YouTube, the video streaming giant. An incredible income source for millions of YouTubers. YouTube gets over 2 billion users monthly, and the platform has a collective watch time of 1 billion hours daily.
That’s not all, 500 hours of content is uploaded on YouTube every minute. This means 30,000 hours every hour, and 720,000 hours of content every day.
This huge viewership means there are thousands of creators making their living just on YouTube. But, making a living on YouTube isn’t as easy as it sounds.
We’ve dedicated this guide to help you learn:
- How much money highest paid YouTubers earn?
- How to make money on YouTube?
- Best tips to increase income on YouTube.
Let’s start learning.
How Much Do YouTubers Make?
YouTube is a gold mine if you know what to do and how to do it. The best part is that you get to work on what you love and are passionate about, and you can build a brand around you. You can become famous on YouTube, and earn a lot of money.
A lot of people have actually managed to become millionaires on YouTube. But, the population of these people is extremely low. Just a little over 3% of YouTube creators have managed to make it big.
According to a research study, 96.5% of all YouTube creators in the US make less than $12,140 per year, which is lower than the U.S. Poverty line.
The reason is simple. Not every video becomes famous and manages to earn views of millions. But, a majority of videos end up with thousands of views.
So, how can you make money on YouTube? First, let’s learn how most YouTubers make money, and how many revenue streams you can take advantage of.
How YouTube Ad Revenue Works?
Almost everyone knows that YouTubers earn money from the ads they display on their videos, not how many videos they upload.
You need to have a Google AdSense account and you need to have a monetization-enabled YouTube account to start running ads on your YouTube videos.
But what most people don’t know is that not every video view counts as an ad view. An ad view is when someone watches at least 30 seconds of the ad, or the complete ad even if the ad is shorter than 30 seconds. If a user ends up making an interaction with the ad, that will also help in generating revenue.
Let’s take the example that you get 1,000 views on your website. Out of the 1,000, 900 people skipped the ad. This means you only have 100 people who saw the ad.
Out of those 100 views, the price for each ad view varies greatly.
How Much Money Do YouTubers Make Per View?
Different advertisers pay differently when it comes to ad views. YouTubers generally make between $0.01 – $0.03 per view through Google AdSense.
The pay for these ads varies greatly based on your country, the viewer’s country, the targeted demographic, and other factors.
Videos that have business, technology, software, and reviews, as their niche get better ad payment. Compared to videos that contain pranks, funny videos, etc.
Moreover, famous YouTubers tend to get higher pay rates as more advertisers want to show ads on their videos.
CPM is the metric that’s used to calculate how much money a YouTuber makes. CPM stands for Cost Per Mile (Mile means 1,000 in Latin). So, CPM means Cost per 1,000 views.
How Much Money YouTubers Make Per 1,000 Views?
YouTubers in general earn around $3-$5 per 1,000 views. But your cost per 1,000 views could be anything. The ad payment you get is dependent on several factors.
It is impossible to exactly calculate the amount a YouTuber earns on the basis of CPM. Before you try to calculate the average, there’s one more thing to keep in mind.
CPM is your earning before revenue sharing. There’s a 45/55 split on the money you earn. YouTube keeps 45% of the ad revenue your video earns, and you get the remaining 55%.
This is another reason why it’s tough for small YouTube channels to make a living off YouTube.
Factors That Affect Your YouTube Earnings
Before you learn the earning potential on YouTube, you need to understand the factors that affect how much you can earn on YouTube:
1. Location of Viewers
The primary differentiating factor for the pay rate of ads is which country your viewers reside in. The value of your ads revenue varies greatly country-wise. Maldives has the highest CPM cost, around $15.
If your viewers are from Jordan or Jamaica, your CMP ad rate can be as low as $0.02.
Here’s a chart depicting the CPM rate in the top 20 countries:
2. Video Length
How long your video is also making a difference when it comes to ad earning. According to a 2018 Statista report, the average YouTube video length is 11.7 minutes.
Every content creator has their own perfect video length. This is because factors like Watch time (total time viewers spent watching your video) and Audience retention (how much of your video is watched) are key factors in finding success on YouTube.
If your video is too long, viewers may become bored, and users may leave the video. This decreases your video audience retention rate.
But, you can’t make a video too small, as you can only put ads in the middle of your video. To do that, your video has to be longer than 8 minutes.
When you put an ad in the middle a viewer has to view the ad. This can increase your ad revenue.
Don’t get greedy though. Putting too many ads in your video can lead to a bad experience for your viewers.
3. Clickthrough Rate (CTR)
YouTube’s proprietary algorithm is incredible at finding users who may be interested in watching your content. When you upload a video, YouTube automatically starts suggesting the video to the relevant audience.
YouTube then calculates each of these thumbnail impressions. CTR is nothing but the number of clicks you get on these impressions, divided by the total number of impressions.
If you have a high CTR, it means you have a high conversion rate. Low CTR means a lower conversion rate.
To check CTR metrics on your video, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your YouTube Studio account.
- Click on Analytics from the menu.
- Click on Reach.
You’ll see the CTR value, thumbnail impressions, the total watch time on your channel, and how many views came from YouTube recommending your video.
If you’re a growing channel, don’t pay too much attention to CTR. On average, the clickthrough rate for seller channels is between 2% – 10%.
How to Earn Money on YouTube?
In the early days of YouTube, earning money was easy. All you had to do was upload videos and earn whatever ad revenue you were given.
With time, YouTube has evolved the process. Fortunately for the creators, the process has also become profitable.
YouTubers can now monetize their channels in multiple ways.
How to Choose a Profitable Niche on YouTube?
As we said, every video niche has a different ad pay rate. Plus, you can’t just upload videos on random topics if you want to be successful. Your channel should be based on a single niche.
Before you start a YouTube channel, choose the niche that can earn you the most money. Chances are you don’t have a particular niche in mind. Here are some factors that will help you choose the ideal niche:
- Passion – Choose a niche you’re passionate about. If there’s something that you absolutely love to talk about, you should make a channel on it. But, you also need to earn money. It could be possible that something that you’re passionate about doesn’t have a high ad pay rate.
- Demand – The second factor that you need to consider is if your preferred niche has enough demand. You need to know if the niche is outdated or not. If the niche is dead, and not many people search for it, then there’s no point in making videos about it.
- Competition – Your aim should be to find a niche that has high demand and low competition. You can do keyword research to find a good enough niche and it can take some time.
Most Profitable Niches on YouTube
There is some niche that pays more than others, here’s a list of niche so you can make up your mind:
1. Gaming
The gaming industry is going to be a $256.97 billion industry by 2025. Every day millions of people globally live stream themselves gaming.
If gaming is your passion, then starting a gaming YouTube channel could be a perfect idea. There are some gamers that make huge earnings on YouTube. The best part is that you can choose any type of game to base your YouTube channel off on.
Some of the most popular YouTube videos include reviews, reaction videos, walkthroughs, and live streams with commentary.
Top YouTubers in Gaming Niche:
- VanossGaming – approx. $336,900 per month
- Markiplier – approx. $288,796 per month
- Jacksepticeye – approx. $286,213 per month
2. Fashion/Beauty
If you love fashion or love to keep up with the latest fashion and beauty trends, then you can make a YouTube channel.
As a Fashion YouTuber, you can create videos about dressing and styling tips, looks, product reviews, etc. You can also be a fashion influencer, sharing makeup tips, skincare, and haircare guides, and more.
Small channel YouTubers can become big quickly if you know how to market yourself. Moreover, the Fashion and Beauty niche is one of the easiest niches to find success in.
You can earn a lot by doing affiliate marketing as a Fashion/Beauty YouTuber.
Top YouTubers in Fashion/Beauty Niche:
- Jeffree Star – approx. $108,364 per month
- Patricia Bright – approx. $7,733 per month
- NikkieTutorials – approx. $42,849 per month
3. Fitness and Health
Fitness and Health is another popular niche on YouTube. Almost every person that has access to the internet has seen some kind of health/fitness-related video on YouTube.
As it has such a huge audience, it means it is also cluttered. To stand out from the crowd, you need to make sure you create quality content.
Moreover, it saves time and money for people going to a gym trainer, dietitian, or nutritionist.
To grow your channel, you need to exercise, work out, create healthy diet tips, and give lifestyle advice.
Top YouTubers in Fitness and Health Niche:
- Chloe Ting – $74,200 per month
- FitnessBlender – $15,800 per month
- Blogilates – $13,000 per month
4. Travel
Everyone loves to travel. Those who are planning to travel tend to go on YouTube to learn about the place.
As a travel YouTuber, you can make videos about what to do in a particular place, places to visit, top sites, and hidden gems to explore.
You can also make vlogs of yourself roaming around different places in different locations.
While there is a lot of competition, the travel niche is still incredibly profitable. If you love to travel, then you can find a significant amount of success in this niche.
Top YouTubers in Travel Niche:
- Mark Weins – $23,000 per month
- The Food Ranger – $16,700 per month
5. Unboxing
Love tech and think you can make a career out of it? Unboxing videos have become a popular niche on YouTube in recent times. People who want to buy new tech go to YouTube to get an idea of how the device is.
Unboxing videos are simple to make, and you can make them as soon as you get a new product. These videos often include opening a brand-new product, and your first impression of the product.
Even if you don’t have any expertise in tech, and you just want to earn money from YouTube, you can try out this niche.
Top YouTubers in Unboxing Niche:
- Ryan’s World – $1,334,569 per month
- Unbox Therapy – $155,860 per month
- Dope or Nope – $107,230 per month
6. Entertainment
Entertainment is another famous niche with an incredible ad pay rate. But the Entertainment niche is vast, you can do a number of things in this niche.
All you have to do to become successful is to be creative and provide entertainment value to the customers. You can do things such as:
- Dance
- Drama
- Skits
- Story
- Music performances
Entertainment videos are one of the most shared videos on YouTube. Do keep in mind that you need to invest a substantial amount of time to find success in this niche.
Top YouTubers in Entertainment Niche:
- Justin Bieber – $3,795 per month
- TheEllenShow – $574,001 per month
- The Slow Mo Guys – $75,395 per month
7. Vlogs
Everyone today knows what vlogs are. They’re a combination of videos and blogs. All you have to do is document your daily activities.
If you love to be on camera, love to talk, and can provide some entertainment value while doing daily activities. Vlogs are a great source of income if you can find your target audience.
Vlogs are personality-driven, and they can be about any topic you like. You can record yourself going about your day while sharing interesting commentary about current events or discussing your personal life.
Top YouTubers in Vlogs Niche:
- Tana Mongeau – $59,551 per month
- Gabbie Hanna – $33,845 per month
Summing Up
Now that you know how much money YouTubers make, it’s time for you to get started.
To kick-start things YouTubers can rely on YouTube optimization services. Looking for renowned YouTube optimization services? We at MNS Digital Flip can help! All you have to do to get started is reach out.
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