If you’re looking to boost your social media presence online and learn how to make money from making digital content, YouTube is a great place to start. With more than two billion users worldwide, YouTube has quickly become the most popular video-sharing platform and one of the most popular social media platforms of all time. In fact, 90 percent of digital video viewers in the United States use YouTube. That’s why so many social media influencers turn to YouTube to not only capture the attention of a wide audience but to start making money from their content. Eager to know how you can monetize your YouTube channel? Let’s break down everything you need to know.
YouTube’s Channel Monetization Policies
Before you start monetizing your videos on YouTube, it’s important to first ensure that your channel is following YouTube’s monetization policies. If you violate any of these policies, YouTube reserves the right to turn off ads from your content, suspend or terminate your YouTube channel, or even remove you from the YouTube Partnership Program (which is detailed below). These are serious consequences you want to avoid, so making sure you understand the monetization policies is crucial. As a whole, these policies are put together to make certain that you’re following other important rules, such as:
- YouTube’s Community Guidelines
- YouTube’s Terms of Service
- Copyright guidelines
- Google AdSense program policies
- YouTube’s advertiser-friendly content guidelines
The YouTube Partnership Program
YouTube’s monetization policies apply to anyone looking to apply to the YouTube Partner Program, which is a giant creator fund that gives YouTubers the opportunity to share the money that YouTube has made on advertisements. This program was introduced in 2007 and has since paid creators the big bucks – more than 8.5 billion dollars’ worth. Plus, creators in the program attain access to other great resources like YouTube’s Creator Support teams, the Copyright Match Tool, and more monetization features. Plenty of creators gained status from the benefits of this program, including David Dobrik, PewDiePie, and Shane Dawson. To join this program, you should check out the eligibility requirements, but the minimum requirements are:
- Reside in a country/region where the program is offered
- Reach an audience of more than 1,000 subscribers
- Link an AdSense account to your YouTube
- Have more than 4,000 watched hours in the past year
YouTube AdSense
If you’re familiar with YouTube, you’ve probably heard your favourite YouTubers talk about “AdSense money” before. Basically, AdSense allows Google to put ads in videos and on websites. This is how a lot of bloggers and YouTubers make a living since ad space equals money. If you see an ad before a YouTube video, that video is making money through YouTube AdSense and the YouTuber’s profit will rely on how long a viewer watches the ad or takes action from the ad (clicking a link, for example). Connecting your channel to Google AdSense is fairly simple – all you need to do is create a free AdSense account and your channel will be eligible for ad space. To link your channel to AdSense, you should:
- Enable your channel for monetization
- Fill out an application form for your AdSense account to link to your channel
- Choose the ads that you want to be shown on your channel and where you want the ads to be shown
The Ads that Work
Now that you know how YouTube AdSense works, it’s almost vital to understand which ads will make you money. Through AdSense, as mentioned before, you have the power to choose the format of ads that will be placed on your channel. There are a ton of different types of ads, including skippable and non-skippable ads. For the purpose of outlining how you get paid from ads, we’ll focus on the skippable and non-skippable ads. In general, this format of ads can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of your YouTube videos. Skippable ads must be between 12 seconds and 6 minutes in length while non-skippable ads can last between 15 to 20 seconds.
Taking Advantage of Non-Skippable Ads
In recent years, many YouTubers have decided to increase the running time of their videos because videos over 10 minutes long can include a non-skippable ad in the middle of the video. More ads and more non-skippable ads mean the YouTuber makes more money, so if you can, increasing the length of your videos is a foolproof solution to make the most out of monetization. Remember, non-skippable ads are where the profit comes in. This is because YouTubers can profit from non-skippable ads just being watched. On the other hand, YouTubers only make money from skippable ads when their viewers watch at least 30 seconds of the ad or interact with the ad. In this case, interaction would refer to clicking the ad or following the ad’s call-to-action.
Building an Audience
As you’ve probably guessed, profit from the ads on your videos will also rely on how many people are seeing those ads. In other words, you need to have a dedicated audience if you want to profit from AdSense. To build an audience, make sure you’re focusing on creating engaging content, posting consistently, and getting your name out there. Take part in popular challenges, make eye-catching thumbnails, interact with your comments, add keywords to your description text and titles, and put effort into boosting your following on other platforms such as Instagram or TikTok. Putting your content on other social media platforms is a fantastic way to increase your views and earn a profit from the extra eyes that watch your content.
While monetizing your channel can be a significant milestone for some influencers, that doesn’t mean you can’t start now and get paid for doing what you love. Getting monetized on YouTube is just the push you need to keep creating incredible content for your audience while you grow your following and views online. From growing your channel and getting monetized, you’ll be introduced to an abundance of partnership opportunities that can further propel your presence on social media. There’s no better time than now to start monetizing your videos!
Author Bio – Selena Ponton is an experienced Editorial Staff Writer and Industry Report Specialist for NeoReach, specializing in writing content that covers all topics from influencer marketing to social media strategies. She has previously written for a variety of websites and publications, such as Tinder’s lifestyle website SwipeLife and College Magazine.
