How Much Do YouTubers Make: A YouTuber can earn approximately $18 per 1000 ad views, or $3 to $5 per 1000 video views, with the average pay rate on YouTube being between $0.01 and $0.03.
You don’t have to be a YouTube celebrity in order to get a respectable side income from the platform. Some of the platform’s most popular artists can make millions of dollars per year from their videos.
CPM, which stands for “cost per mille,” is the method that makes estimating a YouTube channel’s potential income the least complicated. The word “thousand” comes from the Latin word “mille,” hence the cost per thousand, or CPM, is the amount an advertiser pays for their 1,000 impressions or views.
You can generate income from advertisements if you create material for YouTube (more on that later). As a general rule, YouTube retains 45% of the revenue that is generated through advertisements. RPM stands for “revenue per mille,” which refers to the 55% cut that you get.
According to a report by Media Shark, the average CPM on YouTube in the United States is between $6 and $8, which means the average RPM is between $3.30 and $4.40. This is despite the fact that CPMs and RPMs can vary significantly depending on factors such as location and the subject matter of your content.
For the purposes of our projections, we will round that number up to $4 RPM.
To generate $400 in monthly advertising revenue at an RPM of $4, you would need 100,000 page views each month. This amount (100,000 views) may seem intimidating, but if you continue to upload new videos to your channel and build up your subscriber count, you should be able to attract an increasing number of viewers.
Views can be racked up rather rapidly on channels that have hundreds or thousands of videos to choose from.
The following figure illustrates, based on $4 RPMs, how much money you would make if you had varying quantities of monthly visits to your website.
| RPM | Monthly Views | Ad Revenue |
| $4 | 100,000 | $400 |
| $4 | 500,000 | $2,000 |
| $4 | 1,000,000 | $4,000 |
| $4 | 5,000,000 | $20,000 |
| $4 | 10,000,000 | $40,000 |
This table should give you a notion of what is achievable on YouTube as well as how many video views you will need to achieve in order to earn a full-time or part-time income from the platform.
Bear in mind that this is determined only by the revenue from advertisements. As you continue reading this post, you will discover that there are a variety of additional legitimate ways to generate money on YouTube.
Those YouTube content creators who earn the most money from their videos
The majority of the creators who earn the most money on YouTube produce humorous and/or entertaining content with a focus on youthful audiences. Naturally, all types of YouTube channels have the potential to generate a significant income (launching a channel on a subject that you have a strong interest in is a fantastic way to monetize a hobby), but viral videos that are geared toward younger audiences have a greater likelihood of generating the most views, which in turn leads to the highest earnings.
Ryan Kaji, then nine years old, held the title of highest-earning YouTube celebrity for the third year running in the year 2020.
His income during the past three years has been as follows:
- 2020: $29.5 million
- 2019: $26 million
- 2018: $22 million
Kaji’s parents helped him create his YouTube account, Ryan’s World when he was just three years old. The channel garnered popularity for posting videos in which Kaji unboxed and reviewed toys.
You’d be hard-pressed to find many other business possibilities that have been used to develop an estimated net worth of $32 million to $50 million before the age of 10, so if you’ve been suspicious about the income potential of YouTube, you should know that you’ll be hard-pressed to find them.
On Forbes’ list of the highest-earning YouTube personalities in the year 2020, MrBeast and Dude Perfect took the second and third spots, respectively. Videos of stunts and trick shots can be found on both of these channels, which are fascinating and humorous to watch. As a result of his meteoric rise to fame, MrBeast, whose true name is Jimmy Donaldson, raked in an estimated twenty-four million dollars in 2020. The five-man band known as Dude Perfect is credited with earning an estimated $23 million.
David Dobrik, who comes in at number nine on the Forbes list, is another personality that concentrates on entertainment and humor, but he does so in a manner that is distinct from that of MrBeast and Dude Perfect. Dobrik broadcasts a variety of vlogs that cover a wide range of topics, from David donning an Iron Man jet pack to providing advice on how to hack vending machines.
Another lucrative market for content providers is the gaming industry, where many make seven figures annually from their work. Forbes ranked Markiplier, whose real name is Mark Fischbach, as the fifth-best YouTube personality, while Preston Arsenault was ranked as the sixth-best. Markiplier has gathered a massive library of movies that span a variety of video games, which has led to the acquisition of more than 30 million members. Assessment is the owner of a number of other gaming channels on YouTube; nevertheless, it was his Minecraft videos that helped him gain success in the beginning.
According to Forbes, the following individuals will dominate the top earners on YouTube in 2020 (along with links to their channels):
- Ryan Kaji: $29.5 million
- MrBeast(Jimmy Donalson): $24 million
- Dude Perfect: $23 million
- Rhett and Link: $20 million
- Markiplier(Mark Fischbach): $19.5 million
- Preston Arsement: $19 million
- Nastya(Anastasia Radzinskaya): $18.5 million
- Blippi(Stevin John): $17 million
- David Dobrik: $15.5 million
- Jeffree Star: $15 million
Read:How To Make Money As A Kid
Other Ways to Make Money Besides Ads
Many of the YouTube stars that make the most money are those who have capitalized on their fame on the platform to establish their own product lines or negotiate licensing agreements with major corporations. For instance, Kaji’s collection consists of thousands of Ryan’s World products, all of which can be purchased at large retailers such as Walmart, Target, and others.
In a similar vein, Dude Perfect has collaborated with Nerf to develop branded goods that children and adults who still consider themselves to be children can use to do their own home-based trick shots.
As a natural consequence of their online success, some YouTube stars have been offered roles on television or in movies. The large earnings that Kaji brings income in part from a series that airs on Nickelodeon. An increasing number of YouTube stars have also been cashing in by establishing a following on other video platforms like TikTok over the past few years, which is a trend that appears certain to continue into the foreseeable future.
The YouTubers that were described earlier are, of course, the exception rather than the rule. A significant number of YouTube channels and people that create video material make very little money or none at all. Even if it doesn’t result in wealth that will be passed down from generation to generation, some people use their YouTube channel to generate additional income or even a full-time job.
If you’re able to become a YouTube sensation, you’ll discover that the financial opportunities that await you are, to put it mildly, extraordinary. But what should be more reassuring for normal people like you and me is that, according to Forbes, one million YouTubers are making a six-figure income on the site, and it is expected that this number will expand tenfold over the next few years.
Read:How To Get Paid To Take Pictures
Strategies for Financial Success on YouTube
You may be curious about the origin of that money now that you’ve seen how much money the highest-earning YouTubers are making and have seen how much money they make. Making money with one’s own YouTube channel can be done in a number of different ways. The most viable choices are detailed below.
1. Display advertisements on your videos
Making money through advertising on YouTube, which can be done through the YouTube Partner Program, is by far the most common and straightforward way to generate money on YouTube. Increasing the number of times that your videos are viewed on YouTube will, in most cases, result in an increase in the amount of advertising money that you receive from those views.
Earning potential might range anywhere from a few hundred dollars to six figures every month.
The most challenging aspect of earning money through advertising-income is getting the business off the ground. Your channel needs to have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours over the course of the previous year in order for you to be eligible for the YouTube Partner Program. For many YouTube creators, reaching these levels might take many months or even longer (there are more than 2 million members in the YouTube Partner Program). To make money off of your films, though, all you have to do is enable advertising once you’ve been accepted into the program.
When you enable ad monetization, you will earn revenue from advertisements that are displayed before, during, after, and/or alongside your videos. The amount of money you make will differ depending on the number of times people click on the advertisements, how many times they read your content, and how much money advertisers are prepared to spend to get in front of your target demographic. A reasonable sum would be somewhere around $4 per 1,000 video views, but the specifics would vary greatly from one channel to the next. A reasonable amount would be somewhere around $4 per 1,000 video views.
Advertisement revenue is appealing to content creators since it does not involve any more work on their part. You only need to make sure that your videos are getting views by activating the advertisements and turning them on. Ad revenue might be considered passive income if your channel receives a consistent volume of traffic on a regular basis. You may focus on developing fresh content that will lead to even more views and more ad revenue without having to devote a lot of time or effort to monetization. This will allow you to increase the amount of money you make from advertisements.
2. Get Tips From Viewers
This feature allows you to earn money directly from viewers, and they can send tips along with a customized comment that gets featured in your comment section (as well as an animation that gets sent only to the creator). YouTube started rolling out its long-awaited tipping feature, which it calls “Super Thanks,” in 2022. This feature gives you the ability to earn money directly from viewers.
Earning potential: The four options for tips that are presented to viewers are pre-set at $2, $5, $10, and $50, respectively, and creators receive 70% of the proceeds from their Super Thanks.
Difficulty: Once your channel exceeds the threshold for monetization (1,000 subscribers), all you need to do to begin earning tips is to flip on the “Super Thanks” setting.
It is important to keep in mind that videos with content ID claims, age restrictions, or videos designed specifically for children are not eligible for monetization through tips.
You can learn more about how Super Thanks functions, including how to set it up and keep track of your winnings, in the following video, which was taken from YouTube.
Read: Remote Bookkeeping Jobs Sites
3. Sell Items That Are Made to Order
Displaying and selling things directly from your YouTube channel is now possible thanks to a feature called Merch Shelf, which was developed by YouTube.
Potential earnings: The highest end of merchandise sales is higher than what can be made through advertisements. The YouTube Money Calculator that is offered by Sellfy estimates that an ordinary YouTube channel that receives 10,000 views per month might make anywhere from $13 to $40 in monthly ad revenue and anywhere from $340 to $1,740 in monthly revenue from product sales.
Merch Shelf makes it difficult to get started because they require you to have at least 10,000 subscribers before you can apply to be a seller on their platform. In addition, if you want to make money with Merch Shelf, the content of your channel can’t be directed toward children.
Because of the enormous potential for generating money with a YouTube channel, one of the best ways to increase earnings from that channel is to create and sell things. You also have the option of partnering with brands and selling licensed products through your distribution channel if you don’t want to deal with the hassle of manufacturing a product yourself or going the route of a private label.
Because there is a minimum requirement of 10,000 subscribers, you will first need to demonstrate some level of success in expanding your channel before you will ever be allowed to begin selling your own products. If, on the other hand, you wish to sell things before you reach that threshold, you can pursue one of the other available possibilities.
You might, for instance, use Shopify to establish an online storefront for your business and advertise your wares in the text accompanying and accompanying your videos. Even while you won’t have the opportunity to sell directly on YouTube as you would with Merch Shelf, you can still leverage the reach of your channel to drive visitors to your products that are sold on another website.
4. Make Your Subscribers Pay For Access To Your Channel
You have the ability to offer channel membership that confers particular benefits onto paying subscribers; nevertheless, the vast majority of content found on YouTube may be accessed without charge by anybody. You may persuade viewers to pay a regular membership by providing perks such as additional videos, live chats, badges, and other perks.
Earning potential: Monthly membership fees for the channel can range anywhere from one dollar to four hundred and ninety-nine dollars. Naturally, the quantity of money you make will be determined by the prices you set and the number of customers you have signed up for your service. There is a possibility that you may make anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars each month from your content, but in order to get to the higher end of that spectrum, you will need a sizable audience.
Difficulty: In order to qualify for channel subscriptions, you need to have at least 1,000 subscribers, and you cannot use it with any content that is intended for children. The qualification process and implementation are not overly complicated; rather, the more challenging task is to persuade viewers who do not pay for a subscription to begin doing so. You will need to provide unique content or benefits that clearly justify the price in order to attract customers. In addition, you will need to continually produce new content so that people will continue to subscribe to your channel.
The process of selling channel memberships is simplified by YouTube, but doing so will cost you. YouTube retains thirty percent of the revenue made from subscriptions, which can amount to a significant sum over the course of a year. Utilizing a different platform that is solely accessible to paying members is an additional option. For instance, depending on the plan that you select, Patreon retains anywhere from 5% to 12% of the revenue generated through subscriptions.
Read: Hobbies That Make Money
5. Employ Affiliate Marketing as a Strategy
You can make money as a video content creator by marketing the goods and services of other businesses and earning a commission on any sales that you bring in as a result of your efforts.
Earning potential might range anywhere from a few hundred dollars to six figures every month.
Affiliate marketing is one of the finest methods to start monetizing a YouTube channel, yet it’s also one of the more difficult ways. You do not need to have a certain amount of subscribers or views to begin participating in affiliate programs, as they are available in every market segment and field. Affiliate programs make it possible for even the smallest channels to generate revenue.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most common ways for blogs to generate revenue, and it is also an option that lends itself extremely well to the monetization of video content. The amount of money you make off of each sale that you generate will be different based on the good or service that you’re trying to sell. There are several items on the market that offer commissions of one hundred dollars or more for each transaction.
You will have the option of using your affiliate tracking link either within the video itself or within the description of the video.
In order to turn a profit as an affiliate marketer, you will need to provide material that can easily be adapted to the purpose of advertising a certain good or service. You could, for instance, create product reviews, comparisons (comparing two or more products that are comparable to one another), tutorials that demonstrate how to use a product, testimonials, or other types of films that naturally allow you to promote or support a certain product.
The majority of YouTubers that are successful with affiliate marketing agree that search traffic is the most important factor. If you create a video review of a popular product that receives a lot of searches and you are able to rank at the top of the search results, you can make a significant amount of money with just a single video.
6. Become a Person of Influence
There has been a recent uptick in the number of businesses and brands on the hunt for influencers to collaborate with in the hopes of reaching out to their respective target audiences. It is possible for YouTube creators to get paid to make videos for advertisers, which is an excellent method to leverage and monetize the audience that they have built up.
Potential earnings: Dummies.com reports that the median earnings range for video influencers is between $500 and $5,000 for each video. Obviously, the specifics will be different for each influencer depending on their reach, the specific demographic they aim to reach, and the brand that is paying them.
The path to becoming an influencer is not an easy one because it requires you to amass a dedicated following of people who care about your recommendations for both goods and services. You do not need millions of subscribers, but you do need to have influence with the people who watch your content, and that is something that takes time to create. Because of this, getting paid to be an influencer on YouTube is not an option until your channel has a significant amount of subscribers.
According to Statistica, it is anticipated that spending on influencer marketing will increase by 25% between the years 2021 and 2023. As more and more businesses move their budgets away from traditional kinds of advertising and toward influencer marketing, the opportunities for making money on YouTube should continue to expand over the course of the next few years.
YouTube creators that are interested in connecting with businesses and working with them may look into using platforms such as Aspire, Channel Pages, Julius, and Lumanu. YouTube has its own initiative called BrandConnect which helps link content creators with marketers.
You’ll need to make sure that you’re still producing enough content that your fans find amusing or instructive in order for them to continue paying attention to you, but including some sponsored content in your videos is an excellent way to make money on YouTube.
Read:How To Start A Blog And Make Money
7. Collect the Donations
If people enjoy the content you upload to YouTube, they might be willing to make a monetary contribution as a means of saying “thank you” and encouraging you to make more videos.
Potential earnings: It is possible to generate money through donations; however, it is highly improbable that you would earn a considerable quantity of money. The reality is that the vast majority of individuals will not donate. Donations could bring in anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars every month, but you shouldn’t count on making more than that.
The process of accepting donations is made easy by websites such as Buy Me a Coffee, Tipeee, and Patreon. The level of difficulty is low. Although it is simple to set up, there is no guarantee that viewers will really contribute money to your cause.
Donations are an option that content creators who wish to monetize their YouTube channels should examine, but they should not make up the bulk of their revenue stream. The alternative possibilities that are discussed in this article offer a greater potential reward and are more likely to result in a substantial income.
Taking advantage of the Super Chat and Super Stickers features that are available as part of the YouTube Partner Program is still another choice that is analogous to this one. During live streams, you can increase the amount of money you make by using the Super Chat and Super Stickers features. Viewers who are watching a live broadcast that also has a chat feature enabled have the option to purchase a Super Chat or Super Sticker, both of which are animated and colored in a way that makes them stand out more in the feed. The higher the price people pay, the longer their message will continue to be displayed at the top of the conversation. These functionalities are not accessible for content that has an age restriction or that is geared toward children.
8. License Your Content
Creators of content have the option of monetizing their work by licensing it to third parties for financial gain. In this scenario, the content creator retains ownership of the copyright, while the licensee is responsible for paying for the rights to use the video in accordance with a predetermined set of parameters or principles.
Potential earnings: The amount of money you may make from licensing content will be determined by how much content you license and how much demand there is for that content. However, it is conceivable to make five or six figures annually through licensing fees.
Difficulty: Making money with licensing is one of the more difficult ways to monetize your YouTube channel because you’ll need to create the type of content that businesses want to license, and you may need a lot of exposure to land some licensing deals. This is one of the more difficult ways to make money with your YouTube channel because it’s one of the more difficult ways to make money.
You have a few options for getting visibility for the material that you have generated expressly with licensing in mind. One of them is to utilize your reach on YouTube.
If you have a YouTube channel that focuses on travel, for instance, you could create travel videos using aerial footage captured from a drone that would be perfect for businesses searching for stock video clips.
You might not want to make this kind of content the focus of your YouTube channel, but in order to increase its visibility, you might link to your profile on a video rights marketplace or a microstock website. As a consequence of this, your reach on YouTube may be able to assist in the generation of cash from licensing.
Read: Online Jobs For Teens
Conclusions Regarding the Question “How Much Do YouTubers Make?”
YouTube is currently the second most visited website in the world, trailing only Google in terms of traffic. One of the ideas for a side hustle that has the potential to earn the most money is video blogging due to the enormous audience it attracts and the rising demand for video content.
Keeping this in mind, the highest-earning stars on YouTube make tens of millions of dollars each year, while the vast majority of YouTubers earn a comfortable income by making video content. Therefore, if you are interested in launching an online business, a YouTube channel is one of the options that you should think about.
With all of the different ways to monetize content that are discussed in this post, making money on YouTube should be an attainable aim.