Introduction
We will discuss all the monetization options available to you after reaching the requirements necessary to join the YouTube Partner program.
Plus, we are also gonna share with you our number one tip to help get you monetized sooner.
As we’re going through, scroll down and let me know in the comments if your channel is already monetized, what’s your number one tip to help others who are still on their journey to those requirements.
And if you’re not monetized yet, don’t worry.
There are still plenty of ways that you can make money on YouTube, even with a small channel.
We’ll cover more on that as we go through, but the focus of this article is on what ways you can do YouTube Monetization, where YouTube pays you for essentially uploading content and having a YouTube channel.
1. YouTube Partner Program Requirements
Let’s begin with the obvious stuff. To be paid from YouTube, you need to be part of their YouTube partner program, which means you need to have reached the milestones of 1,000 subscribers on your channel and 4,000 hours of watch time in the previous 12 months.
Your account also has to be in good standing.
So you can’t have a heap of copyright claims or anything like that on your content.
And you have to be living in an area where the YouTube partner program is rolled out, which is most places.
From there, you can apply to be in the partner program.
And once you’re in there, you can head over to your YouTube studio Dashboard area, on the left, there is a button for YouTube monetization.
And over there, you will find what you currently have access to and can toggle things on or off.
2. Ways to Make Money from YouTube
A. YouTube Ads (Ad Revenue)
So, as for the different ways you can make money from YouTube.
The first way is probably the most obvious way or the most common way, and that is through YouTube ads, where you receive a revenue split with YouTube from companies, businesses, or people running ads on your videos.
So the revenue split from those ads is a 45- 55% split between you and YouTube.
With YouTube taking 45% and you, the creator, receiving 55%.
Now, how much money you receive does come down to your specific channel and how much money companies or businesses are paying to run ads on your videos.
So if you’ve got a video that’s blown up and it’s really popular, and a lot of people are trying to run ads on it, it essentially becomes a bidding wall with them as to who’s gonna pay the highest amount.
And, the more they’re paying for the ads, the more money you can make.
And this doesn’t mean that you need to have every one of your videos take off and go viral.
If you’re releasing videos on a constant upload schedule, then over time, you’re gonna have more videos with ads on them and add earning potential that can grow and scale that way as well.
And even for a channel our size, with currently around 400 videos on it, there’s really a handful of videos that are bringing in the bulk of our YouTube revenue each and every month.
Now it’s a really good idea to keep in mind when you’re creating your videos that they are advertiser-friendly.
Meaning, that they don’t have any illegal stuff or a lot of swearing in there, then there’s more likely to be companies that would wanna run ads on your videos.
And so my suggestion is to try and keep them PG or family-friendly wherever you can.
Now, for each individual video you have on your channel, you have the ability to enable or disable monetization.
You can also select the different types of ads that can be run on that video, and even the location or where those ads are displayed, so before the video, during the video, or after the video.
So that’s the first way you can make money from YouTube with ad revenue.
B. YouTube Memberships
The second way is with YouTube Memberships.
So you can essentially think of this like YouTube’s version of Patreon or even your own monthly membership subscription that’s run and managed through your YouTube channel.
So your followers, your viewers, your subscribers, they can pay you monthly in return for what YouTube calls “perks”.
Now you, as the channel owner, have control over what perks are enabled or not.
And there can be things like exclusive videos that only show up or are only displayed for your members, exclusive live streams, and exclusive community posts as well.
And you can also enable members with only badges and emojis, too.
So if you’re someone who does a lot of live streams, this is gonna help your channel members stand out, and feel like they’re part of your community.
To set it up, you wanna head over to the Monetization area and go to the top of Memberships.
You can then set up your membership offer.
Here, you can set up the different tiers or different amounts of money that your members will be paying you each month, and what each one of those tiers unlocks.
And you can see here, we can create these tiers ranging from $1.49 per month, right up to $199 per month.
Now this is shown in Australian dollars, and for you, it’ll be shown in your currency.
And then to have your viewers and subscribers join and become a member, once you’ve enabled this and you’ve set it all up, there will be a Join button that shows up below your videos
They just need to click on that, pick the plan that they would like to sign up for, and then they’re members of your channel.
Our YouTube memberships do have a revenue split with YouTube as well, meaning that you don’t get all the money that comes through here.
It’s currently a 70/30 split.
With you making 70% and YouTube taking 30%.
C. Merch Shelf (Merchandise Sales)
Option number three is the Merch Shelf or the Merchandise Shelf.
Now you can display up to 30 products in that carousel, but you’ve also got a link there to take people to your online store.
So this is something you can set up that will display underneath your videos and where your fans or your viewers can cycle through, view, and purchase official merchandise from you.
So to be able to do this, you do need to have an online store set up, but YouTube does help you and step you through the process, if you don’t have one already running.
There is a list of approved companies, like Spreadshop and Spring, that have created partnerships with YouTube to make all of this seamless.
Now, the requirements to enable this Merch Shelf are a little bit more than the regular YouTube partner program.
You will need to have a channel that is currently at 10,000 subscribers or more, but if you’re interested in selling merchandise to your viewers, this is a great way that you can showcase that to them.
D. YouTube Supers (Super Chat, Stickers, Thanks)
The next way that you can make money from YouTube is through YouTube Supers, which are three separate features under that one banner.
So you’ve got Super Stickers, Super Chat, and now, Super Thanks as well.
And all of them are essentially some way that your viewers can tip or donate to you for the content that you’ve created.
Now, if you’re doing live streams on your channel and you have Super Stickers and Super Chat enabled, then that’s where your viewers can donate to you or send you a sticker, where you receive money in real time while you’re live.
Super Chats and Super Stickers will only work while you’re alive.
They don’t work on your regular uploaded videos, but that’s where Super Thanks steps in.
And that’s again, where once you’ve got it enabled on your channel, a little thanks button will show up beneath your videos.
Your viewers can click on that, and they can choose how much to donate to you.
Now we have a full article just covering off on YouTube. Thanks, so I’ll link that one up in the cards, but if you are already monetized, then likely, you’ve got access to this feature now, too.
And it isn’t enabled by default.
So again, you wanna head over to your Dashboard area to that YouTube Monetization page, click on Super up the top, and if your channel is eligible, you’ll see the ability in here to turn on Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Super Thanks.
Now with all three of these supers, your viewer cannot just donate or tip you, but also send you a message if you’re live in the chat or leave you a comment, if they’re using Super Thanks.
Now, those comments and messages are also designed to look a little bit different so that they stand out.
So they become featured comments on your channel and featured messages in your chat, while you’re live, so that you can easily see them.
And so that they stand out to other people looking at your videos, too.
E. YouTube Premium Revenue
Another way that you can make money from your YouTube channel is with YouTube Premium Revenue.
So, for those of you who aren’t aware, YouTube does have a paid option, where you pay a monthly fee and it gives you access to exclusive content, but also removes all the ads from YouTube, making YouTube absolutely amazing.
Once you’ve tried this, it’s very hard to go back to YouTube with ads, but obviously in terms of revenue, this does mean that if people are watching your videos and they are a YouTube Premium subscriber, and they’re not seeing ads and you’ve got ads on, on your channel, then you won’t be making money from those viewers.
So now in terms of the revenue, what YouTube does with the money it’s making from the YouTube Premium subscriptions, a percentage of that is given back as revenue for channels that are monetized for the views that they get on their channel from those premium subscribers, so that they’re still able to make some money through, because they’re not eligible for ads or they’re not seeing ads.
So, in terms of how much money you can make from this, it does come down to how many views on your videos are coming from people who are on the YouTube Premium subscription.
And obviously, the money is shared across YouTube.
It depends on the views; the more the views, the more revenue.
Now, for us in comparison, the amount that we make from YouTube Premium subscriptions versus what we make for YouTube Ads is chalk and cheese.
We make a lot more from YouTube Ads than we do from YouTube Premium subscription views.
F. YouTube Shorts Creator Fund
And the last way that you can make money on YouTube is through the YouTube Shorts Creator Fund.
So, if you ask someone who is creating and uploading YouTube Shorts, YouTube’s answer to TikTok or Instagram Reels, then you can make money if those shorts perform well.
Now, if you don’t know what YouTube shorts are, you wanna find out more in another video linked up in the cards to help you with that.
Now this is something that’s likely gonna change, but right now, YouTube has allocated $100 million to this Shorts Creator Fund.
And there is a percentage of that that is given out to creators each and every month, based on the number of views or performance of the YouTube Shorts that you are creating.
To be eligible to receive money from the YouTube Shorts Fund, you need to be uploading YouTube Shorts content, you need to have uploaded at least one in the last 180 days, and it needs to be original content.
You can’t just grab your TikTok video with the TikTok watermark and upload it as Shorts.
That video won’t be eligible, and you need to be a minimum of 13 years old.
If you do qualify for the shorts fund on any given month, then you’ll receive an email and a notification in the YouTube app, and they say that qualifying channels can receive anywhere from $100 to $10,000, depending on the performance of the Shorts they’re creating.
3. Bonus Tip: How to Get Monetized Sooner
So those are the different ways that you can make money from YouTube itself.
Now, earlier in the video, we said, we would also share with you my number one tip to help get you YouTube Monetization sooner, and it’s actually something to help you grow your YouTube channel faster, which is gonna lead to it being monetized faster, and that is to be strategic about the content that you make.
Don’t just create random videos or just upload for the sake of uploading.
Be strategic in content creation.
So this doesn’t mean that you need to upload daily or three times a week.
For us, we upload one strategic video per week, and that’s been more than enough for us to grow to where we are and to build the business that we have off the back of our channel, too.
Conclusion
To earn money from your YouTube channel, you need to achieve the targets of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours, enabling you to enter the YouTube Monetization. This program offers access to multiple revenue streams, including advertisements, memberships, merchandise, Supers (Chat/Thanks/Stickers), Premium income, and the Shorts Fund. While these tools offer quick earnings, success relies on carefully developed, advertiser-friendly content tailored to your audience’s tastes, not just on the frequency of your uploads. Remember that even with Youtube monetization, adding revenue through affiliate marketing (which can be more lucrative than advertisements) ensures enduring sustainability
FAQS
- Why is strategic content important for YouTube monetization?
Uploading consistent, audience-focused videos (e.g., tutorials, reviews) boosts watch time and subscriber growth. Avoid random uploads, focus on solving problems, or entertaining your niche. This will help you get YouTube monetization.