How to Make Money on YouTube (Without a Million Subscribers)

YouTube stars are the self-made celebrities of today—people who have earned an audience by creating content geared toward teaching, entertaining, reviewing, and being awesome on the internet.

And most do it just to do it, to scratch the itch of creating things and being in front of an audience.

Making money from a YouTube channel might not be the reason you start one, but the opportunities to earn are a pleasant surprise once you realize how many of them there are.

How many subscribers do you need to make money on YouTube?

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New Media Rockstars estimates that top YouTubers earn in the millions, some even in the tens of millions. Revenue can fluctuate greatly depending on the premise of the channel.

Here are just some of their estimates and the number of subscribers these YouTubers have:



Understanding your audience demographics

Building your own audience puts you in a great position to monetize in a variety of ways. But you’ll only be able to take full advantage of the opportunities you have if you understand the makeup of your audience.


youtube audience demographics

You'll want to pay especially close attention to:

  • Gender for the distribution of male and female, and if your audience skews one way.
  • Age for the ranges that most of your audience members fall into.
  • Geographic location for the countries or cities where your viewers are watching your videos and some brands might want to focus on.
  • Watch Time: The overall engagement of your audience wihen watching your videos.
  • A combinations of the above to paint a more accurate picture of your audience by looking at things like the number of male viewers you have in a specific age range.


Now, with that out of the way, we can start talking about the different ways you can actually make money.

How to make money on youtube


Luckily, there are several ways you can money on Youtube:

  1. Become a YouTube Partner and make money from ads.
  2. Make money on YouTube by selling products or merchandise.
  3. Crowdfund your next creative project.
  4. Let your audience support your work through "fan funding".
  5. License your content to the media.
  6. Work with brands as an influencer or affiliate.

Let's take a deeper look at each one.

1. Become a YouTube partner and make money from ads

The first revenue stream you’ll likely explore is ads.


After you become a Partner, you'll need to have an AdSense account to opt into Google's advertising network to actually get paid and see ad revenue reports like the one below. 

youtube ad revenue

Once that's done, you'll notice a green "$" next to your videos in the Video Manager, indicating whether it's been enabled for monetization, which you can click on to access the monetization settings for each video.


Why you should look beyond ads for revenue


According to YouTube, your content could get excluded from ads if it includes:

  • Sexually suggestive content, including partial nudity and sexual humor
  • Inappropriate language, including harassment, profanity and vulgar language

But the reality is that YouTube has been demonetizing content that it doesn't deem “advertiser-friendly” since 2012 via an automated process.


Now the situation is actually better, as creators are notified when this happens and can contest any videos that were mistakenly excluded from YouTube's advertising network.

    Advertising might be a common means of generating passive income for creators, but the trade-off is that YouTube gets to keep around 45% share of ad revenue.  


    So let’s do that.

    2. Make money on YouTube by selling products or merchandise

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    roman atwoodRoman Atwood sells a variety of merchandise in his own store under his Smile More brand. 

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    2. Your audience's trust, which you've already earned by regularly serving them your own brand of content for free.

    3. Crowdfund your next creative project




    crowdfunding creative projects



    4. Let your YouTube audience support your work via fan funding


    As a creator, you're contributing your voice to the internet without forcing your audience to pay for admission. So, if it’s good content, your audience might be inclined to support you on an ongoing basis.


    making money off youtube
    Wait But Why creates more long-form content than YouTube videos and gets a lot of support from the Patreon community. 

    Some popular fan funding options include:

    • YouTube's Fan Funding: This feature on YouTube essentially lets you create a “tipping jar” for your viewers to donate whenever and however much they feel like contributing. You'll need to set up your YouTube account for advertising as outlined above.

    5. License your content to the media




    making money on youtube by licensing content
    When this video of a lady wearing a Chewbacca mask went viral, tons of media outlets wanted in. 

    6. Work with brands as an influencer or affiliate


    -Gary Vaynerchuk





    To give you another idea of what you can potentially charge, a mid-level influencer charges a brand on average $200 to $500 per post, according to one study.


    The key when partnering on brand sponsored content is to be transparent about it—not endorsing anything you don’t actually like or believe in, and being upfront with your audience about why you’re doing it.


    • Famebit: With a wide range of brands to work with, you might find a sponsorship opportunity you'll be proud to be a part of. You need 5000 followers to join.
    • Crowdtap: Complete small  content creation "tasks" in exchange for money and other rewards. There's no restriction on how many followers you need to join.



    Popular affiliate programs include Click Bank (1% to 75% commission depending on what the vendor sets) and Amazon's Affiliate network (earn up to 10% per sale). You can also reach out to brands in your niche that are running their own affiliate programs, which isn't uncommon in the ecommerce space.

    How to “sell” without annoying your audience


    "Selling out" to their audience is a real concern for a lot of creators. But if you never ask, you’ll never get.


    Record a call to action in your videos

    "If you liked this video, then hit the like button and subscribe."


    You can adapt this approach to direct your audience's attention to a revenue-generating opportunity.

    Add well-timed YouTube cards to your videos

    Whether it's part of your deal with a brand or you're promoting your own products, YouTube Cards offer an eye-catching way to get the attention of engaged viewers.

    You can set them to pop up at just the right moment when they're most relevant and least distracting to increase their impact. 

    how to make money on youtube

    Add links in your video descriptions


    Promote your offer on other platforms


    Spread the word about new campaigns or discounts on Twitter, Facebook and any other profiles you might own.

    The more places your message lives, the greater the chance that it'll be seen. So it's always a good idea to grow your social media following beyond YouTube.

    Free Reading List: Social Media Marketing Tactics


    Rise of the "YouTubepreneur"

    What compels most creators to create is rarely the money. It's the thought of making something for the world to enjoy.


