How Long Does it REALLY Take To Make Money on Youtube? Plus 5 Ideas

YouTube is accessible worldwide and watched by people an average of one billion hours daily, according to Omnicore.

 If you’re looking for a source of entertainment, inspiration, education or all the above — YouTube is the perfect platform.

Creators like Mr. Beast, Dude Perfect, and Jeffree Star are among many successful YouTubers seeing success and have cultivated that success into a full-time career.

You can too.

This article will show you how long it takes to make money on YouTube and five smart ideas for YouTube monetization.

You’ll discover the multiple ways to monetize your channel, how long it takes, and how many subscribers you need to make it all possible.

Let’s get started.

How long does it take to make money on Youtube?

You can start making money on YouTube by earning ad revenue through YouTube monetization once you’ve reached 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers in 12 months.

This is one of the many ways you can earn money from your YouTube channel.

However, how long it takes before you start making money on Youtube depends on a range of ranking signals such as:

1. Quality of the video
2. Links to the video
3. Targeted Keyword
4. How many subscribers you have
5. How many likes
6. And how many shares

Depending on the keyword you target for the video, you could start to see earnings quickly, but again, that depends on the competition, keyword targeted, and the ranking signals mentioned above

You could start earning within a week for low-key terms, but of course, more competitive keywords will typically take longer unless you have an established channel.

How to make money on YouTube?

The competition on YouTube is fierce for specific keywords, but the truth is that any creator can make money from their YouTube channel.

As a video creator, exploring income diversity through setting up multiple revenue streams is an excellent strategy to improve income stability, which will help you make the most money as a YouTube creator.

There are five ways to make money on YouTube:

• YouTube Partner Program
• Youtube Affiliate marketing
• Sponsorships
• Selling your products and services
• Donations

We will discuss each one, including the essential things to know, benefits, and drawbacks.

Let’s go!

Become a YouTube Partner

Joining the YouTube Partner program means you qualify for YouTube monetization. As a YouTube partner, you’ll get paid from Google Adsense based on the traffic your videos bring.

You’ll have the opportunity to have ads placed on your videos, and the more views you receive, the more ad revenue you can make from Google Adsense.

After you create your YouTube videos and place the ads, they run for as long as your video is live, helping you earn passive income.

To qualify as a YouTube partner, you’ll need:

• At least 4,000 watch hours
• A minimum of 1,000 subscribers
• A linked Google Adsense account
• No active community strikes on your account
• To live in a country where the YouTube Partner Program is available
• To abide by YouTube’s monetization policies

How Much Can You Make As A YouTube Partner?

The amount you earn from Google Adsense in the YouTube Partner program is based on many factors like the number of videos you have published, your niche, audience size, and more.

In this podcast, the YouTube creator from the channel ‘Meet Kevin’ reveals how he has had multiple million-dollar months as a creator, with a large chunk of that income coming from the YouTube Partner program.

What’s YouTube Premium, And How Does it Impact Creators?

YouTube Premium is a service offered by YouTube that provides an ad-free experience to viewers. Consumers pay $11.99 per month for YouTube Premium and get:

• Access to offline features like downloading videos and playlists for offline viewing
• Use of YouTube Premium membership on up to 10 devices
• To watch YouTube without ads
• The ability to continue watching videos on your mobile device while using other apps
• And, many more features

How Can You Earn Adsense Income From Viewers Watching YouTube Premium?

YouTube partners can make money from YouTube Premium through fee distribution, based on how much content viewers watch, so it is still possible to draw income from YouTube Premium watchers.

What you need to know about the YouTube Partner Program

First, the YouTube Partner Program isn’t for everyone. You have to ensure you qualify to join, which means adhering to the requirements shared above so you can earn income from Adsense.

If you can become a YouTube partner, you should know that payments are issued once a month, and your balance needs to be at least $100 to get paid.

Your content must be ad-friendly, which means limiting or avoiding vulgar language and offensive content.

YouTube Monetization: Make Money With Affiliate Marketing

Making money with YouTube affiliate marketing can happen by sharing products in your YouTube videos and posting affiliate links in your video description.

This is a revenue-earning opportunity that you should be taking advantage of, and it’s a natural fit for many different kinds of channels.

How Does Affiliate Marketing With YouTube Work?

To get credit for your referral in affiliate marketing, you should be using affiliate links and placing the links on YouTube in your description box.

You can mention the product you’re referring to in your video and give viewers instructions to click the link in your video description to take action.

Once your affiliate link is clicked and conversion happens (either a lead or sale, depending on the affiliate program), you’ll earn a commission.

You’ll find affiliate programs available in many industries, including high ticket affiliate programs.

How Much Can You Make From Youtube Affiliate Marketing?

Top creators monetizing with YouTube affiliate marketing can earn up to and above six figures per year. This interview with Eric Worral talks about earning $40,000/month YouTube income from affiliate marketing.

What’s Important To Know About Affiliate Marketing?

With affiliate marketing, it can take a lot of traffic to start seeing results.

The next thing to consider is that there are a lot of affiliate programs. It can be hard to track them all, so if you’re pursuing affiliate marketing for monetization on your YouTube channel, make sure you get organized.

It can be easy to lose track of dozens of different affiliate programs you’re working with, and if you’re disorganized, that can lead to leaving money on the table.

Next, every affiliate program you’re interested in may not accept you as an affiliate so prepare yourself for possible rejection.

The last thing to think about is that affiliate programs can change over time. The payout can adjust, the payment terms can vary, your link could be restructured, and the affiliate program can disappear altogether at any point.

Just prepare yourself for this changing landscape that exists with affiliate marketing.

Make Money On YouTube With Brand Deals

Brand deals or sponsorships happen when you partner with companies to share their products on your YouTube channel in exchange for compensation.

The compensation you earn can be money, gifted products, or both.

To make money with a brand deal, make sure you have your contact information displayed on your channel so that interested brands can contact you. You can also pitch companies for a brand deal or apply to sponsored networks.

How Much Can You Make From YouTube Brand Deals?

Brand deals are a lucrative income opportunity for YouTube creators.

Like the ones mentioned in this article, the top creators on YouTube have fetched up to $187,000 per sponsored video!

Though this isn’t the norm for all YouTubers, there’s room to develop a high-paying income stream by partnering with brands, even for small creators.

Essential Things To Know About Brand Deals

Brand deals can be a nice revenue stream to add to your YouTube monetization.

It’s important to know that brand deals are not guaranteed, and they should not be considered a consistent form of revenue.

You can secure several sponsorships one month and then struggle to find any for the next few months. They are highly inconsistent and one of the more risky monetization models if you don’t protect yourself.

Make sure you protect yourself with a sponsorship agreement or contract. This will highlight all the terms of the agreement between you and the brand, including compensation, timeline, deliverables, etc.

It’s the best way to ensure clear communication is happening between you and the brand.

There are many ways you can secure a brand deal, including receiving an email from the brand, doing cold or warm outreach to potential brand partners, and applying to sponsorship campaigns through sponsored networks like Izea or Tap Influence.

Monetize your YouTube channel by selling products and services

One of the best ways to make money from your YouTube videos is to sell your products and services.

Sharing your products and services with your audience can be as simple as mentioning what you offer at the end of your videos and linking it in the video description.

You can also create a dedicated video explaining what you offer and how it will benefit your viewers.

If you’re looking to sell a physical product, digital product, or perhaps looking into selling services, then here are some examples:

Examples of physical products to sell:

• Merchandise like t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs, etc.
• Jewelry
• Artwork

Examples of digital products to sell:

• Ebooks
• Courses
• Digital planners
• Templates

Examples of services to sell:

Here are some of the best print-on-demand products YouTubers are selling, according to Printify.

You can use tools like Shopify, Gumroad, Teachable, or marketplaces like Etsy to sell your products and services.

How Much Can You Make From Selling Products And Services On YouTube?

Sharing your products and services in the description of your videos is a significant opportunity to make passive income from sales.

In this CNBC article, top creator Graham Stephan shared that he brings in just under $30,000 per month from selling his products, which are digital courses hosted by Teachable.

What To Know About Selling Products And Services

Selling products and services will arguably bring you the most opportunity in terms of how much money you can make over the short and long term.

These are the products you get to keep 100% profits from, and there’s no negotiation or collaboration with a third party and no program rules you have to abide by.

The basics are to sell a valuable product or service and deliver on your promise.

The challenges of selling on your YouTube channel come from:

• Offering a valuable product or service to your audience
• Marketing the right way

First, you want to make sure what you’re selling is problem-solving. If it’s solving your audience’s pain point, then you’ve got a solid foundation for a product that can potentially see a lot of success in the future.

If you’re not sure what to sell or how to help your audience, you can ask them. Poll your fans and ask them directly in a YouTube video, community post, or video comments.

From there, you can begin to create your problem-solving product.

Next, a lot of creators can fail with their product or service due to poor marketing. With your marketing, strategies like email marketing, sales funnels, and more can be a big part of selling your products and services.

Don’t ignore these essential elements, and if you have no clue how to get started, it might be worthwhile to hire a professional to help you.

Once you’ve got these nailed down, product/service selling can be one of your most profitable revenue streams.

Make Money With Your YouTube Channel With Donations

Lastly, collecting donations on your YouTube channel can be a smart way to monetize your channel. You can ask your viewers for a financial contribution to support your creative work on YouTube.

Websites like Patreon and Ko-fi are available to use to collect donations and set up memberships.

You can set up your custom page on these sites, offering something of value to your viewers in exchange for their donation. Exclusive content, a t-shirt or other merchandise, access to an exclusive group or newsletter, etc., are great ways to get people to donate to your channel,

How Much Can You Make From Fan Funding And Donations?

Fan funding is a simple concept. Give your fans exclusive access to the content they’re craving, and there’s a chance that they will support you financially.

This case study reveals the income reports from Patreon creators, showing top creators making up to $20,000 per month and more!

What To Consider About Fan Funding/Donations?

First, setting up a page where your fans can donate and financially support your work takes time. It takes a lot more planning and organization than you might think.

Once you’ve got it down, though, it can be an intelligent way to set up a recurring revenue stream for yourself that can help fund your work on YouTube.

Next, you want to consider the cost.

Some platforms don’t carry an upfront monthly subscription but instead take a percentage of your donations on the backend so keep this in mind when picking the website to work with.

Fan donations can be a top income source for many creators, and it doesn’t necessarily require thousands of fans. The loyalty of your fans is most important here, and often small channels can benefit from donations more than larger YouTube channels.

How Many Subscribers Do You Need To Make Money On YouTube?

To become a YouTube partner, you’ll need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the last 12 months on your channel.

Through the YouTube partner program, you will be able to place ads on your videos and make money from Adsense but, you can monetize your YouTube channel through any of the methods we described above as soon as your channel is created.

Zero subscribers are needed to start making money on YouTube.

As long as you have monetized the content on your channel, you can begin making money, even with little to no subscriber base.

What Is The Fastest Way To Make Money On YouTube?

You can start making on YouTube from day one, and the fastest way to make money is through selling. This can be done through selling other people’s products with affiliate marketing or selling your own products.

Selling can help you make money on the spot, and you don’t need thousands of subscribers to make your first sale.

How Much Money Can You Make On YouTube?

For YouTube content creators, the sky’s the limit.

When you become a YouTube partner, you can draw in ad revenue, giving you an opportunity to make passive income through YouTube so you can focus on what’s important, your content and creative process.

YouTube is an advertiser-friendly platform which makes it a great place to sell your brand deals and mention affiliate links. Mentioning products you like and support can be done organically and earn you a lot of money as a YouTube creator.

Then, venturing off to sell your own products and services is a lucrative option that should not be ignored.

Though it will probably involve the most work of all the revenue channels available, it can be worth it and help you tap into a high-paying revenue stream.

Lastly, donations from your subscribers help them fund your channel. You can create a tight-knit, loyal community just from donations if you draw them to communities like Patreon or Kofi.

The Bottom Line On Making Money On Youtube

There are multiple ways to draw revenue from your YouTube channel. To maximize your income potential, you should pursue more than one avenue for monetization.

It’s not going to be easy, but if you want to make money on Youtube, stay the course and keep producing good content.

Hopefully, this article inspires you to take action and monetize your channel on YouTube.