How Much Do YouTubers Make?

How much do YouTubers make? Well, that depends on a lot of factors. And when we say how much money YouTubers make, we’re talking about full-time content creators who often create videos multiple times per week. These are individuals (or businesses) that have built an audience and a subscriber base. They’ve attracted an audience to their YouTube channel(s) through high-quality content and consistent posting schedules. If you don’t have those things, it’s hard to expect big bucks for your efforts (although these days, it might not be too difficult). But if you want to know how much money can be made by a successful and popular YouTube channel, read on.

According to the eMarketer research on influencer marketing, even nano-influencers with as few as 500 subscribers can make over $300 per post, and that number skyrockets to over $3800 for celebrities.

The stats also highlight the interest brands have in social media influencers with smaller followings.

For influencers, this is all good stuff. Working with brands to create sponsored posts is the most lucrative when it comes to how to make money on YouTube. But that’s just one way to get paid.

Useful Resource: Monetize Your YouTube Channel

How Do YouTubers Get Paid

Making real money on Youtube is strictly a numbers game. Before you can be accepted into the Youtube Partners Program (YPP), you need to have more than a thousand subscribers to your YouTube channel and at least 4,000 hours of valid public watch hours over the previous year. Plus, you have to have an AdSense account linked to your YouTube account. For more information about monetizing your Youtube channel, take the 15-minute Youtube Creator Academy course (It’s free).

That gives new meaning to “if you build it, they will come.” It’s a lot of work upfront with no financial return. Few YouTube channels blow up in a short time, but it does happen now and then. It’s hard to predict what will go viral and what will go flat. 

So. The money business.

The exact amount of money YouTubers make depends on a lot of different factors, but it falls between $0.01 and $0.03 for every ad view, which adds up to about $18 for 1,000 ad views. So the bottom line is, that for every 1,000 video views, YouTubers earn $3 to $5. 

There are also other income streams and ways to monetize. Affiliate links, advertising revenue, branded merchandise, and corporate sponsorship deals are all possibilities. But the first step is consistency and building your audience.

According to Forbes, the top earners on YouTube earn 50% of their revenue from ads. But you can also make money from youtube in other ways.

• Brand Sponsorships
• Affiliate Marketing
• Branded Merchandise
• Ads From Video Views
• Super Chat

How Much do YouTubers Get Paid (10 Real Examples)

In addition to ad revenue, there are other ways to make money on YouTube. For instance, in March 2017, it was reported that YouTube paid an average of $2.70 per thousand ad views to its top creators. Also, keep in mind that people have been able to make lots of money on YouTube even if they don’t get millions of views. The earning potential is enormous! According to Earnings Scale, a person with one million subscribers can earn anywhere from $800-$12,000 per month from ads and Google AdSense revenues.

Who doesn’t dream of making a fortune by recording videos? You’re probably thinking sure, but who wants to watch boring me? Building an audience may not be as hard as you think. The people on this list have huge viewership, and in Youtube terms, that can translate to huge income. All you need is a unique idea and a lot of dedication. Building an audience takes time, so you’ll need to be patient and keep posting, even if the low view count gets discouraging. 

First, let’s take a minute to learn how to make money on youtube and how to do the math.

Some of the highest-paid YouTubers have undeniable talent. Others just find a niche and make it work. Here are some of the dumbest ideas that actually worked (in no particular order).

Blippi – Estimated income: $22.4 million

Subscribers: 12.4 million

Views: 9.4 billion

What he does: Act like a toddler

What if you could do stuff toddlers like and make a fortune? Blippi does exactly that. The money from youtube in other ways channel is essentially a grown man behaving like a toddler, and toddlers (and their parents) love it. Blippi, real name Steven John, is a 30-something YouTuber who visits play places, children’s museums, parks, zoos, and other big fun places for kids and plays with all the stuff. 

During hour-long videos, Blippi works in basic lessons about colors, numbers, body parts, food, and other subjects toddlers love and respond to. He also rides tiny tricycles, slides down inflatable slides, plays in ball pits, and dances to original songs about tractors and dinosaurs.

Videos for and about kids are among the most popular YouTube channels. Blippi doesn’t have a kid co-star, instead, he invites small viewers to play with him using a first-person perspective. His monetization strategy includes merchandise sales and live appearances.

Good Mythical Morning – Estimated income: $26.3 million

Subscribers: 56 million

Views: 12.8 billion

What they do: Make and eat weird food

Rhett and Link’s Good Mythical Morning channel answers all your burning questions. Will it deep fry? Will it be pot pie? What’s the worst Easter Candy?

The focus of this goofy buddy show is best described as “they do weird things to food.” If you ever wanted to know whether Monster Energy drinks and beef jerky can be turned into baby food, or if you can turn an Egg McMuffin into a Klondike Bar, this channel is for you. Spoiler alert: no. 

Comedy does well on YouTube and entertainment is always a good bet. 

Mr. Beast – Estimated income: $26.3 million

Subscribers: 61.2 million

Views: 10.4 billion

What he does: Practical jokes, giveaways, and silly stunts

Jimmy Donaldson, better known as Mr. Beast, makes his money the old-fashioned way, with really dumb stunts. He’s been buried alive, bought a $500,000 mystery box, and gone through the same drive-thru 1,000 times –  a stunt that earned him 104,068,378 views. 

Mr. Beast does stupid things, but unlike predecessors like Jackass, his stunts are rarely risky and often quite generous. He gives away big prizes to random people. In October, he became an Uber driver, picked up his first rider, and gave them the Lamborghini he rolled up in. It wasn’t a standalone stunt. He’s given away money, houses, and lots of cars. It’s not a bad strategy. If he spends a couple millions of dollars per year giving back to followers, he still has more than $20 mil. And lots more followers.

Dude Perfect – Estimated income: $30.3 million

Subscribers: 56 million

Views: 12.8 billion

What they do: Play

Sometimes you need a little help from your friends. Dude Perfect is a group of five guys who play. They shoot Nerf guns at each other, have lightsaber battles, and play rolling-chair hockey. These guys have merchandise down pat, with shirts, hoodies, board shorts, hats, a branded basketball, and a book documenting their adventures.

You may be starting to sense a theme, and you’re right. Of the top 50 YouTubers with the highest number of subscribers, 82% are male and most are Millennials or Gen Z. Everybody wants to watch guys having fun, playing video games, and showcasing products. 

Markiplier – Estimated income: $25.7 million

Subscribers: 29 million

Views: 15.6 billion

What he does: Plays games/comedic sketches

Yet another young man playing games, Mark Edward Fischbach, or Markiplier’s video content has dominated YouTube earnings for several years.  His forte is video game commentary, comedy sketches, and parodies, and some of his videos are animated.

Unbox Therapy 

Subscribers: 17.9 million

Views: 4 billion

What he does: Review new tech

The genius behind Unbox Therapy isn’t the only YouTube star who takes products out of boxes, but he’s one of the biggest names in the unboxing game. Lewis George Hilsenteger and his cameraman Jack McCann have posted hundreds of videos showcasing tech product reviews. 

The team posts about three videos a week and most are about 5 to 30 minutes long. With very few exceptions, each video has at least 1.6 million views. Again, they take stuff out of boxes. And it’s most likely free stuff they get to keep because it’s more targeted than traditional advertising for tech companies.

They did not get here overnight. The Unbox Therapy channel is 10 years old. While they had impressive views, in the beginning, consistently breaking a million views took four years and countless hours of videos.

EvE – Experiment vs Car 

Subscribers: Just under a million 

Views: 369 million

What they do: Run over stuff

Of all the things people do on YouTube, running over things with cars has to be one of the dumbest. Or is it brilliant? The EvE – Experiment vs Car video channel has over 200 videos ranging in length from about two minutes to about ten minutes. 

Each video is a closeup of a car tire running over something with music in the background. While the channel has yet to reach a million consistent views for each video, the first video was posted only a year ago and their top video has 59 million views. 

The Secret Life of my Hamster

Subscribers: 3.7 million

Views: 1.4 billion

What they do: Film hamsters navigating through elaborate mazes

The Secret Life of my Hamster is a series of videos following the adventures of hamsters as they find their way through themed mazes constructed of cardboard, legos, and other toys. The mazes have levels, moving parts, non-hazardous hazards, and tunnels, all of which the hamsters handle easily.  While Popcorn the hamster seems an unlikely social media influencer, with this many views, his owner has to be making a healthy income.

Bad Lip Reading

Subscribers: 8.02 million

Views: 1.4 billion

What they do: Rewrite dialog

This parody channel takes different types of videos: political videos, movie scenes, songs, interviews, and even the royal wedding, and dubs in a new dialog. No video is safe from Bad Lip Reading, and the results are often hysterical. 

Amber Scholl 

Subscribers: 3.44M 

Views: 466 million

What she does: Shopping

Amber Scholl is one of the successful YouTubers who tackle shopping. Her infectious enthusiasm and upbeat online presence are easy to love, and she’s reaping the rewards of her growing influencer fame. She takes viewers into stores, usually with a shopping theme, like Oscars dress shopping, a five-dollar shopping spree. She also mixes in other lifestyle topics, like makeup tips, making do with little cash, and how she does her nails.

All over YouTube, YouTubers make money doing stupid or ordinary things. Popular niches include lifestyle vlogs, gaming, music videos, comedy, and exclusive content for kids featuring child influencers. What they all have in common is not always excellent ideas or special skills, it’s uploading high-quality videos on a regular basis. Just keep posting videos and keep sharing your videos on social media. It takes time. Keep at it, and believe in what you’re doing. As long as your audience is growing, you’re on your way. And it won’t hurt to get a celebrity’s attention as the backpack did with the lamest dance ever recorded. If you ever start feeling discouraged, remember the Floss. 

Start Attracting More Subscribers To Your YouTube Channel

To understand how to get paid for YouTube videos, you must understand how to attract more subscribers to your channel. The more subscribers, the more users will see your video content, and ad placements, among other factors for making money per video.

Do you need a ton of subscribers to make money on YouTube? No. In fact, you can make money on YouTube with under 2,000 subscribers. Is it easier to make money on YouTube with more subscribers? Definitely.

But growing your subscriber count needs to be done carefully. You want to attract subscribers that will be loyal, and in turn, keep your engagement rate per video moving in the right direction.

This means that you need to create quality, actionable videos. This ensures viewers will find your videos of value, and then tap that subscribe button. Here’s a great example from YouTuber randomfrankp . . .

There is a ton of value in the above influencer’s video. And the engagement was also excellent with over 1,200 comments.

When it comes to how to make money on YouTube, begin with attracting more subscribers. This has the long-term cash money benefits you are looking for.

Set Up Your YouTube Partner Program Account

The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) is a must for YouTubers that want to get paid for videos.

Once you become a YouTube partner, you can make money from ads and leverage premium account benefits, like memberships and Super Chat, which we will get into later in this article.

Monetizing your videos with advertisements can be fairly profitable, and most influencers employ YPP as their first revenue channel. You do need to meet a few guidelines to become a YouTube partner:

• 18+ years old
• Located in an eligible area
• 1,000+ subscribers
• 4,000+ hours of video watch time
• Google AdSense account
• Adhere to YouTube’s channel rule

The last guideline you need to meet is an important one. YouTube has a number of rules when it comes to user-friendly content. For instance, your videos should be free of adult content, drugs and alcohol use or promotion, bad language, and more.

Here’s what YouTube deems not advertiser-friendly:

If your channel meets these guidelines and is advertiser-friendly, you will have no trouble becoming a YouTube partner. This can be a good start for making money on YouTube.

Ask Loyal Subscribers For Money

Another how do YouTubers get paid strategy is to simply ask subscribers for money. This is done in a few different ways. But do not leave this making money idea out of your YouTube influencer revenue plan.

Patreon

The first way a YouTuber can get paid via subscriber and viewer donations is with Patreon. Patreon is an online tip jar that let’s video viewers tip YouTubers for their creativity. The tips can be per video or per month, depending on the viewers’ preferences.

One bonus for subscribers and viewers that tip is the access to exclusive content from the YouTuber. It is kind of like memberships via YouTube influencers, only more flexible for the video viewers.

Super Chat

The next way to get donations via loyal subscribers and viewers via YouTube is Super Chat. This is a how-to get paid for YouTube videos must-do when it comes to generating more YouTube influencer profits.

How does Super Chat work exactly? When you join the YouTube Partner Program, you can access features like Super Chat. This allows you to live stream and get tips during those live streams. It looks like this:

According to YouTube Creator Academy, “For creators, this means Super Chat does double duty: keeping their conversations and connections with super fans meaningful and lively while also giving creators a new way to make money.”

Affiliate Links Is A How To Make Money On YouTube Strategy

One of the best, and easiest ways to make money as a YouTube influencer is to become an affiliate marketer. Affiliate marketing is a viable revenue stream for influencers on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and other social channels.

And affiliate marketing is simple for YouTubers. You use your influence to reach viewers and subscribers, mention a product or service in your videos, and leave a link in the YouTube video description for viewers to click through and make a purchase.

How do you get paid for affiliate marketing? Once a viewer purchases a product and/or service via the affiliate link you provided, you get a percentage of the sale. The percentages can range from 3 percent to 15 percent, depending on the product, service, and brand.

But before you can get started, you need to join an affiliate marketing platform, like the Rakuten affiliate program, FlexOffers.com, Impact, Awin affiliate program, CJ.com, Walmart, and Amazon affiliates.

Each affiliate marketing platform has different brands, so you may need to join more than one to access the brands you want.

Here’s what affiliate marketing looks like for YouTube influencers via YouTuber Kevin The Tech Ninja:

The above video is all about the iPhone 12. And if a viewer wants to buy the iPhone 12 straight from this video, they simply tap the link in the video description:

When a viewer clicks through, they land on the brand product page for the product highlighted in the YouTube video.

And the unique affiliate link is used for the YouTuber to get paid for each purchase made via the link.

Affiliate marketing is really that easy for YouTube influencers. If you are not using affiliate links to make money on YouTube, you are missing out on serious profits.

Sell Products or Merchandise

A lot of YouTubers make a decent amount of money by creating a unique brand and selling merchandise. You can use your YouTube channel to sell products and merchandise like t-shirts, hats, coffee mugs, and bags – the sky’s the limit. Once you create your own unique brand/personality and market it through merch, that becomes a great way to bring in money with your YouTube Channel while promoting your brand!

Land Cash Money Brand Sponsorships

How do YouTubers get paid? The top way they make big-time money is through brand sponsorships. Brand sponsorships are when brands pay social media influencers to mention a product, service, or brand in a post exclusively. In return, the influencer gets paid pretty well.

But landing those brand sponsorships can be tricky. Unless you are partnered with a reputable influencer marketing platform like Scalefluence. Scale fluence helps YouTube stars like you tap into next-level influence to make more money per video.

We also have a huge network of brands and marketing agencies looking for influencers like you. And when you work with our network partners, you never need to sacrifice creativity or your personal brand. Scalefluence influencers remain in creative control.

Are you ready to maximize your profits per video? Contact Scalefluence today and take your influence to the next level!