Curious about YouTube Monetization? It’s possible to make millions of dollars on YouTube; even 9-year-old Ryan Kaji can do it.
You don’t just create a video, edit it, upload it, and magically start making money – there’s a lot more to it than that.
As well as becoming a YouTube Partner, which gives you access to advertising revenue and other features, you can harness your audience elsewhere.
We’re going to look at six options for generating revenue on your new or existing YouTube channel.
Let’s get started with the most profitable and scalable option and work down to the list with the least potential to get the revenue rolling in.
Your first option is coming right up.
Tactic #1: Launch Your Own Video Streaming Site
Once you’ve got a successful YouTube channel, probably the most profitable way to start making serious money is to host your best content on your own streaming site.
That’s a lot to take in, so let’s break it down.
YouTube is an amazing platform to build your audience and create engagement around your content. But it’s not the best platform for video monetization. The constant algorithm updates, and YouTube’s partner program, together with the fact that you don’t own your audience on YouTube, make it very difficult to build a stable, scalable business on YouTube.
To start earning money from your videos, you can launch your own branded video membership site and monetize your content using subscriptions, one-time purchases, rentals, and more.
To get an idea of how to make this work, we’ve got an example for you.
YouTube Monetization Example: Sarah Beth Yoga
Sarah Beth Yoga started with the former model uploading some yoga videos to YouTube.
Image Source: Sarah Beth Yoga
As her following on YouTube grew, she branched out to create her own membership website plus a branded mobile and TV app to give her fans and fellow yogis easy access to her content.
Image Source: YouTube
She still regularly posts videos on her YouTube channel and uses them to promote her own website, like in the screenshot above and the one below.
Image Source: YouTube
To ensure her paying members get more value, she creates longer videos for her video streaming website.
Image Source: SarahBethYoga
Sarah Beth is absolutely slaying it when it comes to using her successful YouTube channel to generate revenue on a different video hosting platform.
We’ve got another YouTube monetization idea coming up next.
Tactic #2: Leverage YouTube Channel Memberships
To generate money directly on YouTube, you can charge your fans to be members of your channel.
Once you meet the eligibility criteria, you can set up a paywall on your YouTube content so that only your paying members can access what you create.
It’s worth noting that from the revenue that you generate through memberships, YouTube takes a 30% cut.
Let’s check out a creator who’s making channel memberships work for them.
YouTube Monetization Example: Anna Yakimenko
Anna Yakimenko is a Milan-based Russian fashion vlogger.
Image Source: YouTube
On her YouTube channel, you can join and receive a range of perks, depending on which of the five tiers you choose.
Image Source: YouTube
Based on how much you pay, you can access exclusive video content and discount codes for merchandise, as well as personalized fashion advice at the higher tiers.
Since adding memberships to her YouTube channel, Anna has doubled the revenue she generates on the platform.
Want to learn another tactic for making more money from your YouTube channel?
Tactic #3: Sell Your Own Branded Merchandise
After spending time creating and honing your brand and message, you can capitalize on that work and sell your own branded merchandise.
You need to choose your products carefully and then decide how you’ll stock and fulfill your orders.
To get the revenue rolling in, you can talk about your merch in your videos and add links to your online store for your fans to buy into your brand.
Once you’ve got your merchandise planned out, you can maximize the potential of your sales by using the email addresses that you gather from customers to send follow-up emails marketing the rest of your offering.
We’ll show you how one famous YouTuber works his merch.
YouTube Monetization Example: Marques Brownlee (MKBHD)
Marques Brownlee is a famous YouTuber with over 14 million subscribers to his channel.
Image Source: YouTube
As a tech vlogger and reviewer, he’s created a strong brand for himself over the years – his millions upon millions of video views are testament to his popularity.
Image Source: YouTube
In the comments section of each of his videos, Marques drops a link back to his merchandise store, as you can see in the screenshot above.
Image Source: Cotton Bureau
Once there, you can buy cool tees that tie in with his branding and slogans and for each item sold, Marques will get a cut of the sale.
An alternative way to optimize the value each customer adds to your business would be to create your own ecommerce shop and link to that page instead.
Moving on to the next option we have to generate revenue using YouTube.
Tactic #4: Get Sponsorships from Popular Brands
When your videos become popular on YouTube and you become an influencer, you can start to sign sponsorship deals.
Brands look for influencers who have a connection with their audience and ask them to talk about their product and promote it to the people who watch their videos.
Of course, the creator gets paid for this type of advertising and brands understand the value of the trusting relationship that an influencer has with their audience.
To get a sponsorship deal, you need to work on your engagement across social media platforms and YouTube to show that your audience is active and interacts with you.
We’ve got a creator who’s done just that.
YouTube Monetization Example: iJustine
iJustine is a hugely popular tech and lifestyle vlogger with nearly 7 million subscribers to her channel.
Image Source: YouTube
Because of her huge audience who are interested in tech reviews, iRobot commissioned her to do an unboxing of the Roomba i7+.
Image Source: YouTube
The brand gets to reach an audience they may not be able to connect with through traditional marketing channels and iJustine earns money by showing the product to them.
Our fifth tactic for making money through your YouTube channel is coming right up.
Tactic #5: Use Super Chat and Super Stickers
YouTube launched the Super Chat and Super Stickers features back in 2017 as another way for creators to generate money on their content.
Super Chat and Stickers generate income on live-streamed videos, letting your fans pay to be able to highlight their comment and sometimes have it be pinned to the top of the chat feed.
As with other monetization features on YouTube, you need to be eligible for the partner program to activate Supers and the platform keeps 30% of everything that gets donated.
Here’s how one creator is making a success of their Super Chat.
YouTube Monetization Example: Matt Kohrs
Matt Kohrs has built a fanbase of over 300,000 subscribers to his channel, where he vlogs and live streams about finance and investing.
Image Source: YouTube
During his live streams, fans will comment in his chat feed and donate cash at the same time.
Image Source: YouTube
In the screenshot, you can see that a fan donated $5 to leave a comment, and there were plenty more like that during the stream.
In fact, according to data from Playboard, Matt’s channel earned him a huge $66,219 in May 2021.
Image Source: Playboard
There’s definitely potential to bring in some serious money if you work on your YouTube live streams.
We’ve got one more revenue stream to maximize when using YouTube.
Tactic #6: Use Google AdSense
The last monetization option we’ve got for you is to have adverts running on your video content.
There is a range of different adverts you can have on your content and you’ll get to keep a share of the revenue that YouTube takes.
Here are the different advertising formats that YouTube offers:
Image Source: Google
This is how they look in reality.
YouTube Monetization Example: Nick Nimmin
Nick Nimmin is a YouTuber who creates videos with hints, tips, and advice about how to get the most out of YouTube.
Image Source: YouTube
He has nearly 800,000 subscribers and we can tell that he’s a YouTube Partner because not only does he have adverts on his videos, but he also offers memberships like Anna, who we looked at a little further up.
Before his video giving tips on presenting yourself on camera, you get served an advert based on the data that Google has about your internet habits.
Image Source: YouTube
Nick will make income by having these adverts featured at the start of his videos.
Now Over to You
That should have gotten your revenue-generation juice flowing.
We’ve presented you with a range of ideas to boost your income by using your YouTube channel.
The most profitable option is generally to host your content on a video hosting platform like Uscreen, where you can get paid for your content and connect directly with members of your audience.
As a savvy business person or budding social media entrepreneur, you’ll understand the importance of diversifying your income and you’ll know that you need to be doing a mix of these options.
Which revenue streams will fit with your audience?
Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Sarah Neilson
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