You enjoy watching your favorite YouTubers, but you might wonder, “how do they make money?” Content creators on YouTube earn money by reaching certain requirements. These requirements may vary depending on what type of content the creator uploads, such as shorts and videos.
Firstly, these content creators need to be in the “YouTube Partner Program.” They need to have the following:
- Have an active AdSense for YouTube account linked to their channel
- AdSense allows an account to earn money by permitting ads on their content
- Make advanced features enabled
- Advanced features are optional features that are given to a creator that is quite notable
- Have 2-Step verification turned on
- 2-Step verification is an extra security step for a google account that makes a login require a code, not just password and username
- Have no active Community Guidelines strikes
- A Community Guidelines strike is a strike given from YouTube when a creator doesn’t follow the rules a second time
- Live in a place where YouTube Partner Program is available
- Follow YouTube channel monetization policies. These policies describe:
- Making original content. If you use content that isn’t yours, you need to change it a lot for it to be considered original
- YouTube’s Term of Service, Copyright, Community Guidelines, Rights Clearance Adjustment policies, and program policies
Then, after having all of the above checked, they’ll need 1,000 subscribers and 4000 public watch hours from videos or 10 million shorts views. Long form content creators will need to earn these 4000 public watch hours in 1 year and short form content creators will need to earn 10 million shorts views in 90 days. Shorts don’t give public watch hours though. Once they also have the mentioned requirements, they’re finally able to apply for the YouTube Partner Program. The YouTube Partner Program is a program that gives content creators more permissions to YouTube resources and monetization features. After they apply for the YouTube Partner Program, it may take around a month for YouTube to give the creator their decision on whether or not they are in the program.
It doesn’t end there though, the YouTube Partner Program doesn’t automatically give creators money every hour. Rather, these creators make money from the ads their viewers watch (except for shorts creators, that will be covered later on). For every ad view, a YouTuber earns about $0.01-$0.03. The viewer must watch at least 30 seconds of the ad or just watch the full ad (if it’s shorter). Not every view is going to have an ad, so even though a YouTuber may have 1000 views, that doesn’t mean that they have 1000 ad views and they won’t earn their money yet.
Meanwhile, typically, every short earns about $0.01-$0.07 every 1000 views. They earn a lot less than normal video creators, but they get more views because of their short-form content. Meaning, short creators earn money from views, not ad views. This makes it easier for creators to earn money because viewers do not have to watch the full ad or 30 seconds of the ad for the creator to earn money.
Overall, YouTubers don’t earn money hourly like a normal job, rather they must first join the YouTube Partner Program and then earn money from views.