know of. Overall, I'm super grateful for how much money I've made on YouTube. It's not a so it's nice to just get a little bit for what I'm putting in. I think over
time it will compound and I'll be able to make more, but I'm still learning as I go and I'm not going to be perfect every video that I make. I'm just trying to learn where I fit best and where my community is. So, every step I take is a
step towards growth in my opinion. If you're a newer creator, here's a couple tips I would give you. Everybody says it, but consistency is super important. and stick to that. Whether it's once a week, once every other week, once a
month, every day. One piece of advice I heard is if you think you can do that should do. If you won't be able to stick to it for at least a year, then don't pick that consistency and lower it down until you get there. Another suggestion
creating content that is going to attract an audience. Sometimes when you're in a small gaming niche, the community isn't very big. So, just be what content you want to create. My final tip is as you become monetized on
YouTube, make sure you diversify your income streams. As I was showing you, I made more money in sponsorships than I did from ads on YouTube. So, just making sure you're keeping those options open as your channel grows. So, what do you
what you expected? Let me know in the comments below what your thoughts are. channel? You'll definitely want to check out this video here next. Thank you guys so much for watching. We'll see you guys in the next