Being a YouTuber in this day and age is still a very much viable source of income, even to completely rely on (however, we never encourage anyone to rely on one source of income). As a company, YouTube will not fall and as long as your YouTube content has traction, you can earn some serious money. However, it is important to remember that creating content on YouTube is different from running your own website. You are essentially on someone else’s property and thus you have to abide by their rules. And boy YouTube has a ton of these hurdles. In this article, we will go through YouTube monetization requirements.

How to earn money on YouTube

The primary source of revenue on YouTube will be through displaying advertisements before, in, after, and small banners on your YouTube videos. This article will be focused on this, known as YouTube monetization, although there are other ways to make money from YouTube.

Some of the biggest stars on YouTube, such as PewDiePie are estimated to earn around $70,000 per video. This is with an estimated viewership of over 2.5 million views and more on a video. Another popular Minecraft YouTuber Dream is estimated to make around $250,000 per video, with over 25 million views on one video. So, some big paychecks are still plausible with YouTube monetization.

On average, it is estimated that YouTube will earn you around $3 – $5 per thousand views. These rates are pretty standard with what you earn with Google AdSense or even better advertising networks such as Ezoic or AdThrive. However, as usual, these ad rates vary largely on the type of content you put out. Generally, finance, insurance, banking, health, and investing niches tend to earn higher CPM rates even on YouTube.

4 Golden Rules for YouTube Monetization

Joining the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) is the goal of YouTube monetization. This allows content creators to monetize their videos by displaying ads on their videos through Google AdSense. But YouTube has very strict guidelines on what type of content can be monetized.

There are four major check marks your channel needs to cross off to even apply for YouTube monetization.

1. Minimum of 1,000 subscribers,
2. Minimum of 4,000 watch hours on your videos in the last 12 months,
3. Zero strikes on your videos,
4. Be a resident of the countries that allow YouTube Partner Program.

These are pre-requisites to apply for the YouTube Partner Program that allows you to monetize your videos. However, the hurdles are not all over.

…& Hundreds More!

If you thought striking off the above 4 golden rules was enough, you were wrong. YouTube also has a set of guidelines on the content itself.

Copyright material

One of the biggest and most stringent guidelines they put forth is with regard to copyright material. In a nutshell, copyright infringement is explained by YouTube as follows.

“Creators should only upload videos that they have made or that they’re authorized to use. That means they should not upload videos they didn’t make, or use content in their videos that someone else owns the copyright to, such as music tracks, snippets of copyrighted programs, or videos made by other users, without necessary authorizations.”

Copyright laws apply to the videos you obtain from others, music that you use in the videos, photos, sounds, audio clips, and even text. Essentially nothing that belongs to you can be used in a video and earn money from it, unless you have the authorization from respective content owners. However, there is a thing called ‘fair-use policy‘ which allows you to use other’s work without permission. So, educate yourself on what can and cannot be used because YouTube will do this for you by taking down your channel if not adhered to.

Community-friendly material

YouTube is very strict on regulating what content is hosted on their platform for the general public. Below is a summary of the content types that might get you in trouble;

• Content that intends to scam, mislead, spam, or defraud other users isn’t allowed on YouTube
• Content that violates YouTube’s guidelines on keeping children safe, sex & nudity, and self harm
• Content that violates YouTube’s guidelines hate speech, predatory behavior, graphic violence, malicious attacks, and content that promotes harmful or dangerous behavior
• Content that promotes illegal or regulated goods
• Content that spreads misinformation, deceptive material, unregulated information on health, medicine, and even COVID-19.

Check out more details on each of these sections on YouTube’s Community Guidelines page.

Advertiser-friendly material

YouTube is strict on what material is considered advertiser-friendly. These policies can be very subjective depending on different advertisers that Google AdSense onboards. Some of the broad categories of possible violations are as follows;

• Inappropriate language
• Violence
• Adult content
• Shocking content
• Harmful or dangerous acts
• Hateful & derogatory content
• Recreational drugs and drug-related content
• Firearms-related content
• Controversial issues
• Sensitive events
• Incendiary and demeaning
• Tobacco-related content
• Adult themes in family content

Chances are if you are in a good position with the community guidelines above, this section will be an automatic pass. However, it is best to be knowledgeable about each of these areas in detail.

So, there are no easy passes on content on YouTube. The company wants to remain user-friendly for all age groups and diversities, which is noble. This is also good for business as it attracts the largest share of advertisers from all over the world. It’s a win-win for YouTube and might come as a tough spot for content creators.

Let us know if you have any questions or feedback about this article in the comments below.