This is YouTuber Isak Munda, from Odisha's Sambalpur district. Once a daily wage labourer, he took a loan of ₹3,000 to buy a smartphone and started his YouTube channel based around food when work dried up due to the Covid-19 lockdown. Today, he has over 7 lakh subscribers on YouTube, and earns up to ₹5 lakh a month from his YouTube videos.
So, how did he do it? How does one make money from YouTube videos?
Start a YouTube Channel
When starting a YouTube channel, it is important to decide what kind of videos you’ll be making, and what your audience will want to watch. Will you make cooking videos, review films, or do make up tutorials?
There are many different kinds of videos people watch, so make sure you research what you want to do, and then set up your channel. Once your channel is up, you should be consistent with your uploads to make sure people see your videos.
Sign up for the YouTube Partner Program
Once you’ve got over 1,000 subscribers, and people have watched your videos for over 4,000 hours in total, you can sign up for the YouTube Partner Program, and start making money from ads. When people view ads before your videos, you get paid a small amount. If your viewers have YouTube Premium, you will get paid according to the amount of time they spend watching your videos.
Start earning money via ads
You will need to set up a Google AdSense account to start earning money from ads. It is important to note that videos that contain foul language, adult content, violence, and other such subjects will not earn revenue with ads.
Move to a subscription model
Monetising videos with ads is a great way to start earning revenue, but it can be unreliable. A more steady method, is the subscription model so once you’ve built up a sizeable fan following, you can directly ask them to fund you through monthly memberships. You can use websites like Patreon, or even YouTube’s own fan funding method. Subscribers can pay an extra amount to fund you every month, and in return you can provide exclusive content, more fan engagement, or early access to your videos.
Brand sponsorships
Another avenue YouTubers use to earn money is direct brand sponsorships. This is where instead of YouTube providing you with ads, and taking a cut of the payment, a brand can directly pay you for an ad spot in your video. If a YouTube channel has a pre-established subscriber base, this can be a lucrative practice for both brands and creators.
Merchandise sales
Large YouTube channels can further diversify their income through promoted merchandise sales. Fans are often eager to buy clothing, mugs, and novelty items like plush toys from their favourite creators. While complicated to set up and manufacture, merchandise sales can offer a lot more revenue to YouTubers than things like monetised ads.
There are a number of ways one can make money from being a YouTube creator. The important thing is to be consistent with your uploads, and keep creating content/videos that your audience responds and engages with.