We’re living in the golden age of influencer marketing. In other words, people like you and me are creating content on the Internet and getting paid for it. Even if the term is far from universally accepted, it has to be said that being an “influencer” has become a real profession. If you’re interested in becoming a YouTuber, here are all the best ways to monetize YouTube.
Maybe you dream of making millions or collaborating with your favorite brands. Maybe you just want to make a living from your passion. Whatever the case, you don’t need to have millions of subscribers or views to make money with YouTube.
Whatever your goal, there are many ways to monetize YouTube. In my opinion, you shouldn’t focus on just one lever. On the contrary, you should use them all, but in a well-thought-out way. I’m going to share with you everything I know about making money with YouTube: prerequisites, tips, methods, best practices: you’ll soon have everything you need to get started!
YouTube, the world’s leading video platform
- Nearly 3 billion users log on every month
- Approximately 24 hours of video viewed per person per year
- YouTube is the 2nd most visited website in the world after search engine Google
- Nearly 40% of global Internet traffic passes through YouTube
- YouTube records over 30 billion video views a day
- More than 1 billion hours of video viewed by users every day
- An estimated 30,000 hours of video are posted every hour on YouTube
Numbers that make your head spin.
Bref, YouTube semble tout bonnement indétrônable. Et c’est pourquoi certains influenceurs réussissent à gagner des millions en publiant des contenus sur la plateforme.
Here are the top 5 most influential YouTubers in the world:
- MrBeast: 188 million subscribers
- PewDiePie: 111 million subscribers
- Like Nastya: 108 million subscribers
- Dude Perfect: 59.8 million subscribers
- JuegaGerman: 48.7 million subscribers
All these figures can quickly make your head spin, or even discourage you. How can you make money with YouTube when you’re up against such monsters?
Prerequisites for monetizing your YouTube channel
First of all, you don’t need a billion subscribers or even millions of views on every video to monetize YouTube. After all, these aren’t the only factors that come into play.
Yes, the number of YouTube subscribers is important. But no, just because you don’t have as many subscribers as others doesn’t mean you can’t monetize your channel.
Number of subscribers, views and engagement
It’s perfectly possible to make money with a smaller YouTube channel. Because what’s often more important than subscribers or views is engagement. On YouTube, engagement translates (among other things) into high view times, likes and comments.
As on Instagram or Facebook, YouTube’s algorithm will take all these indicators into consideration to see if the video is worthy of interest, and then suggest it to others. The higher the engagement, the more likely you are to win subscribers, get more views, and so on.
Know your audience Make money with YouTube
The secret to naturally gaining subscribers and high engagement? First of all, you need to find your niche, i.e. the subject you’re going to talk about most and the target audience you’re going to reach.
If you already have a YouTube channel, you may be aware that the platform provides precise demographic data on your audience:
- Gender
- Age
- Geographic location
- Overall engagement
- Viewing time
- Etc.
Knowing these indicators will help you create relevant and interesting content. In other words, videos that should generate ever-increasing user engagement.
Next, you need to be able to offer quality content and publish new videos on a regular basis. Once you reach a cruising speed and maintain this quality, the number of subscribers and views should naturally increase.
Only then is it possible to earn money with YouTube. Most of this money comes from advertising revenue. If you manage to establish yourself in your niche, it shouldn’t be too long before you attract the attention of brands that target the same audience as you, and are keen to collaborate.
Best practices for monetizing YouTube
Before moving on to the various methods of monetizing YouTube, I’d like to share a few best practices to follow throughout your YouTubing adventure.
We’ve already mentioned the most important ones:
- Find your niche
- Know your audience
- Publish regularly
- Take statistics into account
- Make quality videos
- Publish regularly
But I’d also advise you to follow the tips below to increase your chances of success.
Make calls to action (CTA)
Don’t assume that users will do what you want them to do without your asking. On the contrary, you need to challenge them and encourage them to carry out the actions you expect of them. This is what we call calls to action. CTA stands for “call to action”.
Asking people to subscribe to the channel, post a comment or subscribe to the Instagram and TikTok accounts are the most common CTAs. How many times have we heard “don’t forget to subscribe to the channel and activate notifications so you don’t miss any videos”?
And there’s a reason we hear it so often. It’s precisely because it works.
Using cards at the end of the video
It often happens that at the end of a video, the user runs off to watch other content. One way to avoid this is to use cards at the end of the video. These are inserts that can be superimposed and display other videos from your channel or playlists.
If the content you offer via cards is relevant, you should improve your user retention rate and gradually rack up more views.
Create relevant playlists
YouTube allows you to manage the organization of your own videos on your channel quite well. A simple way to improve engagement and views is to create playlists of videos on the same topic. You can also organize your videos into series that follow one another: perfect for keeping users captivated and increasing view time.
Promote your social networks
Most YouTube users are also present on social networks. Even if it’s not compulsory, it’s often worthwhile to animate these other platforms (always depending on your target audience’s habits) to capture their attention outside of YouTube.
The goal is to stay in touch with them, so you can share new videos with them more easily. If you are looking to become a YouTuber, you can consider networks (Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook…) as an additional way to gain subscribers and increase views and engagement.
I will share with you 6 ways to make money from YouTube
1. Making money with YouTube ads
When you host a YouTube channel, your first income often comes from advertising. In other words, you authorize the platform to intersperse your videos with automatic advertising spots, each lasting between 5 and 30 seconds.
These spots are chosen according to YouTube’s knowledge of each user. They are not necessarily related to your video.
To activate these ads, you need to create a Google AdSense account. Revenues are pretty slim for this advertising format, especially in the early days. You really need to get millions of views on each video to hope to make a living from these spots alone.
It can be tempting to add several in each video to boost revenue. But be careful not to overdo it: these commercials can quickly become very annoying when there are too many of them.
2. Monetize with YouTube Premium
Users can subscribe to YouTube Premium to be ad-free. For a monthly subscription fee, they can watch your videos without any interruption.
Does this mean that YouTube Premium users earn nothing for creators? Not quite. YouTube still paid YouTubers according to the number of Premium users who watch their videos.
These revenues complement the advertising spots. They are therefore interesting as long as you accumulate a lot of views on each video.
If you’re hoping to make money with YouTube, it’s best to turn to other sources of income.
3. Insérer des cartes sponsorisées
I’ve already mentioned cards, the inserts that can be inserted at the end of each video to encourage the user to view another video on the channel.
It’s also possible to insert sponsored cards, i.e. ads that are much more discreet than traditional ads, but still interesting for promoting other content, your own website or that of a partner brand.
4. Invite subscribers to subscribe to the channel
If one person subscribes to your channel, it’s already a small victory. But you can go even further by offering subscriptions.
People who subscribe to a YouTube channel gain access to extra features: badges, emojis, benefits, exclusive content… To subscribe, the user has to click on the “Join” button. Then they can pay you directly to access all the benefits you offer.
But be careful: your channel must meet a number of conditions in order to offer this feature to users:
- Have at least 1,000 subscribers
- Be part of the YouTube Partner program
- Be over 18 (you, not the channel)
- Offer a “Community” tab
- Be from a country eligible for the feature
- Not offer content aimed at children
To make money with this feature, you need to start by having a certain number of subscribers and views. But you also need to have an engaged community.
5. Crowdfunding and asking for donations to monetize YouTube
Depending on your niche, you may need to build a project or simply create new content. If you have a loyal and committed community, you can launch a crowdfunding campaign.
But you can also ask for donations (simpler than a crowdfunding campaign, which requires you to create a specific project). Perhaps you’ve already heard of Patreon or Tipee? These are platforms that enable designers to collect donations from their subscribers.
Everyone knows that it’s difficult to set up a YouTube channel full-time and make a living from it, especially in the early days. Asking users to make a donation is a good way to get your foot in the door, or even to generate a regular income to keep sharing interesting content.
Of course, if you want people to be inclined to make donations, you have to keep creating quality, entertaining content.
6. Monetize YouTube with product placement
In a video, every detail counts. Almost nothing should be left to chance. Depending on the type of content you create, it’s perfectly possible to collaborate with brands on product placement.
This means including a product or simply a brand logo in the video (but without mentioning it). This is exactly what many artists do in their videos. Hollywood doesn’t shy away from it either, notably with car brands who pay producers to have their vehicles featured as often as possible.
Well, you can do it with your YouTube channel too. Some companies or brands may ask you to feature their products in your videos and pay you for doing so.
Influencer marketing: the Eldorado for monetizing YouTube
Even if YouTube isn’t a social network like any other, it’s no exception to the influencer marketing trend. In other words, brands are paying content creators (aka, influencers) to promote their products and services.
How do you set your rates to make money with YouTube?
On YouTube or elsewhere, this kind of collaboration can generate very substantial revenues. The main negotiating levers are number of subscribers, number of views and engagement.
If you haven’t the slightest idea of how much you want to charge brands, here are a few tips.
Some advocate setting a fixed prime rate (between 5 and 15 cents) and multiplying it by the average number of views. This amount corresponds to what companies generally pay to advertise on the platform. All this can change depending on your niche and commitment, but it gives a pretty accurate idea of the income you can generate with YouTube. best online business ideas in 2024
Another method of calculation is to focus solely on the number of subscribers to the channel. Some studies estimate that a YouTube influencer can charge between €15 and €20 per 1,000 subscribers. This figure can rise to €1,500 or even €2,000 per 100,000 subscribers for a video.
Conclusion
That’s it, I’ve shared all my tips and the best ways to make money with YouTube. I hope you’ll find it all useful as you get started and monetize YouTube.