We are currently living in a day and age where not a picture, but rather a video speaks a thousand words.
Ever since the launch of YouTube back in 2005, people have exploited the online video sharing platform to a vast extent. The convenience and easy accessibility to high speed internet and basic video shooting equipment has given people a chance to share any talent, skill set or opportunity. In this particular case – by using YouTube.
Why Would I Want To Make Money Off YouTube?
Today, YouTube is the largest video sharing platform, and caters to more than 1.3 billion active users, with almost 5 billion videos being watched everyday, and 300 hours of videos being uploaded every minute.
So, why are people putting in the effort to upload videos and promote themselves? And why are advertisers flooding YouTube to sell their products?
One simple answer: For the money.
For many, YouTube is a full time job, which means that they are earning a considerable amount from it on a monthly basis. Some nearly $100 a day. But, the big question is – how?
How Do I Get Started?
First, Be Online – That’s Most Important
The first thing you need to do is get online to upload videos on YouTube. For that, you need to create a YouTube/Google account. If you have one already, great!
After that’s done, go to YouTube and upload a video that you think will get a lot of views (could be something as entertaining as a ‘Dhinchak Pooja’ song). After the upload is done, the real work begins.
How do I Manage My Online Content?
Creator Studio: The One Stop for Video Management
The ‘Creator Studio’ is the most essential tool on YouTube that helps you manage your online video content.
Choose the ‘Creator Studio’ option in your profile (top right), and then select ‘Channel’ (on the left of the screen).
‘Channel’ gives you an option to manage your videos. The most important option that you need to focus on is ‘Monetisation’.
After enabling ‘Monetisation’, you will be redirected to a page where you are given proper instructions and procedure on how to monetise the video.
During the monetisation process, you will be asked to open a Google AdSense account. Through AdSense, you earn money from YouTube video.
Google AdSense is a program that allows users to earn money by monetising YouTube videos. How much you earn depends on the number of views you get on your videos, or the number of people who click on the ads.
Through AdSense, your account will start receiving money only if you have a PayPal or a bank account, and a valid mailing address. AdSense verifies the same and sends the money to you.
How Much Can I Earn?
Your YouTube earnings depend on CPM (cost per thousand, denoted as M) which is the cost per thousand views. The average CPM ranges anywhere between $5-$10 (Rs 320-640 ) and YouTube gets 45 percent of whatever you earn from the ads.
Eg, if you earn $10 per 1,000 views, then YouTube takes $4.5.
In the present day and age, you can earn anything between $500-$5000 for every million views.
In 2013, the average CPM was around $18-$24, which dropped to $7.6 in 2015. The current CPM has been estimated to be around $2 per 1,000 views.
Another way you can earn from YouTube is through paid subscribers.
People rack up a good revenue by attracting a lot of paid subscribers, by posting specific category videos like cooking tutorials, photography lessons, etc. You don’t really need a million views in that case.
So now that you have the numbers, you can easily do the calculation on how much you can earn if you have a video worth going viral.
Is There a Lot of Competiton?
A major chunk of YouTube is flooded with amateur content creators, which means that besides the cream of the crop, there is a glut of ordinary, raw and and unedited videos.
What this means for you..? ‘Some competition’.
However, you must understand – creating or getting viral content is no easy task. In fact, about half of YouTube videos get fewer than 100 views in their first month, and only 30 percent of uploaded videos are viewed more than 200 times.
Is it Tough to Make Big Bucks?
Just because it sounds easy doesn’t mean it’s easy making money off YouTube. There are a few hurdles in the way:
1. YouTube is extremely competitive as it caters to more than 300 hours of videos, which are uploaded every minute (unless you have something worth going viral).
2. YouTube has been designed to highlight popular and trending videos, so until your video has that extra spark, forget about making the ‘moolah’.
3. There are also thousands of paid channels which will always have an upper hand over non-paid content.
4. Content generators and users only get a marginal amount of the money received from advertisers.
But, just because it’s tough doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
If you have the right idea or opportunity, there’s definitely a pot of gold waiting at the end of this rainbow.
Remember, there are many who have earned millions off YouTube, and if not millions, there is always the few hundreds you can make.
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