How Much Does YouTube Pay?

How Much Does YouTube Pay? A Comprehensive Guide

How much does YouTube pay in the US?

There is no definite answer as to how much YouTube pays its content creators in the US or outside because every creator earns differently depending on how they are able to hit the factors that affect how much YouTube pays. The average pay of a YouTuber in the US is $18 for every 1000 views, $400-$2,400 for 100,000 views, and somewhere between $2,000-$3,000 for 1 million views.

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How much does YouTube pay? We are now in an age where many Internet users spend so much of their time-consuming video content, particularly on YouTube. In fact, statistics claim that YouTube receives an average of 14.3 billion visits a month and 2.6 billion active users. That’s how popular the website is! Hence, numerous creators from all parts of the globe are making a fortune from creating YouTube content. Being a very successful website, how much does YouTube pay its content creators?

How Much Does YouTube Pay? 

It’s no secret that anybody can make a fortune off the internet through e-commerce, content creation, online jobs, and so much more. There are multiple ways to monetize your presence online; however, becoming a YouTube content creator and influencer is one of the most-coveted ways. We have heard of success stories from big-time YouTubers who had to build themselves from the ground up and are now earning millions of dollars through their YouTube channel. How do they do it, and how much does YouTube pay them?

To quench your curiosity, we will run you through the details on how much does YouTube pays its creators, as well as other tips and tricks to monetize your YouTube channel and generate income off the internet.

23 Youtube stats that matter
81% of internet users have already used YouTube. Imagine having even a fraction of that figure for a band of loyal viewers! Source: Hootsuite

How Many Views Do You Need to get Paid on YouTube?

watch time analytics
The number of views matters, so make sure to track it often.

A YouTuber’s earning is unique; in other words, most YouTubers don’t receive the same YouTube income. When thinking about earning on YouTube, you must consider multiple factors that affect how much does YouTube pay a channel, including views, a video’s length, adblockers, ad quality, the number of clicks an ad gets, and your location and niche. Unfortunately, there’s no definite answer as to how many views a channel has to receive in order to get paid by YouTube. It just needs to get at least 4,000 public watch hours to be part of the YouTube Partner Program to start earning. However, with Google AdSense, YouTube content creators may generate an earning anywhere between $.01 to $.03.

Then, how much will YouTube pay per 1000 views? On average, a YouTuber gets paid $.18 for every view their video gets. If we do the Math, a YouTuber makes $18 for every 1000 views. A YouTuber may earn more if the views increase and all other factors are met. How much money 100k views on YouTube? A channel with 100k views on YouTube money may range from $400-$2,400. How much does YouTube pay you for 1 million views? This is just a rough estimate, but a video with ads and a million views may earn somewhere between $2,000-$3,000.

Furthermore, it’s important to note that ads play a primary role in monetizing a channel. A video with over 100k views on YouTube and no ads is not income-generating. The key to making a fortune on the platform is to maximize the ad views on all videos. This can be very difficult as most people hate ads, thus, the rampant use of adblockers today. Therefore, it is a challenge for every YouTuber to encourage their viewers and subscribers to watch the ads and complete the videos from start to end.

Does Subscriber Count Affect How Much YouTube Pays?

No, YouTube doesn’t pay its content creators based on the number of subscribers a channel has. However, the more subscribers a YouTube channel has, the higher the chances of generating more views. That is precisely why almost all YouTubers end their videos with “don’t forget to subscribe!” It is every YouTuber’s dream to get a million subscriptions from avid and eager subscribers who are willing to watch all their uploaded videos and not skip the ads.

While a channel’s subscriber count does not affect how much YouTube pays, it does affect whether or not a YouTuber gets into the Partner Program. And to the knowledge of everyone, only those who are part of the program may monetize their channel. Only channels with at least 1,000 subscribers can get into the YouTube Partner Program. So, the answer to the questions “how much does YouTube pay for 1,000 subscribers? How much does a YouTuber with 1 million subscribers make?” depends upon how that YouTuber can meet YouTube’s requirement, on top of the factors previously mentioned.

How Does YouTube Pay Its Content Creators?

Gamer playing
The gaming niche is thriving on YouTube.

For content creators to generate income on YouTube, they must at least attain a minimum balance of $100 from their views. While creators can earn through Google AdSense and views, becoming a part of the YouTube Partner Program allows them access to special features. Only YouTubers who have met the requirements can sign up and enjoy multiple income streams, such as YouTube Premium subscription fees and Super Chat. The specific criteria that a creator has to meet to get into the YouTube Partner Program are the following:

  • at least 1,000 subscribers
  • 4,000 public watch hours in the past 12 months
  • agreeing to the Program’s terms and conditions
  • AdSense account
  • live where the Program is available

The first two criteria are the most difficult to achieve, but once a YouTuber gets accepted into the program, they can already enjoy earning through various ways. However, YouTubers can only get 68% of their revenue, while YouTube keeps the remaining 32%.

Creators can start generating revenue off their channel or videos through either CPM (cost per thousand views) or CPC (cost per click). Through CPM, creators can make money for every 1,000 accumulated ad views; through CPC, their earning is based on the number of clicks the ads on their videos get. According to some reports, other topics have a much higher CPM, so it pays to know what these topics are and maybe target them in your content.

Other YouTube Income-generating Methods

YouTube is a great platform to earn money. Contrary to popular belief, YouTube ad revenues aren’t the only way YouTubers can generate income on the platform (although it is the primary way). If you spend time on YouTube, you may have noticed that YouTubers have multiple ways of monetizing their channel and audience. Here are other income-generating methods you can cop to maximize your stay on YouTube as a creator:

YouTube Membership

Not everyone knows this, but YouTube runs a channel membership feature that functions like Patreon or Twitch’s subscriber feature. Of course, this comes with a fee; how else would a YouTuber earn from this? The YouTube membership feature gives an audience the privilege to support their favorites and access exclusive content not made available to non-members.

Creators can use this feature to increase their revenue while simultaneously giving their audience a front-row experience with their content. While this may not work well with several niches or topics, it’s a tool worth utilizing, particularly if YouTube has a dedicated and engaged audience willing to give their all-out support to their favorite YouTubers.

Sell Merchandise

clothing shop
Your merch should reflect your true style and niche.

Die-hard fans find joy in splurging on the merchandise of their favorite celebrities, influencers, or creators. Most YouTubers have merch stores where they create custom fanny packs, t-shirts, pillows, notebooks, calendars, photo cards, personalized jewelry, tickets to exclusive content, and a lot more merchandise to sell. While this may require a bit of monetary investment, it will be worth it, especially if fans have already expressed the desire to purchase their favorite creator’s merchandise should the time come.

An effective way to market and advertise merchandise is by using or wearing them in videos. The more often the audience sees the creator wearing or using the merchandise, the more they want to get one. Aside from that, strategically placing the merch items in videos is an effective way to promote them without being too aggressive.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the most proven ways to make money on YouTube. Affiliate marketing doesn’t demand much of a creator’s time and effort, so they can use this to earn “passive income” on YouTube. Regardless of a creator’s niche or industry, they indeed have products that they love to use and talk about. They can talk about these products in their videos and post the affiliate links in the description box.

That way, the audience can easily find the link and purchase the products. Affiliate marketing is a common ground for both big and small YouTubers.

Sponsorships

influencer in nike jacket
Brand sponsorships paid partnerships, and collaborations with their favorite brands are every influencer’s dream.

Brand sponsorship is, by far, the most lucrative YouTube side hustle. Imagine being sponsored by brands you love! By building their brand and presence as social media influencers and YouTube creators, YouTubers can be sought-after brands willing to pay them just to be featured in their videos.

If you are an influencer or YouTuber, you can already work with brands even in the earlier parts of your journey, as long as you have what it takes and a thousand subscribers on your YouTube channel. Sometimes, brands will express their desire to collaborate with or sponsor you, especially if they can discover how much you love to use their products and often discuss it on your channel. But you don’t have to be fretful if you find that brands aren’t reaching out to you because you can make means to catch their attention.

However, the best thing to do if you want your favorite brands to sponsor you is to build your YouTube channel and become somehow, if not very, popular in your niche. Brands mostly wish to collaborate with creators or influencers who have a massive impact on a broad audience because it would increase their reach and the chances of a booming revenue or sales.

It will also be helpful for you to check out tools that can match brands with the best influencers. You can start by checking out this BuzzSumo review and Sideqik review.

Super Chat

Super Chat links YouTubers with their fans while allowing the former to earn money through Super Chat donations. YouTubers can utilize Super Chat to make money whenever they go live on YouTube. This feature allows a viewer to pay or make a donation during a creator’s live stream so that their message will be read by the creator and will be made visible on the screen.

The higher a viewer pays, the longer the message stays pinned on the stream, and the more characters can be used to write the message. This remarkable feature allows fans to be noticed by their favorite creators while supporting the creators to earn more.

As you venture into becoming a YouTube content creator, always remember how much does YouTube pay for specific criteria and work your way from there. Aside from that, do not settle for ad placements only. While an ad is your primary way of earning YouTube revenue, do not limit yourself and work on the other methods discussed in this portion.

YouTube pays decently!

How much does YouTube pay? The answer isn’t crystal clear, but one thing’s for sure, YouTube pays decently. Obviously, you can’t automatically make thousands and millions of dollars as a start-up YouTuber. But if you put in the effort and invest in resources that will help improve your content quality and your personal branding, YouTube will surely let you harvest the sweet fruits of your labor. Success doesn’t happen overnight, but consistency and the passion for giving your best self will surely take you to the top.

Now that you already have an idea of how much does YouTube pay get to know the top influencer marketing agencies that can help you out in this article — 15 Top YouTube Influencer Marketing Agencies You Need to Know.

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