Video 0ANwzKcNm8Y

[00:00] So, you would like to make money on

[00:01] YouTube? Well, so would I. And luckily

[00:04] for us, YouTube is adding new ways to do

[00:06] that every single year. So, I thought it

[00:07] was about time for an up-to-date

[00:09] monetization guide going over all the

[00:10] ways YouTube currently pays creators and

[00:13] how you can best use them. I will have

[00:15] timestamps down below so you can skip to

[00:17] the ones that you would like to learn

[00:18] more about. So, let's start with the

[00:20] first one, and that is ad revenue. The

[00:22] most popular way people make money on

[00:24] this platform, the first thing you think

[00:26] about when you think making money on

[00:27] YouTube is probably this method. The way

[00:29] it works is that YouTube will pay you

[00:30] for ads that run before, during, and

[00:32] even after your videos. By the way, I'm

[00:34] specifically talking about long- form

[00:36] YouTube videos. We're going to get to

[00:37] shorts in a little bit, but YouTube

[00:39] takes 45%, you get the other 55%. And

[00:42] that is like very basically how it

[00:44] works. As long as you are in the partner

[00:45] program, your videos will just be

[00:47] monetized, and you can start to make

[00:49] money simply by posting videos.

[00:50] Unfortunately though, you can't turn

[00:51] this one on right away. To qualify, you

[00:53] need 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000

[00:56] hours of watch time in the last 12

[00:57] months or 10 million valid shorts views

[01:00] in the last 90 days. Once you hit that

[01:02] though, that is it. You are fully in the

[01:04] YouTube partnership program. Now,

[01:05] unfortunately, not all views in the

[01:06] partnership program pay the same.

[01:08] Depending on your niche and your

[01:09] audience, some videos might pay $20 for

[01:12] every,000 views, while other videos

[01:13] might pay 20 cents for every,000 views.

[01:15] So, for some creators, ad revenue, even

[01:17] early on, can absolutely start paying

[01:19] some bills. For others, not so much.

[01:21] Like I said, it depends on audience and

[01:23] it depends on your niche. If your

[01:24] viewers live in a country where ad rates

[01:26] are generally higher, then advertisers

[01:28] will be paying more in those countries

[01:30] and therefore you will get a larger

[01:31] piece of the pie. But for example, if

[01:33] your audience is younger and advertisers

[01:35] aren't spending as much to reach that

[01:36] particular audience, there's just not as

[01:38] much to go around. And I want to clear

[01:40] up a common myth here, too. Just because

[01:41] your videos are longer doesn't mean

[01:44] they're necessarily going to make more

[01:45] money. Sure, you can spam ads yourself

[01:48] in the video all throughout, but if you

[01:49] if users aren't watching the video long

[01:52] enough to even reach those points where

[01:53] you've placed an ad, they're not going

[01:55] to end up paying out anything. So, when

[01:56] it comes to ad revenue and even getting

[01:58] yourself to the level where you can earn

[01:59] money from ad revenue, it's just about

[02:01] making the very best videos you possibly

[02:03] can and making them no shorter or no

[02:05] longer than they need to be. But that is

[02:06] just one piece of the puzzle. We have a

[02:07] lot more methods to get to. Let's go

[02:08] into shorts real quick. The requirements

[02:10] for unlocking ad revenue for YouTube

[02:12] shorts are exactly the same as ad

[02:14] revenue for long form videos. 1,000

[02:16] subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch

[02:17] time or 10 million shorts views within

[02:19] the last 90 days. Once you're in the

[02:20] partnership program, you can earn

[02:22] revenue on your shorts and you can earn

[02:24] revenue from posting long form videos as

[02:25] well. The way ads run on shorts is a

[02:27] little bit different though. Instead of

[02:28] ads being placed in the middle of a

[02:30] YouTube short, ads play a lot of times

[02:32] in the feed between YouTube shorts. This

[02:34] means the revenue is getting split

[02:35] between you and other creators in that

[02:37] particular pool. And after music

[02:39] licensing deals are done, you usually

[02:41] end up taking away like a 45% chunk of

[02:44] the money that is spent on those ads.

[02:46] And I'll be honest, the pay, at least

[02:47] right now, for shorts views is way lower

[02:50] than it is for long form views. If

[02:52] you're regularly getting 500,000 or a

[02:54] million views from shorts, you're

[02:56] probably not going to be quitting your

[02:57] day job anytime soon. Ad rates have

[02:58] gotten better, but if you're just

[02:59] relying on shorts, you're going to need

[03:01] millions and millions of views pretty

[03:02] consistently. So, to answer the question

[03:04] we get all the time, can shorts critters

[03:06] really make any real money? The answer

[03:07] is yes, but the bar is really high. You

[03:10] need really highquality shorts that get

[03:12] a lot of views. The third method on the

[03:14] list is YouTube premium revenue. The

[03:17] nice thing about this is that there are

[03:18] no extra requirements. You just need to

[03:20] be in the full YouTube partnership

[03:21] program. So again, 1,000 subscribers,

[03:23] 4,000 hours of watch time, or 10 million

[03:25] shorts views in 90 days. Boom. Partner

[03:27] program. And now you're also getting

[03:28] revenue from the YouTube Premium

[03:30] program. Basically, when someone with

[03:31] YouTube Premium watches your videos,

[03:33] they're not seeing an ad, which means

[03:36] there's no ad revenue to share. Instead,

[03:38] you get a cut of the money that they pay

[03:40] for their subscription to YouTube

[03:41] Premium. But the good news about this is

[03:43] that YouTube Premium viewers are

[03:45] typically paying more than you would

[03:47] normally get from an ad viewer. I just

[03:49] want to stress that just because people

[03:50] watch you with premium, it's not going

[03:51] to double your YouTube ad revenue or

[03:53] your YouTube income overnight. But from

[03:54] what we've seen in terms of your monthly

[03:56] total revenue, YouTube Premium can

[03:58] represent anywhere between like 5 and

[03:59] 15%. Now, before we dive into the next

[04:01] methods for making money, I need to

[04:03] clarify a new thing that happened a

[04:05] couple years ago when it comes to the

[04:06] YouTube partnership program that makes

[04:08] talking about this a little bit

[04:09] confusing. So, in 2023, YouTube launched

[04:11] a brand new type of partnership program

[04:12] that is basically one step lower than

[04:14] the one we've been talking about up till

[04:15] now, where you need 1,000 subscribers

[04:16] and 4,000 hours of watch time.

[04:18] Essentially, once you hit 500

[04:19] subscribers and three videos in the last

[04:21] 90 days and either 3,000 hours of watch

[04:24] time or 3 million shorts views in the

[04:26] last 90 days, you unlock fan funding.

[04:29] This technically means you are in the

[04:30] YouTube partnership program, but you

[04:32] have not yet unlocked ad revenue methods

[04:34] of making money. So, the next few

[04:36] monetization methods we're going through

[04:37] are going to be available to those in

[04:39] that lower tier of the partnership

[04:40] program. First up is channel

[04:42] memberships. How they work is once you

[04:43] set this up, fans of your channel can

[04:45] contribute to you on a monthly basis.

[04:47] And you get to set up all the different

[04:48] pricing tiers for how much they pay

[04:50] versus what they get in return. What

[04:52] they get in return is completely up to

[04:53] you. Custom badges, emotes, exclusive

[04:56] videos, even exclusive live streams. All

[04:58] this stuff is available for you to

[04:59] decide what to give in return for this

[05:02] monthly revenue. With YouTube, the cut

[05:04] here is about a 7030 split. You get 70%,

[05:06] YouTube gets 30%. My biggest tip if

[05:08] you're setting up a membership program

[05:10] is to make sure that whatever you offer

[05:12] does not require any more work for you,

[05:14] whether you have one member or a

[05:16] thousand members. For example, I

[05:18] strongly advise against a perk that

[05:20] basically requires you to write a

[05:21] handwritten letter to every new member

[05:23] you get. Instead, doing a regular

[05:25] membersonly live stream can be a great

[05:27] way to give value to any amount of

[05:29] members that you happen to have at that

[05:30] time. To determine what perks work the

[05:32] best, I would just look at other

[05:33] creators in your niche to see what

[05:35] they're offering, to see what the

[05:36] audience of this particular niche has

[05:38] come to expect from different membership

[05:40] programs. Next up, I'm going to combine

[05:41] these two, super chats and super

[05:43] stickers. These unlock at that 500 sub

[05:46] tier of the partnership program. And the

[05:47] way it works is that super chats

[05:49] basically exist while you're live.

[05:51] People can give you a certain amount of

[05:52] money. They can write a message and that

[05:54] message will appear big and colorful in

[05:56] the chat. It'll also pin itself to the

[05:57] top depending on how much they donated.

[05:59] That will determine how long it kind of

[06:00] stays pinned to your chat. I've seen

[06:02] people spend a couple bucks just to say

[06:04] hello or ask a question real quick all

[06:06] the way to $100 just because people

[06:07] really enjoy supporting their favorite

[06:09] creators while they're live. YouTube

[06:10] takes its 30% cut of these as well, but

[06:12] they can be really great if you have an

[06:13] engaged audience who wants to support

[06:15] you financially. Super stickers are

[06:17] basically the same thing, but they're a

[06:18] great alternative for someone who wants

[06:20] to support you, but they don't really

[06:21] want to write a message. And what'll

[06:22] happen is they send one and it's this

[06:24] little animated gift that's just kind of

[06:25] hanging out in chat for a little while.

[06:27] Can small channels benefit from this?

[06:28] Absolutely. Even if you cater to 10 or

[06:31] 20 viewers, you might have people who

[06:32] are willing and able to super chat to

[06:34] you. My tip to you is to make sure you

[06:36] thank people who send you super chats.

[06:37] If they ask a question, absolutely

[06:39] answer that question. If you've ever

[06:40] been in a really large live stream with

[06:42] like thousands of people chatting, you

[06:43] might notice those creators don't really

[06:45] get to all their super chats, that is

[06:47] simply because some of them just make a

[06:49] lot of money and get a lot of super

[06:50] chats all at once and it becomes very

[06:52] difficult to keep up. That does not mean

[06:54] you should follow that example. If you

[06:55] are a small channel and you have the

[06:57] ability to keep up with your super

[06:58] chats, you should absolutely do so.

[07:00] Number seven is also in the super

[07:02] category, but this time it's called

[07:03] super thanks. They're unlocked at that

[07:05] lower level tier of the partnership

[07:06] program. And basically the way they work

[07:08] is if you have a video you've posted,

[07:10] somebody can leave a super thanks

[07:12] comment on the video. They're allowed to

[07:14] give anywhere between $2 all the way up

[07:16] to $500. And before you ask, no, I've

[07:18] not personally seen anybody give a $500

[07:20] super thanks. But let me know in the

[07:22] comments if you have. If this is a

[07:23] feature you have, but you're finding

[07:24] people aren't using it. I would say not

[07:26] to push too hard, but maybe once in a

[07:28] while let people know that if they

[07:30] appreciate the content you're making,

[07:31] they can maybe leave a super thanks down

[07:33] below just to, you know, show their

[07:35] appreciation. Personally though, if I

[07:36] were to ask someone to do anything, it

[07:37] would probably be to get them to watch

[07:38] another video. I think that's them being

[07:40] more likely to support me in the future

[07:42] rather than using my one ask per video

[07:44] if I have that on Super. Thanks. Number

[07:46] eight is YouTube shopping. Think of it

[07:48] as YouTube's version of Tik Tok shop.

[07:50] This one's pretty new, but right now you

[07:52] can attach products to videos, shorts,

[07:54] live streams, and people can actually

[07:56] find and buy those products from

[07:58] YouTube's page, and they don't have to

[07:59] Google anything. If someone does that,

[08:01] you get a cut of that sale. To have

[08:03] access to this feature though, you need

[08:04] to be in the top tier partnership

[08:06] program, that 1,000 subscriber, 4,000

[08:07] hour threshold. From there, you can set

[08:09] up a shop through Shopify, Spreadshirt,

[08:12] FourthWall, or a service like that. From

[08:13] there, you can tag products directly

[08:15] within your content, and you can even

[08:16] set up a store tab on your YouTube

[08:18] channel. Do you have to have your own

[08:19] merch to use the shopping feature? No,

[08:21] actually, you do not. You can actually

[08:23] tag approved products from different

[08:25] brands, and you can earn commissions off

[08:27] those sales. In fact, YouTube even has

[08:28] an affiliate program that offers

[08:30] creators with 15,000 subs or more to get

[08:32] paid 5 to 20% commissions every time

[08:34] their audience buys something. The tip

[08:36] here that I have for you is to make sure

[08:37] if you're using this that the product

[08:38] you're pitching is relevant to your

[08:40] audience. Fitness creators who tag a

[08:42] resistance band, yeah, that seems to

[08:44] make sense. A gaming channel all of a

[08:46] sudden pitching you to buy a blender,

[08:48] not so much. This is a relatively new

[08:49] feature, and I would argue it's kind of

[08:51] underused at the moment, so it could be

[08:52] a huge opportunity to make some money.

[08:54] But I would also caution that it's not

[08:56] the beall endall. Number nine is YouTube

[08:58] Brand Connect. And this is where we get

[09:00] into sponsored content. This though is a

[09:02] built-in service that YouTube actually

[09:04] runs where brands can come to you and

[09:06] offer you different deals for pitching

[09:08] their products or services in your

[09:09] videos. Instead of you reaching out to

[09:11] brands yourself, YouTube can set up the

[09:13] connection for you. Basically, what you

[09:15] get from turning this on are more

[09:16] opportunities because there are already

[09:18] brands who are looking for creators in

[09:19] your niche to promote their products or

[09:21] services. and YouTube is letting them

[09:23] use this tool to find you for you. You

[09:25] get all these different tools that allow

[09:26] you to accept offers, manage the

[09:28] campaigns. You can even get your creator

[09:30] brief inside of YouTube Studio. Another

[09:31] thing you get is the custom media kit.

[09:33] And this could be something that you can

[09:34] basically print out from YouTube. And it

[09:36] has all of your channel metrics on there

[09:37] that a brand would be interested in. And

[09:39] from there, you can bring that to brands

[09:41] yourself to prove where you're at on

[09:43] YouTube right now in terms of how many

[09:44] views you get, your demographics, things

[09:45] like that. In short, Brand Connect is

[09:47] here to take the headache away from

[09:48] finding brand deals and sponsorships.

[09:50] The contracts are standardized, the

[09:51] payments all go through YouTube, and you

[09:53] get to find sponsors without actually

[09:55] having to go and hunt for them. If this

[09:56] is something you decide to use though

[09:58] and you qualify for it, I'm going to

[09:59] caution you not to just take any brand

[10:01] deal just because you have the

[10:02] opportunity to. If you're a cooking

[10:04] channel, maybe promoting board games is

[10:05] not the right fit. A good example,

[10:07] though, is that if you were a channel

[10:08] that perhaps educated people on how to

[10:10] grow on YouTube and you happen to have a

[10:11] product that also helped people grow

[10:12] their channels and it happened to be

[10:14] called Vid IQ, then maybe that would be

[10:16] like a good fit. And then what you could

[10:17] do is like on every video you could like

[10:19] leave a link to that thing at the bottom

[10:21] and tell people it's like free. You can

[10:22] just try it and yeah there are paid

[10:24] tools too that kind of unlock a lot for

[10:26] you and it can it could really offer a

[10:28] lot of insights and value and you know

[10:30] you could say the link is down below and

[10:32] it offers an exclusive deal to people

[10:33] who watch your videos. You'd say things

[10:35] like that, right? And it would provide

[10:37] value to the the audience because it'd

[10:39] be a good fit because you would be a

[10:40] YouTube education channel providing an

[10:42] education product. Anyway, it's a great

[10:45] way to land sponsorship deals, but just

[10:47] like every good way to make money, it

[10:49] can be used incorrectly. So, make sure

[10:51] you're taking deals that make sense.

[10:52] Number 10 is affiliate marketing. And I

[10:54] have talked about this already in this

[10:56] video, but this is specifically

[10:57] affiliate marketing outside of YouTube.

[10:59] What's nice about this is that you can

[11:00] turn this on tomorrow. If you have zero

[11:03] subscribers, you can start affiliate

[11:04] marketing today. The way it works is you

[11:06] recommend a product, you provide a

[11:07] unique link, people click that link, you

[11:09] get a commission if they happen to buy

[11:10] something. It really depends on which

[11:12] affiliate programs you join, but

[11:13] commissions can range from like 5% to

[11:15] 20%. A common question here is, "Okay,

[11:17] should I just join the Amazon affiliate

[11:18] program?" And you can, but it's not

[11:20] necessarily for everybody. A lot of

[11:22] different brands have affiliate

[11:23] programs. One you've probably seen a

[11:24] lot, for example, are the different VPN

[11:26] companies. If tech channels happen to

[11:28] talk about a VPN, they'll usually be

[11:29] affiliated with one of the many that

[11:31] there are. If you happen to be a YouTube

[11:33] education channel that educates people

[11:34] on how to grow on YouTube, maybe maybe

[11:36] you would join the Vid IQ affiliate

[11:38] program, which is actually a thing. And

[11:39] you know, find out more information

[11:40] about that link down below. My tip for

[11:42] you is of course not to just say link

[11:43] down below, but to actually show the

[11:45] thing that you are affiliated with. Show

[11:47] yourself using it and show your audience

[11:50] how this thing can provide value to

[11:51] them. This is especially powerful for

[11:53] channels who do any kind of product

[11:55] reviews or things like that. Very often,

[11:56] if they are in the Amazon affiliate

[11:58] program, they'll have affiliate links

[11:59] and you've probably clicked on some

[12:00] yourself. I've done so for sure. It's a

[12:03] great way to kind of support the creator

[12:05] who just showed you this cool thing

[12:06] while not actually giving them any extra

[12:09] money, right? You're going to buy it

[12:10] anyway. Why not give them a cut? I would

[12:11] say if this is something you're going to

[12:12] do, I would tailor your links on a per

[12:14] video basis. If in this video you're

[12:16] using a specific piece of gear or a

[12:19] product or a service, then maybe that's

[12:21] the time to put that affiliate link in.

[12:22] And you can join a lot of different

[12:23] affiliate programs and use the different

[12:25] links throughout different pieces of

[12:26] content. The best part about affiliate

[12:28] programs though is that if you convert a

[12:30] lot of sales, this can be huge if you're

[12:33] going out and looking for potential

[12:34] sponsors later on because it shows that

[12:36] your audience is willing to spend money

[12:37] and you are good at promoting different

[12:40] products. These next two are really new,

[12:42] but number 11, let's start here with

[12:44] YouTube gifts, formerly known as jewels.

[12:46] You won't really see these around

[12:47] YouTube unless you're watching a lot of

[12:49] vertical live streams in the short

[12:50] shelf. They're pretty simple, though.

[12:51] The way it works is that you could be

[12:52] watching a creator on the short shelf

[12:54] while they're live and you can hit the

[12:56] little gift icon and then you can choose

[12:58] what kind of gift you want to give them.

[12:59] Essentially, it shows a little

[13:01] animation, but you're just kind of

[13:02] choosing how much money to give them.

[13:04] What's kind of cool about them is that

[13:05] they appear as an overlay for the entire

[13:07] live stream. So, if you give a gift,

[13:08] everybody can see it. Essentially

[13:10] though, these are basically super chats,

[13:11] but just for the vertical live streams

[13:13] rather than the horizontal ones. And

[13:15] then perhaps the newest monetization

[13:16] method that I'm still trying to learn

[13:17] about myself is the YouTube player for

[13:19] education. According to YouTube's help

[13:21] page, if you create educational videos

[13:23] or shorts, our educational partners like

[13:25] schools and teachers may choose to embed

[13:27] your content in their learning

[13:28] materials. When educational partners

[13:29] choose to embed your content or watch

[13:31] your already embedded content, they may

[13:33] be using Player for Education. This

[13:35] gives teachers a way to show your

[13:36] content to their students without having

[13:38] ads on it. It literally says, even

[13:40] though there aren't any ads, you can

[13:42] still earn money from the amount of time

[13:44] people watch your videos in the player.

[13:46] As far as I can tell, this is YouTube

[13:47] basically paying you out of their own

[13:49] pockets so that they can become a

[13:51] stronger force in education across the

[13:54] board. Let me know if this is something

[13:55] you've thought about doing. I think this

[13:56] feature might even still be rolling out,

[13:58] but it's very interesting and I think

[14:00] depending on the kind of content you

[14:01] make, you might be a perfect fit for

[14:02] this program. Perhaps the strangest

[14:04] monetization method though that you're

[14:05] going to hear me talk about today is

[14:06] licensing out your content. This

[14:08] particular money-making method flies

[14:09] under the radar, but it can be very

[14:11] profitable depending on again the kind

[14:13] of content you make. Here's how it

[14:14] works. Basically, media outlets like TV

[14:16] stations or hey, even other creators

[14:19] might see your content and they might

[14:21] want to use it themselves instead of

[14:22] letting them just rip your content and

[14:24] then you sit there and hope for a little

[14:25] bit of credit, you can license that

[14:27] content to them. And there's actually

[14:29] companies that exist that will help you

[14:30] broker these types of deals so that if

[14:32] your content ends up in the evening

[14:33] news, you get something for that. You

[14:35] don't have to go through those programs,

[14:36] though. Let's say you capture a storm

[14:38] that happened that rolled through your

[14:40] community and you got this really

[14:41] awesome footage of it. If the news

[14:43] reaches out to you, you can absolutely

[14:44] set the terms yourself as to how much

[14:46] you want them to give you to license

[14:48] that for their evening story.

[14:49] Oftentimes, if a certain type of clip

[14:51] goes viral, this is something that can

[14:52] absolutely happen to you. Is this kind

[14:53] of thing only for viral creators,

[14:55] though? Absolutely not. Even niche stuff

[14:57] like really rare events or drone footage

[14:59] or very in-depth tutorials can be things

[15:02] that get licensed out. It's kind of like

[15:03] when people use stock footage, only this

[15:05] is like way more specific. Essentially,

[15:06] if you feel like the content you're

[15:07] capturing is really unique, then I would

[15:10] absolutely look into licensing it. So,

[15:11] there you go. over a dozen different

[15:13] ways to make money on YouTube. The big

[15:15] takeaway here is that you don't need all

[15:17] of them. Try to figure out which ones

[15:18] work better for you. Maybe you hit

[15:20] monetization through the partnership

[15:21] program. Maybe you start up a

[15:22] membership. Maybe you have a couple

[15:23] affiliate links. And that's all you

[15:25] really have to do. You don't have to use

[15:27] all of these if you're overwhelmed. It

[15:28] is hard. Monetizing on YouTube is hard.

[15:30] Even getting there is difficult. And

[15:32] that's why this video is here for you.

[15:33] Because if you're finding YouTube to be

[15:34] a struggle, hopefully this will make it

[15:36] a little bit easier.