As it continues to expand and refine its monetization offerings, YouTube has provided a quick overview of the various money-making mechanisms that are now available to creators in the app, in order to help ensure that all creators are aware of their options.
As you can see in this graphic, YouTubers now have a range of considerations on this front, each of which continues to get more updates to enhance their potential.
Because when YouTube makes money, you do, so there’s an aligned benefit to the platform giving you more opportunity.
YouTube’s ten monetization pathways are:
- In-stream ads – The simplest of YouTube’s monetization processes, within which you sign up for the YouTube Partner Program to have ads displayed in relevant gaps in your clips. YouTube recently updated its ad placement controls to provide even more control on this element (or for its system to auto-detect more suitable breaks in your content).
- YouTube Premium – YouTube says that the majority of the revenue generated by YouTube Premium goes to YouTube partners. It’s also experimenting with Premium Lite, a cheaper ad-free alternative, which will also provide additional creator revenue opportunities.
- YouTube Shopping – This enables creators to tag products within their video clips (including Shorts), and then gain a cut from displayed brands.
- YouTube BrandConnect – A process to connect relevant creators with brand promotion opportunities. BrandConnect now also incorporates Shorts as an affiliate marketing option.
- Channel memberships – Eligible creators can encourage people to pay to sign-up to their channel, driving direct revenue from your fans.
- Super Chat – Fans can donate within live-streams and Premieres via purchasable amplification that they can use to highlight their comments in real-time.
- Super Stickers – Yeah, Super Stickers seems pretty much the same as Super Chat, because it pretty much is.
- Super Thanks – The worst named of YouTube’s “Super” elements, Super Thanks enables you to buy an animated notification to gain more attention for your comment, which can be included on any video type. Super Thanks buyers also get to post a distinct, colorful, and customizable comment in the comments section.
- Ticketing – Music fans can purchase concert tickets in-stream, helping to drive revenue for artists.
- Gifts – Finally, YouTube also added virtual gifts last November, which can be purchased with “jewels”, enabling you to share on-screen visual gifts with creators, (from which they also take a cut of the purchase price). So another variation of Super Chat, but with better-looking digital gifts (maybe).
As you can see, there’s now a range of options to consider in monetizing your YouTube content. And YouTube’s payouts, which now exceed a cumulative $20 billion per year, have helped a range of creators make money from their passions, and build their own businesses on the back of their YouTube content.
I mean, using capitalism as a motivation for art seems flawed in many respects. But artists need to make a living too, and YouTube has a range of options to potentially facilitate just that.
Maybe it’s time you started charging for your YouTube clips.
