First: Join the YouTube Partner Program
The YouTube Partner Program allows creators to monetize their Shorts, live streams, and long videos in different ways.
Creators who join the YouTube Partner Program can earn:
A share of revenue from in-video ads and ads inserted between Shorts
A share of revenue from YouTube Premium subscribers who watch your content
Revenue from Super Comments, Super Thanks, and channel memberships
Sell products to your audience through YouTube Shopping
The YouTube Partner Program also offers YouTube Creator Support and the Copyright Match Tool to help protect your original content.
However, joining the YouTube Partner Program isn’t the only way you can make money on YouTube, nor is it likely to be the most profitable strategy for your YouTube channel. You can also make money in other ways, such as directing viewers to e-commerce stores outside of the YouTube platform, becoming an affiliate marketing partner, or making sponsored videos, all of which will be covered below.
Most of the ways to make money on YouTube are relatively simple, but they are only possible if you join the YouTube Partner Program.
YouTube has paid out more than $50 billion to members of the Partner Program over the past three years, so if you meet the following eligibility criteria, consider applying to join the program.
How to join the YouTube Partner Program
To join the YouTube Partner Program and use its monetization features, your YouTube channel needs to meet the following criteria:
Have 1,000 subscribers
4,000 hours of watch time in the past 12 months, or 10 million views of Shorts in the past 90 days
Even if your YouTube channel has fewer subscribers and views, you can still unlock some features of the program.
Your YouTube channel also needs to be in good standing on YouTube and comply with all of YouTube’s monetization policies. In addition, you must live in an applicable region for the YouTube Partner Program.
Once you’re ready, go to YouTube Studio on your YouTube channel and open the Earn tab to apply.
- Turn on video ads
Example of an in-video ad on YouTube for a bicycle brand.
Once you join the YouTube Partner Program, you can start making money on YouTube. The easiest way to do this is through ad revenue from display and video ads on your YouTube channel.
Once you create and publish a long video and turn on ads, YouTube will show your viewers pre-roll and post-roll ads, some of which are skippable and some of which are non-skippable. Although you can’t control which ads appear before or after your video, you can choose whether to play ads within your video for videos that are 8 minutes or longer. These ads are called mid-roll ads. Mid-roll ads can be added automatically or inserted manually.
Select the Earnings tab in YouTube Studio to view your ad revenue report, where you can also view the estimated monthly revenue for videos that have been turned on for monetization.
Finding sources of income beyond ads
While YouTube ads are an easy way to monetize your videos and can bring you passive income, you need to combine ads with other revenue-generating strategies to make a significant income on YouTube.
Some creators believe that YouTube’s “de-monetization” policy (i.e., de-monetizing content that is not friendly to advertisers through automated processes) is too cautious because it may result in some of the creators’ content not generating advertising revenue. In terms of revenue sharing, YouTube retains 45% of the revenue from regular video ads and 55% of the revenue from YouTube Shorts short video ads.
In response, influencers can also use their expertise and influence to generate income by providing coaching or consulting services. For example, beauty bloggers can offer one-on-one makeup guidance courses on YouTube, fitness experts can provide personalized training and diet advice, and workplace KOLs can conduct career planning consultations. This model not only provides more valuable services to fans, but also helps influencers expand their income sources and achieve more sustainable development.
Read more:
YouTube Advertising Beginner’s Guide: How to Successfully Advertise on YouTube
The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Marketing
- Let netizens support you in the form of “fan funding”
The Patreon page of the YouTube channel Wait But Why.
YouTube’s Fan Funding feature is a great way for creators in the YouTube Partner Program to raise funds from their audience, allowing fans to directly support their favorite YouTube channels through tips and monthly payments.
Super Chats, Super Stickers, and Super Thanks are colorful messages and reminders that viewers can purchase to support their favorite YouTube channels during live streams and video premieres. Once purchased, the Tip Jar feature highlights these fan chat messages in the chat box.
Similarly, YouTube’s Channel Memberships feature provides a series of exclusive benefits created by you for paying fans. You can create up to six membership tiers, and as you increase the membership level, you can provide more and more benefits to fans in corresponding levels, such as:
Channel badges and custom emojis that allow members to stand out in instant chats and comments
Community posts, Shorts, and long videos that only members can see
Exclusive first views of your videos
Members-only instant chats and live streams
Member identification shelf, which displays member avatars at the top of your YouTube channel page
Other ways to get fan funding
You can also raise funds for your YouTube channel outside of the YouTube platform.
Patreon is a well-known fan funding platform where creators can provide fans with more content, access, and benefits to encourage fans to provide them with regular funding.
While you may need to create more content to repay your fans, these platforms provide fans with a familiar way for them to continue to support you.
In addition to Patreon, there are some popular fan funding platforms:
Tipeee: On this platform, you can make a one-time donation or a recurring donation.
Buy Me A Coffee: Creators and artists can accept fan donations on Buy Me A Coffee, and the commissions taken by this platform are usually lower than Patreon.
Ko-fi: On this platform, you can initiate donations, subscriptions, and crowdfunding, and the commissions taken by this platform are also lower.
- Sell products and peripherals
T-shirts on the “category” page of a website.
YouTube creator Roman Atwood sells various products under the brand Smile More.
With YouTube Shopping, fans can shop directly in your content, which is simple and convenient. You can use YouTube Shopping to:
Open a store on your YouTube channel
Link your other online stores to your YouTube channel to showcase your products in your videos
Tag your products or other brands’ products in your videos
According to YouTube’s internal data, more than 160,000 YouTube creators use YouTube Shopping to sell merchandise on the platform.
Many creators choose to sell merchandise such as tote bags, flat-brimmed hats, and t-shirts, or feature products from brands they review or work with.
Selling branded merchandise is easier than you think. Use a print-on-demand service to design eye-catching products, set reasonable prices, and have them produced and shipped after a customer places an order, while you get all the benefits of a print-on-demand service without the hassle.
Read more: 11 of the best print-on-demand companies and websites
How to set up YouTube Shopping
The easiest way to use YouTube Shopping is to connect your Shopify store to your YouTube channel. This way, your product catalog will be automatically synced, and customers can check out on YouTube or visit your Shopify store for a better shopping experience.
If you don’t have an online store yet, why not try Shopify for free to get started?
Selling on YouTube with Shopify
Shopify’s powerful tools can help you promote and sell products on YouTube. With Shopify, you can centrally manage your product catalog, tag products in live broadcasts, manage all sales orders, and more.
Start selling on YouTube
- Partner with brands as an influencer
Many brands are increasing their investment and sponsorship in influencer marketing, betting a large amount of their advertising budget on influencers because they have a ready-made loyal audience.
For you as a creator, this is a huge opportunity, and if you can negotiate a good deal and expose your audience to the brand’s products, you will also get a rich return.
Brendan Gahan is a YouTube influencer and marketing expert. He recommends multiplying the daily views of your video by $0.05-0.15 (about 0.35-1.05 RMB) to determine your baseline fee standard.
Based on your reach, i.e. your target audience, the quality of your content, and the uniqueness and potential profitability of your audience, if you can find a brand that is a good match, you may be able to negotiate a good deal.
In addition, the key to brand sponsored content cooperation is to be transparent and not endorse brands you don’t like or trust.
Shopify Collabs makes it easy to find brands that match your content and values, establish alliances, get commissions on sales, and let you track everything on one platform.
YouTube also has a built-in feature to help influencers connect with brands. It can use audience data to match your YouTube channel with potential brands to cooperate.
- License content to media
A woman wearing a Chewbacca mask in a Youtube video.
After this video of a woman wearing a Chewbacca mask went viral, countless media wanted to buy the rights to use it.
If your video goes viral overnight and attracts a lot of attention, for example, a funny short video featuring your dog suddenly goes viral, then you can license your content to media and charge a fee.
Once your video goes viral, you may be contacted by content creators like TV news channels, morning shows, and online news sites who are looking to license your video.
You can also upload your video to commercial platforms like Jukin Licensing to make it easier for people to find and buy your video.
- Crowdfund your creative project
Kickstarter page for the movie Kung Fury.
The popular trailer and related content for Kung Fury, a short film paying homage to 1980s action movies, has excited crowdfunders.
All set? If money is the only thing standing in your way, crowdfunding is a great way to create the next viral video.
Whether you need to buy more advanced equipment, hire actors, or cover other production costs, as long as your idea is compelling enough, you can call on your fans and audience to participate in your project through crowdfunding.
Most successful crowdfunding projects for creative projects have a trailer or “sneak peek” to spark interest. So consider shooting a video to introduce your project to the public so that they can get a taste of it.
Here are the popular crowdfunding sites used by YouTubers, where they have historically been able to raise the funds they need:
Kickstarter: This is the most well-known crowdfunding site for raising funds for cool products and creative projects. First, make sure you set an achievable funding goal, as you can only withdraw funds when you reach the set amount.
Indiegogo: This is an alternative to Kickstarter that offers a more flexible way to raise funds.
Read more:
How to launch a crowdfunding campaign on an overseas platform: Success stories and tips
Is the overseas equity crowdfunding model suitable for cross-border e-commerce?
- Become an affiliate marketer
Affiliate marketing is a content revenue generation strategy that earns commissions by promoting other brands’ products or services in your YouTube videos.
If you are a YouTube creator, you can become an affiliate marketer for brands and create marketing content to promote related products to your audience.
Affiliate marketing process diagram.
How to become an affiliate marketer
To get started with affiliate marketing, look for affiliate programs that match your content and are likely to resonate with your audience. The more relevant the product or brand you market is to your audience, the more likely you are to succeed.
Once you sign up for a brand’s affiliate program, you can add affiliate links in your video descriptions or at the end of your videos so that viewers can click to buy the product.
If your YouTube channel also posts product review videos, you are particularly suitable for becoming an affiliate marketer. Because it is risk-free for brands to use affiliate marketing (they only pay commissions after generating sales), it is usually a low-threshold marketing method for them. Just make sure to clearly disclose that you have a partnership with the product you review.
The YouTube Shopping affiliate program simplifies this process, allowing you to quickly find relevant products and view commission rates. Once you find a product you want to promote, it is easy to tag the product directly in your YouTube video.
While any creator can post affiliate marketing videos and links on YouTube, creators need to join the YouTube Partner Program and
