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Making Money on YouTube for Idiots (Me) 2019


kaylee
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Heyy guys!!!

so, I had an epiphany~! (maybe)

it seems to me that if you wanna make money on youtube, you need to, above all else, upload constantly. like, at least weekly, right? some ppl have a new video every frickin day, or more than one~! ive never had the vaguest ambition to do anything like that, im not about filming stuff all the time, u kno? i like to do the opposite, film stuff never ?

anyway, i have a new lil st bernard pup, and people LOVE st bernards~! and on top of that my other dog is a beast of a hybrid st bernard/great dane/mastiff, so...

instead of JUST taking stills of the lil guy as hes growing up, why not shoot some videos? i live in a beautiful forest, i think theyd be great~!

they may be glorified home videos, but who cares~! i mean, I'M on youtube searching for st bernards myself lol. and ill update it all the time with lil fun clips, and weekly weigh ins ?

so, i need youtube tips!!! help me yall!!! i need to make some money for my next film and i suck at illustrating childrens books i hate it smh. how do i get hundreds of thousands or millions of views so i can serve up youtubes precious ads to the masses

tumblr_ptwkvxRSOh1yqmyazo1_1280.jpg

addendum: heres a video woth 7.9 million views

but as you can see, that channel only has 14k subscribers... from what ive read you need 10k subscribers just to monetize videos at all, is that correct? ugh that sucks!

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1 hour ago, kaylee said:

how do i get hundreds of thousands or millions of views so i can serve up youtubes precious ads to the masses

Ads don't generate much income, even for the professional YTs, which is why they do sponsored videos themselves, essentially running ads within their "show".  

The goal is to attract many viewers and retain many viewers.  IIRC the algorithm doesn't like it if people only watch a bit of your video then click away to the next one.

This is why controversy, spectacle and drama are so prevalent on the platform, creating a steady stream of engaging videos is really fricking hard!

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20 minutes ago, kye said:

Ads don't generate much income, even for the professional YTs, which is why they do sponsored videos themselves, essentially running ads within their "show".  

The goal is to attract many viewers and retain many viewers.  IIRC the algorithm doesn't like it if people only watch a bit of your video then click away to the next one.

This is why controversy, spectacle and drama are so prevalent on the platform, creating a steady stream of engaging videos is really fricking hard!

Any idea how much they get for the sponsored content?

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So, my brother has a channel of his kid playing the ABC's game.  The little guy is obsessed with the alphabet and he's a charming good natured kid.  So, bro started making videos with his son everytime the little guy wanted to play with his letters.  At the end of a year they had made about 150 vids.  Somehow the YT algorithm, or an influencer, smiled on their little channel and overnight their subscription rate went from 25 people to 75K; still growing.  He turned on the monetize option and just received a check this month for $2K.

My bro is a blue collar dude and scrapes by.  This is like hitting the lottery a little bit.  He puts in the work, sure, but he and his son both love it and they're getting paid for it now.  He's making more videos than I do.  And, if I'm being honest, they're more engaging than the dry corporate shit I usually do for pay. And, with the extra income he can actually pay a few bills on time for a change.

OTOH, I'm an old creative and working under the traditional distribution model of filmmaking.  My wife and I have tanked about 35K of our own cash into our latest documentary and we've made, maybe, 5K of that back.

So, brave new world, y'all.

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11 minutes ago, fuzzynormal said:

Somehow the YT algorithm, or an influencer, smiled on their little channel and overnight their subscription rate went from 25 people to 75K; still growing.  He turned on the monetize option and just received a check this month for $2K.

^^^ this is literally what the heck im talking about. i have modest goals! just trynna make a lil art+filmmaking money, and im gonna be taking pics of the pupper anyway....

brave new world is right. its wild

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The short answer is it depends.

I have a sleeper channel that is all private at the moment that I want to expand in the future. Life right now is really busy, so I’m not ready to commit. But here are my two cents (worth probably 1.4 cents adjust for inflation).

Animal videos can get a lot of views if they are super cute and you target your videos to kids. Eventually a few will go viral and you’ll get the views. Your subscriber count will most likely be way lower than your views. For example your videos might have 100K views but your channel only has 5K subscribers. I have a niece and twin nephews and the crap they watch on YouTube is astounding. Weird shit. Silly shit. Lots of cute animals doing human things. They shouldn’t be watching but that’s a whole other topic.

The other type of channel is you invest in building subscribers. It takes longer, usually, but this is where brand deals and sponsors come in to play. The stronger more loyal your subscribers the more leverage you have with making deals or being noticed. These are the Peter McKinnons, that kid that reviews toys, etc...

The ad revenue is now modest to weak. You either have to really rack up monthly views (I’m talking millions) or use the channel as a way to market stuff to your audience (buy that merch).

Good luck. Having big dogs is always a draw to people. They are either researching the breed and want to see real life examples or they are kids that want to see animals so silly things.

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42 minutes ago, zerocool22 said:

Any idea how much they get for the sponsored content?

Not off the top of my head, but I think some have spoken about it indirectly before, and an occasional one or two might mention $ figures.  My understanding is that for the pros the revenue from ads is so little in comparison to sponsored content that it might as well not even be there.

IIRC Levi Allen doesn't even have ads turned on because he feels they will hurt his channel more than they'd help his income.

I agree with some of @Video Hummus comments - kids create lots of watch time and their habits would surprise you, watching things you wouldn't expect.  There are quite a few YT people making videos about how to make a living from YT, and also articles and other info online about analysis of watching habits etc.  I think the info is out there if you're willing to do a little digging.

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5 minutes ago, kye said:

IIRC Levi Allen doesn't even have ads turned on because he feels they will hurt his channel more than they'd help his income.

Yeah, Levi is a great. Love his channel. He is an example of the later in my post above. He runs a production company and uses his YouTube for exposure and to sell workshops.

Also, I’ve watch my nieces and nephews click on ads in the video just because they are using a touchpad and like interaction. It’s a treat that they earn to use. It’s amazing. Why wonder how much $ they cost advertisers with their frantic fingers. 

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My 2 pennies based on no first hand experience and a decent amount of second hand experience.

  • Develop a brand. Determine your niche and demo and then stick to it. Refine sure. But I think consistency is key, both in production quantity and branding. By the way, you need a draw. Personality. Cuteness. Awesomeness. Something uniqueish and engaging.
  • Reach out to non competing but overlapping creators. There’s a name for this but I can’t think of it. Ask for things, help, shout outs, whatevs. The more others talk about you the quicker you’ll rise. Sometimes they’ll say no. If so ask them when they’ll say yes. They give you advice. Do it. Then ask again. Bottom line, partners are key. Do favors for them. Maybe produce a free video.
  • Paying to advertise is very effective..... occasionally.
  • Stick with it. 
  • Stick with it.
  • stick with it.

Do all of this knowing that Google or Facebook or whatever will most likely change its algorithms and screw you right when you’re making it. Bummer. From there you’re on your own. 

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i was thinking...

its crazy cuz theres obviously a LOT to it, so much to know... even in ways that i take for granted

for example, we all know how capitalization itself has been bastardized in youtube titles. BUT... (lol) ...theyre on to something, clearly

so a bad title would be:

st bernrrd takes bath

while a good title would be:

~ADORABLE~ FLUFFY St. BERNARD **PUPPY** gets his ::FIRST:: BUBBLE BATH!!!

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Last year my main channel made about 60k USD. No YouTube ads, strictly affiliate pay from having viewers click a link to my site and then from there visit a merchant like Amazon, Walmart, etc.

 

 

Here’s my deepdive answer:

 

I make product reviews in low competition niches. The videos have ridiculously high production value and tend to outrank any competitors for ~2-3 years on search and autoplay list.

So on average I make about 4K a month, but that doubles or more around November and December.

This year revenue is down as my older videos lose rank and I’ve been slowing down on producing more content. I could wind up making half of what I did last year if I don’t start uploading more videos.

Today I build sets and furnish them using free stuff I get from kijiji or craiglist. I made modular flats with double sided walls (tile one side, wallpaper other side) and can build a room with windows and a door. I have props for a kitchen, bathroom, office and workbench. I can also kinda make a living room.

I currently use an FS5.2 and A6500 with Sigma 18-35 and 50-100 glass. I use a 5-axis Kessler Crane Second Shooter for camera control. Lighting is mostly from Aputure: C120Ds, LS1Ss. I also have a number of Quasar tubes with Kino housings.

I shoot 4K raw at either 30 or 120fps and upload  4K30. Edit using DaVinci. Motion graphics are done on After Effects. Sound and VOs are captured on a Blue Yeti with me covering myself with a heavy blanket while sitting on a super thick carpet. Voiceovers are heavily processed in Audition.

I wrote all the code for the website myself. The only expense is paying for the domain name. Each niche subdomain is hosted on a Google App Engine project which reduces my overall traffic and allows me to squeak by on the fee tier. YouTube is used for the video hosting. The web scrapping is done on a free tier Google Compute Engine project. I use Sikuli to grab prices from websites I don’t have API access to and google search cache as a backup. Google Sheets is used as a GUI for the database, which a python script accesses to generate a flatfile DB and then is uploaded to the appropriate GAE project every 24 hours.

Long story short, I don’t use Wordpress with plugins. I use Google servers with custom code to have a lighting fast website, so people are more likely to use the website and click my affiliate links.

 

 

WAY TOO MUCH INFO RIGHT?

 

But more importantly:

Is this a viable route for you to make money on YouTube?

 

Sure, I guess. At this point 7ish years in, I’m bored of making these videos.

It took probably 4 years to turn a profit with my most recent gear purchases. I’ve spent a lot on equipment to keep my interest.

 

Lately it’s way too much fucking work. It was nice proving this could work but I work a full time job that pays me way more money.

There’s no way for me to replace myself and earn a revenue as whoever I teach will inevitably just strike it out on their own.

I tried to help my last GF to make her own content: makeup, handbags, etc... big mistake. I don’t recommend mixing work with friends.

 

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@andrgl wow, thats amazin~!

its fascinating to hear some of the details of your high end approach – was that part of your plan in principle, to annihilate the competition's production values? kinda sensing that it was! very impressive, you really did it all, down to coding your website. am i correct in saying that you ~chose~ not to have ads on your videos for the enjoyment of your viewers, focusing on affiliate links instead? cuz obviously if you turned that on, it would make you more money? talk to me like im 4 years old, im new to this

i feel like the ultimate content to make for youtube is stuff that ppl will watch 7 years from now, because they just want to see a puppy eating an ice cream cone, or something of that nature. ppl that i know of who are raking in the bucks make videos that ppl will watch even though theyre years old – and then get into the channel, subscribe, etc etc. so thats part of the idea, that if i just keep posting videos, something will happen eventually lol

 

/edit: *light bulb moment* hmmmm, maybe i should just write the clickbait titles first, and THEN make the videos.........

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@kaylee

Yeah, my competition makes low quality videos. So the idea was to make cinematic content.

And yeah, it’s hard enough to get people to leave YouTube to visit a website so I skip on ads to up my chances.

 

 

I also agree with you. If you make videos that people will visit for years to come, you’ll get a steady trickle of money from Adsense.

Product reviews have a limited shelf life. I may start to enable ads on my older content at some point.

 

 

I think a cool idea to make affiliate money income could be done with film making tutorials / BTS stuff.

Basically: use a gimmick to get a cool shot (special light, specific lens, brushless gimbal, drone, smoke machine, whatever.) Play the finished video at the beginning, show how you achieved it and then give a link to a website showing more photos, a write up, and a product list of the stuff you used.

add affiliate links to the products.

 

 

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7 hours ago, kaylee said:

ive never had the vaguest ambition to do anything like that, im not about filming stuff all the time, u kno? i like to do the opposite, film stuff never ?
 

 

LOL You've been one of everyone's fav posters over here, I see -- world would be an empty place without you! : -)

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