Q:How do people make money on YouTube? What steps would an individual take to allow themselves to try this out?
A: Most content creators make money on YouTube through ad revenue, but some creators have additional income streams to help provide stability. The best way to get started is to make videos and cultivate an audience, then join the YouTube Partner Program.
Like it or not, social media is guaranteed to play a major role in nearly every facet of our day-to-day lives for the foreseeable future.
Consumers are already relying more heavily on smartphones for their shopping needs, and 30% of younger social media users have already made purchases based on reviews or advertisements they’ve seen from influencers or content creators.
Not to mention, as platforms like YouTube continue to secure high-value collaborations, like purchasing the rights to the Sunday Ticket, for which 1.3 million consumers have already signed up, these social media platforms will continue to establish themselves as places for information, news, entertainment, and more.
As the internet continues to evolve and AI continues advancing and integrating with existing systems, the idea that influencers and content creators will somehow become less popular is absurd.
The opposite is likely true. As the general population spends more and more time online, influencers will likely be one of the most effective marketing avenues available, and influencers themselves will ostensibly continue seeing large profits if they can leverage their audience into YouTube monetization.
Unsurprisingly, YouTube, the largest video-specific platform and the second-largest social media platform, is where many influencers and content creators get their start, but how many subscribers do you need on YouTube to make money?
In this article, we’ll explain how YouTube monetization works, look at the required YouTube subscriber count for monetization, and show you how to grow your subscribers, too. Finally, we’ll take a closing look at what you can do to invite continued success once you’ve built an audience.
So, if you’re interested in earning money on YouTube, affiliate marketing as a whole, and the YouTube income threshold, you’re in the right place. Keep reading for more information on growing a YouTube channel!
How does YouTube monetization work?
Growing a YouTube channel may feel daunting, especially considering the sheer number of creators you’ll be vying for attention against. While these concerns are valid, a keen understanding of how YouTube’s monetization policies work will give you clear and concise goals to work toward, making the prospect of growing your channel slightly less scary.
One effective way to think about YouTube monetization is to look at your channel the same way you look at affiliate marketing. Understand that to truly make a living through your YouTube channel, you’ll need to build an audience that implicitly trusts your judgment and product or service recommendations.
Read more: Building a Profitable Affiliate Marketing Blog: Strategies That Actually Work
Unfortunately, asking how many subscribers do you need on YouTube to make money isn’t enough; you need to understand how the monetization itself works before you start losing sleep about subscriber count.
Ad revenue
YouTube monetization primarily relies on ad revenue. For content creators, this is money earned through ads shown before, during, or after their videos.
Advertisers pay YouTube for ad placements, and creators receive a share of this revenue based on factors like video views and viewer engagement.
Unsurprisingly, there are different milestones that creators need to hit before they’re rewarded with ad revenue. The more engagement your videos receive and the more views you get, the bigger your payments will be.
Despite this, even when you hit the subscriber and view-hour minimums, you’ll still be competing with countless other creators for a portion of that ad revenue. This is why so many different creators have separate sources of income.
Google AdSense
To start earning from ads, YouTubers must link their channel to Google AdSense, a program that helps manage ad payments.
Creators need to meet eligibility requirements, including 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the past 12 months, to join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP).
If this sounds like a daunting task, don’t let it be. Keep in mind that this is simply to earn a portion of ad revenue; if you create a smaller audience that truly trusts you and your opinions, you can utilize secondary streams of income before you become a member of the YouTube Partner Program.
Ad formats
Creators can generate revenue from various ad formats, including skippable and non-skippable video ads, display ads, overlay ads, and sponsored cards. The type of ads shown on a video can affect the earnings potential, with some formats paying more than others.
For example, a non-skippable advertisement may pay more than a skippable advertisement, but ultimately, despite these slight differences in pay, the revenue you generate through ads will be determined by the engagement you receive on both your videos and their advertisements.
This is partially why it’s so important to understand your audience. If your followers are constantly bombarded by ads they don’t care at all about, you’ll probably have a hard time increasing your click-through rates.
YouTube Premium revenue
Content creators can also earn a portion of the revenue generated from YouTube Premium subscribers who watch their content.
This is based on the watch time of Premium members on their videos. If you’re in a position where you feel like you’d have an easier time convincing your audience to get YouTube Premium than you would convince them to click through on your videos’ advertisements, this may be a route for you to explore.
Additional income streams
Besides ad revenue, YouTubers can diversify their income through merchandise sales, channel memberships, and crowdfunding platforms like Patreon. These additional income streams can provide stable revenue and enhance the overall monetization strategy of a channel.
As a YouTube creator, it is paramount to keep an eye out for additional, interesting revenue streams.
Remember, you’re competing with millions of other creators for ad revenue. Instead of focusing exclusively on how to get a bigger portion of this proverbial pie, take the opportunities you’re presented with to bake separate pies that are all yours to begin with.
In addition, focusing exclusively on subscriber count is a good way to get discouraged and feel you’re wasting your time. Instead, treat your YouTube channel like an affiliate marketing tool and get to work on cultivating an audience that trusts you.
Read more: High-Ticket Affiliate Marketing: How to Close on Big Buys
How many subscribers do you need?
Now that you’ve got a keen understanding of how ad revenue works and why subscriber count isn’t all that matters, let’s answer the question of how many subscribers you need on YouTube to make money.
As previously mentioned, treating your channel as an affiliate marketing tool and growing your YouTube channel through creating true, lasting bonds with your audience is likely a more effective way to grow your channel, but you still need to know the logistics surrounding ad revenue.
Nevertheless, despite the importance of understanding how many subscribers do you need on YouTube to make money, you must recognize that the single most important aspect of making money on YouTube is creating content, regardless of what that content is, be it podcasts, reviews, entertainment, or anything else, and regardless of initial viewer count.
Read more: Podcasting for Small Business Is Easier Than You Think
The more you post, the more content people have to find. Simply put, having no engagement when you begin doesn’t matter as long as you continue to create.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the YouTube subscriber count for monetization. Below, we’ve put together a brief list of subscriber-related information to keep in mind as you move forward.
- Eligibility for YPP
- Watch time requirements
- Channel monetization options
- Advertisers and sponsorships
- Community and growth
Eligibility for YPP
To join the YouTube Partner Program, or YPP, and begin monetizing your channel through ad revenue, you usually need at least 1,000 subscribers.
This subscriber threshold was introduced to ensure channels have a reasonable audience before monetizing.
If you don’t have 1,000 subscribers yet, nothing stops you from utilizing other forms of revenue generation to monetize your current audience. Remember, however, that trying to monetize your audience too early may be construed negatively by your viewers.
Watch time requirements
In addition to subscribers, you must also accumulate a minimum of 4,000 hours of watch time on your channel within the past 12 months to meet YPP eligibility. This requirement emphasizes content quality and viewer engagement.
Keep in mind, however, that with the introduction of YouTube Shorts and their increasing popularity, if you don’t have 4,000 hours of watch time over the past 12 months, you can still join YPP by attaining 10 million valid public Shorts views in the past 90 days.
This option was added because of the large number of creators focusing on short, TikTok-like video content rather than pushing full-length videos. This requirement gives you the option to make either style of video with similar requirements based on formatting.
Channel monetization options
While 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time are necessary for ad revenue through YPP, other monetization options, like channel membership and merchandise shelf, might have different subscriber and eligibility thresholds, which can vary based on your location.
That said, even if the YouTube-specific thresholds are out of your reach at the moment, nothing is stopping you from using affiliate marketing with your current audience. All you need to keep in mind is that if you’re monetizing your audience early, you need to ensure that you’re providing them with access to products and services that they will appreciate.
Advertisers and sponsorships
To attract advertisers and secure brand sponsorships independently, subscriber count still may be a factor, but there’s no fixed number.
Many advertisers focus on channels with a substantial and engaged audience, often considering factors beyond just the subscriber count, like niche relevance and viewer demographics.
This means that rather than focusing only on how many subscribers do you need on YouTube to make money, you should focus on bolstering strong engagement as well.
Community and growth
While subscriber milestones are important, content quality, audience engagement, and consistent growth are equally vital for long-term success on YouTube. Building a loyal and active community around your content can help you achieve and surpass subscriber goals while keeping viewers engaged.
More often than not, the two build on each other. If you’re paying special care to your audience, incentivizing engagement, and genuinely connecting with them, more people will likely start watching based on word-of-mouth recommendations from your current audience.
Similarly, if your current audience isn’t engaged or connected and the content doesn’t resonate with your audience, you’ll probably have a harder time bringing in new viewers.
How to grow your subscribers
If you want to know how to make money on YouTube, you have to know how to grow your channel.
Remember, there isn’t one set way to create a robust YouTube channel. What works for one account may not work for you and vice versa.
There are countless ways to make money on YouTube; the key is understanding which avenues to pursue and which to ignore.
That said, growing your subscriber count is always a good decision. We’ve put together another brief list below of methods you can use to increase your subscriber count.
- High-quality content
- Consistent posting schedule
- Audience engagement
- SEO and thumbnail optimization
- Collaborations and cross-promotion
- Promote your channel
- Analyze data
- Encourage subscriptions
- Giveaways and incentives
- Patience and persistence
High-quality content
The foundation of subscriber growth is creating high-quality, engaging content that appeals to your target audience.
Consistently upload videos that are well-researched, well-edited, and offer value, entertainment, or education to your viewers. Once you’ve found a formula that works, stick to it and continue creating.
Consistent posting schedule
Establish a regular posting schedule to keep your subscribers engaged and returning for more.
Consistency helps build anticipation for your content and keeps your channel active. Think about it this way: when you were younger and you had a television show you looked forward to, you always knew when the next episode was airing.
Use the same principles for your channel. If your audience knows when a video is coming, they’re more likely to plan around its release.
Audience engagement
Foster a sense of community by actively engaging with your audience through comments, asking for feedback, and encouraging discussions to create a loyal and interactive fan base.
SEO and thumbnail optimization
Use search engine optimization, or SEO, techniques to make your videos more discoverable. This includes keyword research and optimizing video titles, descriptions, and tags.
Additionally, create eye-catching thumbnails that accurately represent the content and intrigue potential viewers. Interestingly enough, 90% of the best-performing videos on YouTube utilize custom thumbnails.
Collaborations and cross-promotions
Partner with other YouTubers in your niche for collaborations. This exposes your channel to their audience and vice versa, potentially leading to a boost in subscribers.
Cross-promotion on social media and within your video descriptions can also be very effective.
Promote your channel
Promote your channel and videos on social media platforms, online forums, and relevant communities. Share your content where your target audience is most active and leverage your online presence to drive traffic to your YouTube channel.
Analyze data
Use YouTube Analytics to gain insights into your audience’s behavior. Identify which videos perform best and why, and tailor your content strategy accordingly.
Adjust your approach based on viewer retention, click-through rates, and other key metrics. Remember, growing your subscriber count is great, but you want an audience that is engaging with your channels’ advertisements too.
Encourage subscriptions
Don’t forget to explicitly ask viewers to subscribe to your channel. Include a clear and engaging call-to-action (CTA) in your videos, such as “Subscribe for more content like this” or “Click the subscribe button and turn on notifications.”
Providing viewers with these straightforward CTAs will help your subscriber count increase dramatically over time.
Giveaways and incentives
Occasionally host giveaways or offer exclusive content to your subscribers as a way to incentivize new subscriptions. Make sure the incentives are relevant to your niche and genuinely valuable to your audience.
Remember, a small token of appreciation and gratitude to the individuals who have given you a platform goes a long way.
Patience and persistence
Building a substantial subscriber base takes time. Be patient, stay persistent, and continually adapt your content and strategy based on what works best for you and your audience.
Subscribers will grow over time as long as you remain dedicated and passionate about your channel.
Leveraging your YouTube channel into additional opportunities
Growing your subscribers on YouTube requires a combination of dedication, content quality, and audience engagement.
By consistently delivering high-quality videos, maintaining an active presence, and strategically promoting your channel, you can attract and retain a loyal viewer base.
While subscriber counts are important, remember that long-term success on YouTube is not solely measured by numbers, but by the lasting connection you build with your audience and the value you provide through your content.
You don’t want just an audience; you want a group of fans who trust your judgment and recommendations and are willing to spend their time and money when engaging with your content.
Some of the most effective affiliate marketing strategies utilize social media audiences. By identifying your niche, analyzing the data you have access to, and continuing to create high-quality content, you can build a lucrative stream of income with affiliate marketing.
Read more: Here’s What Affiliate Marketers Are Doing To Unlock Huge Success In 2023
While subscriber count is important, it’s equally as important to foster lasting relationships with the individuals watching your content.
Further reading
- Building a Profitable Affiliate Marketing Blog: Strategies That Actually Work
- High-Ticket Affiliate Marketing: How to Close on Big Buys
- Podcasting for Small Business Is Easier Than You Think
- Here’s What Affiliate Marketers Are Doing To Unlock Huge Success In 2023
Asking “How many subscribers do you need on YouTube to make money” is a good start, but once you start bringing in revenue through your YouTube ad revenue, having an LLC is a good way to protect yourself and your channel.
Alliance Virtual Offices offers Virtual Office solutions and a slew of other online services built for established entrepreneurs and new business owners alike. Even if you’re just trying to protect yourself as your YouTube channel increases in popularity, getting a professional business address to protect your privacy is a great way to do so.
Contact us today for information about how you could benefit from a Virtual Office, and be sure to check out our Virtual Office Blog for other helpful information.
