How to make money on YouTube
YouTube recently announced a few more ways that will allow authors to earn revenue from video content. Find out if you can take advantage of new features through the YouTube Partner Program.
Previously, you could only earn on YouTube using AdSense, so you had to use affiliate links, brand offers and off-platform merchandising to get extra income.
But in the past few years, YouTube has been actively developing and can now offer you several options for official earnings on video hosting. In addition, YouTube recently announced several updates, as well as some facts and figures regarding earnings opportunities.
Before we look at all the details, it’s worth mentioning what is really important to you as authors. All these tools are part of the YouTube partner program, which means that you need to fulfill several conditions: have 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of viewing, apply for participation in the program and get approval.
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Earn YouTube affiliate programs
If you have achieved this goal and were accepted into the YouTube partner program, you managed to monetize the content, then you can be congratulated, but at the moment, you probably feel something like: “Hmm … and is that all?” Don’t get it I’m wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with making money from advertising on video, but your earnings can’t be compared with potential income from other sources; of all your revenue sources, AdSense is likely to be the least reliable.
You can’t practically influence the changes in the CPM, seasonal fluctuations and demonetization of videos on YouTube’s initiative, so the AdSense service running in the background and generating a small income is not bad in any case. But it’s time to think wider and use all the tools of YouTube.
Superchannel YouTube Revenue
In Superchats, viewers can send financial donations to the channel, after which their message will be displayed in priority mode in chat rooms during broadcasts and premieres on YouTube. The most pleasant thing here is that this function (if available in your country) can be used by almost all channels with monetization. To find out if you are eligible to participate in Superchats and enable them, follow the steps below.
- Click the Monetization link on the left navigation bar in the new Creative Studio
- Select the Superchat tab at the top of the page.
- If the channel meets the necessary requirements, on this screen you will see a simple “Superchat” switch, with which you can enable this function.
At vidIQ, we conduct live broadcasts daily and sometimes we get paid messages in Superchat from you, our wonderful subscribers. We sincerely thank you for this. YouTube recently reported the Superchat about the following information and named numbers that, frankly, are staggering:
To date, more than 90,000 channels have taken advantage of receiving paid messages in Superchat during broadcasts. In some streams, revenue reached more than $ 400 per minute.
Superchat is now YouTube’s main revenue stream for nearly 20,000 channels — up 65% from last year!
The simplest explanation for this is that paid chat in Superchat comes from your most dedicated fans, as they feel drawn into your life. They are part of the community. They feel involved in your life and through the broadcasts they are watching, they want to give you something in return.
Thus, broadcasts can receive part of the views from those that your video content could collect on demand, however, your most loyal subscribers watch live broadcasts, and if I, as the author of the video, see that my broadcasts are liked by the audience, then Super Chat will really be produce a profit.
The funny thing is that here on vidIQ we broadcast every Tuesday when we rate your channels. The audience really likes this, but we actively discourage subscribers from paid messages in superchats, as otherwise we will feel obligations to those who sent us money when evaluating their channels. We would like to do this for free, but people still send paid messages in the form of gratitude. This is the power of superchat.
But of course, there is a restriction regarding personal qualities / content. To receive paid messages in superchats, it is necessary to conduct broadcasts. If you have a game channel, then everything is very simple. You just need to start recording the screen, playing the game, start the broadcast and at the same time communicate with the audience, as you usually do; however, if you are new to broadcasting and not a gamer, just be honest with your audience.
Place a publication on the Community tab stating that you are going to organize an online meeting, a question-and-answer conversation, or consider important questions that were asked in the video comments and try to answer them. During the broadcast, it is important to communicate with the audience, so there is nothing to worry about the session being unplanned — just enjoy the process. Broadcasts may seem too complicated, but as soon as you get used to them, you will realize how cool it is; in addition, at the end of the journey you will be awaited by a reward in the form of Superchat, which can support you financially. This is a fantastic tool that you should definitely use.
YouTube Super Stickers
Along with Superchat, which is already a successful tool, YouTube has announced a new feature called Super Stickers. Thanks to it, fans can purchase animated stickers during the premiere broadcasts to express their admiration for their favorite authors with their content.
Stickers are available in various design options, in different languages and in various categories, such as “Games”, “Fashion”, “Beauty”, “Sports”, “Music”, “Food” and many others.
YouTube revenue through product sales
I’m sure that you have seen a merry-go-round of goods, which is currently directly embedded in YouTube channels and allows you to purchase attributes directly on the video viewing page. The requirements for the ability to use this function are a little tougher. Of course, a prerequisite is participation in the YouTube partner program (for this you will need more than 10,000 subscribers) and the absence of warnings in connection with a violation of the Community Rules. Follow these steps to configure this feature.
- Go to the Monetization screen in the new Creative Studio
- Select the “Products” tab and enable the “Display Products” option.
- Select the items in the store you want to use.
There are many YouTube channels that have built entire financial empires on merchandising. By developing your channel and creating communities, you will create brands, slogans and characters that people may want to receive as goods. The ability to officially sell merchandise through the YouTube platform is really great. The main drawback today is the availability of only one available provider — Tee Spring. But recently, YouTube introduced five new supported providers: Crowdmade, Don’t Forget To Be Awesome, Fanjoy, Represent, and Rooster Teeth.
YouTube Channel Subscription Revenue
A paid subscription allows viewers to join the YouTube channel through monthly recurring payments. In return, they get benefits that are available only when you sign up for a paid subscription: for example, badges, emojis and other products you offer, such as exclusive broadcasts, additional videos, and even discounts on merchandise. The requirements for the ability to use this function are quite stringent.
You must have 30,000 subscribers, you must be over 18 years old, located in a country where tools for obtaining a paid subscription are available. In addition, you must accept the terms of use of the function and not have warnings on the channel. But even after all the conditions are met, you can get a rejection, because the function is currently only starting up.
Thus, from all available sources of monetization, a paid subscription is likely to require the greatest effort from you. Super Chat is the tool YouTube cares most about. You do not need to do anything to use them. As for merchandising, you can choose one image, create dozens of products on its basis and get a ready-made store within an hour, however, if you use a paid subscription, you undertake to create exclusive content for your audience. Therefore, think about the creative mood and time, energy and resources that you will need when creating content for paid subscribers to your channel.
Remember the time when you just started the channel and followed the schedule for releasing commercials — whether it was once a week or once a day. Paid subscription is almost the same, but at a whole new level. You will have to make a commitment to paid subscribers to provide the content that you promise, as they pay for it.
With all this said, recently YouTube seriously updated this tool, adding one of the most popular features — paid subscription levels. Thanks to this, the authors have the opportunity to configure five subscription price levels with various advantages for each level. So, the authors of Fine Brothers use subscription levels on the React channel, the price of which reaches $ 30 per month. According to YouTube, this led to an increase in revenue from paid subscriptions by 600%!
