Why not make money on YouTube? Whether you are looking for another channel to promote your content and make money or need to increase sales, the first step is to make sure that this platform is worth your time and investment. Read on and find out how people make money on YouTube.
Why use YouTube to make money?
How to use YouTube for business
Why use YouTube to make money?
Let’s take a look at numbers. Below you can find the most interesting YouTube statistics. How does YouTube audience grow? Who uses YouTube and how often? And how can you make money on Youtube?
YouTube started its path in February 2005 when its founders – Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim – activated the domain name YouTube.com. But the first video was uploaded only in April. It was Me at the Zoo video created by one of the co-founders at the San Diego Zoo. For now, the video has over 85 million views and is the only video on the channel.
The popularity reached YouTube in May 2010 – the network served over 2 billion views per day. While in 3 years – March 2013 – YouTube reached the number of 2 billion active users per month [1]. And now, the numbers are still growing.
YouTube user statistics
According to the number of monthly active users, YouTube is the second largest social network worldwide after Facebook with its 2.5 billion users. Remember that the statistics include only logged-in users who visit the website at least once a month. It’s a significant fact because there is also a huge number of people who watch YouTube videos without using a Google account. So, the audience you can reach is far over 2 billion people. Here are some more stats:
- 79% of internet users say that they have a YouTube account.
- On average, every visitor spends 11m 24s daily on YouTube [2].
- Over 70% of YouTube views are from mobile phones.
- Every minute users upload over 400 hours of videos on YouTube.
- Users watch over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos daily – more than Netflix and Facebook visitors together.
YouTube usage by Generation
When it comes to the popularity of social networks among different generations, YouTube is the most used one among Millennials. At least 91% of US users aged 18 to 29 access YouTube and have accounts there [3]. That’s more than Facebook which is used by up to 70% of adults and Instagram – 37%. It’s quite obvious since YouTube prefers the dominance of visual content among others. Besides, 87% of users aged 30 to 49 and 70% of 50 to 64 use YouTube. But what is surprising – older generations – over the age of 65 – also watch YouTube. So, the statistics show that YouTube is a choice of all generations.
YouTube usage by Gender
YouTube is a network that has something for any user. It used to attract nearly the same number of male and female users. However, the times have changed and males nowadays spend 40% more time on YouTube. As a result, the percentage of male content gets higher.
What is YouTube Kids?
YouTube Kids is a separated version of the network which has been created specifically for children. The platform limits the content that kids can access and provides them only with friendly and educational videos. It was made to protect children from violent or adult content as well as protect kids who create content for YouTube from inadequate users, their comments and bullying. YouTube Kids offers a list of specific functions like parental control, video blocking and timer setting.
Being a platform for kids, it is also a marketing network. Since it doesn’t ban the advertising within the app, some people use it for marketing their products there – if they produce goods for kids.
How to use YouTube for business
There exists a myth: post a video on YouTube, attract some views and make money – a simple strategy with no efforts. Well, it doesn’t work, unfortunately. The reality is that you can’t make lots of money publishing a video per month. If you want to make money on YouTube like a pro, you need to make content constantly and generate several revenue streams what is easier to monetize. And there are several ways to accomplish this:
Make a partnership with YouTube and make money on ads
What is a YouTube partnership?
It’s a provision of a network according to which popular YouTubers can earn money from their videos and become partners with YouTube. Its main feature is that when a channel meets the threshold of the partnership program, YouTube adds advertising functions to the channel and starts paying for the views of the ads. The platform provides ads selectively. Every time when people watch your ads, the advertisers pay YouTube, while YouTube pays a part of the money to the creator of a video.
How to become a YouTube partner
If you want to become a YouTube partner, your videos need to reach at least a total of 10,000 views. But it doesn’t mean that you need to have a video with this amount of views. It is a total number of views regardless of how many videos are on your channel.
To monetize videos, you need to:
- Click the icon of your account in the right corner.
- Find there YouTube Studio.
- Open the left menu and select Other Features -> Monetization.
- Agree to the YouTube terms, if you agree.
- Create an AdSense account to get paid.
- Choose your monetization preferences.
How much does YouTube pay?
When a monetized video gets a certain amount of views, it doesn’t correlate the revenue you will earn. This is because YouTube takes into account a number of clicks and watches of ads. If a viewer clicks on ads on your video or watches it in full – from 10 to 30 seconds – you get paid. If not, your ads weren’t interesting for viewers.
Actual numbers: Usually advertisers pay between $0.10 to $0.30 per view and per 1,000 ads views you can receive, on average, $18.
If you think that monetization is exactly what you need, it is important to point out that due to the nature of your content you might not get paid. Moreover, choosing monetization as a common mean of income, remember that YouTube keeps around a 45% share of ad revenue. In short, we don’t recommend using YouTube partnership as the main source of income.
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Many brands use YouTube to sell products as any other social networks like Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. The best way to sell more – offers trending products to your viewers. But if you want to offer hand-made jewelry, clothes, pastry and are good at it – you have a benefit.
Providing your customers with videos of your products, whether it is an ad or usage guides, you increase your exposure. You transfer your brand and personality into online and make stronger relationships with your customers. This allows people to see what they exactly buy and helps them trust you.
For example, Bethesda is an American game developer that uses YouTube to merchandise its products. Their channel is not only a platform with ads and trailers of their new games. There you can find live streams, developers interviews, videos from presentations and conferences and more.
As a result, they have over 1.5 million subscribers and 400 million views in general.
You might be wondering, can people buy directly on YouTube? No, if you promote your goods via YouTube video, you need to place a link to your website or page where customers can make purchases.
If you want to market your brand this way, we recommend starting with trending videos and creating content for users who want to know something new or just have some fun. Having earned the audience, you have more advantages to among other brands since you already have traffic and audience’s trust. As an example, there are lots of beauty bloggers such as Jeffree Star, Jaclyn Hill, James Charles and others who now have their makeup lines and promote them on YouTube.
Start a crowdfunding project or enjoy Fun Funding on YouTube
When you have an idea for a startup and need money to execute it – crowdfunding on YouTube is a good choice. And it doesn’t even mean a sum to cover all your expenses. You can use a YouTube channel to make money to buy better equipment, hire designers for your projects and other needs – call upon the audience and the crowdfunding community to help implement your idea.
Deciding to crowdfund, you, firstly, choose a platform to attract people to donate to your project. But to call the interest of the audience, you need to present your project and YouTube is a perfect solution. There you can not only explain your idea but also call your audience to support your business via donations.
For such purposes, YouTube has a solution – YouTube Super Chat. It is a tool that allows viewers to pay to content makers during live streams. Users can set any sum of money they want to donate. But many YouTubers use the feature not only for crowdfunding. They just make live streams of game plays and use the chat for fun funding.
Licence a video to the media
Unlike previous strategies, this doesn’t depend on you – it’s just an accident. If your video happens to become viral with mass appeal, you can license it in exchange for money. It might be a video with funny cats or stupid situations that attracts attention globally.
If it happens, morning shows, TV news and online newspapers might reach out about rights to add your video to their content. They can pay a lot for the video since everyone will be talking about it.
Work as an influencer with brands
Being an influencer is the highest-paid position on YouTube. Brands understand the influence of social networks and spend a large part of their advertising budget on YouTube influencers who already won the loyalty of the audience. But to make a profit this way, you need to be transparent with the audience. If you don’t like the products or don’t believe in its quality, share your thoughts with the audience.
How does it work? Some brands offer their products to influencers for free and expect to see them in videos. While others – big brands – pay money for the ads.
How much can you earn as a YouTube influencer?
Your fees depend on your leverage – your audience demographics, quality and type of content, the uniqueness of your videos. If the brand fits well, you can negotiate a better deal. However, we recommend establishing your fees according to the number of views your videos get and multiplying them by 10 per cent per view. According to the size of your audience, you can charge brands from $20 to $2,000 per 1,000 subscribers.
Moreover, you can be an affiliate for brands and make a passive income. How? Though commissions from all sales you generate via your YouTube channel. For that, you need to make reviews of branded products on your channel. This way of earning money doesn’t require you to have a huge audience since brands only pay when they sell thanks to you. So, there is no risk for them.
Wrapping it up
Hopefully, now you have lots of opportunities to start making money on YouTube. No matter whether you have your business or want to share your content with the audience, with YouTube you can make money on your creative ideas. Videos are the best marketing tool which is not going to go away. Sign up for YouTube and make money today.
Want to earn money with YouTube? Share your strategy in the comments below.
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