February 14th 2005, a major invention was founded in the world to change, give access to and entertain millions of lives, all from the simple idea that everyone should be able to share their home videos with the rest of the world. The invention was called ‘You Tube’, and what an invention it was, such a valentine’s gift to the entire world that is enjoyed and appreciated to date.
Officially launched on December 15th 2005, YouTube is a website for sharing videos. In 2006, Google bought YouTube.
Over the years, YouTube has grown, allowing people to access it on their phones, post videos through their phones, online streaming of ongoing events such as presidential debates, football games, educational programs, and closed captions (CC) that were originally in English but grew to other languages.
Whilst most people enjoy YouTube as a source of entertainment, a few have turned to YouTube to earn an extra coin.
Ways of Earning on YouTube:
There are various ways to earn money on YouTube:
- Advertising revenue: This is money from adverts playing in a You Tubers video
- Channel Membership: Members make a monthly payment to access certain perks that a YouTuber offers.
- Shopping from You Tubers store: Members can make purchases of items from your store on YouTube.
- Super Thanks: Members pay to have their messages highlighted in the comment and chat sections.
- Affiliate Marketing: This will be described further below.
- YouTube partner program: The YouTube partner program, YPP, in short, is a program that gives creators more prominent access to YouTube’s monetization features. The YouTube partners are also allowed access to revenue sharing through ads shown on the partners’ content. Partners get access to Creator Support teams, Copyright match tools and YouTube monetization features. The least requirements to join the YouTube Partner Program are:
Follow all YouTube monetization policies.
- Be in a country/region where the YouTube Partner program is available.
- There must be no active community guidelines strikes on your channel.
- Attain more than 4,000 public watch hours in the past 12 months
- Have more than 1000 subscribers
- Have a linked AdSense account
YT Income Sources
After application, review takes approximately a month. An application is either accepted or rejected; rejected applicants can reapply after a month.
- YouTube Affiliate Marketing: YouTube affiliate marketing is an online business where one can make money through affiliate links for products or services recommended in the video to the YouTube video’s description. Money (a commission) is earned if a viewer purchases through the referred link. Places where one can put the marketing link, include:
- In the description
- The pinned comment section of the video
- Community Tab
- The end of a screen video
- YouTube sponsorships: YouTube sponsorships, or branded content, are videos joined with a promoting brand, product or service. You Tubers usually collaborate with brands similar to their genre, advertise them on their videos and get paid.
There are three main types of sponsorships on YouTube: Product sponsorships, affiliate sponsorships and paid YouTube sponsorships. Brands are moving to YouTube to get their products’ marketing. Research states that 68% of YouTubers watch content to help them make a purchasing decision. However, to get sponsorships, there are a few elements that you need to have:
- Have an established brand
- Know your subscriber count and engagement rates
- Create quality content
How much money do YouTubers make in India?
It is hard to quantify how much You Tuber make. It is because of the difference in the content and the views each content gets. One of the best ways to tell a YouTuber’s income make is by the channel category, as seen below.
YouTube earnings by channel category in India.
Youtube is the dominant platform in India. When Tik Tok was burned, the country’s influencers shifted to YouTube since they lost their audience on Tik Tok. Naturally, each channel has its niche and viewership. It leads to foreign earnings for each channel. Below is an estimate for YouTube earnings by channel category per million views:
Comedy – 22,000 to 30,000 rupees
Music – 7,000 to 11,000 rupees
Technology – 14,000 to 22,000 rupees
Roasting – 18,000 to 29,000 rupees
Food – 7,000 to 11,000 rupees
Gaming – 7,000 to 14,000 rupees
How much does YouTube pay per view?
Once a YouTuber has joined the YouTube Partner Program and has access to monetizing features, YouTube can run ads on the YouTube Tubers content video. The YouTuber is then paid based on the number of views on the ad. Contrary to popular belief, the YouTuber is not paid based on the video views. YouTube takes 45% of the ad revenue, while the YouTuber gets 55% of the ad revenue.
Are my YouTube earnings Taxable?
Every YouTuber who has the YouTube Partner Program is expected to provide U.S. tax info to Google, regardless of which country they are in. for creators outside the U.S., the withholding rates are between 0-30% on earnings generated from the viewers in the U.S., and depends on whether your country of residence has a tax treaty alliance with the United States.
From the above, it is evident that having a good viewership is a requirement to make it in the YouTube world. A good number of members subscribed and views allow one to access features such as the YouTube Partner Program, YouTube Affiliate Marketing and YouTube sponsorships that end up being a source of income for the YouTuber. Therefore, we should all buy 5000 Indian YouTube views!