When we see top YouTubers like PewDiePie, Markiplier, and Like Nastya earning anywhere from $28 million to $38 million per year, it’s easy to fantasize about creating a YouTube channel. Plus, with YouTube earning over $28 billion in ad revenue last year, it’s easy to see why everyone wants a piece of that pie.
If you love being in front of the camera, have an interesting talent (like playing the ukulele while riding a unicycle), or simply want to vlog about your outfits you’ve probably asked yourself, “how much money do you get per view on YouTube?”
Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:
- How YouTube pays its creators.
- How much money you can make from YouTube.
- Tips on creating videos for YouTube.
- Other ways to make money as a creator.
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Does YouTube pay per view?
The short answer to this question is yes, YouTube pays per view, but not in the way you might think. They don’t pay creators per video view, but rather per ad view on their channels. In fact, 61% of creators get paid through a revenue share of advertising.
Difference between video views and ad views
Video views
Video views are simply the amount of views your video gets. Repeat views (or someone watching a video multiple times) on YouTube can count towards total views. Natural repeat views will be counted, but YouTube will detect someone trying to artificially inflate their view counts through constant refreshes or the use of automation, like bots.
Ad views
Ad views are the number of times ads are shown to viewers of your video. This means that regardless of the video views you have (even if it’s two million) if there is no advertising on your video, you won’t get paid.
That’s because getting revenue from your YouTube channel doesn’t just magically happen, you’ve got to set things up first!
How to get paid for ad revenue on YouTube
Join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP)
In order to make money from YouTube, you need to join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). The YouTube Partner Program verifies creators and gives them access to YouTube resources and monetization features.
Here’s how to join:
- Set up (if you don’t already have one that’s active) a Google AdSense account in YouTube Studio that you’ll link to your channel. Learn more here.
How to become eligible for the YPP
There are two routes to becoming eligible for the YPP:
- Get 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months, or
- Get 1,000 subscribers with 10 million valid public Shorts (YouTube’s version of Instagram’s Reels and TikToks) views in the last 90 days.
Even after your channel has been verified, YouTube still continually checks channels in YPP to ensure they’re meeting policies and guidelines.
The nice thing (besides getting paid) about the YPP is that you get to decide which content is monetized through ads, so you get to turn off ads on videos that aren’t a fit for advertisers.
YouTube’s application process
YouTube reviews all applications manually with a response generally in about a month’s time, unless application volumes are high.
If your application gets rejected, don’t sweat it! You can appeal the decision within 21 days, or keep uploading original content and you’ll have the opportunity to re-apply after 30 days. When you do resubmit, just make sure you review the YPP’s policies and YouTube’s community guidelines and make sure you’re in compliance.
How much money per ad view on YouTube can you make?
Now that you know what to do to make money on YouTube, you’re probably wondering how much money per ad view on YouTube you can make. According to YouTube, “There are no guarantees under the YouTube partner agreement about how much or whether you’ll be paid. Earnings are generated based on a share of advertising revenue from viewers watching your video.”
YouTube money per view calculator
While there’s no guarantee with how much you’ll earn from ads on YouTube, check out our creator calculator for an estimate on how much creators can earn monthly from YouTube. This is based on an estimated average payment for every 1,000 views/month.
Using our creator calculator, here are some examples of how much you can earn:
- 1 million views = $500/month.
- 3 million views = $1,500/month.
- 6 million views = $3,000/month.
- 9 million views = $4,500/month.
- 12 million views = $6,000/month.
- 16 million views = $8,000/month.
- 32 million views = $16,000/month.
Some examples of what real creators on YouTube have earned:
Nano influencer Jen Lauren, who has 10,000 subscribers and vlogs on YouTube about everything from traveling, working in New York City, to trying a lymphatic drainage massage machine, earned $213 in a month.
YouTuber Sarah Lavender, who creates ASMR videos, has over 300,000 subscribers and earned $1,000 to $6,000/month.
The most popular YouTuber, MrBeast, makes anywhere between $3 to $5 million each month from a combination of ad revenue and paid sponsorships.
Here’s what else affects your earnings
Other factors, such as watch-through rate (when a viewer watches less than 30 seconds of an ad, it won’t count as a view), location, the quality and length of your videos, and your channel’s niche will affect video monetization. The most profitable niches on YouTube in 2024 are making money online, digital marketing, personal finance, education, tech, cars, and gadgets.
YouTube Premium subscribers don’t see ads on the platform, so when they watch your video, you get a portion of their subscription fee instead.
Something else that will affect your earnings is your revenue share by category. In YouTube Studio you can also select which modules you want to be included in, with each module having different revenue share rates and eligibility criteria:
- The Commerce Product Module pays partners 70% of net revenues from channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Super Thanks.
- The Watch Page Monetization Module pays partners 55% of net revenues from ads displayed or streamed on their public videos on their content Watch Page. It also applies when public videos are streamed within the YouTube Video Player on other websites or apps.
- The Shorts Monetization Module pays partners 45% of the revenue allocated to them based on their share of views from the Creator Pool allocation.
Before you spend countless hours monetizing your YouTube channel, consider the pros and cons.
Pros of ad monetization
- It’s basically passive income. Once you set things up you’re paid from the views you’re generating anyway.
- Viewers are used to ads, and platforms like YouTube are going to show ads whether you’re monetized or not. You might as well benefit from it.
- You have greater freedom to create the content you desire compared to affiliates — where you have to create content to fit the affiliate sales.
Cons of ad monetization
- Ads can be annoying and distracting (who wants to see a yogurt commercial while learning how to style hair?). In fact, 74% of people report being sick of seeing ads.
- Unless you have heavy traffic, monetizing with ads will likely just be some pocket change. The payout for most ad platforms is anywhere from $20-$50 per 1,000 views.
- Don’t depend on this avenue to earn a decent income. Successful YouTubers have been plugging away at this for years — MrBeast started in 2012. Just goes to show that no one’s an “overnight success.”
Don’t lose hope: here’s how you can make money from YouTube
Still interested in making money from YouTube? Cool! Instead of releasing videos haphazardly, do some planning and research so you know what you’re posting and to whom.
Find your ideal member
Before you start creating videos on YouTube, figure out who you’re making content for. An Ideal Member is the person who needs what you have to offer. As a creator, you can’t serve everyone, because when you serve everyone, you serve no one. Your Ideal Member gives you an avatar to serve with a set of obstacles, desires, and goals. These members of your community will be your biggest fans and creating for them will make your videos that much more powerful.
If you want to grow and monetize your audience quickly, having a clear Ideal Member is the way to go. Start with a clear niche (e.g. travel, cooking, fitness, beauty, fashion, gaming) then go from there. Here are some questions to get you started:
- Who are they?
- What do they care about? What are their deepest desires?
- What challenges do they face? What do they need help with?
- What creators do they follow?
- What part of your story will they be most impacted by?
Stuck on what to name your channel? Try our free YouTube Channel Name Generator.
Create quality content
No matter how insightful or interesting your videos are, if they’re poorly shot or edited, people won’t watch. Hook them in with good content, use a good camera, microphone, and lighting, and edit well so viewers stay captivated and subscribe to your channel.
Take, for instance, the YouTube channel LeMMiNO (Swedish content creator David Wångstedt) - long-form animated videos about “space, mysteries, and whatnot.” The content itself is interesting—“The Vanishing of Flight 370” or “Consumed by the Apocalypse”— but it’s how it’s edited that keeps you watching and engaged.
Create consistently
You might think that creating consistently means churning out as much content as you possibly can. This, unfortunately, is actually a surefire path to creator burnout and more specifically YouTube burnout. It happens when creators feel pressured to consistently release new videos for their fans.
It can happen at any stage, whether a creator has thousands or millions of subscribers. When creators put their heart and soul into their work and don’t take care of themselves, it can lead to a slew of issues like feeling on edge, irritability, sadness, and tiredness.
To avoid this, pick a posting schedule that works for you. Once you feel comfortable with how often you’re posting videos, plan out your content. Choose not only the topic but a day you’re going to record and edit (especially if you’re not a pro at editing, this can take a serious chunk of time). You can even have a few videos ready to be released, creating a backlog for those times you’re too busy or sick to make a new video. Now that’s content planning done strategically.
Evaluate your metrics
Before you start measuring any or all metrics, determine what your goal is. Is it to build authority, generate revenue, or create a community? Maybe it’s all of those. Key metrics to look at monthly include subscribers, channel watch time (which should increase every month), top videos, and traffic sources (telling you how viewers found you). Once you monetize your content through the YPP, make sure to look at ad revenue statistics.
Keep learning and growing
If your channel watch time isn’t increasing month-over-month, then keep testing with your content. You can try shorter videos, adding a new title sequence, adding some background music, or even A/B test with your thumbnails (create two versions for the same video and see which one does better).
Monetizing through YouTube doesn’t happen automatically; you have to put in some serious time and effort to grow. If you want to grow your brand, you can reach new audiences by collaborating with another content creator, use other content platforms like Pinterest or TikTok to direct viewers to your YouTube (in fact 58% of creators produce 2-4 types of content), or host a free webinar then direct viewers back to your channel so they can learn more from you.
Other ways to make money as a creator
As you’ve probably realized, monetizing with advertising is hit or miss. Eligibility is strict, and you need a ton of watch time to make any real profit off of YouTube ads. However, if you’re passionate about creating videos on YouTube, it doesn’t hurt to get paid from it, but it’s unrealistic (at least at the beginning) to solely rely on it as your main source of income. Just like your financial investments, you’ll want to diversify how you earn income as a creator.
Physical products
If you’re a creative person, think about physical goods you can sell to your fans. From restored furniture to custom portrait requests, the sky's the limit. As long as you manage expenses, physical products can be profitable.
No need to open a physical store either. Try your own Shopify store, build a website with an e-store plugin built in or use a product marketplace like Etsy.
Build an app
Built a huge following and considered an expert in your field? Building an app might be your next step! Just look at Drew Binsky, a YouTuber who shares videos about traveling the world, who created a branded community app for people to share their love of travel.
The key to building a successful app is to not just stuff it with more content that fans can simply find on your social media. Instead, make it unique with personalized advice for members or the opportunity for members to connect.
Online community
Speaking of connection, online communities are a great way to monetize as a content creator. Although we may be a bit biased since we’re a community platform, many creators have found success with this model and you don’t need a huge following to make it successful either.
If you’re creating content anyway, you might as well monetize it, plus it offers something everyone wants — connection — and is a great way to gain recurring revenue. By monetizing your community you’re standing behind your products and services. Plus, people pay more attention to what they pay for rather than a free community platform that has limited features and looks outdated.
Conclusion
If you’re ready to start monetizing as a content creator and want to expand your reach with a community, courses, live events, and more, come build with Mighty! Mighty Networks is a powerful platform allowing you to monetize through memberships, live or pre-recorded courses, premium groups, or virtual events. You can choose one or mix and match any of these.
Mighty’s powerful Spaces add discussions, chat, messaging, live streaming, and all the tools you need to soar to new heights in the creator economy.
Try Mighty for free for 14 days! No credit card required.
