For creators building great videos, there’s a word that everyone knows: monetization. Earning money from your videos is the dream. But there are a lot of misconceptions about how monetization actually works, and some of the hardest strategies are actually best known.
This article will:
- Explain what video monetization is and how it works.
- Share the different monetization models for different creators.
- List 10 Video monetization platforms for every type of video creator.
((toc))
Try the best video monetization platform free for 14 days
What is video monetization?
Video monetization is the process of generating revenue from video content. Since video content is often either educational or entertainment, most video monetization consists of either charging viewers to see content or charging advertisers to reach viewers–although we’ll get into more possibilities below.
Video monetization works a lot like any other form of content monetization. People who create, cultivate, or own content can earn money because people want to see it. For this reason, some of the video monetization platforms below aren’t unique to video content, but can handle monetizing video well.
How video monetization works
There are so many different video monetization models (we’ll cover them below), but most of them have one thing in common: you build an audience and then monetize the attention. It’s a staple of the creator economy, and it’s the principle behind most video monetization.
But monetizing viewers’ attention can be done in different ways. Finding the right monetization strategy usually means:
- Considering the size of your audience.
- Picking your niche and what you need to serve it.
- Understanding what your viewers want and how products, services, memberships, etc. may fit into their unique journeys and goals.
For example, monetizing with ads on YouTube videos means you can reach a broader audience, but you’ll earn less per view. Videos hosted on a paid membership site will earn much more per member, but you’ll lose the mass appeal of YouTube.
Neither approach is right or wrong. It depends on your goals and your audience.
Choosing the right video monetization strategy requires some planning. But the great news is that these aren’t all mutually exclusive. AND you can try different things and find what works for you!
We have a full guide to monetization under the options.
Video Monetization Platforms
- Best for monetizing with courses and community: Mighty Networks
- Best for monetizing with ads: YouTube
- Best for exposure: TikTok
- Best for building video subscriptions: UScreen
- Best for ads in livestreaming: Substack
- Best for OTT video hosting: Gumlet
- Best for OTT subscriptions: Vimeo
- Best for pre-recorded courses and marketing funnels: Kajabi
1. Mighty Networks
Best video monetization platform for memberships
Mighty Networks is a video monetization platform for a digital content business run on G2’s top-rated community platforms.
As the software with more $1 million communities than any other, Mighty can be used for memberships, paid livestreams and webinars, virtual events, plus gating individual or groups of videos.
Mighty is the brand behind a lot of top creators’ monetized video content, people and brands like Tony Robbins, Marie Forleo, Mel Robbins, TED, Matthew Hussey, Jim Kwik, BODi, and Keap.
A Mighty Network is made up of Spaces–these are containers you can use to build and monetize any content you want. Each Space can be individually gated or bundled with others. You can pick from pre-made templates, or choose from different features like: chat, livestreaming, discovery feeds, a Table of Contents (for a video course), a page, or a single event.
This gives you the engine to monetize any kind of videos you want–from livestreams to courses to video libraries–in 135 different currencies.
For memberships, Mighty comes built with member engagement software you won’t find anywhere else. It’s software designed to create people magic, introducing members to each other and helping them make friends.
You can create your own “network effect” (the same principle that’s behind major social media companies’ growth), as members connect and create their own content, your brand grows faster. And tools like customizable member checklists and the dynamic people explorer make this easier than ever.
And Mighty integrates AI to help your members instantly create profiles, show what you have in common with others, and even start conversations.
Mighty comes with a great app for every device. Or, more established creators can even get branded apps–read more about that here.
You can try Mighty Networks free for 14 days–no credit card required.
How to monetize video with Mighty Networks
- Memberships (inc. video libraries)
- Paid livestreams
- Courses
2. Youtube
Best video monetization platform for ads
With a daily view count of 1 billion hours, YouTube has been the master of long-form video for a while now, but the “Shorts” part of their business is also growing–with 2 billion users a month and 50 billion daily views. YouTube is also cool because it’s a search engine. If you have good content, searchers can find it for years to come.
YouTube is also still bigger than TikTok, although it’s gaining fast. But YouTube is still a better video monetization platform for monetizing with ads, since it has a built-in ad engine (TikTok doesn’t).
YouTube’s ads are run through the Google Adsense program–you can apply to join once you have 1,000 subs AND either 4,000 hours of watch time or 10 million Shorts views.
You probably know YouTube’s ads well, they usually come before or during a video. There are actually different ways YouTube uses video ads:
- Pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll: Ads that play before, during, or after a video (revenue changes depending on whether they can be skipped or not).
- Display ads: Image ads that appear in or under a video.
Monetizing with YouTube ads requires a balance–adding more ads can annoy viewers and make them click away, but having fewer ads will earn you less. You need to find the ad balance that works for your content and your audience.
Despite being the standard for video monetization, earning good money from Youtube is a challenge. With the average monetization rates, you’d need 1-2 million views to make $1,000. This is why only the biggest creators really earn much from YouTube ads, but YouTube is adding other ways to monetize like paid subscriptions and merch pages.
How to monetize video on YouTube
- Sign up for the AdSense program (if eligible)
- Sell merch
3. TikTok
Best for video monetization brand deals (and the creator fund)
TikTok doesn’t have the ad infrastructure that YouTube has, but it does have a TikTok creator fund and an algorithm that’s known for boosting growth.
To monetize with the Creator Fund, you need to live in an eligible country: currently the U.S., Germany, Italy, Spain, France, or the U.K. You need at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in the past 30 days to apply. If approved, you are compensated after you publish content–based on your organic reach.
The downside? You can expect about $20-$40 per 1 million views (2-4 cents-per-mille). This is honestly one of the worst payout rates there is.
But most creators don’t go to TikTok for the creator fund. They use it to build a rapid following and take advantage of the audience growth. Once you’ve got that, you can monetize with the other options on the list above: sponsorships and partnerships, affiliates, etc. These are where most monetized TikTok creators make their money.
How to monetize video on TikTok
- Join the creator fund (if eligible)
- Find or create relevant brand deals and sponsorships
4. UScreen
Best for selling Netflix-style subscriptions
Uscreen is a video monetization platform that essentially lets you build your own Netflix. Users create a digital business with on-demand content, livestreaming, and basic community building tools. Users can also get a branded app for their video library or host on a website.
The platform allows for a video catalog with custom filters, personalized playlists, and autoplay. And streaming can happen on mobile, a computer, or a TV app. The livestream includes pay-per-view as well as a live chat.
Uscreen also boasts some basic community tools–subscribers can connect social profiles and engage in conversations with content. And with Channels, sharable content can get likes and comments, a bit like a social media platform.
Video creators can monetize with pricing tiers, or single video or course sales. Uscreen also has the option for branded apps
How to monetize video with Uscreen
- Create a Netflix-style subscription site
- Sell courses, livestreams, or 1-time events
5. Twitch
Best social media platform for monetizing livestreams
When it comes to monetizing livestreams on social media, Twitch is probably one of the best options out there. You can create monthly channel support fees (a bit like Patreon) with a minimum support of $4.99. Like Patreon, you can define the benefits that channel subscribers get with their support, including ad-free viewing, badges, and emotes. Interestingly, Twitch subscriptions can also be connected to Amazon Prime to give Prime members a free month.
There’s also something called “Bits”, that can be used in some channel extensions. Bits can be dropped into a chat and basically work like a tip–each bit is worth 1 cent.
Twitch also has ads, much like YouTube or Facebook. However, unlike YouTube, there’s no limit to who can run ads–creators with any sized audience can monetize this way. You can run ads during streams and you’re compensated for the viewers that see it. You can set up ads through the creator dashboard.
Finally, while it’s not built into the platform, Twitch can be a good fit for sponsorships or brand deals–if you have a viewing audience and you can find a good fit, it’s another way to earn.
How to monetize video with Twitch
- Collect “bits”
- Run ads
- Find sponsorships
6. Substack
Best for video monetization for subscription newsletters
Substack is known as a newsletter platform, but it has the infrastructure for monetizing video well. Substack mixes a blog and content format with a social media engine for posting, wrapped with comments, chat, and some good discoverability features. Creators can also grow their audience with partnerships (recommending other newsletters to follow).
The social media side of Substack is “Notes”--short-form content sharing that works a bit like Twitter. It’s a good way to find new viewers and grow your audience.
As far as monetization goes, Substack works with subscriptions. You can create paid plans with different perks for each membership tier. When you create a post, you would just select “video” as your format–when you publish, viewers can either watch your video on the Substack platform or in their inbox.
You can also add:
- Free previews of paid videos.
- Video clips to share in a note or social media.
- Scraped audio from your video to share in a “podcast” feed.
- Auto video transcripts.
Substack isn’t the best newsletter platform–particularly because it takes 10% of all your revenue as a fee. This ads up pretty quick. But it’s still one of the best for blending monetization with organic growth with video tools.
How to monetize video with Substack
- Create a paid video newsletter
7. Patreon
Best video monetization platform for patrons
Patreon is a patronage platform that lets people support work they care about. In the beginning, it was strictly for voluntary support, but it’s evolved to include the option to offer premium member content.
The idea is simple. People can choose to support causes and creators they care about–and this frees up creators (ie. a video creator) to do their work. For creators, it’s easy to get set up and started on Patreon, and you can customize the type of memberships and goodies you offer your patrons.
Patreon includes a hosted creator page, ways to communicate with supporters, options for special offers, and the ability to sell merch.
The downside to Patreon is its massive fees–anywhere from 5-10% of all your earnings, and it doesn’t have tools for managing community and building relationships with supporters. You’ll also likely need to create and host your video on a different platform (e.g. YouTube).
How to monetize video with Patreon
- Collect supporters for your videos
- Offer different tiers and premium perks
8. Gumlet
High-end OTT video hosting without direct monetization
Gumlet is a video monetization platform that can be used for both OTT services or online learning. It also has different ecommerce applications like shoppable videos (embeddable CTAs) and presentation formats. Gumlet offers streaming and hosting, and the management of a media library.
Gumlet offers a video-first CMS with drag-and-drop uploads and automation, as well as a lot of flexibility in branding and customizing your video player. Content is protected with DRM encryption and watermarks to prevent video piracy. Gumlet also makes APIs accessible, which allows a lot of customization.
Gumlet has a free plan, and even at the higher tiers is reasonably priced. However, it’s important to note that Gumlet does not have a built-in tool for managing subscriptions or user payments. It needs to be incorporated within a larger tech-stack.
How to monetize video with Gumlet
- OTT video creation to go in a tech stack
9. Vimeo
Vimeo is an alternative to YouTube that’s been around since 2004. While YouTube moved to public videos and algorithms, Vimeo has focused on embeddable video tools for other sites and owned video libraries. As such, we’re seeing Vimeo pop up a lot as a potential video monetization platform.
So Vimeo feels a bit like a YouTube you own and build subscriptions around. It has similar meta-data options and a familiar browsing interface.
There are some useful features of Vimeo.
- It gives you the tools to create a website to run your subscriptions.
- Collect payments in different ways in 100 currencies, including subscriptions, one-time payments, and on demand.
- Collect customer information and manage emails, including email automations.
However, Vimeo’s platform fees are ridiculous–$1 per subscriber + 10% transaction fees. This means you’ll be penalized as you grow, and it bumps Vimeo to the bottom of this list.
How to monetize video with Vimeo
- Build an OTT subscription service with a Vimeo library
10. Kajabi
Video monetization for asynchronous courses
Kajabi is technically an online course platform for asynchronous courses (pre-recorded). It incorporates a course content engine (including video) with a few other key features for a video business.
First, Kajabi has a landing page builder to custom build course pages. You can choose from different templates or drag and drop material. But Kajabi also has good marketing tools built into its software, so it’s possible to build marketing and sales funnels and connect them to a video course. With built-in email and a basic community function, Kajabi is a cool option for building and selling an asynchronous video course.
How to monetize video with Kajabi
- Build a pre-recorded video course and market it
Video monetization models
When you look at how video monetization works, you’ll often see three terms:
- Advertising-Based Video on Demand (AVOD): The content is free (or less expensive) to viewers and the revenue generated comes from advertising. In this case, a corporate ad partner pays to reach viewers.
- Subscription-Based Video on Demand (SVOD): Viewers pay for content access, usually with a recurring subscription fee. This is familiar from popular streaming programs like Netflix and Disney+.
- Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD): Viewers pay for content as they want to access it, for example, a video course, webinar, or pay-per view TV event.
These are industry terms that are useful to know. But there are very few brands or people monetizing videos in a way that fits perfectly in these categories. Instead, monetization usually requires a mix of these and some other approaches.
So it’s really more helpful to break down and explain different video monetization models conceptually instead.
Advertising
Most people who think video monetization think advertising, which sort of makes sense. According to Statista, $176 billion was spent on digital video advertising last year. And our studies show that it’s still one of the most common ways creators try to monetize (although not necessarily the best).
Most people trying to understand video monetization and ads think YouTube–after all, YouTube made $31 billion in ad revenue last year. YouTube is the giant, and we’ll talk about it below, but you can monetize with ads on other social media platforms too:
- Meta has a similar model to YouTube for monetizing videos on Instagram and Facebook with in-stream ads. It’s technically a bigger ad market than YouTube, but isn’t as well-known.
- Twitch has a display ads program that lets creators monetize during their stream–it’s a cool approach since ads don’t have to interrupt a stream.
Ad platforms
One final way of monetizing with video ads is with direct in-video display ads with hosted video. For example, bloggers who monetize with Mediavine can upload videos to the Mediavine dashboard and repost them in an article–and they will include Mediavine monetization. Or, you can have ads embedded on the video pages of a website.
There are a ton of different ways to get ads in front of viewers, and lots of companies dedicated to helping you do it.
Subscription video
Subscription video is huge, and will be worth $137 billion by 2027. However, most of this revenue goes to big streaming companies, with Netflix alone boasting some 260 million subscribers and $33 billion in revenue. Subscription video is more difficult for smaller creators, although there are platforms that allow for it. We’ll cover these below.
Memberships
Memberships are similar to subscriptions, but usually a membership isn’t limited to video content alone. Video content might be one perk of a membership. Membership platforms hold a lot of the world’s video. Although videos in membership sites are paywall protected–not open to the world in the same way a YouTube video is–by cultivating an audience creators often earn much more.
For example, memberships can include video libraries, podcasts, webinars, livestreams, and even pre-recorded courses, all of which are monetized video. This means that running a membership on a video-supporting platform is often a more lucrative way of earning more from fewer subscribers. The average membership fee on a Mighty Network is $48 in monthly, recurring revenue.
Courses
Online video creators who have an audience can monetize their following through teaching what they know in the form of online courses–either asynchronous or synchronous. For example, the YouTuber Ali Abdaal created the part-time YouTuber academy to teach people to build and monetize a YouTube channel. He earns from the sale of these courses.
Sponsorships & Brand deals
Once video creators have enough of a following, they often look for sponsorships and brand deals. In this model, the creator negotiates a payment for creating video content on behalf of a brand. Payments can range from a few dollars to millions for those with large audiences–for example, Cristiano Ronaldo makes over $3 million per post.
Negotiating a brand deal can be done 1:1 between a brand and creator, but there are lots of platforms that help creators and brands find each other; these offer services from matching to negotiation to content assistance. Marketplaces like CreatorIQ, Aspire, and IZEA were created for this.
Affiliates
Affiliates are slightly different from brand deals. With affiliates, you can promote a brand’s products and earn a commission for each sale. For example, a YouTuber who talks about personal finance might encourage their followers to try a personal finance app–earning from each one who pays for a premium version.
Affiliates have set payouts depending on the program. Usually, you get a unique tracking link to share with viewers that tracks the clicks and sales you generate. Unlike sponsorships, which are usually paid in advance, affiliates are paid based on an action by followers–usually a sale or a click.
Many video creators share affiliate links in video descriptions. For example, if you see links to products on Amazon in a YouTube video, these are normally affiliate links. Most affiliate programs also require you to disclose to your audience if you’re making a commission on a sale.
Like sponsorships, there are marketplaces to help you find affiliates. For example, both Impact Radius and Rakuten host thousands of products you can sell.
Patronage
In a patronage model, people can pay to support your work. This often means an ongoing payment, providing video creators with regular, monthly income. Patronage is pretty well known thanks to the rise of the platform Patreon.
Revenue share
When platforms share some of their revenue with video creators, that’s revenue share. The best known example of this is TikTok’s Creator Fund.
Merchandising
Merchandising means you create merchandise from a following. For example, if you created t-shirts or an inspiration journal under your brand, that’s merchandising. Thanks to social commerce, it’s getting easier to sell merch on social media platforms. For example, you can add a merch page to YouTube and sell items. Dropshipping merch is pretty simple too–a service like Printify can create and ship your merch without you even being involved.
Business generation
This isn’t totally different from merchandising, but it’s also possible to create and buy businesses from a video following. We’ve seen versions of this from major social celebrities, like Kylie Jenner creating a cosmetic company (Kylie Cosmetics).
Another model of this is when influencers invest and partner with existing businesses, creating a flywheel of portfolio companies they can promote: Alex Hormozi and Codie Sanchez both do this. In this case, video creation can work to attract cool founders and companies to your brand, and you can partner and work as a sort of “kingmaker” to promote them.
Other forms
When you use videos to create attention or a following, there are still other forms of monetization you could consider. If your YouTube videos establish you as an expert, you could charge for consulting or 1:1 coaching. Or, maybe you land a book deal and write a bestseller like John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars, did from his YouTube channel.
Don’t be limited by the options here. Be creative!
Conclusion
We hope this article has given you a solid understanding of how video monetization works and some of the platforms you can use for it. Remember, there are lots of other content creator platforms for monetizing with affiliates or sponsorships.
And if you want to monetize video with an engaged community on your own community platform, come build with us. From livestreams to paid courses to events to memberships, we’ve got you covered.
.
