YouTube can be a fun place to share videos about your hobbies and interests but when taken to the next level it can become a significant source of income. What does it take to become a revenue generating YouTuber and how much can you make?
How Do You Make Money With YouTube?
Ad Revenue
There are few ways to make money with YouTube but the main way is through Ad revenue share. YouTube can place ads before and throughout your video to monetize it. YouTube will then give you a portion of the ad revue paid out through Google AdSense. This is bar far the easiest and most passive way to make money with YouTube.
Sponsored Videos
This is another way people make money with YouTube. Companies love to get in front of YouTube audiences surrounded by people in their niche and they will often pay for a YouTuber to create a video about a product they have or just get a mention in the video with a link in the description.
Affiliate Income
any YouTubers will talk about products they use and love in their videos and many products can be linked to using affiliate links in the description. Whenever someone clicks on the link and purchases the item the YouTuber gets a percentage of the sale at no extra cost to the buyer.
Some companies pay a high percentage to affiliates but may only handle one or a few products. While some companies like Amazon with their associate program handles just about any product you can think of but pays only a small commission but will probably result in many more sales.
Super Chat
If you have a decent number of loyal subscribers and do live streams on YouTube, many YouTubers find they make a significant amount of many from appreciative fans through superchat.
When somebody watches a live stream, they will see a dollar bill symbol in the chat screen of qualified YouTube channels. If they click on the symbol, a slider appears on their screen. They can then decide on a dollar amount that they can send to the YouTuber as a gesture of appreciation and support.
YouTube Channels Membership
This program lets your most loyal fans support you by joining your channel for a monthly membership fee. They can help you earn more money, and in return you can offer exclusive members only perks like members only videos.
How Many Subscribers and Watch Hours Do You Need To Monetize Your Videos?
To qualify for YouTube Partner Program which allows revenue sharing on Ads displayed on your videos, you need to be in good standing with YouTube, have 4,000 valid public watch hours in the previous 12 months, and at least 1,000 subscribers.
These numbers really only apply to the Partner Program and therefore only limits you on a couple of the ways you can monetize your channel. The other methods such as sponsored posts and affiliates can be done with an audience of just about any size as long as you have some loyal fans.
How Much Does YouTube Pay?
On average YouTube ad income ranges from about $3 to $5 per 1000 video views. Of course there are many factors that have an effect on the pay such as ad density, video length, retention, etc.
What Equipment Do You Need To Have A Successful YouTube Channel?
Equipment can be as simple as using your cellphone to record your videos as can get as elaborate as high end cameras, microphones, and lighting. Somewhere in the middle is a good place to be if you want to make YouTube videos a significant portion of your income.
Camera
A great middle of the road affordable camera for making YouTube videos both indoors and outdoors in the GoPro HERO10. There are both cheaper and way more expensive option but I like a lot of the featured this camera has.
Microphone
Having a good lavalier mic will benefit you as well. Many people who watch your videos will tolerate less than great video quality but most can stand poor audio. The mic I have is the Rode SmartLav+ Lavalier Microphone which even works with my cell phone.
Lighting
Lighting is really important as well. Natural light is best so if you can be outdoors or near a window it’s a great option. If not then you may need to set up some studio lighting. I have this Skytex Photography Lighting Kit and it works great for doing videos indoors and it’s an affordable option.
Don’t let any of this deter you though, there are many successful YouTubers who have popular channels using nothing but a cellphone to record and upload. The most important thing is a great screen presence, an interesting dialogue, and consistency and you can be successful with YouTube.
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