How Much Does YouTube Pay [5 Hacks to Make 3X More per View]

Proof of how much YouTube pays and how to make more on your channel.

How does one YouTuber make over $11,000 for a viral video while another might make less than $500 for the same number of views?

Every YouTuber has seen the “How much I make on YouTube” videos. Everyone shares how much they make on their videos, whether bragging or just trying to motivate other creators.

But what most people don’t realize is that if you look deeper into these videos and the data, you find a massive gap in how much YouTube pays different channels.

Is YouTube discriminating when it pays channels?

I’m using actual YouTube data to find how much YouTube pays 24 different channels. Then I’ll reveal five hacks to make more money on your videos, including one source that will boost your income by five times.

Click to reserve your spot at the FREE YouTube Quick-start Webinar! I’m sharing three strategies that helped me grow my YouTube channel and double my business income. I guarantee they WILL work for you. Seats are limited for the webinar, so make sure you reserve yours.

Now let’s get right into the core idea of making more money. I can almost guarantee that none of your subscribers will be able to tell you how much profit has been made from each video view simply because this data is not visible on YouTube itself or in Google Analytics. Instead, you have to use a 3rd party app such as TubeBuddy for this purpose.

Before continuing, I must add that there are no shortcuts to success on YouTube. If your goal is financial gain, there is no such thing as “buying subscribers” or “buying views.” It will take time and dedication to build your channel,l, but the rewards are worth it.

Create your account on TubeBuddy for free to see the features that will help grow your channel!

You should experiment with different video lengths during your research phase because this will help you decide what kind of content people want to see from you. For example, for one video I was testing during my early days online, I found that shorter content outperformed longer videos, so I quickly changed my strategy to accommodate this fact. In addition, once you get more views on YouTube, the number of subscribers will also increase. This effect is because people want to watch popular content with a decent-sized following (subscribers).

How Much Money Do YouTube Videos Make?

There is no doubt you can make a lot of money on YouTube, but most people are just scratching the surface of how much you can make. For example, I studied 24 channels on YouTube, how much they make on ads, and the differences blew my mind.

On the difference in rates paid by YouTube, for a video with one million views, channels on the high end could make over $11,000, but I found channels that were making less than $300 for that same number of views.

In this video, I will show you that research, looking at how much YouTube pays per view for different channels. First, we’ll discover why this is, and then I’m going to reveal five YouTube monetization hacks to make per view on your channel.

It’s part of a free webinar I’m giving this week on getting started on YouTube and unlocking those keys to making more money. It’s completely free, but the webinar platform limits attendees, so make sure you reserve your spot.

How Much Does YouTube Pay per View

So we’ve all seen the obligatory “how much does YouTube pay me” video. Every YouTuber puts these out when they get their first check or shows what YouTube pays for a million views.

It’s a big incentive for many people to create their channel, but most people don’t understand that not all channels are created equal!

There is a massive difference in how much a channel makes, so instead of making just another video on how I make money, I want to show you the truth behind all this and reveal those five hacks to make more money.

So I studied 24 channels and looked into their analytics to see how much they make per view. I looked at big channels like Wealth Hacker Jeff Rose with 260,000+ subscribers and small channels like Matt Taylor with just over a thousand subs. I looked at car channels like the Autovlog, vlog channels, and even a channel about lawn care.

I got a fantastic resource showing how much YouTube pays per view for different channel topics, and the range here was shocking.

We see some of these channels making around a penny per view. That’s over ten grand for every million views. Scroll down, though, and the lower end is an entirely different story, with channels making less than a tenth, making just a grand or less for every million views.

how much does youtube pay channels per view — How Much Does YouTube Pay Channels per View

I don’t want that to discourage you from starting your own YouTube channel. So in those five hacks I’ll share, I’m not only going to show you how to get to the higher end of that range, but I’m also going to reveal how to make even more than this with your YouTube channel.

First, though, time for a feedback question. I want to do more of these how to make money on YouTube videos because it’s doubled my monthly income, and I know it can do the same for you, but I need to know what videos you need. What’s your biggest hurdle to starting and growing a YouTube channel? What are the one or two things keeping you from being successful, whether it’s video ideas or knowing how to do a video?

Create your account on TubeBuddy for free to see the features that will help grow your channel!

How Much Money I Make on YouTube

So let’s look at how much I’ve made on YouTube, and then we’ll look again at that research of the 24 channels to see if we can discover some ways to make more money.

Almost a year ago, I started showing ads on the channel here. I’ve made just under $30,000 in that time, but the real money has been in these last six months, averaging about $120 a day with one day as high as $237 in ads. And you see, this was on about 2.9 million video views, so about a penny per view.

how much i make on youtube — How Much I Make on YouTube

We’re looking at a cut of the money YouTube collects from advertisers. So for every 30-second commercial, they show in front of a video or the little ad box at the bottom of the video. YouTube shares 55% of its ad revenue with creators, so for every $100 collected from advertisers on videos, you make $55 of that.

But we see a massive difference in how much YouTube pays per view, and we’ll look at that. A lot of that difference will be your topic, so some topics like money and business have higher ad rates, while vlogs and cars might not make as much. Also, the countries where users watch your videos make a difference. For example, ad rates are higher in North America and Europe versus other parts of the world.

How Much YouTube Pays Videos for Ads

I’ve been averaging around $3,500 a month on ads with a few standout videos. This video of the best side hustle ideas has over 623,000 views and has made over $8,700 on ads alone.

We can see the ad types that have made the most money, and we’ll go over each of these, what they are and how to make more money, but it’s almost entirely skippable ads. Those are the 30-second videos you see before a video that you can skip after a few seconds.

So we go back to our research here, and if you look at the niche or the topic column, you start to see a pattern for how much YouTubers make. Many channels at the top of the list talk about business, money, or entrepreneurship. Six of the eight channels making above that four-tenths of a cent per view are in these three topics.

You can see more vlog-type channels and some other topics towards the bottom of the list. Finally, you’ve got a few car channels, gaming, and music—topics where ad rates might not be as high.

From this, the average YouTube pay per view is about four-tenths of a cent or about $4 for every thousand views. Now I could go all numbers nerd on you and say we should be using that median estimate for about three-tenths of a cent per view, but I think right around this range is an excellent place to start.

5 Ways to Make More Money on YouTube

Now I want to get to those five hacks to make money on YouTube, five tricks that will help you make even more than these rates.

Now, you won’t see changing your niche or your topic in these five tips. I know I JUST got done pointing out how some topics make more money than others. You can get a good sense of how much a topic makes by searching for Google AdSense rates.

But one of our golden rules on the channel about your business is that it has to be on a topic where you can immerse yourself.

You will spend a minimum of five or ten hours a week studying and talking about your channel topic. Of course, it has to be something you’re excited about, or no amount of money will be worth it.

How to Make More with YouTube Ads

If you are in one of these lower-paying topics, this first trick will help you make more money, utilizing more of the ads YouTube serves up on videos.

There are five types of ads you can allow YouTube to show on your channel, well four types, and the fifth is mandatory. So if we click through to monetization in the YouTube Studio and then to Monetization Settings for Future Videos, we can see the ad types and turn on the ones we want to run.

Once you’ve reached 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time to join the YouTube partner program, you’ll be able to select each of these ad types.

best youtube ad types to make money — Best YouTube Ad Types to Make Money

The first type here is overlay in-video ads, those little rectangular boxes appearing at the video’s bottom. They’re immediately clickable to viewers who want to close the box, so they’re not too annoying, and I’d turn this one on.

Next are the skippable video ads, those video ads that appear before your video starts. These are a little more annoying, but I feel YouTube users have gotten used to them. Here is where you’ll make like 80% of your YouTube ad income, so it’s a good idea to keep these on.

Next, we get into some of the ad types you can use to make more money, especially if you’re on a lower-paying topic. First, we have the non-skippable video ads, and this is something YouTube rolled out a few months ago, pre-video ads that play through and don’t let viewers skip.

There’s an important point here. You don’t get paid for skippable video ads unless someone watches at least 30-seconds of the ad. So if they skip the video after five seconds…you don’t make any money. On the other hand, with the non-skippable ads, you’re making money on every video, and rates might be a little higher on these.

I’ve been pretty happy with my ad revenue and am using many other income sources we’ll talk about in a bit, so I haven’t turned these on yet but might in the future.

The following ad type is the sponsored card, so a card appears in the upper-right corner with a clickable link to an advertiser. Now I use my cards in videos, so I haven’t turned this on, but it can be another good way to boost your ad income.

This last ad type, the display ads, is turned on by default and shows in boxes beside your video, so not nearly as intrusive as the other ad types.

Before we click out of here, though, pay attention to the Automatic mid-roll ads. Turning this on will allow YouTube to run another skippable video ad during your videos. So you get to pick the time intervals, maybe every eight minutes or so, and YouTube will pause your video to show an ad. Another way to get more ad space and potentially boost your video income.

Making Longer Videos to Make More Money

Our next hack to make more money on YouTube will be to make longer videos.

This hack will be important for more reasons than you probably realize. First, a longer video means YouTube can show more overlay in-video ads, the little ad boxes, and mid-video ads if you allow them. That can be a significant boost to your earnings.

Also though is longer videos typically mean more views. I’ve seen this on my channel, and there’s research by Little Monster Media that videos under four or five minutes do not get as many views as longer videos. So it’s tough for those shorter videos to build up the watch time to get ranked on YouTube, and there is just not much time there for ads.

So try aiming for at least seven or eight minutes for your videos. The sweet spot seems to be between 10 and 15 minutes. That usually means you can get from about six to eight minutes of average view duration for a video that seems to signal to YouTube to deliver that video to a larger audience.

Those first two hacks will help you make more money per view on YouTube. Those two alone will get you to that average of what YouTube pays, but that’s still limiting your income.

With these following three hacks, I want to give you the tools to make five or ten times that. So here I’m going to show you how to get $0.10 a view and more on your videos.

Getting Sponsors on YouTube

First is getting sponsorships for your videos, and I’ve got a few ideas here to find sponsors and how to make money without selling out your channel.

Tiger Woods made $43 million in 2017, with $42 million from sponsors. Yet, the world’s highest-paid golfer makes less than 10% of his income from golf.

Making money on YouTube means being able to represent companies and getting these sponsorship deals.

Finding sponsorships is pretty straightforward. First, you can look on blogs or other channels within your topic to see who they partner with and what products they use. Then, you can look at the products you use regularly, the ones you can recommend and feel good about.

Reaching out by email to these companies, you will want to talk about how your channel aligns with their product or brand. Calculate your average view count per video and share any click statistics you have on video links to give them an idea of how much sponsorship is worth.

You’re looking for one of two types of sponsorships here. First, many companies will want to start sponsoring one or two videos to see how it goes. You’ll create a video around a topic related to the product and then maybe reference it at some point, then drop a link in the video description.

These one-off sponsorships are acceptable to start, but you want to be pitching a longer relationship, sponsoring a certain number of videos over months or even a year. You can offer discounts or other bonuses to sign these longer-term contracts, and not only is it going to mean more money, but it’s less stressful because you know you’ve got a sponsor lined up for your videos.

Now one thing you want to watch for is a lot of companies will have an affiliate program, so a commission on sales relationship, and they’ll want you to join that instead of giving you a fee sponsorship deal.

We’ll talk about affiliates next, and it’s a great way to boost your YouTube income, but you also want to lock in that sponsorship fee.

Explain to the company rep that you can join the affiliate program and make that part of your sponsorship deal, but you have upfront costs creating a video. You have to pay for editing and production, so you have a base fee you charge on video partnerships.

So even if you plan on making some money off the affiliate program, this is a great way to get a little upfront, maybe a few hundred dollars on that sponsorship agreement.

As for how much to charge for your sponsorship deals, I’ve seen most channels get between $0.05 to $0.15 per average view. So you find your average views on videos over the last few months and then charge maybe about $0.10 per view, but you can play around with this depending on how much you think you can make on the affiliate program.

If you can get even the low end of that range, around $0.05 per average view on a sponsorship fee, that’s already five times the rates you’re making on ads. So that’s going to boost your YouTube income significantly.

Make Money with Affiliates on YouTube

Our next hack to make more money on YouTube is using affiliate marketing in your videos.

Affiliates account for about a third of my monthly income, and we’ve discussed setting up a marketing funnel here on the channel. Much of this will be very similar to getting sponsor deals, so you’ll reach out to companies and see which offers an affiliate program.

Watch this FREE two-video series on finding the best affiliates and making money!

Starting with affiliates is accessible through either the company’s in-house program or networks like CJ Affiliates or ShareASale. You get a unique link to share in your videos, and if someone clicks on the link and makes a purchase, you get a commission.

What’s important here is you limit your affiliates to only products or services that resonate with your audience and your topic. For example, I make about four grand a month on affiliates and might book sales on a dozen or so, but about 80% is on just a few affiliates.

So spend your time finding the few companies with products that help your viewers with the problems you talk about on your channel. Then, spend your time making videos about those few affiliates, and don’t waste it on a shotgun approach to affiliate marketing.

Creating Courses to Sell on YouTube

This next hack is the big one, creating your products, books, and courses through your YouTube channel.

This will always be the next level for your income, right? You can make money with sponsors and affiliates but depend on someone else’s product. So you’re always splitting the sales with someone else.

You need to think about your courses, books, or products from day one. Even if you’re still just learning about your channel topic. Your first book might be about your experience teaching the subject, that journey answering the basic questions.

We’ve got a playlist on self-publishing here on the channel and another about creating your online courses. Start on these early, and you WILL make more money!

Make sure you click through to reserve your spot on the FREE YouTube Quick-start Webinar! In it, I’m going to give you a crash course on starting your channel and how I grew mine from 0 to 75,000 subscribers in 18 months.

Read the Entire Making Money on YouTube Series

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