How Many Subscribers Do You Need to Make Money on YouTube?

Newbies to YouTube marketing typically like to go for the kill. Usually, in the first few months of creating videos, you’ll find them Google-searching something like “How many subscribers do you need to make money on YouTube?”

It’s understandable. Top YouTube creators are making millions from their YouTube channels’ monthly revenue, and it’s only fair that they want their own share of the cake. If you’ve found yourself recently wondering how many subscribers you need to make money on YouTube, you’re in luck.

In this article, we will look at the process of earning money on YouTube and how you can benefit from it even as a rising YouTube star. Very soon, your YouTube account will join the league of top YouTube earners with the profit you’ll bring in.

How Many Subscribers Do You Need to Make Money on YouTube?

To make money from YouTube, you need to join YPP for eligible creators. But to successfully become a YouTube partner and generate revenue from your channel, you must meet certain criteria, including having a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the past 12 months.

So, if you’re wondering how many YouTube subscribers you need to make money on YouTube, the answer is 1000. But the money you make with 1,000 subscribers is not enough for you to become a full-time YouTube creator. If every 1,000 subscribers watched all your videos, you would earn an average of $18 per video.

In other words, even though you need 1,000 subscribers to monetize your YouTube account via YouTube’s creator program, you’ll still need a ton of subscribers to get more ad views and ad engagements, which translates to making more money.

The Major Way Creators Make Money on YouTube

YouTube creators make money on YouTube mainly through ad revenue. When users watch ads appearing on your new videos, YouTube pays you a percentage of what the advertisers spend.

If you want to understand YouTube ad revenue, there are two important metrics to remember.

1 – RPM (Revenue Per Mille)

This shows how much money you earn per 1000 video views after YouTube takes its cut. So, you should consider how many YouTube views you can attract to boost your earnings.

RPM is based on several revenue streams (YouTube Premium, channel memberships, ad revenue) from the program. This metric is important because it lets you know how much you can expect to make from your views and gives you an idea of how effective your monetization strategies are.

2 – CPM (Cost Per Mille)

This is another important metric that shows how much advertisers pay per 1000 ad impressions. Your CPM reflects how much advertisers value your videos and loyal audience to meet their goals. This is why CPM varies from niche to niche. For example, if you create videos about cars, you may have a higher CPM than other YouTube channels that feature videos about pets, because automotive content is usually in higher demand by advertisers.

Regardless of your YouTube channel category, you must be eligible to join the YouTube partner program before making money through ad revenue. Once you check the eligibility box by meeting all the requirements, you can generate revenue from both Watch Page ads and Shorts Feed ads.

What Is the YouTube Partner Program?

The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) is a program provided by YouTube. It allows creators to monetize their YouTube video content (both YouTube Shorts and long-form videos), and access various resources such as Creator Support teams and other monetization features like channel memberships.

Before you begin to worry about how many YouTube views or how many YouTube subscribers, you’ll need to make money, joining this program is the first step.

To join YouTube’s partner program, you need to meet some eligibility criteria including living in a country where YPP is available and having a linked AdSense account. Set your channel monetization preferences and ensure you don’t have any active community guidelines strike. If you don’t have a Google AdSense account, create one at this point.

If you’ve checked all of those boxes, there’s one more thing you need to have before you can join YouTube’s partner program. You need to have either.

• 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the past year or,
• 1,000 YouTube subscribers and 10 million valid YouTube Shorts views in the past 90 days.

It doesn’t matter how many videos you have, if you don’t meet these eligibility requirements, you won’t be able to join the Partner Program and make money from ad revenue and other YouTube partner program monetization features.

Why Is the YPP Important?

Joining YPP is the first step towards getting paid by YouTube. It is free to join and allows you to make money from other revenue streams. Joining YPP will also provide the resources you need to create videos that attract tons of subscribers and build a dedicated fan base faster.

Here’s why it’s important:

• You can make money from YouTube ads. When advertisers pay for ads, YouTube places the ads on your videos and gives you a percentage as a partner.
• Other monetization features are available at your disposal (You can set this up in the YouTube Studio).
• You get exclusive access to YouTube resources and features such as Super Stickers and Super Chat, as well as support to help you grow your channel.
• Joining the Partner Program also means that you retain copyright and distribution rights for each of your original YouTube videos.
• Your videos appear at the top of search results when you join YPP, giving you extra exposure.

How Much Can Your YouTube Channel Earn You?

Several factors affect how much your YouTube channel can fetch. Sometimes, having more subscribers may mean you’ll get more views. So, the number of subscribers on your channel can give you an idea of how much ad revenue you can expect. Important to know is that verified accounts earn more on YouTube.

Your watch time is also very important when determining how much money you can make from your channel. Many video creators report that when people watch their videos for 10 minutes or more, they receive higher ad revenue from Google AdSense, even when their shorter videos get many views. So, uploading videos that are over 10 minutes long can increase your earnings.

Typically, YouTube pays most YouTubers about 55% of the revenue generated from their channels. For example, if an advertiser spends $100 on YouTube ads, you make $55 in advertising revenue.

But we still haven’t answered the question of how much you can make from your channel.

According to the Influencer Marketing Hub, each ad view will give you an average of $0.018, which is $18 for 1000 views. So, in your early days, with 1,000 subscribers, you can make between $10 and $300. Bigger channels with up to 500k subscribers can generate around $1500 to $2500 in advertising revenue. With more watch time, subscribers, and views, your earnings could advance into millions.

How to Earn Money Fast from Your YouTube Videos

Making money on YouTube is not limited to ad revenue alone. For example, Ryan’s World, a very successful YouTube channel, employs other strategies to make millions of dollars from the channel.

Let’s explore some other ways you too can make money from your channel:

Maximize Channel Memberships

Channel membership is a YPP feature where your fans pay a monthly fee to gain access to exclusive perks such as live chats, badges, videos, emojis, and more. Before you can activate channel memberships, you need to meet all the YouTube Partner Program requirements.

YouTube lets you set up different levels of membership with different pricing for each. The best part is that any of your dedicated fans can buy several memberships and gift them to their friends who are also your fans. This way, you’re making money without doing too much.

One more thing; channel membership fees and features differ from YouTube Premium. With YouTube Premium, members watch videos without ads interrupting, and you get paid by YouTube based on how many YouTube premium subscribers watch your video content. But with channel memberships, you get money from your fans who subscribe to your exclusive content.

Sell Your Own Merchandise

Add another revenue stream to your channel by selling your own line of merch via YouTube shopping. Top YouTube stars like Ryan Kaji and Mr. Beast generate millions from selling their own branded products. You can choose to sell anything, from footwear to t-shirts, you just need to have an audience willing to buy.

So, when you make a new video, you can put the link to your online shop in the video description. You can even decide to feature some of the products in your videos. For instance, if you sell branded t-shirts, you can wear them for each video and then encourage your viewers to get them via the link in the description.

Collaborate with a YouTube Influencer

When you collaborate with a YouTube influencer, you make your content and digital products visible to new audiences and gain more subscribers in the process.

To get the desired result from the collaboration, it’s better to work with YouTube influencers in your niche. Liaise together to create one video (or more,) that’s highly engaging for both of your users. This way, you’re not at risk of losing loyal fans.

Create Sponsored Videos

Making money on YouTube can also be as simple as creating sponsored videos. All you’ll have to do is find brands whose target audience fits your fans and then make multiple videos (depending on your agreement with the brand) to promote their products and services.

For every sponsored video you post, it’s important that you disclose that it’s a paid promotion to your viewers to avoid misleading them. However, you should still stay true to your voice and style while maintaining the brand’s policies. Your viewers will appreciate your authenticity, and the brand will benefit from your genuine endorsement.

Try Fan Funding Your Channel

If your videos receive a good number of views and engagement consistently, it’s an indication that you’ve grown a large fan base, and you can put this to use in terms of earning money. As a content creator on the platform, you can appeal to your fans to fund your videos in exchange for incentives like free merch, exclusive content, and more.

Encourage fans to donate to your channel in your videos or while you’re live streaming. Recurring donations from your fans can help you generate revenue that’s enough for an average YouTuber.

Tips to Help Grow Your YouTube Channel

Growing your YouTube channel can be challenging, but very rewarding. If you want to get more subscribers and views, there are some tips and tricks you need to follow to optimize your channel and videos. These include:

Work with a Growth Channel

A dedicated YouTube growth channel like Views4You is vital for channel growth. Views4You will provide you with organic engagement such as real YouTube likes, views, and subscribers to help you boost your channel quickly. With highly affordable packages, you can find something that suits your budget and gain in no time.

Include Video Descriptions in Your Video

The description in your video should be detailed and include relevant keywords as well as any relevant links. Adding specific keywords in your descriptions helps the YouTube algorithm understand and recommend your videos.

Uploading Longer Videos Boosts Your Watch Time

As stated earlier, watch time plays a role in how much you earn on YouTube, hence, pay attention to your video length. So, try to create longer videos that are engaging, entertaining, and informative to keep viewers hooked and increase your watch time.

Share Videos on Other Social Media Channels

Create snippets of new videos on YouTube, share them on other social media platforms, and include a call to action to encourage your followers to subscribe to your YouTube channel.

Use The Most Effective Ad Per Video

YouTube offers different video ad formats, including bumper ads, discovery ads, mid-roll ads, and more. Choose the format that works best for your videos. For example, mid-roll ads are efficient for longer videos including live streams.

FAQs About YouTube Subscribers & YouTube Earnings

Read below to learn how much YouTubers make per YouTube video. We’ve answered other questions about how to earn money on YouTube as well.

How Much Money Do You Make with 1,000 Subscribers on YouTube?

With 1000 subscribers, you can earn about $18 per video in advertising revenue if each subscriber watches all of your videos. Going by this, you’ll need to make more videos to earn a significant amount in a month.

Does YouTube Pay for 500 Subscribers?

No, YouTube does not pay for 500 subscribers. Currently, you need at least 1000 subscribers. However, the company plans to reduce the required number of subscribers to 500 and valid watch time to 3000 hours.

Do You Need 1000 Subscribers to Get Paid on YouTube?

Yes. You need 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watch time in the past year or 10 million public Shorts views in the past 90 days to meet the eligibility criteria for monetizing your channel.