Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
Make money from YouTube
Paul Prowse
6th Sep 2019
Ever wondered whether you could make money from YouTube?
Plenty of people make serious cash by sharing their videos on the site, with many managing to make thousands of pounds a year. A lucky minority even quit their day jobs and make their YouTube hobby their career!
- Make money from YouTube: How much could I make?
- Make money from YouTube: What sort of YouTube video makes money?
- A step-by-step guide on how to make money from YouTube
- Find a job on social media
Most people are unaware that you can make cash from your home movies. But if you upload popular videos to YouTube, you can apply to receive a share of the income from the ads that accompany your clips.
MAKE MONEY FROM YOUTUBE: How much money could I make?
It’s not simply a case of there being a flat rate of so many pence per view – how you can make money with YouTube depends on a number of factors (such as how many viewers your videos attract and the type of advertising that is displayed).
Some people might earn around 60p for every 1,000 views, while others earn money every time an advert is clicked.
So the amount of money different YouTube videos make varies hugely. It could be anything from a few hundred quid to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
If you want to make money from YouTube videos, you need to realise it’s a hard graft!
MAKE MONEY FROM YOUTUBE: What sort of YouTube video makes money?
The short answer is: any video that a large number of people watch!
If you have a natural flair for capturing funny, cute or quirky things on film, making YouTube videos could not only be a fun hobby – it could be a nice little earner on the side, too.
You may have already seen this video for example:
This clip was originally posted on YouTube for friends and family to enjoy – but it has now been watched by millions of people across the planet, spreading via countless websites and emails.
It might only be 55 seconds of home-made footage, but it has already earned the family well over £100,000 through YouTube advertising.
Though it’s not just cute baby and funny cat videos that can rack up a surprising amount of views (and cash).
Take student Livie Rose. She uploaded a video showing how to achieve different make-up effects and quickly became an internet sensation. Today thousands of women worldwide subscribe to her videos to learn how to mimic the make-up of their favourite celebs.
Livie has since put off going to university to concentrate on her online cosmetics career, with her YouTube videos often earning her thousands of pounds every month.
Many people who have specialist knowledge or a particular talent – from make-up to music to comedy – have become YouTube stars.
How to make money from YouTube – a step-by-step guide
If you hope to make money from YouTube videos, they must meet these minimum requirements:
- The content must be family friendly
- They must not contain any content that you didn’t create or get permission from its author to use (this obviously includes any use of music still under copyright)
- They can’t show people from whom you didn’t get permission to feature
Got all that? Good. Now all you need to do is…
1. Film your video and upload it to YouTube
Self-explanatory this, but a vital step!
Of course you’ll need to name your movie masterwork. If you want to make money with YouTube, a good rule of thumb here is to keep the title short and snappy – most ‘viral’ videos (i.e. extremely popular ones) have memorable, self-explanatory titles that are easy to search for (e.g. Charlie Bit My Finger, Sneezing Panda etc.)
If you can promote your video on other sites too – particularly via social media such as Twitter and Facebook – so much the better.
2. Check your email
If one of your videos does well, YouTube will send you an email asking you to apply for revenue sharing.
If you are approved, you will only be able to make money from the video specified in the email.
3. Apply to become a Youtube partner
Once you have a few YouTube videos which are getting quite a few views, you can apply to become a YouTube partner.
How many videos (and views) do you need to become a YouTube partner? YouTube states that “there is no specific formula that will get you invited to become a partner”. But what they will take into account is:
- How often you upload videos (the more you upload, the better)
- How big your audience is
- Whether your content abides by the minimum requirements listed above
Once you’re approved as a partner, you can turn on revenue sharing for all your videos (provided they meet YouTube’s minimum requirements).
If Youtube rejects your application to become a partner, you won’t be able to apply again for two months. In which case, go back to step one!
4. Get Google AdSense
Once you’ve been accepted as a YouTube partner, you’ll need to create a Google AdSense account, and link it to your YouTube account.
YouTube will then pay you through this AdSense account. (It’s easy to do – you can get more information on creating an AdSense account here).
Note that YouTube will only start paying money into your account after your video(s) have made £60 or more in AdSense earnings.
5. Make money!
Whether you have a one-hit wonder video like Charlie Bit My Finger or go on to make money from YouTube fanbases like Livie Rose, there’s money to be made from YouTube if you have a bit of a creative streak.
And don’t chuck those old home videos away just yet – you never know, you could be sitting on a gold mine…
Find a job in social media
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Thanks,
Thanks for sharing about make money online from youtube. If we want to make money from youtube there is no doubt that we have to work hard. But many people upload good quality of videos but they did not get good amount of visitor. What do you about the problem behind it?
Although many people have made a lot of money via YouTube, most by sheer luck, some through lots of hard work, I think you’re over simplifying things here. There a millions of poorly made and poorly thought out videos on YouTube. Mostly of people sitting in front of their webcams in poorly light rooms. Even though it’s YouTube, productions values do matter. Think to yourself, would you watch and enjoy the video if it wasn’t you making it? If you’re honest, then most of the time it’ll be a No. Those that have made a genuine career on YouTube and… Read more »
@Shanks
you are right.