Earn money with YouTube – Creator Academy YouTube

Get your channel ready to earn:

Step 1: Enable your channel for monetisation.

Step 2: Connect your YouTube channel to an AdSense account in order to earn money and get paid for your monetised videos.

Step 3: Take a minute to get to know the kinds of videos that you can monetise and the different ad formats.

• Building an engaged audience first

  On YouTube, you can connect with a community and have an opportunity to make money while doing what you love. Creators around the world have shared their voices on YouTube, and many have turned their passions into earnings.

  Successful creators usually tap into multiple revenue streams to sustain their presence on the platform. Understanding the levers that impact monetisation can help you plan your channel strategy to support your goals.

  If you're relatively new to YouTube, you may want to first consider how to create great content that viewers watch consistently, and try out strategies to grow your community, to maximise your opportunity to make money.

  With a dedicated audience that loves tuning into your channel, you can explore various ways to generate revenue, including from ads and other sources. We'll show you how to get started and where to find out more.

  See it in action

  • 
    Unboxing The Diamond Play Button…
    Unbox Therapy celebrates hitting 10 million subscribers, steadily building an audience after uploading his first video in 2010. A childhood interest in technology has evolved into a popular YouTube channel.

• Joining the YouTube Partner Programme

  The YouTube Partner Programme (YPP) allows creators to monetise eligible content on YouTube. Creators can apply to join the programme in these countries.

  To be reviewed for the YouTube Partner Programme, channels need at least 4,000 watch hours in the previous 12 months and 1,000 subscribers. This requirement allows us to properly evaluate new channels and helps protect the creator community from spammers, impersonators and other bad actors.

  Note: It's important to understand your rights for monetising content on YouTube, including all audio and video. Copyright or Community Guidelines violations can impact your ability to earn money.

  Read these pages:

  • YouTube Terms of Service
  • YouTube Community Guidelines
  • YouTube Partner Programme policies
  • Google AdSense programme policies
  • Copyright

  See it in action

  • 
    Burning Questions: YouTube Partner Programme
    Matt from the Creator Academy addresses questions about changes made to the YouTube Partner Programme in early 2018 to protect the community.

• Ways to earn money from your channel

  There are a number of ways that you can earn money from your channel. If you've been approved for the YouTube Partner Programme (and are in compliance with the YouTube Partner Programme policies), you can explore these monetisation options. Consider which revenue streams may be best for your channel based on your content, audience and preferences.

  Ads

  For many channels, advertising can be a significant part of revenue. Here are some things to consider if you want to maximise potential ad revenue:

  • When you've enabled your channel for monetisation, you can earn more revenue if you monetise all future uploads and turn on all ad formats as your default. Find out how ads show on videos that you monetise.
  • Your videos must comply with our advertiser-friendly content guidelines. In addition, monetisation status is determined by factors such as video metadata (thumbnail, title, tags and description). Learn more.
  • Some advertisers may use targeting tools to define where they want their ads to be shown. This allows them to reach audiences that they want to reach based on demographics, interests or past interactions with videos.
  • Some videos don't violate our policies, but may not be appropriate for all audiences. In some of these cases, our review team may impose an age restriction, and these videos cannot be monetised with ads. Learn more.

  If you upload videos with controversial or sensitive topics, you may want to turn off ads on individual videos, allowing you to opt out of monetisation for any videos that aren't advertiser-friendly while remaining in the YouTube Partner Programme. If your channel as a whole isn't suitable for advertising, because of the nature of your content, you can disable ads and still pursue other monetisation options for which you're eligible.

  Channel Memberships

  With Channel Memberships, viewers pay a monthly recurring fee to get unique badges, new emoji, members-only posts in the Community tab and access to unique custom perks offered by creators. This feature is available to channels in certain locations who meet the requirements. You also may have the option of linking to approved crowdfunding sites from your video cards or end screens. Learn more.

  Merchandise

  You can also earn revenue by selling merchandise that complements your channel. You can link to approved merchandise sites to offer your fans t-shirts, mugs or other items. (Merch needs to comply with YouTube's Community Guidelines.) In addition, there's a new integration with Teespring that enables eligible creators to sell merch from a shelf on their channel. Learn more.

  Super Chat

  Super Chat is a way for fans and creators to interact in live chat. Fans can purchase Super Chats to highlight their messages within chat during a live stream or Premiere. This feature is available to channels in certain locations who meet the requirements. If you've enabled Super Chat, you'll receive this revenue in a similar way to the way that you receive ads revenue with AdSense. Learn more.

  Brand deals

  Working with brands can be another revenue stream and an opportunity to introduce new products and services to your audience. Brands are often eager to do deals with creators because it allows them to reach a desired audience and expand their market. (Review these guidelines on paid product placements and endorsements.) Learn more.

  YouTube Premium

  With YouTube Premium, viewers can enjoy videos on YouTube without ads while still supporting creators. It also lets viewers download videos to watch offline on mobile and play videos in the background. YouTube Premium is available as a paid membership in these locations. Revenue from YouTube Premium membership fees gets distributed to creators based on how much members watch your content.

  Ready to learn more about diversifying your revenue? Take a look at our course on ways to make money beyond ads.

  Note: Revenue streams related to your channel are subject to YouTube terms and policies including YouTube's Community Guidelines. Some monetisation options are not available in all locations, and certain channel features may have specific eligibility requirements.