Ryan Kaji is a 7-year-old boy who stays in California. He (with the help of his family) runs a YouTube channel called Ryan ToysReview. He posts videos on YouTube, mainly focusing on reviews of toys. His videos have been viewed by more than 30 billion people online and his channel is subscribed by 19.9 million internet users. Can you guess how much he earned in 2018 from his YouTube channel? $22 million! Yes, a 7-year kid earned 22 million in a year just by posting videos. He now even has his own product line on Walmart.

Daniel Middleton from Wellingborough in England runs a YouTube channel called DanTDM. He is well-known for posting videos of him playing online games. More than 21 million internet users subscribe to his videos to watch him play games. For doing this, he earned $18.5 million in 2018. Ryan and Daniel are just two examples from the world of YouTube. There are many more like them who make videos for YouTube and rake in millions. They have shown that you can make money from YouTube by posting your own videos.

Sounds interesting? Making moneyby posting videos sounds like an interesting and lucrative idea. It is possible for anyone to earn money from YouTube. All that is needed is quality content. Anyone can make videos, but the videos must be such that they are interesting and attract users to them. If you can do that, then making money is not an issue. Let’s take a look at how much YouTube pays and how you can make money from YouTube.

How to make money from YouTube?

YouTube is one of the most popular websites in the world and is classified as a social media site. It is a website where you can post videos, share them, comment on videos posted by others, and interact with other users. It is the second most popular social media site (afterFacebook) and has more than 1.9 billion users visiting the site every month – that’s 1/3^rd of all internet users. Everyday people who visit YouTube watch more than a billion hours of video. YouTube supports 80 languages and has customized versions in more than 90 countries. Every minute users across the world upload 400 hours of video.

More than 50% of those who watch YouTube videos say that they do it to understand how to do things they have not done before. All these astounding numbers show that YouTube is an extremely popular site that is not just entertaining and informative but can help you make money. The primary source of earning from YouTube is through ads. There are other ways also of making money that we will look at. YouTube is a part of Google and uses AdSense and AdWords programs to earn money from advertisements.

Earning from advertisements

You can earn money from two types of ads:

• CPC: This is Cost per click, wherein advertisements are displayed on your YouTube channel. Whenever a user clicks on the advertisement, you can earn money.
• CPV: This is Cost per view. Here, you can be paid if a user watches the advertisement displayed on your channel either for 30 seconds or for half the duration of the ad.

68% of what Google earns from advertisements is paid out to those who host the advertisements. Trends show that for every 100 people visiting your video, you can expect 15 of them to view ads (for at least 30 seconds). On average, you can expect to earn $0.18 per view. So, for every 1000 views of an ad, you can earn $18. Let us assume you have a million loyal viewers of your channel. You can expect to earn $18,000 from one video through ads. The more the number of videos you upload and more the number of subscribers you have, the higher is your potential to earn.

The amount you earn is not the same for all types of ads. It all depends on the keyword or the phrase linked to the ad. Certain keywords will pay you more money than others will. You can filter out ads displayed on your channel to ensure you have more high paying ads. For example, the keyword ‘insurance’ pays out $58 per click. You don’t have to make a video about insurance to get these ads. Anyone who has searched for insurance on their laptop/mobile will see more insurance ads, even if they visit a video channel on cooking.

A point to note here is you need to earn a minimum of $100 before Google starts paying out. Theoretically, it is easy earning money through ads. The key here is to get regular viewers or subscribers to your channel. Once they visit your video, they need to view the ads. The 15 per 1000 quoted is a general statistic, there is no guarantee you will get this kind of views every time. Therefore, you need to increase the number of subscribers to your channel to be able to earn more from advertisements.

Becoming a YouTube partner

YouTube invites you to become a partner. This may not help you earn money directly, but it opens up many opportunities to earn money. The YouTube partner scheme is available in 20 countries and is available for channels who have at least 10,000 views overall. YouTube allows you to monetize your videos and start earning from it, once you become a partner. You must note that you cannot be a part of the YouTube partner program if your videos have hate content or sexually explicit content. You can use the following video ads:

1. Overlay in-view video: These ads would be run in a banner over your video when it is playing.
2. True view in-stream video: These ads would be run before your video is played. This ensures viewers have to see the ad (entirely or a part) before they watch your video.

If you are a partner of YouTube, you will hold the copyright on your videos. If you are not a partner, the copyright may not belong to you. Also, whenever you reach a particular subscriber milestone, you can get a special play button included in your videos (eg: Gold play button for 1 million subscribers). YouTube does not restrict its partners to use only their platform. Apart from YouTube, you can use other sites also for uploading video content.

Product placements to earn money

An interesting option that allows you to earn money is through product placements. These are not advertisements but are a part of your video. You would promote products of a brand through your video. This is a part of what is known as influencer marketing. When you run a successful video channel with many subscribers, you are now an influencer. Through your video, you are able to influence others. So, when you promote a product in your videos it can influence those who watch your videos to buy the products. Brands would, therefore, be willing to work with you to promote their products.

You can make an agreement with a company to work out the details. You may be paid a commission on products sold as a result of your effort. You can also demand a fixed fee for promoting the product on your channel. The way you promote the product could vary. You can just allow it to be seen in your video, or you can wear a T-shirt with the product ad. Alternately, you can directly promote the product and recommend your viewers to buy it. This is a lucrative option, allowing you to make money from your YouTube videos.

Collect fees from subscribers

YouTube is essentially a free site. Anyone can visit any YouTube channel and watch the videos for free. Considering the free nature of the site, asking someone to pay seems to be a surprising option. However, there are many paid YouTube channels and surprisingly they work well for the channel owner. If you offer top quality content that provide value for subscribers, they would not hesitate to pay and watch. For example, you could have made a short film that has an interesting plot. After watching the trailer, users may be attracted to it and decide to pay and watch.

You could be a training provider and offer training on hot topics that are relevant. In such a case, users would be interested to pay to watch your content. In general, if you have made a name for yourself as a provider of valuable content, subscribers will not hesitate to pay a small fee to watch your content. YouTube channels can offer a pay-per-month subscription and this is a good option to monetize your channel and earn a steady income from it.

Sponsorships

A strategy similar to product placement is sponsorship. This is whereabrand/corporate entity would sponsor your channel and offer you a fee. If the brand feels that your content is good and those who view your videos could be their potential customers, they would offer a sponsorship deal. Depending on how many subscribers you have, you can get a good sponsorship deal. You would have to reveal who your sponsor is to be ethical. There is a company called Grapevine whose job is to connect sponsors and YouTube channel owners.

Sell your Merchandise and related products

Once you establish your reputation and win the trust of subscribers, you can start selling merchandise through your YouTube channel. You can sell T-shirts, caps, mugs, and other such products carrying your YouTube channel name. If you have loyal fans of your channel, they would be willing to buy your products. Depending on the type of channel you run, you can offer ancillary products. For instance, if you are running a cookery channel, you can sell cookery books online. You can even sell food products made by you through your channel.

If you review video games, you can sell your own game products. You can even use your YouTube channel to attract visitors to your website. You may be offering online courses on your website. You can use the YouTube channel to offers a few modules for free. If subscribers like your content, you can invite them to your website to register and take up the full course. The leading YouTube channel, in terms of subscriber strength is PewDiePie, which has 50 million subscribers. PewDiePie earned an income of almost $9 million in 2016 only from merchandising. This shows the potential of merchandising in earning money.

Crowd funding to earn money

Crowd funding is a business model where you can earn money from the public (crowd) through various fora. This is popularly used by startups to generate capital. It is being used by YouTube channel owners to earn money. There is a crowd funding platform called Patreon that allows YouTube channel owners to earn money from their fans. A user would pay this voluntary contribution to you in return for the quality content you provide. This can also be useful to generate funds to manage your channel.

For instance, to continue to provide quality content you need quality equipment, video editing facility and so on. You can generate funds for this through crowd funding platforms. If your subscribers like your content, they would be willing to support you, by visiting a website like Patreon and contributing money. You can thank those who are paying you by creating exclusive videos for them. This is a good business model to earn money for your channel.

You can start earning

Having seen the different ways in which you can make money from your YouTube channel, you would probably be interested to be a part of this. All you need is a niche area where you can provide quality video content. It can be a cookery show, a product review, a training course, a ‘how to’ video, or anything you are proficient in. If you deliver quality content and are able to attract users, you can also make a lot of money and look forward to becoming a social media influencer.