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HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOUTUBERS MAKE? COME DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE WITH ME AND LEARN HOW TO MAKE MONEY ON YOUTUBE
If you’ve been on this blog before, it’s no secret to you that I am always on the lookout for alternative ways to make money to get rid of the typical 9-5 job.
And YouTube has been on my watch list for quite some time.
The more I watched YouTube channels (and the more I had to keep pressing Skip Ads), the more I got interested in how much money YouTubers really make.
I do believe YouTube is one of the best platforms to make money today.
Videos are much easier to watch for some topics than reading long posts (keep reading please my friends lol).
And they entertain.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the top YouTubers out there are real stars and are making millions of dollars every year.
So how much do YouTubers make?
1.
YouTube is the 2nd most-visited website in the world, according to Alexa.
2.
2 billion people log in to YouTube every month.
3.
Google made a whopping $15.5 billion in ad revenue in 2019, up 36% compared to the year before!
And a big chunk of this money goes directly into YouTubers’ pockets. Google pays 55% of the of their AdSense revenues to publishers. This means for every $100 an advertiser pays to watch YouTubers videos, Google gives them $55.
According to Forbes, this is how much top YouTubers made in 2019:
10. VanossGaming $11.5 million
Net worth: $25 million
Evan Fong is a 27 years old Canadian who plays games online. He has over 24 million subscribers and some of his top videos have over 45 million views.
Evan rarely appears on the video himself and stands out for his unique editing style and funny tone. Evan also produces music and has a personal clothing line under the name Rynx.
9. DanTDM $12 million
Net worth: $35 million
British Daniel Middleton started his channel with Minecraft videos, before branching out into selling his own apparel and creating a top-selling graphic novel.
He has 22 million subscribers and collected over 16 billion views. It honestly blows my mind that you can record your screen while playing and become a millionaire!
8. PewDiePie $13 million
Net worth: $40 million
With over 104 million subscribers, Felix Kjellberg has been YouTube’s top-earning star for years. His channel started with gaming videos but then moved into comedy and anything else you can think of.
But after being accused of creating racist and anti-Semitic videos his popularity declined.
In January he has announced that he is taking a break from the platform.
7. Markiplier $13 million
Net worth: $28 million
Mark Fischbach’s channel shares hilarious gaming videos, original comedy sketches, animated parodies, and other bits of entertainment. He cofounded Cloak, a high-end line of clothing for gamers, with fellow YouTuber Jacksepticeye.
6. Preston $14 million
Neth worth: $20 million
Preston Arsement started by playing Call of Duty online and he became so popular that he started posting funny pranks as well as gaming content on Minecraft. He has 2 channels: PrestonPlayz with over 4 million subscribers and TBNRFrags with over 5 million subscribers.
5. Jeffree Star $17 million
Net worth: $200 million
Jeffree Star started out as a pop singer with a huge following on MySpace, before moving to YouTube. With over 17 million subscribers he is one of the highest-paid YouTube stars on the planet.
On his channel, Jeffree uploads vlogs, makeup tutorials, and beauty product reviews.
In 2014 he created his own cosmetic empire called Jeffree Star Cosmetics, which is where most of his astonishing $200 million net worth comes from.
4. Rhett and Link $17.5 million
Net worth: Rhet $16 million, Link $16 million
Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal host a daily show on YouTube called Good Mythical Morning. They share viral videos, explore surprising new products and trends, compete in original games with celebrity guests, perform comedy songs, and more.
Rhett and Link have 16 million subscribers and over 6 billion views.
3. Anastasia Radzinskaya $18 million
Net worth: $12 million
Children’s channels can be a gold mine!
Anastasia Radzinskaya is only 5 years old, was born in Russia and speaks 4 languages and runs her channels with her parents. She is by far the biggest children’s YouTube star.
Her channels have over 117 million combined subscribers and more than 40 billion views.
Anastasia has grabbed the attention of big brands for sponsorships and is set to launch a mobile game, toy line and a book in 2020.
2. Dude Perfect $20 million
Estimated combined net worth: $20 million
This sports-focused channel is run by 5 friends and features amazing trick shots and stunts. Plus they love breaking Guinness World Records on camera.
Twins Cory and Coby Cotton, Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones, and Tyler Toney have amassed 49 million subscribers and 9 billion views.
1. Ryan’s World $26 million
Net worth: $30 million
And the winner is, yet again, Ryan Kaji!
Now 8 years old, Ryan started his channel in 2015 when he was just 3 by unboxing toys on camera. He has 24 million subscribers and over 36 billion views.
He branched out from YouTube and has his own toy line available in stores like Walmart, and a show on Nickelodeon called Ryan’s Mystery Playdate.
How do YouTubers make money?
When I started my blog 2 years ago, I didn’t believe it was possible to make money blogging. I thought you could just make a few hundred dollars a month at most.
What happened 3 months later came as a shock and as a complete surprise. I made over $3,000 after only 3 months! ($3,878 to be precise).
So all these people that keep saying it’s possible to make money online are not lying?
I really couldn’t believe it.
And YouTube is no different.
Like with blogging, YouTubers can have several income streams. And how much YouTubers make is completely dependant on their ability to exploit the system.
Simply uploading a video on YouTube, add a 5-second advert at the beginning and hope for the best isn’t going to cut. The YouTubers that make real money are much more strategic than that.
Here are the 5 top ways to make money with YouTube:
1. Google Adsense
Pretty much every YouTuber makes money with what’s called Google Adsense. Google places ads on YouTubers videos and depending on the quality of the video, the niche and the number of ads you have running, YouTubers are able to make money.
The amount of money you’ll make with ads as a YouTuber also depends on the time of year. For example, lots of companies spend a huge amount of money during what is called Q4 (October, November, December) in the run-up to Black Friday and Christmas.
What is CMP?
CPM means Cost Per Mille (with Mille meaning 1000 in Latin). CPM is the amount Google Adsense pays on average every 1000 views on YouTube.
There are lots of speculations about how much YouTubers make with ads but the simple answer is that ads revenues are dependant on several factors and there isn’t a clear answer. I know YouTubers that make as little as $1 per 1000 views and others who make well over $15 per 1000 views.
What is the average CPM on YouTube?
The average CPM is between $3 to $10.
Some of the factors that can influence how much YouTubers make with ads:
- Location: if most of your audience is in the US, Canada or the UK, you will make more money than if all of your audience is in Honduras. As simple as that. Google Adsense has divided countries into 3 tiers. Any countries in Tier 1 will earn more money than the ones in Tier 2 and Tier 3 (here you can find a list of countries by tier if you are interested).
- Demographic: advertisers love to target a very specific audience. This can include age, gender, and interests. If your channel is too broad and appeal to anyone you might struggle to get a high CPM.
- Video topic: there are some particular niches on YouTube that are in high demand because there is little quality content and advertisers are prepared to pay over the odds for a placement. Some of these niches are banking, insurance, mortgages. This is why personal finance channels or investment channels have normally a high CMP compared for example to a food or travel channel.
- Video length: the length of your video can influence how many ads you can place, and this can potentially double or triple ads income. If your video is over 10 minutes, you can enable ads to be shown in the middle of the video (mid-roll), not just at the beginning. Wondering why some YouTubers just talk and talk about nothing for the first few minutes without getting straight to the point? Now you know why!
- Ads skipping: every time someone skips ads YouTubers don’t make any money. If you always skip ads, think again. If you want to support your favorite channel you might want to let the ads play until the end, at least a few times a week.
Want to see some real CMP examples?
Example of real CPM earnings in the Personal Finance niche:
Graham Stephan shared how much he made with Google Adsense in December 2019. With 7,781,430 views and $126,054.41 in ads revenues, his CPM was on average $16.19. A lot more than the average estimated $3 to $10!
Example of real CPM earnings in the lifestyle Vlogging niche:
Shelby Church shared how she improved her CMP in 2019. In January 2019 she was only earning as little as $1.55 per 1000 views. By creating videos above 10 minutes she was able to add more mid-roll ads and in just 6 months she has increased her CPM to $4!
This goes to show that if you want to make money on YouTube you need to strategic and intentional with every video you create.
2. Affiliate marketing
YouTubers often recommend a service, a product or a company that they use and they get a commission if someone signs up or buys something.
The most popular ways to make money with affiliate marketing are:
- Creating a video reviewing the product you are trying to sell
- Creating a video in which you recommend the product
- Casually using the product you want to sell and linking to it
You will normally find affiliate links in the video description.
Affiliate marking is a great way to generate passive income from a YouTube channel.
After all, people are already watching and would probably love to know what brands YouTubers are wearing or what books they are reading.
Adding links doesn’t cost anything to YouTubers but if they have a good following, they can make hundreds if not thousands of dollars a month with affiliate marketing.
3. Products
Once you reach a good level of popularity as a YouTuber, a great way to cash in on that is to create your own products.
And this can come in 2 main forms:
Merchandise
You can create your own brand, and sell limited-edition merch including t-shirts, stickers, mugs, bags, hats, prints. You name it, you can sell it. Big YouTubers like PewDiePie or Dude Perfect make millions of dollars a year selling merchandising alone. Merchandising can become a much bigger revenue source than ads.
An example of merchandise from VanossGaming
Digital products
For YouTubers with an engaged audience, a great way to make more money is to sell a digital product or educational product related to the channel.
A couple of my favorite examples:
- Boho Beautiful: my favorite yoga channel has several at-home fitness programs you can buy.
- Graham Stephan: started his YouTube channel to share his real estate journey and has now launched courses on how to become a real estate agent and how to start a YouTube channel (after he amassed over 1.5 million subscribers in just a couple of years).
4. Sponsorships
Signing up for sponsorships is pretty common for big channels with lots of subscribers. But if a YouTuber has a small channel with high engagement and quality content, it’s possible to land sponsorships by contacting companies directly.
How do sponsorships work?
Companies are always on the lookout for channels that fit their target audience. They pay YouTubers to promote their brand or product/s in a video or series of videos.
How much can YouTubers earn with sponsorships on YouTube?
On average YouTubers charge brands anywhere from $10 to $50 per 1000 views.
For YouTubers with over 1 million subscribers, sponsors can pay anything from $5,000 to over $20,000+ depending on the niche and the deal. If you can bag a few sponsorships a year as a YouTuber, this can quickly add up.
5. Donations
Another way to make money is to ask for a donation.
YouTubers normally use platforms like PayPal or Patreon.
Patreon is a crowdfunding platform: YouTubers fans can make monthly donations to access special content and videos, based on a membership level. For example, for $5 a month, you might get access to a Q&A live video and for $10 you could be able to view exclusive bonus content.
This helps fans to feel part of a smaller supportive community and allows YouTubers to continue creating great content without having to constantly worry about the money.
The Patreon account of my favorite Yoga channel, Boho Beautiful
Common FAQs about making money on YouTube
How much money do YouTubers make per view?
There is no right or wrong answer here. A lot of people try to guess what the average YouTuber makes based on the number of views. But the reality is that there are many factors at play, including the niche you pick, the quality and length of videos, and the location of your viewers.
Plus, you have to remember that YouTubers get paid only if people watch ads until the end or click on them.
The average YouTuber earns between $0.003 to $0.01 per view.
How much money do YouTubers make per 1000 views?
Advertisers pay anything between $3 to $10 every 1000 views.
How much money do YouTubers make per million views?
It’s quite hard to estimate how much YouTubers make per million views. If we simply use the average CPM, they could be making anything between $3,000 to $10,000. But when YouTubers reach this level of view, they are most likely able to make more money using affiliate marketing, merchandising or sponsorship, which makes it harder to estimate exactly how much they really make.
When does YouTube start paying you?
You can start to monetize your YouTube channel when you:
- Reach a minimum of 1,000 subscribers
- Have 4,000 hours of watch time
Both within the past 12 months period.
Is it worth to start a YouTube channel in 2020? And how long will it take you to make money?
In my opinion, yes, yes, yes!
If you love creating videos there is no better time to start a YouTube channel than today.
Advertisers are spending more money on the platform every year, and if you are ready to put in the hard work, you could start to monetize your channel within 3 to 6 months.
You are not going to get rich overnight, but you can create a great engaged community and earn a good amount of money within your first year.
But before you decide to start a channel remember that you have to:
- Create high-quality and engaging content
- Post regularly (at least once a week, more if you want to grow fast) to keep your subscribers engaged and please the YouTube algorithm
- Create captivating thumbnails to make people pick your video above the others
- Learn SEO and plan your content with research on topics and keywords, to get a chance for your videos to be found
- Engage with other channels and with your subscribers
- If a topic does well, create more videos around that topic
- Be consistent and put in the hard work: you need to treat your channel as a business, not as a hobby
And above all, focus on something you are passionate about. I can’t stress this enough.
People will see your face and hear your voice. You need to be engaging and entertaining. And you can only do that if you love what you do. If your only reason to start a YouTube channel is to make money, you will fail.
Most profitable niches on YouTube
With over 500 hours of video uploaded every minute on YouTube, the competition is massive.
But this is true in every successful business.
If you want your YouTube journey to be successful, you need to decide what niche you want your channel to fall into.
Some of the most profitable niches on YouTube are:
1. Product Reviews
Unboxing and reviewing products is a very lucrative business for YouTubers. Just make sure you go into a specific sub-niche like toys, tech gadgets, backpacks, etc. With reviews, you can make big bucks with affiliate marketing too.
Big YouTubers in this niche:
Unbox Therapy: around $400k per month
Linus Tech Tips: around 300k per month
2. Gaming
Just look at the top 10. Six out of ten channels started out as gaming channels (although some have moved away from that). Gaming is a super popular niche and it’s perfect if you know how to show off your skills.
Big YouTubers in this niche:
Markiplier: around $1 million per month
VanossGaming: around $958k million per month
3. Prank & Entertainment
People are watching videos to switch off their brains and have fun and any entertaining video or harmless pranks are going to be a hit on YouTube.
Big YouTubers in this niche:
The Slow Mo Guys: around $280k per month
RomanAtwood: around $700k per month
4. Personal finance & Make money online
I love personal finance on YouTube: surprise! The great thing about this niche is that advertisers are prepared to pay over the odds, which means you need fewer views to make money and your CMP will be higher.
Big YouTubers in this niche:
Graham Stephan: around $95k per month
The Financial Diet: around $76k per month
5. Comedy
Comedy is one of the fastest-growing niches on YouTube. According to YouTube, 96% of the most-watched videos in 2019 were comedy and music videos. If you know how to make people laugh, you should consider this niche for your channel.
Big YouTubers in this niche:
JennaMarbles: around $466k per month
MarkAngelComedy: around $116k per month
6. Food & Cooking
Who doesn’t love watching people cooking a decadent chocolate cake? Everyone seems to be on a diet these days, and if you can’t eat it you can at least watch it.
Big YouTubers in this niche:
Tasty: around $358k per month
Laura in the Kitchen: around $113k per month
7. Fitness & Health
I am one of those people that prefer working out at home than at the gym and I use YouTube all the time. We all want to get in shape and if you want to save money, there isn’t anything better than starting from free YouTube videos. Which is why they are a super-popular niche right now.
Big YouTubers in this niche:
Yoga With Adriene: around $55k per month
Blogilates: around $36k per month
8. Fashion & Beauty
This is one of the biggest trends on YouTube with talented make-up artists and creators showcasing what’s possible. From make-up hacks to fashion tips, millions of people watch these types of videos every day.
Big YouTubers in this niche:
Jeffree Star: $1.4 million per month
NikkieTutorials: around $175k per month
9. DIY & Craft
Craft and DIY are a great way to switch off your brain for a bit and use your hands, and that’s why these channels are so popular.
Big YouTubers in this niche:
5-Minute Crafts: around $450k per month
Blossom: around $65k a month
10. How to videos
If you love to help people solving problems, how-to videos can have great success. Things like “How to wrap Christmas presents” or “How to cut your own hair” get thousands of searches every day.
Big YouTubers in this niche:
HowToBasic: around $491k per month
DrScrew: around $25k per month
Are you ready to become a YouTuber star?
Now that you know exactly how much YouTubers make, are you ready to start your own channel?
There is a lot of money to be made on YouTube but like with any other business you need to be prepared to work hard for it.
You can’t just expect to upload a couple of videos and make big bucks.
You need dedication, determination and you need to be willing to invest at least 20-30 hours a week for a year to be able to give it a good shot.
But if making and editing videos and talking about a specific subject for hours are your passion, give YouTube a shot!
Let me know if you have started a channel in the comment!
AND…After writing this article, I did start my own Gathering Dreams YouTube channel! Come and check it out and click that subscribe button if you want to see how it goes!
We all start from ZERO.
MORE WAYS TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE:
If you are interested in starting your own blog, have a look at my step-by-step guide! I will show you everything you need to do to start a successful money-making blog!
Check out all the best resources for your blog! I find all these resources so valuable and I am sure they will help you as much as they helped me.
stephy says
Hey Sara,
This is undoubtedly a well-written article. I have no plan to start a youtube channel in the near future but who knows, one day I may change my plan. But, I always wondered how YouTubers earn money. So Thank you for this wonderful, comprehensive article. And by the way, I had no idea that you started a youtube channel. That was a pleasant surprise. Good luck with that.
Sara @ Gathering Dreams says
Thanks, Stephy, I never wanted to start a YouTube channel too, but here I am lol!
It’s just a small experiment but we’ll see how it goes 🙂
Vivien says
Yet another superbly written article 🙂 looking forward to seeing what YouTube content gathering dreams releases 💗
Sara @ Gathering Dreams says
Thank you so much 🙂