How many views to make money on YouTube in 2021?
Do you need to have a huge channel with millions of subscribers or can small YouTubers make money from their videos too?
In this post, I am going to explain exactly how many views you need as well as some top tips to help you triple your youtube income. So stay tuned.
If you are new to my blog, then I’m Jon Davis, I help content creators maximize their impact and income using proven strategies and tech. If that sounds like your cup of tea then make sure you check out my YouTube channel too.
Prefer to watch the video then here it is:
How much Do YouTubers Make?
It’s well-publicized what some of the big YouTubers make each year, take a look at these staggering amounts that are reported.
- Ryan Kaji – Earnings: $29.5 million
- Mr. Beast (Jimmy Donaldson) – Earnings: $24 million
- Dude Perfect – Earnings: $23 million
- Rhett and Link – Earnings: $20 million
- Markiplier (Mark Fischbach) – Earnings: $19.5 million
With a 9-year-old topping the list at almost $30 million, and the shocking part is this is only a fraction of what they earn overall – as Youtube has opened the door to more lucrative ways to earn money.
We will cover these at the end of the post as a little bonus, so stick to the end.
First, though we need to look at how much YouTube pays you for each video view that you can generate and what you need to consider if you want to be maximizing this number.
Let’s start with understanding how YouTubers get paid by YouTube.
How Do YouTubers Get Paid?
It’s a pretty straightforward process.
YouTube runs adverts on YouTube videos, some play at the start, some are during the video, some are just clickable images at the bottom or in the search results.
But where do these adverts come from?
What many people don’t realize is that YouTube is owned by Google. The same Google that has its own advertising platform called Google Adsense.
Companies and individuals that want to advertise their businesses or products will go to Adsense and they will create their adverts, as well as choosing certain criteria of who they wish to target – this could be related to where the potential customer is located, their gender, age or they can be much more specific.
Obviously, the advertiser has to pay for the privilege and this amount can vary depending on the criteria they have chosen.
For example, if they wish to advertise to an American audience they will pay more than if they were showing their adverts to a Phillipino audience, this is because they know there is greater buying power in the US.
So this is where the adverts come from.
Google Adsense pays YouTube to take these adverts and run them on its platform.
(In fact, these days it will run the adverts on almost any video).
But sadly, it doesn’t mean every YouTube creator is getting a share of this revenue from YouTube, not at all.
In order for YouTube to pay you for your video views, you need to be part of their Partner Program.
This is an agreement that YouTube will share its revenue with you as a content creator, after all, without talented people creating videos there is no YouTube.
YouTube Partner Program Explained
Unfortunately with the YouTube Partner Program, you won’t be able to join from day one – not anymore anyway. Instead, you need to prove yourself, create content and build your channel and audience up until you can meet their requirements:
- Follow all the YouTube monetisation policies.
- Live in a country/region where the YouTube Partner Programme is available.
- Have more than 4,000 valid watch hours in the last 12 months.
- Have more than 1,000 subscribers.
- Have a linked AdSense account.
This video explains more:
I can tell you from experience, this isn’t an easy journey, but I promise you it will be worthwhile. If you are serious about earning money from YouTube then it’s worth the effort.
So now you understand how YouTubers get paid from YouTube.
YouTube is sharing the revenue that they receive from Adsense advertisers.
How Much Does A YouTuber Get Paid For 1000 views?
As we covered earlier when we discussed how many views to make money on YouTube. The amount that the advertiser has to pay can vary on many different things, and this is why this figure is tough to predict.
Each YouTuber will be earning different amounts per 1000 views. Let me explain and show you my own earnings as an example.
CPM Vs RPM
In my YouTube statistics there are a couple of figures we need to be aware of:
Playback-based CPM (Cost Per Mille) – This figure shows you how much advertisers paid per thousand monetized playbacks. A monetised playback happens when a viewer sees at least one advert when watching one of your videos. So if they stop watching before an advert is shown then it won’t count.
RPM (Revenue Per Mille) – This number represents how much money you make per 1000 video views.
Do you see how the RPM figure is lower than the CPM figure? Well there are a few good reasons for this:
- Not every video is monetized. Some you may not be allowed to run adverts or you may choose not to as you want a better viewing experience.
- RPM is your share of the revenue, whereas CPM includes what YouTube will take too.
So as a creator, the RPM figure is a better indicator of what you earn per 1000 views on YouTube.
Does that make sense?
So in the example above, I averaged $3.56 in May per 1000 views. As my earnings were $291 that means I had around 81,000 view on my YouTube channel.
Now something else you should consider, is that the RPM figure can vary massively depending on a few factors. So you can see that my RPM is around $4.
Some of the YouTubers I know have an RPM of around $16-20. So they are earning 4-5 times as much as myself for every 1000 Youtube views.
But Why? And how can you earn more for your views?
How Can I Earn More Per Views On YouTube?
Put yourself in the shoes of an advertiser, think about who you would like to buy your products? Where would you find these people and what kind of content on YouTube are they likely to be watching?
This is why it’s good to understand your YouTube audience.
As we said earlier, if your audience is predominantly based in the US, UK, Canada or Australia your RPM will be higher. From an advertising perspective, people in these countries are more willing and able to buy.
Another factor is your niche and video topic.
Let’s say you created videos about badgers, the people watching are going to be badger enthusiasts which don’t really open them up to a huge amount of products that advertisers could sell them.
Whereas channels in software, health, tech, or finance niches have a lot of advertisers willing to outbid each other in order to get their ads seen. This increases the amount they are willing to spend and ultimately your RPM.
Why Do Some YouTube Videos Earn More?
Remember your RPM is based on your channel average, if you go to your analytics you can break this down per video.
As you can see, I have a video that’s based on some popular software that I use (Videoscribe), this is earning almost 8 x per 1000 views as my most popular video, and that’s because this companies competitors will be trying to find new customers that are likely watching my video.
So think about the videos you create and why someone will be searching for that particular video?
Buyer intent keywords such as a review video will often be advertiser competitive which is good for you if you can rank that video.
Summary Of How many views to make money on YouTube in 2021?
In a moment, I will tell you how to make even more money on YouTube but let’s look back at what we just covered.
YouTube and us content creators make money from YouTube advertising. But only when we have qualified and joined the YouTube Partner Program.
There are many factors that ultimately affect our earning potential for video views and largely come down to the audience that we attract.
After that, the more views we generate, the more we can potentially earn. So either way that you look at it, focus on building an audience and becoming a better creator.
Other Ways YouTubers Make Money
I promised you earlier on that I would tell you how to triple your earnings on YouTube and some of the tips I’ve given you around RPM will certainly help but I want to give you even more.
Plus, the good news is that this also applies to those of you that haven’t yet qualified for the YouTube partner program and can’t yet make money from video views.
Here are 6 bonus ways to make money on YouTube
Affiliate Marketing
My favorite form of YouTube monetization. This is where you promote products and services using your special affiliate links. If someone buys through your link then you earn a commission. This is how I generate the majority of my income on YouTube.
If you wish to learn more about this business model then go and watch this free training series from my own coach who will show you how to get started.
Sell Merch
Did you know that you can upload graphic designs to merch websites such as redbubble. If someone then decides they want a hoodie, T-Shirt or maybe a mug with that design on then you can earn a commission.
Patreon
Patreon is one of the community options where people pay a subscription to get access to your premium or behind-the-scenes content. It’s a monthly membership program for you and your business.
Sponsored Posts
As your influence grows you will have companies reaching out to work with you. They may offer you affiliate terms or even a set fee to feature their product. Choose reputable companies that enhance your reputation.
Digital Products
There has never been an easier time to create digital products such as courses and ebooks. The software is out there to build and host anything you want, then you provide the expertise and the buying audience, and voila your own digital products.
Coaching & Mentoring
As you create content and build trust and a reputation in your niche that gives you the opportunity to one day take that further. You have the platform to become a teacher, a coach, a mentor in your niche. Maybe not today, but who knows where your journey will take you.
Final Thoughts
YouTube is the best platform to build passive income, where your videos are quite literally earning you money whilst you sleep.
If you want a great blueprint to get started and scale a YouTube channel that earns you an additional income then check out this review of one of the best YouTube training programs available.