It depends on the type of video you are going to upload and what kind of advertisement you are going to publish. If you are lucky enough to have Google AdSense on your account, and can monetize your channel, YouTube videos make an average of $5 per 1,000 views. There is another – more profitable way to make money on YouTube – I’ll discuss this in the (Other ways to make money on YouTube section).
If we are talking about Google AdSense, how much money you make is going to depend on several different factors:
- The number of views your video receives.
- The number of clicks the advertisement receives on your video.
- The quality of the advertisement on your video
- The length of the video and level of viewer retention
- Whether or not your viewers have Adblockers active
How does a YouTube video Make Money?
It is important for you to understand how Google makes money through YouTube. When a small business wants to advertise to their audience, they buy advertisement space through Google AdWords.
The business owner gives Google their desired audience and a set of keywords. Google charges these clients a Daily or Monthly Budget. Google then pays out around 65% of their AdWords revenue to YouTube partners or blogs (like ours) to display advertisements to their audience.
That is why some of the advertisements on our magazine may be relevant to your interest.
Google pays out around $20 for 1,000 AD Views. This is different than actual video views. It is very possible that your viewers do not see an advertisement because they do not meet the Advertiser’s criteria, or they have an Adblocker installed. If that is the case, you will not get credit for the view.
How do you increase the earnings per video view on YouTube?
Now that you know where Google gets the money to pay YouTube Content creators (Business owners who advertise on their network), you can start to find ways to increase the number of ads that run on your video.
You can do this by making your video more relevant to what business owners are using as their keywords. I am the owner of a Marketing Agency for Private Investigators – I know… tight niche. But here is the thing, when we buy advertisement spots on Google AdWords, we use keywords like “Child Custody Private Investigator” or “Asset Check Private Investigator” – if your video has nothing to do about Private Investigations, Child Custody, or Asset Checks, it will be extremely difficult for my advertisement to show up on a gaming channel.
Think of advertisers as a pool of businesses looking for places to advertise and think of your channel as a spot they can advertise on. The more niched out your channel is, the more you will push off businesses.
To drive the point home one last time:
If your channel is all about Vegetarian diets, you immediately block off everyone who is advertising meats and grills (generally speaking).
If you want to increase the number of ads that appear on your video, open your channel to a wider audience… UNLESS…. You want to make a LOT of money from one niche. This brings me to the next section:
Other ways to make money on YouTube
While Google AdSense pays anywhere between $3 to $5 per 1,000 views, when you niche out your channel to one niche, you can demand much higher prices from your advertisers.
You do not necessarily have to be a YouTube partner for this. Let us say that you have a channel centered around one topic. Take the Sling Shot Channel – Literally, a guy named Joerg Sprave builds Sling Shots and shoots them… That is it. (It is a cool channel; I love that guy).
Who is going to want to advertise on a YouTube channel about medieval weapons? Well… he was able to pull in a gaming studio who promoted a medieval game. I am not privy of his finances, but I am certain he charged more than $5 per 1,000 views to promote that game.
Do you need a ton of subscribers to make money?
Yes and No. Look, if you create a channel that is all about Corgis (Dog Breed) and you pickup 5,000 subscribers. The American Kennel Club claims there around 5,000 corgis in the US. So more than likely your channel has most – if not all – of the market of Corgi owners.
What I would push to my sponsors is the number of subscribers in comparison to the sponsors market.
5,000 subscribers are not a lot of people.
90% of the Corgi market… suddenly looks a lot better.
If you do NOT have a niche, that is where the subscriber count kicks in. On average, a channel with 250,000 subscribers can charge from $1,000 to $1,500 per sponsored video.
If the channels’ host has some serious influence over the audience, the multiplier can push this rate into the $2,000 range.
So how do I go about making money on YouTube?
By treating your channel like a job. Creating a channel takes time, patience, skill, LUCK, but most importantly – a business model.
You can either get extremely lucky by having your channel going viral for no reason, or you can intentionally get lucky by creating a channel that targets a particular type of person or market.
Make sure that you track down your analytics and keep tabs on the type of people that visit your website.
Document as much information as possible.
Remember this: You are selling a brand and a product. You are the brand, your viewers are the product.
As a business owner, I do not care how many followers you have or how many views you get.
I care about five things:
- Does my product relate to your audience?
- Can your audience afford to purchase my product?
- Are you going to embarrass my company?
- Do you post regularly?
- Does your audience follow you?
If your channel has 300 subscribers, and those people are my target audience. I’m willing to risk some sort of money with you. If it costs me $500 to get a new customer, and you tell me that you can influence 10% of your “small” channel, the channel is composed of people that meet my criteria, you develop a pitch, and you won’t embarrass my company – I could risk $1,000 and hope for the best.
At the very least, I know I will get three things from you:
- A (hopefully) good quality video that I can share on my social channels.
- A promotion that will reach some of your followers in the future.
- A shoutout from a “growing” YouTube channel.
Are there any other ways YouTube videos can make money?
Yes, you do not have to rely on advertisements to make money on YouTube. You can also make money via Affiliate Links. Sign up to an Affiliate Platform like CJ.com and find affiliate links and partners to work with.
Here is a great article we’ve written on affiliate marketing with YouTube:
One way to make money is to review products, and then add links to the description of the video. When a viewer clicks the link, you can make a portion of the sale.
You can also sell merchandise on your channel. You will need to have a healthy following for this one to pay out. But depending on how big of an influencer you are, you can sell your merchandise to your loyal fans.
Key things to take away from this article:
- How much money do YouTube videos make? Between $3 to $5 per 1,000 videos.
- Where does google get their money to pay YouTube partners? From businesses who want to promote a product or a service on the Google AdWords network.
- Do you need a large channel to get sponsors? No, you need a piece of the maker share.
- Are views more important than niches? No, the riches are in the niches. Focus on your niche, build a healthy following, and then seek out advertisers.
