Did you know that YouTube paid more than $15 billion to YouTubers in 2021? That’s why YouTube is the best platform for video creators to earn money. If you are interested in starting your YouTube journey and earning money, this post is for you.
In the post, you will learn about the following:
- How to earn money from YouTube in India (World)?
- Why is YouTube the best option for Video creators?
- Some of the real-life examples of popular channels.
- What is the earning potential on YouTube?
- What are the different ways to earn through YouTube?
- Quick Guide to start working on YouTube.
- What is the best alternative to YouTube?
Table of Contents
How to earn money from YouTube in India (World)?
The first requirement to earn from YouTube is to have a YouTube Channel with a good number of views. Creating a YouTube channel is easy and free. Once you have your channel with monetization enabled, there are multiple options to earn money from YouTube.
Affiliate marketing, Brand sponsoring, premium memberships, etc., are some popular ways to generate YouTube Income. In this post, I will share my favorite top 8 ways to generate regular income as a YouTuber. I will also present a detailed step-by-step guide on how to earn money from YouTube.
YouTube made over $28 billion in advertising revenue in 2021 because YouTubers produce high-quality content. That is why a large chunk of money earned from Ads has gone to YouTube creators. India has the largest advertising audience in the world for YouTube, so the opportunity to earn is also very high in India.
Why is YouTube the best option for Video creators?
YouTube is the world’s second most visited website after Google, with about 13 billion visits in a year. YouTube is a video-sharing platform where different creators share their videos on different niches and topics to reach the targeted audience.
It is so popular because it gives the creators a simple and easy-to-use environment where even a beginner can publish their content without any investment. Once you get the views on your videos, you become eligible for monetization and earn money.
As per the latest study on Digital Media creation by Kalari Capital, the YouTube platform has a 2.6 billion (approx. more than 200 crores) user database estimated to rise three times within 6-8 years. While if we talk about digital creators, India has nearly 80 million content creators.
Therefore, it’s a golden opportunity for new digital creators to grab this excellent opportunity and earn more subscribers and money through their content.
Some of the real-life examples of famous YouTube Channels
Having a large number of followers for your YouTube Channel is the most lucrative asset today. You can make millions of dollars as passive income if you have many subscribers. But yes, it is not easy to get subscribers.
However, there is unlimited potential if your content has originality and uniqueness. Here is an example of some YouTube creators who have started their journey from zero and have millions of followers.
| Name of YouTube Channel | Name of Youtuber (owner) | Content-Type | Total Subscribers |
|---|---|---|---|
| T- Series | Bhushan Kumar | Music Videos/Songs | 227 million |
| Carry Minati | Carry Minati | Roasting, Gaming, Comedy, Entertainment | 37 million |
| Total Gaming | Ajay (Ajju Bhai) | Gaming Videos | 33.7 million |
| Ashish Chanchlani Vines | Ashish Chanchlani | Roasting, Vines, Entertainment | 28.8 million |
| Sandeep Maheshwari | Sandeep Maheshwari | Motivational Videos | 25.5 million |
* 1 million is roughly equal to 10 lacs; however, it all depends on your niche, view, location of viewers, etc.
What is the Earning Potential for a YouTuber?
The earning potential on YouTube depends on many criteria, as the YouTube algorithm has developed a lot since its launch. Some of the most important criteria are:
Here are some cases to understand the importance of niche selection before becoming a YouTuber and to kick-start your journey to make money from YouTube in India.
| Content Niche | Total Views | Total Earning (₹) | (RPM) – Earning per 1000 views (₹) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional Topics | 64,00,000 | 18,00,000 | 281.25 |
| Social Topics | 64,00,000 | 8,58,000 | 134.06 |
| Education Topics | 56,00,000 | 24,00,000 | 428.57 |
| Health & Fitness Topics | 32,00,000 | 7,50,000 | 234.38 |
| Finance & Business Topics | 18,00,000 | 6,33,000 | 351.67 |
| Vlogs | 39,00,000 | 1,63,000 | 41.79 |
RPM (Revenue per mile) represents your total earnings share from YouTube earnings. It is a metric that calculates how much money you have earned per 1,000 views from a video.
CPM (Cost per mile): It represents the cost per 1000 ad impressions. It shows earnings from views of monetized videos before YouTube shares revenue.
So, you must have understood that YouTube has no fixed earning criteria. There is a considerable variation in earning potentiality, which is why selecting an appropriate niche in a particular content segment becomes crucial.
What are the different ways to earn through YouTube?
In the coming years, YouTube has evolved a lot. Earlier, YouTube creators had only ways to monetize a channel, i.e., through Ads. But now, there are multiple ways to generate income through your YouTube Channel.
The YouTube Partner Program provides different features for earning money on the YouTube Platform/App. These features have different eligibility requirements like subscriber count and view count on videos uploaded, etc. You must fulfill the requirement to avail yourself of the benefits of those features.
So, here I will discuss my best 8 ways of earning through YouTube App in India or anywhere in the world.
1. Earn Money by Advertising Revenue
This is the most popular way of earning money from YouTube. You can earn money by way of a portion of the advertising cost of the company showing their ads on your YouTube channel.
The earnings depend on the number of views you get on your channel. The more views you get, the more income you generate. To earn this way, you first need to monetize your channel.
Important: To enable monetization, creators must complete the criteria of having 1000 subscribers and 4000 valid public watch time (hours) in the past 12 months. You need to Join the YouTube Partner program.
Once the above criteria are fulfilled, the monetization on your channel is enabled.
2. Affiliate Marketing through YouTube
While you need a good number of views to earn a handsome amount from Ads on YouTube, you can earn well with even fewer views through affiliate marketing. The average conversion of affiliates on YouTube is 2% to 5%.
Suppose you promote a product for $50 with a 10% commission, i.e., $5 per sale. You get 10000 views on one of your videos. So, even if you get a minimum 2% conversion, you could easily earn $1000 ($5*200) with one video, which is almost impossible with Ads
There are different methods through which you can earn as an affiliate. You can promote either individual affiliate products or Amazon affiliate products. The only difference is that with individual affiliates, you will earn a fixed amount per sale, but with Amazon, your earnings may vary as per the actual sale of the products.
The best part is you don’t have to work actively, and you will earn as long as you get views on your video.
3. Brand endorsement or sponsoring.
Brand endorsement is the promotion of products or services of a particular brand through your videos. This method of earning from YouTube is for those who have built their own strong personal Brand as an influencer.
This is by far the most rewarding way of earning money from YouTube. Once you start getting sponsors, there is unlimited potential to generate income. Some influencers even charge $500 – $5000 just to mention the Brand in their videos.
However, the earnings depend on various factors like- what is your niche, how many followers you have, your targeted regions, etc. For example, finance and technology are the most lucrative niches to get high-end sponsors.
4. Earn money by channel membership
Channel membership is most suitable for those who have premium content on their channel. You must provide extra value to your members to make it a success.
If your channel has valuable content your subscribers are willing to subscribe to, you can make regular passive income.
You can sell monthly membership of your channel to your viewers and audience. You can offer rewards, loyalty badges, and member-only content for paid subscribers.
5. Earn Money by Selling official Branded Merchandise
You can offer/sell your branded merchandise products to your audience and viewers. You need to connect with your audience during the live streams to display your products and unlock the Shop button.
You can also sell your products through your store on YouTube. However, you need at least 1000 subscribers to be eligible for this. You need to build your Brand to earn money through this method.
6. Earn Money by Super Chat and Super Stickers
During the live streams and premieres, you can offer super chat and stickers to your audience to buy and support you in growing your YouTube channel.
You are eligible for the offer if you are over 18 years of age. You can’t get the benefit if your content is private, unlisted, and age-restricted. Super chat and super stickers are one of the ways to connect with your fans.
7. YouTube Shorts Fund
The YouTube Shorts Fund is the $100 million fund created explicitly for creators of shorts on YouTube platforms. The best part is that you don’t need a specific number of subscribers or watch time to be eligible for this.
So even though monetization is not enabled on your channel, you can earn money. The only criterion is that you must upload at least one eligible short in the past 180 days. You also need to abide by their terms and conditions on ages, policies, originality of videos, country, etc.
8. Earn Money by Super Thanks
When the audience likes your content more, they express gratitude towards it by giving a super thanks clap. Previously it was known as Audience Applause.
Your channel needs to be monetized to earn money from super thanks. However, if your content is age-restricted, private unlisted videos, made for kids channels, comments turned off, etc., you are not eligible for Super Thanks.
Quick Guide to start the work on YouTube.
If you are new to the YouTube platform and want to know the best ways to earn money from YouTube, this post is for you. So, I have prepared a quick guide to kick-start your journey and earn money.
I have divided the Guide into two parts, i.e., 1st for content strategy and 2nd for Delivering strategy.
Content Strategy for YouTube to earn income.
- Select a Niche as per your skills/knowledge.
- Research your Niche to find Trending topics.
- Focus on your audience’s needs and solve their problems through your video.
- Establish a Central message and theme of the video to develop a strong relationship with your viewers.
- Focus on consistency and quality for your audience.
- Apply the 3T Strategy, which is the most relevant while publishing your video on YouTube:
- T1 – Title (Important for placing keywords)
- T2 – Thumbnail (Important for viewers/target audience, it must be eye-catching that grab the audience within 2-3 seconds)
- T3 – Tags (Important for the title of videos)
Delivery Strategy for YouTube Video
- Rehearse and feel the content because your content must be well placed and delivered to cover more content in less time to create value for the audience/viewers.
- Talk with conviction and confidence to attract the audience/viewers to your videos. You must develop your Public Speaking Skills to create YouTube videos.
- Always give a powerful opening with a Strong summary at the end of the video with full enthusiasm. There must be- Surprise Hook, Interesting Question, Golden Statement and Data and Closing Quotation.
- Keep Good Body Language, postures, and facial expressions with good tone and voice quality in your videos for better impact.
Things to avoid to income from YouTube
Before implementing the above steps, look at some of the mistakes you should avoid while growing your channel.
- Don’t copy the content of other creators.
- Don’t violate YouTube Terms & Conditions.
- Never apply shortcuts like- buying subscribers or views, etc.
- Don’t be impatient, as it may take some time to get traction.
What are YouTube alternatives?
When we talk about Video sharing platforms, YouTube is undoubtedly the number one platform in the world. However, that doesn’t mean it is the only platform. Apart from YouTube, there are many other alternatives for sharing content through videos.
- TikTok
- Daily Motion
- Vimeo
- Facebook Watch
- Twitter Video
- IG TV (Instagram)
- DTube, etc.
The above video-sharing platforms are alternatives and cannot be replaced by the YouTube Platform.
Final Thoughts
YouTube has been the number one platform for video content creators around the world because of its very lucrative earning opportunity. This is why many content creators are producing content full-time for the platform to earn their living.
However, most of the creators are not aware of the kind of monetization opportunities available. So, in this post, I tried to present a brief overview of the methods and ways to earn money from YouTube.
I hope you find the content helpful. If you have any questions or doubts, or recommendations, please feel free to comment below.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the YouTube Partner Program?
The YouTube Partner Program allows you to access YouTube resources for creators and monetization features. You also become eligible for revenue sharing by YouTube.
To join the program, you must have 4000 public watch hours with 1000 subscribers, an AdSense account, and no community strikes on your channel. You also need to abide by all the policies and guidelines for YouTube Monetization.
What is YouTube Shorts Fund (YSF)?
YouTube introduced YouTube shorts to counter and benefit from the popularity of short forms of videos. While on YouTube, you can make long video content, on YouTube shorts, you can make a maximum of 30-sec videos.
However, you cannot earn through Adsense on your YouTube Shorts. As a result, YouTube established a YouTube Shorts Fund to reward its creators for views on YouTube shorts.
So, YouTube Shorts Fund is the fund to reward creators of YouTube Shorts.
What is Multi-channel Network (MCN)?
In this system, third-party service providers partner with Multiple channels and provide various services like- maintenance of channels, affiliate networks management, monetization, content development, etc.
It is of mainly two types. 1st one is for Affiliate networks, and 2nd other is wholly owned and operated by third-party service providers. Once you sign a contract with your MCNs, all the revenue streams flow through your partner’s AdSense Account.
Some MCNs also provide sponsorship opportunities for their partner for additional revenue growth. The MCNs generally charge a fee or percentage of revenue for providing the above services. However, it is not compulsory to join a Multi-channel Network.
Cheers and Best of Luck
Disclaimer: The above ideas are for educational purposes only. We don’t guarantee earnings from the above methods as it is based on my personal experience. Some links on this page may contain affiliate links and we may receive a commission if you click and purchase from the links. For more detail, please read our disclaimer.
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