Streamlining Audio Integration in YouTube Videos for Professionals

How to Add Music to YouTubeVideo with YouTube Video Editor

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Adding the right music to your YouTube can significantly increase its entertainment value. Professional video maker will not play a music background while shooting the video; they do it during the editing process. You can remove the background noisy during editing and add your own music sound during editing, but you can also upload the video to YouTube first and then choose the right music for your video in YouTube. In this article, we are going to show you how to add or change music to your YouTube videos in YouTube platform after uploading and how to add music to YouTube Video with royalty free music in Audio Library.

You may also like: How to edit YouTube videos >>

---

Before we get started, there is a better way on how to add music to YouTube Video. You may use Wondershare Filmora to better manage your video. It allows you to import any track you want in different format including but not limited to MP3, WAV, FLAC and others. They also have a huge and better collection of royalty-free music. Compared to YouTube Video Editor where you have a pretty limited audio mix manager, the Filmora comes with an audio equalizer. You may also detach the music easily or add multiple tracks on a single video. You can also import the video that you created in different format or upload it directly to YouTube.

Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

---

Part 1: How to Add Music to YouTube Video

We’re going to offer you two ways to add music to YouTube video with YouTube built-in video editing features.

Section 1: Using Video Manager

There are thousands of royalty free songs that you can use in the YouTube video. You can choose from different genres and moods songs with different duration as well. Here is how to add music to YouTube videos in Video Manager tab.

Step 1 Sign in

The first thing you need to do when you want to know how to add music to YouTube Video is to sign into your account on YouTube. Go to the official site of YouTube and click the sign-in option found at the upper right corner of your screen. You will then be asked to enter your Gmail account and your password. After you managed to sign in, you should be able to see your profile picture on the upper right corner of the page. Click your picture, and you will be able to see the Creator Studio Option. Click that button.

Step 2 Choosing the Video

Start Browsing Your Video Channel. You may do this by clicking on the Video Tab on your Profile Page or Clicking the Video Manager option located at the left bar. You will then be redirected to the videos that you uploaded. Choose your video that you want to have background music.

Step 3 Choosing the Music

Click the Edit option that is located next to the video that you want to edit. This will open the online video editing tool of YouTube. Located on top of the page are the different commands that you can execute to edit the video; you may enhance, add audio, put annotation, create cards, add subtitle and add copyright. Click the Audio Option. It will lead you to a library of music that you may add to your video.

Step 4 Finding the Right Music

The next thing to do on how to add music to YouTube Video is to find an appropriate music for your video. You also need to make sure that the length of the track will perfectly match the length of your video. To do this, Click on the drop down menu that says ‘Top Tracks’ and you will see the different genre of music. In case you already have music in your mind, simply type the title of the song on the search bar and hit enter.

Additional Tip: Not satisfied with the track? Try the sound effects by going at YouTube Audio Library . You can create an advance search by customizing the result based on popularity, duration, instrument, mood and genre.

Step 5 Adding the Selected Music

Before you decided to add the music to your video, make sure that it fits the duration of your video. In case you want to know how to add music to YouTube Video, you should do nothing more than to click the ADD TO VIDEO button and it will be automatically integrated into your video.

Step 6 Editing the Music

• After you successfully integrate the music to the video, you will see the title of the music under your video. You also have additional tools that you can use. Let us take a look at the Position audio and the slide bar option a little closer.

• Once You Click the Position Audio Button, you will be able to customize and position your integrated music as well as compress the length of the music. To trim the music, simply put your pointer either at the end or the beginning of the music. When you want to move the audio, you may just drag the music.
• The ‘Only Music’ option located at the left side of the Position Audio can be used to adjust the volume of the music. In case you want to remove the original sound from the video, drag the pointer at the right most.

Step 7 Saving the Changes

When you save the edited video, you can save it as a separate video, or you can overwrite the existing video.

Additional Reminder: You can’t add multiple audio tracks in one video with youtube video editor, if you want to get an advanced audio editing, check this article How to mix audio tracks into one file for video

Section 2: Using Audio Library

Since YouTube has shut down the Video Editor module in 2017, you can now add music in YouTube Video Editor Module. Though there are plentiful video editing software for YouTube videos , you can also download Free Music and Sound Effects in YouTube Audio Library first and then add it to your video clips. Here is how to add music to YouTube video with YouTube Audio Library.

Step 1 Click on Audio Library

This time instead of clicking the Video Manager option, you will have to click on the Create option and choose Audio Library.

Step 2 Download target free music or sound effect

In YouTube Audio Library, you will find some free music sounds and sound effects available. You can search music in the library and filter genre, duration, mood, attribution and instrument properties. Click the download icon to download this royalty free music and sound effect to your computer. And then you can combine the audio and video and make it as a video with music sound. You can download multiple audio files and then add multiple songs to the YouTube video.

Step 3 Add Music to Video and Edit the music track

There are numerous video editors that you can add the downloaded music from YouTube Audio Library to the video. You can check our guide abouthow to edit YouTube videos in Windows Movie Maker orhow to add music to video in iMovie . While, as we described before, Filmora video editor is one of the best video editor for YouTubers. And here is how to add music to YouTube videos with Filmora . You can edit the treble, bass, pan and volume. However, it is impossible for you to position the music in a desired spot. If you want to get more control on your audio tracks, please read this article to know how to add audio effects to your video

Importing the video and audio

Importing media files to Filmora is easy. After launching Filmora, import all the files to the media library first and then drag and drop the target video and audio to the timeline. One of the best things of using Filmora to edit YouTube video is there is a built-in Music Library which including some royalty free music sound and sound effects as well.

Detach the original audio from video [Optional]

If you want to remove the recorded original audio file from video , just right click the video and then select Audio Detach option and the audio will be separated from the video automatically and then delete the audio.

What’s more, you can also use Filmora to remove the background noise and then keep the original audio as well.

Edit the Music

In Filmora, you can change the video and audio speed, add fade in and fade out to the music and change the music sound.

Read More to Get: 10 Best Music Video Makers >>

Watch the video below to check how to empower your imagination with Filmora

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Adding the right music to your YouTube can significantly increase its entertainment value. Professional video maker will not play a music background while shooting the video; they do it during the editing process. You can remove the background noisy during editing and add your own music sound during editing, but you can also upload the video to YouTube first and then choose the right music for your video in YouTube. In this article, we are going to show you how to add or change music to your YouTube videos in YouTube platform after uploading and how to add music to YouTube Video with royalty free music in Audio Library.

You may also like: How to edit YouTube videos >>

---

Before we get started, there is a better way on how to add music to YouTube Video. You may use Wondershare Filmora to better manage your video. It allows you to import any track you want in different format including but not limited to MP3, WAV, FLAC and others. They also have a huge and better collection of royalty-free music. Compared to YouTube Video Editor where you have a pretty limited audio mix manager, the Filmora comes with an audio equalizer. You may also detach the music easily or add multiple tracks on a single video. You can also import the video that you created in different format or upload it directly to YouTube.

Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

---

Part 1: How to Add Music to YouTube Video

We’re going to offer you two ways to add music to YouTube video with YouTube built-in video editing features.

Section 1: Using Video Manager

There are thousands of royalty free songs that you can use in the YouTube video. You can choose from different genres and moods songs with different duration as well. Here is how to add music to YouTube videos in Video Manager tab.

Step 1 Sign in

The first thing you need to do when you want to know how to add music to YouTube Video is to sign into your account on YouTube. Go to the official site of YouTube and click the sign-in option found at the upper right corner of your screen. You will then be asked to enter your Gmail account and your password. After you managed to sign in, you should be able to see your profile picture on the upper right corner of the page. Click your picture, and you will be able to see the Creator Studio Option. Click that button.

Step 2 Choosing the Video

Start Browsing Your Video Channel. You may do this by clicking on the Video Tab on your Profile Page or Clicking the Video Manager option located at the left bar. You will then be redirected to the videos that you uploaded. Choose your video that you want to have background music.

Step 3 Choosing the Music

Click the Edit option that is located next to the video that you want to edit. This will open the online video editing tool of YouTube. Located on top of the page are the different commands that you can execute to edit the video; you may enhance, add audio, put annotation, create cards, add subtitle and add copyright. Click the Audio Option. It will lead you to a library of music that you may add to your video.

Step 4 Finding the Right Music

The next thing to do on how to add music to YouTube Video is to find an appropriate music for your video. You also need to make sure that the length of the track will perfectly match the length of your video. To do this, Click on the drop down menu that says ‘Top Tracks’ and you will see the different genre of music. In case you already have music in your mind, simply type the title of the song on the search bar and hit enter.

Additional Tip: Not satisfied with the track? Try the sound effects by going at YouTube Audio Library . You can create an advance search by customizing the result based on popularity, duration, instrument, mood and genre.

Step 5 Adding the Selected Music

Before you decided to add the music to your video, make sure that it fits the duration of your video. In case you want to know how to add music to YouTube Video, you should do nothing more than to click the ADD TO VIDEO button and it will be automatically integrated into your video.

Step 6 Editing the Music

• After you successfully integrate the music to the video, you will see the title of the music under your video. You also have additional tools that you can use. Let us take a look at the Position audio and the slide bar option a little closer.

• Once You Click the Position Audio Button, you will be able to customize and position your integrated music as well as compress the length of the music. To trim the music, simply put your pointer either at the end or the beginning of the music. When you want to move the audio, you may just drag the music.
• The ‘Only Music’ option located at the left side of the Position Audio can be used to adjust the volume of the music. In case you want to remove the original sound from the video, drag the pointer at the right most.

Step 7 Saving the Changes

When you save the edited video, you can save it as a separate video, or you can overwrite the existing video.

Additional Reminder: You can’t add multiple audio tracks in one video with youtube video editor, if you want to get an advanced audio editing, check this article How to mix audio tracks into one file for video

Section 2: Using Audio Library

Since YouTube has shut down the Video Editor module in 2017, you can now add music in YouTube Video Editor Module. Though there are plentiful video editing software for YouTube videos , you can also download Free Music and Sound Effects in YouTube Audio Library first and then add it to your video clips. Here is how to add music to YouTube video with YouTube Audio Library.

Step 1 Click on Audio Library

This time instead of clicking the Video Manager option, you will have to click on the Create option and choose Audio Library.

Step 2 Download target free music or sound effect

In YouTube Audio Library, you will find some free music sounds and sound effects available. You can search music in the library and filter genre, duration, mood, attribution and instrument properties. Click the download icon to download this royalty free music and sound effect to your computer. And then you can combine the audio and video and make it as a video with music sound. You can download multiple audio files and then add multiple songs to the YouTube video.

Step 3 Add Music to Video and Edit the music track

There are numerous video editors that you can add the downloaded music from YouTube Audio Library to the video. You can check our guide abouthow to edit YouTube videos in Windows Movie Maker orhow to add music to video in iMovie . While, as we described before, Filmora video editor is one of the best video editor for YouTubers. And here is how to add music to YouTube videos with Filmora . You can edit the treble, bass, pan and volume. However, it is impossible for you to position the music in a desired spot. If you want to get more control on your audio tracks, please read this article to know how to add audio effects to your video

Importing the video and audio

Importing media files to Filmora is easy. After launching Filmora, import all the files to the media library first and then drag and drop the target video and audio to the timeline. One of the best things of using Filmora to edit YouTube video is there is a built-in Music Library which including some royalty free music sound and sound effects as well.

Detach the original audio from video [Optional]

If you want to remove the recorded original audio file from video , just right click the video and then select Audio Detach option and the audio will be separated from the video automatically and then delete the audio.

What’s more, you can also use Filmora to remove the background noise and then keep the original audio as well.

Edit the Music

In Filmora, you can change the video and audio speed, add fade in and fade out to the music and change the music sound.

Read More to Get: 10 Best Music Video Makers >>

Watch the video below to check how to empower your imagination with Filmora

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Adding the right music to your YouTube can significantly increase its entertainment value. Professional video maker will not play a music background while shooting the video; they do it during the editing process. You can remove the background noisy during editing and add your own music sound during editing, but you can also upload the video to YouTube first and then choose the right music for your video in YouTube. In this article, we are going to show you how to add or change music to your YouTube videos in YouTube platform after uploading and how to add music to YouTube Video with royalty free music in Audio Library.

You may also like: How to edit YouTube videos >>

---

Before we get started, there is a better way on how to add music to YouTube Video. You may use Wondershare Filmora to better manage your video. It allows you to import any track you want in different format including but not limited to MP3, WAV, FLAC and others. They also have a huge and better collection of royalty-free music. Compared to YouTube Video Editor where you have a pretty limited audio mix manager, the Filmora comes with an audio equalizer. You may also detach the music easily or add multiple tracks on a single video. You can also import the video that you created in different format or upload it directly to YouTube.

Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

---

Part 1: How to Add Music to YouTube Video

We’re going to offer you two ways to add music to YouTube video with YouTube built-in video editing features.

Section 1: Using Video Manager

There are thousands of royalty free songs that you can use in the YouTube video. You can choose from different genres and moods songs with different duration as well. Here is how to add music to YouTube videos in Video Manager tab.

Step 1 Sign in

The first thing you need to do when you want to know how to add music to YouTube Video is to sign into your account on YouTube. Go to the official site of YouTube and click the sign-in option found at the upper right corner of your screen. You will then be asked to enter your Gmail account and your password. After you managed to sign in, you should be able to see your profile picture on the upper right corner of the page. Click your picture, and you will be able to see the Creator Studio Option. Click that button.

Step 2 Choosing the Video

Start Browsing Your Video Channel. You may do this by clicking on the Video Tab on your Profile Page or Clicking the Video Manager option located at the left bar. You will then be redirected to the videos that you uploaded. Choose your video that you want to have background music.

Step 3 Choosing the Music

Click the Edit option that is located next to the video that you want to edit. This will open the online video editing tool of YouTube. Located on top of the page are the different commands that you can execute to edit the video; you may enhance, add audio, put annotation, create cards, add subtitle and add copyright. Click the Audio Option. It will lead you to a library of music that you may add to your video.

Step 4 Finding the Right Music

The next thing to do on how to add music to YouTube Video is to find an appropriate music for your video. You also need to make sure that the length of the track will perfectly match the length of your video. To do this, Click on the drop down menu that says ‘Top Tracks’ and you will see the different genre of music. In case you already have music in your mind, simply type the title of the song on the search bar and hit enter.

Additional Tip: Not satisfied with the track? Try the sound effects by going at YouTube Audio Library . You can create an advance search by customizing the result based on popularity, duration, instrument, mood and genre.

Step 5 Adding the Selected Music

Before you decided to add the music to your video, make sure that it fits the duration of your video. In case you want to know how to add music to YouTube Video, you should do nothing more than to click the ADD TO VIDEO button and it will be automatically integrated into your video.

Step 6 Editing the Music

• After you successfully integrate the music to the video, you will see the title of the music under your video. You also have additional tools that you can use. Let us take a look at the Position audio and the slide bar option a little closer.

• Once You Click the Position Audio Button, you will be able to customize and position your integrated music as well as compress the length of the music. To trim the music, simply put your pointer either at the end or the beginning of the music. When you want to move the audio, you may just drag the music.
• The ‘Only Music’ option located at the left side of the Position Audio can be used to adjust the volume of the music. In case you want to remove the original sound from the video, drag the pointer at the right most.

Step 7 Saving the Changes

When you save the edited video, you can save it as a separate video, or you can overwrite the existing video.

Additional Reminder: You can’t add multiple audio tracks in one video with youtube video editor, if you want to get an advanced audio editing, check this article How to mix audio tracks into one file for video

Section 2: Using Audio Library

Since YouTube has shut down the Video Editor module in 2017, you can now add music in YouTube Video Editor Module. Though there are plentiful video editing software for YouTube videos , you can also download Free Music and Sound Effects in YouTube Audio Library first and then add it to your video clips. Here is how to add music to YouTube video with YouTube Audio Library.

Step 1 Click on Audio Library

This time instead of clicking the Video Manager option, you will have to click on the Create option and choose Audio Library.

Step 2 Download target free music or sound effect

In YouTube Audio Library, you will find some free music sounds and sound effects available. You can search music in the library and filter genre, duration, mood, attribution and instrument properties. Click the download icon to download this royalty free music and sound effect to your computer. And then you can combine the audio and video and make it as a video with music sound. You can download multiple audio files and then add multiple songs to the YouTube video.

Step 3 Add Music to Video and Edit the music track

There are numerous video editors that you can add the downloaded music from YouTube Audio Library to the video. You can check our guide abouthow to edit YouTube videos in Windows Movie Maker orhow to add music to video in iMovie . While, as we described before, Filmora video editor is one of the best video editor for YouTubers. And here is how to add music to YouTube videos with Filmora . You can edit the treble, bass, pan and volume. However, it is impossible for you to position the music in a desired spot. If you want to get more control on your audio tracks, please read this article to know how to add audio effects to your video

Importing the video and audio

Importing media files to Filmora is easy. After launching Filmora, import all the files to the media library first and then drag and drop the target video and audio to the timeline. One of the best things of using Filmora to edit YouTube video is there is a built-in Music Library which including some royalty free music sound and sound effects as well.

Detach the original audio from video [Optional]

If you want to remove the recorded original audio file from video , just right click the video and then select Audio Detach option and the audio will be separated from the video automatically and then delete the audio.

What’s more, you can also use Filmora to remove the background noise and then keep the original audio as well.

Edit the Music

In Filmora, you can change the video and audio speed, add fade in and fade out to the music and change the music sound.

Read More to Get: 10 Best Music Video Makers >>

Watch the video below to check how to empower your imagination with Filmora

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Adding the right music to your YouTube can significantly increase its entertainment value. Professional video maker will not play a music background while shooting the video; they do it during the editing process. You can remove the background noisy during editing and add your own music sound during editing, but you can also upload the video to YouTube first and then choose the right music for your video in YouTube. In this article, we are going to show you how to add or change music to your YouTube videos in YouTube platform after uploading and how to add music to YouTube Video with royalty free music in Audio Library.

You may also like: How to edit YouTube videos >>

---

Before we get started, there is a better way on how to add music to YouTube Video. You may use Wondershare Filmora to better manage your video. It allows you to import any track you want in different format including but not limited to MP3, WAV, FLAC and others. They also have a huge and better collection of royalty-free music. Compared to YouTube Video Editor where you have a pretty limited audio mix manager, the Filmora comes with an audio equalizer. You may also detach the music easily or add multiple tracks on a single video. You can also import the video that you created in different format or upload it directly to YouTube.

Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

---

Part 1: How to Add Music to YouTube Video

We’re going to offer you two ways to add music to YouTube video with YouTube built-in video editing features.

Section 1: Using Video Manager

There are thousands of royalty free songs that you can use in the YouTube video. You can choose from different genres and moods songs with different duration as well. Here is how to add music to YouTube videos in Video Manager tab.

Step 1 Sign in

The first thing you need to do when you want to know how to add music to YouTube Video is to sign into your account on YouTube. Go to the official site of YouTube and click the sign-in option found at the upper right corner of your screen. You will then be asked to enter your Gmail account and your password. After you managed to sign in, you should be able to see your profile picture on the upper right corner of the page. Click your picture, and you will be able to see the Creator Studio Option. Click that button.

Step 2 Choosing the Video

Start Browsing Your Video Channel. You may do this by clicking on the Video Tab on your Profile Page or Clicking the Video Manager option located at the left bar. You will then be redirected to the videos that you uploaded. Choose your video that you want to have background music.

Step 3 Choosing the Music

Click the Edit option that is located next to the video that you want to edit. This will open the online video editing tool of YouTube. Located on top of the page are the different commands that you can execute to edit the video; you may enhance, add audio, put annotation, create cards, add subtitle and add copyright. Click the Audio Option. It will lead you to a library of music that you may add to your video.

Step 4 Finding the Right Music

The next thing to do on how to add music to YouTube Video is to find an appropriate music for your video. You also need to make sure that the length of the track will perfectly match the length of your video. To do this, Click on the drop down menu that says ‘Top Tracks’ and you will see the different genre of music. In case you already have music in your mind, simply type the title of the song on the search bar and hit enter.

Additional Tip: Not satisfied with the track? Try the sound effects by going at YouTube Audio Library . You can create an advance search by customizing the result based on popularity, duration, instrument, mood and genre.

Step 5 Adding the Selected Music

Before you decided to add the music to your video, make sure that it fits the duration of your video. In case you want to know how to add music to YouTube Video, you should do nothing more than to click the ADD TO VIDEO button and it will be automatically integrated into your video.

Step 6 Editing the Music

• After you successfully integrate the music to the video, you will see the title of the music under your video. You also have additional tools that you can use. Let us take a look at the Position audio and the slide bar option a little closer.

• Once You Click the Position Audio Button, you will be able to customize and position your integrated music as well as compress the length of the music. To trim the music, simply put your pointer either at the end or the beginning of the music. When you want to move the audio, you may just drag the music.
• The ‘Only Music’ option located at the left side of the Position Audio can be used to adjust the volume of the music. In case you want to remove the original sound from the video, drag the pointer at the right most.

Step 7 Saving the Changes

When you save the edited video, you can save it as a separate video, or you can overwrite the existing video.

Additional Reminder: You can’t add multiple audio tracks in one video with youtube video editor, if you want to get an advanced audio editing, check this article How to mix audio tracks into one file for video

Section 2: Using Audio Library

Since YouTube has shut down the Video Editor module in 2017, you can now add music in YouTube Video Editor Module. Though there are plentiful video editing software for YouTube videos , you can also download Free Music and Sound Effects in YouTube Audio Library first and then add it to your video clips. Here is how to add music to YouTube video with YouTube Audio Library.

Step 1 Click on Audio Library

This time instead of clicking the Video Manager option, you will have to click on the Create option and choose Audio Library.

Step 2 Download target free music or sound effect

In YouTube Audio Library, you will find some free music sounds and sound effects available. You can search music in the library and filter genre, duration, mood, attribution and instrument properties. Click the download icon to download this royalty free music and sound effect to your computer. And then you can combine the audio and video and make it as a video with music sound. You can download multiple audio files and then add multiple songs to the YouTube video.

Step 3 Add Music to Video and Edit the music track

There are numerous video editors that you can add the downloaded music from YouTube Audio Library to the video. You can check our guide abouthow to edit YouTube videos in Windows Movie Maker orhow to add music to video in iMovie . While, as we described before, Filmora video editor is one of the best video editor for YouTubers. And here is how to add music to YouTube videos with Filmora . You can edit the treble, bass, pan and volume. However, it is impossible for you to position the music in a desired spot. If you want to get more control on your audio tracks, please read this article to know how to add audio effects to your video

Importing the video and audio

Importing media files to Filmora is easy. After launching Filmora, import all the files to the media library first and then drag and drop the target video and audio to the timeline. One of the best things of using Filmora to edit YouTube video is there is a built-in Music Library which including some royalty free music sound and sound effects as well.

Detach the original audio from video [Optional]

If you want to remove the recorded original audio file from video , just right click the video and then select Audio Detach option and the audio will be separated from the video automatically and then delete the audio.

What’s more, you can also use Filmora to remove the background noise and then keep the original audio as well.

Edit the Music

In Filmora, you can change the video and audio speed, add fade in and fade out to the music and change the music sound.

Read More to Get: 10 Best Music Video Makers >>

Watch the video below to check how to empower your imagination with Filmora

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Wealth Wave on Your Screen: Monetizing as a Streamer

How To Make Money on YouTube

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Not many YouTubers begin making videos with the aim to get rich. For most, it’s a way to scratch a creative itch, to enjoy being in front of an audience and as an outlet for their talents and opinions. However, the potential to make money on YouTube is huge, and eventually any busy channel is going to start asking itself, how do YouTubers make money?

This subject is less about ‘if’ you can make money and more about how to make money on YouTube. It’s been proven time and again that the potential is there, with popular stars like Lily Singh and Roman Atwood generating around $8 million a year. And, of course, everyone’s heard of PewDiePie and his whopping $15 million income.

You don’t need to have a following of millions to earn money on YouTube though; even small channels have a variety of methods available to them to start making their hard work pay. If you’d like to learn how to make money on YouTube, we’re going to look at eight ways of generating an income via your videos. Let’s get started.

How to make money on YouTube

• Make money on YouTube with ads
• Make money on YouTube without ads

We’ve discovered that making money on YouTube can be split into two main categories; making money through advertising or making money without ads involved. We’ve split our article into these two categories to make it easier for you to see what your options are.

Make money on YouTube with ads

By far the easiest way to start earning money on YouTube is to monetize your channel using ads. Until relatively recently, anyone could enable monetization on their YouTube channel and start earning for every watch of their video. But that all changed in January this year, when Google announced they would be raising the standards required to have ads shown on your channel.

Now, you need to be part of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), which means you need to have met certain minimum criteria before you can start benefitting from ads. These include:

• Having 4,000 or more watch hours
• Securing 1,000 or more subscribers in the last 12 months

This means that, before you can even consider being a part of the YPP, you’ll need to knuckle down and grow your subscribers. There’s lots of helpful tips out there on increasing subscriber numbers, but it all boils down to creating excellent content. As they say, ‘if you build it, they will come’, so work on creating new and exciting content for your channel to get where you need to be.

Should you join YouTube partner or not?

Meeting the minimum requirements of the YPP is crucial to starting to host ads, but even when you’ve hit the 1k subscribers and 4k hours viewed, should you be monetizing your channel right away? Put it this way; in order to make any money from ads, you’re going to need a lot of views and loyal subscribers, which means your focus needs to be firmly on creating content rather than complying with advertising rules.

Sometimes it’s actually better to hold off for a while when you’re early on in your YouTube journey. This will mean that, rather than being distracted by the question of how to earn money from YouTube, your energy is targeted at what matters most, which is building up a library of awesome videos instead.

How to Join the YouTube Partner Platform?

1. Go to your Account Settings and, under Channel, select Status and features.

2. Click on Enable next to Monetization.

3. In the next screen, click the blue Enable my Account button.

4. The YouTube Partner Program Terms will pop up. Compared to a lot of the “Terms” you are asked to read and agree to when signing up for things online the Partner Terms are fairly short and readable.

5. After reading the terms there are three boxes you will need to check to proceed. The first is to confirm that you read the Terms. The second box is a promise not to click on the ads in your own videos to try to create profits artificially.

The third box requires you to promise not monetize content that you do not own. The most extreme version of this would be stealing somebody else’s video and trying to monetize it on your channel. However, using a song or sound effect in your video you do not have the rights to also counts. There are a lot of places you can get free music to use in your monetized videos, and YouTube’s own Audio Library is one of them.

6. After you have checked all the boxes and moved on you will see a pop up explaining how to monetize your individual videos.

Your channel is now monetized, but you will not be able to earn money until you have linked your channel to your AdSense account.

7. There will be a reminder to link your channel and your AdSense account in the next screen. Click on the Link my account button. Or, go to Google.com/adsense and click Sign Up Now. Either method will take you to the Welcome to AdSense page.

8. Click Sign In to sign in to your Google account, which is the same as your YouTube account.

9. After you have signed in it will show you your channel url next to My website and give you a chance to change your language. Click Continue.

10. The last step is to fill out all your contact information before you submit your application. Your approval should come within two days.

11. Go to your Video Manager and check the boxes next to all the videos you want to enable ads for.

12. Click on Actions and then select Monetize.

13. In the window that pops up you will be given a chance to choose what kinds of ads you want to allow in your videos. You must also specify here if you have included paid product placement in your video.

14. Wait for the review process to finish and ads to start appearing in your videos. If you are using any licensed, royalty free, content (like a music track) then YouTube may ask you to prove you have the rights to it.

How much you can get from Ads

The ad revenue generated on YouTube is split between Google and you. You’ll get 55 per cent and Google / YouTube will take the remaining 45 per cent. This means that, if an advertiser spends $200 on your channel, you could be earning $110 directly. You’ll earn both for ‘impressions’, which is the number of views the ad received, and ‘click throughs’, which is when someone clicks on the ad for more information.

Be aware that, in order to get paid, your audience will need to have viewed at least 30 seconds of the ad, or to have clicked through to the advertiser. As a rule, around 15 per cent of viewers will convert into ad revenue, so you can start to calculate just how much your video could be worth.

To give you an example, if you enjoy daily video views in the region of 3,000 views per day and achieve click through / view rates of the average 15 per cent, you’d be earning $0.85 - $1.40 per day or $25 - $43 a month for that one video. If you could increase your views to 5,000 per day, your monthly earnings would rise to $41 - $70 per month.

When working out how to make money on YouTube, keep in mind that every single video has the potential to earn you money. Although one video might only make a dollar a day, imagine when you’ve got 10 videos performing to the same standard, or 100. As you build up your library of content, you have the potential to earn exponentially more as time goes on.

Want to know how much you can get from Ads? Check this YouTube Money Calculator

How to optimize your video to attract advertisers

There is, understandably, a good deal of competition for hosting advertisements on YouTube. In order to get more and better brands advertising in your space, you’ll need to make sure you’ve done all that you can to make your channel attractive to them.

1. Target a specific demographic

Your advertisers want to place their products in front of a very specific audience, so the more embedded in your niche your videos are, the more likely you are to attract investment. If you try to be all things to all people, advertisers are going to see that you’re a risky prospect and will move on to a channel that’s more targeted.

To check demographics, YouTube has everything already there for you. In the YouTube Studio, you’ll find the exact demographics of your audience profile, including age, country of origin and gender. You can see how appealing your videos are to the people you are targeting by checking the spread of representation here.

1. Pay attention to your video metadata

YouTube metadata is an often-overlooked element of content that is actually incredibly important, both for advertising revenue and for views in general. What we mean when we talk about metadata is your tags, title and description of your video, all of which should make use of high traffic keywords that you’ve researched as being relevant.

YouTube’s own keyword suggestion tool can be a great place to start finding those golden keywords that will get you noticed. Advertisers often use your metadata to locate videos that their customers are watching, so SEO is crucial here. Not only that, but when viewers are looking for new videos to watch, the SEO of your metadata will define where in the search results you fall, so putting some time and energy into this can get you more views too.

1. Avoid dodgy video content

There are some types of content which are just not a good idea for YouTube. In fact, the platform could exclude you from advertising altogether if your content is found to contain any of the following:

• Sexually suggestive content: This includes making jokes based around sexual topics, as well as partial nudity of anyone in the video.
• Violence: This ranges from topics of extremism to videos of people sustaining serious injuries, as well as threats and suggestions of violence.
• Inappropriate language: Even the most popular YouTubers have started bleeping out their profanities, so avoid vulgar language or anything that could be construed as being threatening.
• Drugs: Promotion of the use, sale or abuse of drugs and other controlled substances is forbidden.
• Sensitive subjects: This includes references to wars, race crimes, natural disasters, political conflicts, even if you don’t show images of the situation itself.

When you’re considering how do YouTubers make money, you should recognize that those who make the most money avoid creating content that breaches any of these rules. YouTube does notify you if it feels your video is in breach of ‘advertiser friendly’ policies, and you’ll have the chance to contest the ban, but if you steer clear of dodgy content in the first place you shouldn’t run into any issues.

Make money on YouTube without ads

Of course, life is not all about ads, and with YouTube continuing to tighten its criteria around advertising it can be a good idea not to have all your eggs in one basket. Add to this the huge viewership you’re going to need in order to make serious money, it’s worth investigating other methods of making money on YouTube. Here are some of the best ideas.

1. Work with brands

Influencer marketing is big business right now, and brands all over the world are investing in individuals who have secured the loyalty and trust of their target demographic. Sponsored videos might feature product placement, promoting a product from your sponsor, or you may be asked to produce a particular piece of content to support their campaign. Check out influencer marketplaces like Famebit, Grapevine Logic and Crowdtap to see what’s available to you. If you want to make work with brands, you can check out InflueNex , a powerful influencer marketing platform, which will help you to build good relationship with brands.

1. Selling products or merchandise

Selling ‘merch’ is a great way to discover how to earn money from YouTube. T-shirts, tote bags, mugs, hats…whatever fits with you and your brand can become an amazing source of revenue for your business. Not only does this increase your exposure as a brand by putting it out there into the non-YouTube world, it also gives your fans a way to literally buy into what you’re doing.

1. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing doesn’t have to be hard work or complicated. Registering with big sales platforms such as Amazon is often as simple as filling out a couple of forms. Once registered, you can use your own special links to hook your viewers up with a product that you would recommend, and you’ll get a proportion of the final sale value. It’s not only Amazon who offer affiliate programs; most major brands will offer some kind of sales commission, so if you’re in a niche that calls for specialist products to promote, do contact brands directly to find out what they can offer.

1. Crowdfund

If you’ve got an amazingly creative idea but lack of funds is stopping you from putting it into action, crowdfunding could be the way to go. Crowdfunded projects can use the money they make to buy better production equipment, hire people to work on the project, pay for props, anything really. A good way to get started with crowdfunding a particular idea is to create a ‘trailer’ or sneak peek that gives people a better idea of what you want to do. Make sure it gets them so excited that they can’t help but donate to your cause!

1. Renting out your video

You have the ability to rent out individual videos for cold, hard cash, just like a pay per view service. The options for this are in the Creator Studio, where you can set the amount you want to rent it out for as well as creating an enticing trailer to encourage people to buy. Choose to either sell your video permanently, letting the person view it whenever they like, or rent for a limited time, usually 24 to 72 hours.

1. License your content to the media

If you’re lucky enough to make a video that goes viral, you can make serious bucks by licensing it to the wider media. From online news sites to TV shows, there are loads of other content creators out there willing to pay good money to use your amazing clip, and may will reach out to you directly with offers. You can also proactively offer your content for sale via sites like Juken Media, where others can find it and purchase it directly.

Now you know how to earn money from YouTube, what are you going to try? Let us know how you get on and which ways make money for you!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Not many YouTubers begin making videos with the aim to get rich. For most, it’s a way to scratch a creative itch, to enjoy being in front of an audience and as an outlet for their talents and opinions. However, the potential to make money on YouTube is huge, and eventually any busy channel is going to start asking itself, how do YouTubers make money?

This subject is less about ‘if’ you can make money and more about how to make money on YouTube. It’s been proven time and again that the potential is there, with popular stars like Lily Singh and Roman Atwood generating around $8 million a year. And, of course, everyone’s heard of PewDiePie and his whopping $15 million income.

You don’t need to have a following of millions to earn money on YouTube though; even small channels have a variety of methods available to them to start making their hard work pay. If you’d like to learn how to make money on YouTube, we’re going to look at eight ways of generating an income via your videos. Let’s get started.

How to make money on YouTube

• Make money on YouTube with ads
• Make money on YouTube without ads

We’ve discovered that making money on YouTube can be split into two main categories; making money through advertising or making money without ads involved. We’ve split our article into these two categories to make it easier for you to see what your options are.

Make money on YouTube with ads

By far the easiest way to start earning money on YouTube is to monetize your channel using ads. Until relatively recently, anyone could enable monetization on their YouTube channel and start earning for every watch of their video. But that all changed in January this year, when Google announced they would be raising the standards required to have ads shown on your channel.

Now, you need to be part of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), which means you need to have met certain minimum criteria before you can start benefitting from ads. These include:

• Having 4,000 or more watch hours
• Securing 1,000 or more subscribers in the last 12 months

This means that, before you can even consider being a part of the YPP, you’ll need to knuckle down and grow your subscribers. There’s lots of helpful tips out there on increasing subscriber numbers, but it all boils down to creating excellent content. As they say, ‘if you build it, they will come’, so work on creating new and exciting content for your channel to get where you need to be.

Should you join YouTube partner or not?

Meeting the minimum requirements of the YPP is crucial to starting to host ads, but even when you’ve hit the 1k subscribers and 4k hours viewed, should you be monetizing your channel right away? Put it this way; in order to make any money from ads, you’re going to need a lot of views and loyal subscribers, which means your focus needs to be firmly on creating content rather than complying with advertising rules.

Sometimes it’s actually better to hold off for a while when you’re early on in your YouTube journey. This will mean that, rather than being distracted by the question of how to earn money from YouTube, your energy is targeted at what matters most, which is building up a library of awesome videos instead.

How to Join the YouTube Partner Platform?

1. Go to your Account Settings and, under Channel, select Status and features.

2. Click on Enable next to Monetization.

3. In the next screen, click the blue Enable my Account button.

4. The YouTube Partner Program Terms will pop up. Compared to a lot of the “Terms” you are asked to read and agree to when signing up for things online the Partner Terms are fairly short and readable.

5. After reading the terms there are three boxes you will need to check to proceed. The first is to confirm that you read the Terms. The second box is a promise not to click on the ads in your own videos to try to create profits artificially.

The third box requires you to promise not monetize content that you do not own. The most extreme version of this would be stealing somebody else’s video and trying to monetize it on your channel. However, using a song or sound effect in your video you do not have the rights to also counts. There are a lot of places you can get free music to use in your monetized videos, and YouTube’s own Audio Library is one of them.

6. After you have checked all the boxes and moved on you will see a pop up explaining how to monetize your individual videos.

Your channel is now monetized, but you will not be able to earn money until you have linked your channel to your AdSense account.

7. There will be a reminder to link your channel and your AdSense account in the next screen. Click on the Link my account button. Or, go to Google.com/adsense and click Sign Up Now. Either method will take you to the Welcome to AdSense page.

8. Click Sign In to sign in to your Google account, which is the same as your YouTube account.

9. After you have signed in it will show you your channel url next to My website and give you a chance to change your language. Click Continue.

10. The last step is to fill out all your contact information before you submit your application. Your approval should come within two days.

11. Go to your Video Manager and check the boxes next to all the videos you want to enable ads for.

12. Click on Actions and then select Monetize.

13. In the window that pops up you will be given a chance to choose what kinds of ads you want to allow in your videos. You must also specify here if you have included paid product placement in your video.

14. Wait for the review process to finish and ads to start appearing in your videos. If you are using any licensed, royalty free, content (like a music track) then YouTube may ask you to prove you have the rights to it.

How much you can get from Ads

The ad revenue generated on YouTube is split between Google and you. You’ll get 55 per cent and Google / YouTube will take the remaining 45 per cent. This means that, if an advertiser spends $200 on your channel, you could be earning $110 directly. You’ll earn both for ‘impressions’, which is the number of views the ad received, and ‘click throughs’, which is when someone clicks on the ad for more information.

Be aware that, in order to get paid, your audience will need to have viewed at least 30 seconds of the ad, or to have clicked through to the advertiser. As a rule, around 15 per cent of viewers will convert into ad revenue, so you can start to calculate just how much your video could be worth.

To give you an example, if you enjoy daily video views in the region of 3,000 views per day and achieve click through / view rates of the average 15 per cent, you’d be earning $0.85 - $1.40 per day or $25 - $43 a month for that one video. If you could increase your views to 5,000 per day, your monthly earnings would rise to $41 - $70 per month.

When working out how to make money on YouTube, keep in mind that every single video has the potential to earn you money. Although one video might only make a dollar a day, imagine when you’ve got 10 videos performing to the same standard, or 100. As you build up your library of content, you have the potential to earn exponentially more as time goes on.

Want to know how much you can get from Ads? Check this YouTube Money Calculator

How to optimize your video to attract advertisers

There is, understandably, a good deal of competition for hosting advertisements on YouTube. In order to get more and better brands advertising in your space, you’ll need to make sure you’ve done all that you can to make your channel attractive to them.

1. Target a specific demographic

Your advertisers want to place their products in front of a very specific audience, so the more embedded in your niche your videos are, the more likely you are to attract investment. If you try to be all things to all people, advertisers are going to see that you’re a risky prospect and will move on to a channel that’s more targeted.

To check demographics, YouTube has everything already there for you. In the YouTube Studio, you’ll find the exact demographics of your audience profile, including age, country of origin and gender. You can see how appealing your videos are to the people you are targeting by checking the spread of representation here.

1. Pay attention to your video metadata

YouTube metadata is an often-overlooked element of content that is actually incredibly important, both for advertising revenue and for views in general. What we mean when we talk about metadata is your tags, title and description of your video, all of which should make use of high traffic keywords that you’ve researched as being relevant.

YouTube’s own keyword suggestion tool can be a great place to start finding those golden keywords that will get you noticed. Advertisers often use your metadata to locate videos that their customers are watching, so SEO is crucial here. Not only that, but when viewers are looking for new videos to watch, the SEO of your metadata will define where in the search results you fall, so putting some time and energy into this can get you more views too.

1. Avoid dodgy video content

There are some types of content which are just not a good idea for YouTube. In fact, the platform could exclude you from advertising altogether if your content is found to contain any of the following:

• Sexually suggestive content: This includes making jokes based around sexual topics, as well as partial nudity of anyone in the video.
• Violence: This ranges from topics of extremism to videos of people sustaining serious injuries, as well as threats and suggestions of violence.
• Inappropriate language: Even the most popular YouTubers have started bleeping out their profanities, so avoid vulgar language or anything that could be construed as being threatening.
• Drugs: Promotion of the use, sale or abuse of drugs and other controlled substances is forbidden.
• Sensitive subjects: This includes references to wars, race crimes, natural disasters, political conflicts, even if you don’t show images of the situation itself.

When you’re considering how do YouTubers make money, you should recognize that those who make the most money avoid creating content that breaches any of these rules. YouTube does notify you if it feels your video is in breach of ‘advertiser friendly’ policies, and you’ll have the chance to contest the ban, but if you steer clear of dodgy content in the first place you shouldn’t run into any issues.

Make money on YouTube without ads

Of course, life is not all about ads, and with YouTube continuing to tighten its criteria around advertising it can be a good idea not to have all your eggs in one basket. Add to this the huge viewership you’re going to need in order to make serious money, it’s worth investigating other methods of making money on YouTube. Here are some of the best ideas.

1. Work with brands

Influencer marketing is big business right now, and brands all over the world are investing in individuals who have secured the loyalty and trust of their target demographic. Sponsored videos might feature product placement, promoting a product from your sponsor, or you may be asked to produce a particular piece of content to support their campaign. Check out influencer marketplaces like Famebit, Grapevine Logic and Crowdtap to see what’s available to you. If you want to make work with brands, you can check out InflueNex , a powerful influencer marketing platform, which will help you to build good relationship with brands.

1. Selling products or merchandise

Selling ‘merch’ is a great way to discover how to earn money from YouTube. T-shirts, tote bags, mugs, hats…whatever fits with you and your brand can become an amazing source of revenue for your business. Not only does this increase your exposure as a brand by putting it out there into the non-YouTube world, it also gives your fans a way to literally buy into what you’re doing.

1. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing doesn’t have to be hard work or complicated. Registering with big sales platforms such as Amazon is often as simple as filling out a couple of forms. Once registered, you can use your own special links to hook your viewers up with a product that you would recommend, and you’ll get a proportion of the final sale value. It’s not only Amazon who offer affiliate programs; most major brands will offer some kind of sales commission, so if you’re in a niche that calls for specialist products to promote, do contact brands directly to find out what they can offer.

1. Crowdfund

If you’ve got an amazingly creative idea but lack of funds is stopping you from putting it into action, crowdfunding could be the way to go. Crowdfunded projects can use the money they make to buy better production equipment, hire people to work on the project, pay for props, anything really. A good way to get started with crowdfunding a particular idea is to create a ‘trailer’ or sneak peek that gives people a better idea of what you want to do. Make sure it gets them so excited that they can’t help but donate to your cause!

1. Renting out your video

You have the ability to rent out individual videos for cold, hard cash, just like a pay per view service. The options for this are in the Creator Studio, where you can set the amount you want to rent it out for as well as creating an enticing trailer to encourage people to buy. Choose to either sell your video permanently, letting the person view it whenever they like, or rent for a limited time, usually 24 to 72 hours.

1. License your content to the media

If you’re lucky enough to make a video that goes viral, you can make serious bucks by licensing it to the wider media. From online news sites to TV shows, there are loads of other content creators out there willing to pay good money to use your amazing clip, and may will reach out to you directly with offers. You can also proactively offer your content for sale via sites like Juken Media, where others can find it and purchase it directly.

Now you know how to earn money from YouTube, what are you going to try? Let us know how you get on and which ways make money for you!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Not many YouTubers begin making videos with the aim to get rich. For most, it’s a way to scratch a creative itch, to enjoy being in front of an audience and as an outlet for their talents and opinions. However, the potential to make money on YouTube is huge, and eventually any busy channel is going to start asking itself, how do YouTubers make money?

This subject is less about ‘if’ you can make money and more about how to make money on YouTube. It’s been proven time and again that the potential is there, with popular stars like Lily Singh and Roman Atwood generating around $8 million a year. And, of course, everyone’s heard of PewDiePie and his whopping $15 million income.

You don’t need to have a following of millions to earn money on YouTube though; even small channels have a variety of methods available to them to start making their hard work pay. If you’d like to learn how to make money on YouTube, we’re going to look at eight ways of generating an income via your videos. Let’s get started.

How to make money on YouTube

• Make money on YouTube with ads
• Make money on YouTube without ads

We’ve discovered that making money on YouTube can be split into two main categories; making money through advertising or making money without ads involved. We’ve split our article into these two categories to make it easier for you to see what your options are.

Make money on YouTube with ads

By far the easiest way to start earning money on YouTube is to monetize your channel using ads. Until relatively recently, anyone could enable monetization on their YouTube channel and start earning for every watch of their video. But that all changed in January this year, when Google announced they would be raising the standards required to have ads shown on your channel.

Now, you need to be part of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), which means you need to have met certain minimum criteria before you can start benefitting from ads. These include:

• Having 4,000 or more watch hours
• Securing 1,000 or more subscribers in the last 12 months

This means that, before you can even consider being a part of the YPP, you’ll need to knuckle down and grow your subscribers. There’s lots of helpful tips out there on increasing subscriber numbers, but it all boils down to creating excellent content. As they say, ‘if you build it, they will come’, so work on creating new and exciting content for your channel to get where you need to be.

Should you join YouTube partner or not?

Meeting the minimum requirements of the YPP is crucial to starting to host ads, but even when you’ve hit the 1k subscribers and 4k hours viewed, should you be monetizing your channel right away? Put it this way; in order to make any money from ads, you’re going to need a lot of views and loyal subscribers, which means your focus needs to be firmly on creating content rather than complying with advertising rules.

Sometimes it’s actually better to hold off for a while when you’re early on in your YouTube journey. This will mean that, rather than being distracted by the question of how to earn money from YouTube, your energy is targeted at what matters most, which is building up a library of awesome videos instead.

How to Join the YouTube Partner Platform?

1. Go to your Account Settings and, under Channel, select Status and features.

2. Click on Enable next to Monetization.

3. In the next screen, click the blue Enable my Account button.

4. The YouTube Partner Program Terms will pop up. Compared to a lot of the “Terms” you are asked to read and agree to when signing up for things online the Partner Terms are fairly short and readable.

5. After reading the terms there are three boxes you will need to check to proceed. The first is to confirm that you read the Terms. The second box is a promise not to click on the ads in your own videos to try to create profits artificially.

The third box requires you to promise not monetize content that you do not own. The most extreme version of this would be stealing somebody else’s video and trying to monetize it on your channel. However, using a song or sound effect in your video you do not have the rights to also counts. There are a lot of places you can get free music to use in your monetized videos, and YouTube’s own Audio Library is one of them.

6. After you have checked all the boxes and moved on you will see a pop up explaining how to monetize your individual videos.

Your channel is now monetized, but you will not be able to earn money until you have linked your channel to your AdSense account.

7. There will be a reminder to link your channel and your AdSense account in the next screen. Click on the Link my account button. Or, go to Google.com/adsense and click Sign Up Now. Either method will take you to the Welcome to AdSense page.

8. Click Sign In to sign in to your Google account, which is the same as your YouTube account.

9. After you have signed in it will show you your channel url next to My website and give you a chance to change your language. Click Continue.

10. The last step is to fill out all your contact information before you submit your application. Your approval should come within two days.

11. Go to your Video Manager and check the boxes next to all the videos you want to enable ads for.

12. Click on Actions and then select Monetize.

13. In the window that pops up you will be given a chance to choose what kinds of ads you want to allow in your videos. You must also specify here if you have included paid product placement in your video.

14. Wait for the review process to finish and ads to start appearing in your videos. If you are using any licensed, royalty free, content (like a music track) then YouTube may ask you to prove you have the rights to it.

How much you can get from Ads

The ad revenue generated on YouTube is split between Google and you. You’ll get 55 per cent and Google / YouTube will take the remaining 45 per cent. This means that, if an advertiser spends $200 on your channel, you could be earning $110 directly. You’ll earn both for ‘impressions’, which is the number of views the ad received, and ‘click throughs’, which is when someone clicks on the ad for more information.

Be aware that, in order to get paid, your audience will need to have viewed at least 30 seconds of the ad, or to have clicked through to the advertiser. As a rule, around 15 per cent of viewers will convert into ad revenue, so you can start to calculate just how much your video could be worth.

To give you an example, if you enjoy daily video views in the region of 3,000 views per day and achieve click through / view rates of the average 15 per cent, you’d be earning $0.85 - $1.40 per day or $25 - $43 a month for that one video. If you could increase your views to 5,000 per day, your monthly earnings would rise to $41 - $70 per month.

When working out how to make money on YouTube, keep in mind that every single video has the potential to earn you money. Although one video might only make a dollar a day, imagine when you’ve got 10 videos performing to the same standard, or 100. As you build up your library of content, you have the potential to earn exponentially more as time goes on.

Want to know how much you can get from Ads? Check this YouTube Money Calculator

How to optimize your video to attract advertisers

There is, understandably, a good deal of competition for hosting advertisements on YouTube. In order to get more and better brands advertising in your space, you’ll need to make sure you’ve done all that you can to make your channel attractive to them.

1. Target a specific demographic

Your advertisers want to place their products in front of a very specific audience, so the more embedded in your niche your videos are, the more likely you are to attract investment. If you try to be all things to all people, advertisers are going to see that you’re a risky prospect and will move on to a channel that’s more targeted.

To check demographics, YouTube has everything already there for you. In the YouTube Studio, you’ll find the exact demographics of your audience profile, including age, country of origin and gender. You can see how appealing your videos are to the people you are targeting by checking the spread of representation here.

1. Pay attention to your video metadata

YouTube metadata is an often-overlooked element of content that is actually incredibly important, both for advertising revenue and for views in general. What we mean when we talk about metadata is your tags, title and description of your video, all of which should make use of high traffic keywords that you’ve researched as being relevant.

YouTube’s own keyword suggestion tool can be a great place to start finding those golden keywords that will get you noticed. Advertisers often use your metadata to locate videos that their customers are watching, so SEO is crucial here. Not only that, but when viewers are looking for new videos to watch, the SEO of your metadata will define where in the search results you fall, so putting some time and energy into this can get you more views too.

1. Avoid dodgy video content

There are some types of content which are just not a good idea for YouTube. In fact, the platform could exclude you from advertising altogether if your content is found to contain any of the following:

• Sexually suggestive content: This includes making jokes based around sexual topics, as well as partial nudity of anyone in the video.
• Violence: This ranges from topics of extremism to videos of people sustaining serious injuries, as well as threats and suggestions of violence.
• Inappropriate language: Even the most popular YouTubers have started bleeping out their profanities, so avoid vulgar language or anything that could be construed as being threatening.
• Drugs: Promotion of the use, sale or abuse of drugs and other controlled substances is forbidden.
• Sensitive subjects: This includes references to wars, race crimes, natural disasters, political conflicts, even if you don’t show images of the situation itself.

When you’re considering how do YouTubers make money, you should recognize that those who make the most money avoid creating content that breaches any of these rules. YouTube does notify you if it feels your video is in breach of ‘advertiser friendly’ policies, and you’ll have the chance to contest the ban, but if you steer clear of dodgy content in the first place you shouldn’t run into any issues.

Make money on YouTube without ads

Of course, life is not all about ads, and with YouTube continuing to tighten its criteria around advertising it can be a good idea not to have all your eggs in one basket. Add to this the huge viewership you’re going to need in order to make serious money, it’s worth investigating other methods of making money on YouTube. Here are some of the best ideas.

1. Work with brands

Influencer marketing is big business right now, and brands all over the world are investing in individuals who have secured the loyalty and trust of their target demographic. Sponsored videos might feature product placement, promoting a product from your sponsor, or you may be asked to produce a particular piece of content to support their campaign. Check out influencer marketplaces like Famebit, Grapevine Logic and Crowdtap to see what’s available to you. If you want to make work with brands, you can check out InflueNex , a powerful influencer marketing platform, which will help you to build good relationship with brands.

1. Selling products or merchandise

Selling ‘merch’ is a great way to discover how to earn money from YouTube. T-shirts, tote bags, mugs, hats…whatever fits with you and your brand can become an amazing source of revenue for your business. Not only does this increase your exposure as a brand by putting it out there into the non-YouTube world, it also gives your fans a way to literally buy into what you’re doing.

1. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing doesn’t have to be hard work or complicated. Registering with big sales platforms such as Amazon is often as simple as filling out a couple of forms. Once registered, you can use your own special links to hook your viewers up with a product that you would recommend, and you’ll get a proportion of the final sale value. It’s not only Amazon who offer affiliate programs; most major brands will offer some kind of sales commission, so if you’re in a niche that calls for specialist products to promote, do contact brands directly to find out what they can offer.

1. Crowdfund

If you’ve got an amazingly creative idea but lack of funds is stopping you from putting it into action, crowdfunding could be the way to go. Crowdfunded projects can use the money they make to buy better production equipment, hire people to work on the project, pay for props, anything really. A good way to get started with crowdfunding a particular idea is to create a ‘trailer’ or sneak peek that gives people a better idea of what you want to do. Make sure it gets them so excited that they can’t help but donate to your cause!

1. Renting out your video

You have the ability to rent out individual videos for cold, hard cash, just like a pay per view service. The options for this are in the Creator Studio, where you can set the amount you want to rent it out for as well as creating an enticing trailer to encourage people to buy. Choose to either sell your video permanently, letting the person view it whenever they like, or rent for a limited time, usually 24 to 72 hours.

1. License your content to the media

If you’re lucky enough to make a video that goes viral, you can make serious bucks by licensing it to the wider media. From online news sites to TV shows, there are loads of other content creators out there willing to pay good money to use your amazing clip, and may will reach out to you directly with offers. You can also proactively offer your content for sale via sites like Juken Media, where others can find it and purchase it directly.

Now you know how to earn money from YouTube, what are you going to try? Let us know how you get on and which ways make money for you!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Not many YouTubers begin making videos with the aim to get rich. For most, it’s a way to scratch a creative itch, to enjoy being in front of an audience and as an outlet for their talents and opinions. However, the potential to make money on YouTube is huge, and eventually any busy channel is going to start asking itself, how do YouTubers make money?

This subject is less about ‘if’ you can make money and more about how to make money on YouTube. It’s been proven time and again that the potential is there, with popular stars like Lily Singh and Roman Atwood generating around $8 million a year. And, of course, everyone’s heard of PewDiePie and his whopping $15 million income.

You don’t need to have a following of millions to earn money on YouTube though; even small channels have a variety of methods available to them to start making their hard work pay. If you’d like to learn how to make money on YouTube, we’re going to look at eight ways of generating an income via your videos. Let’s get started.

How to make money on YouTube

• Make money on YouTube with ads
• Make money on YouTube without ads

We’ve discovered that making money on YouTube can be split into two main categories; making money through advertising or making money without ads involved. We’ve split our article into these two categories to make it easier for you to see what your options are.

Make money on YouTube with ads

By far the easiest way to start earning money on YouTube is to monetize your channel using ads. Until relatively recently, anyone could enable monetization on their YouTube channel and start earning for every watch of their video. But that all changed in January this year, when Google announced they would be raising the standards required to have ads shown on your channel.

Now, you need to be part of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), which means you need to have met certain minimum criteria before you can start benefitting from ads. These include:

• Having 4,000 or more watch hours
• Securing 1,000 or more subscribers in the last 12 months

This means that, before you can even consider being a part of the YPP, you’ll need to knuckle down and grow your subscribers. There’s lots of helpful tips out there on increasing subscriber numbers, but it all boils down to creating excellent content. As they say, ‘if you build it, they will come’, so work on creating new and exciting content for your channel to get where you need to be.

Should you join YouTube partner or not?

Meeting the minimum requirements of the YPP is crucial to starting to host ads, but even when you’ve hit the 1k subscribers and 4k hours viewed, should you be monetizing your channel right away? Put it this way; in order to make any money from ads, you’re going to need a lot of views and loyal subscribers, which means your focus needs to be firmly on creating content rather than complying with advertising rules.

Sometimes it’s actually better to hold off for a while when you’re early on in your YouTube journey. This will mean that, rather than being distracted by the question of how to earn money from YouTube, your energy is targeted at what matters most, which is building up a library of awesome videos instead.

How to Join the YouTube Partner Platform?

1. Go to your Account Settings and, under Channel, select Status and features.

2. Click on Enable next to Monetization.

3. In the next screen, click the blue Enable my Account button.

4. The YouTube Partner Program Terms will pop up. Compared to a lot of the “Terms” you are asked to read and agree to when signing up for things online the Partner Terms are fairly short and readable.

5. After reading the terms there are three boxes you will need to check to proceed. The first is to confirm that you read the Terms. The second box is a promise not to click on the ads in your own videos to try to create profits artificially.

The third box requires you to promise not monetize content that you do not own. The most extreme version of this would be stealing somebody else’s video and trying to monetize it on your channel. However, using a song or sound effect in your video you do not have the rights to also counts. There are a lot of places you can get free music to use in your monetized videos, and YouTube’s own Audio Library is one of them.

6. After you have checked all the boxes and moved on you will see a pop up explaining how to monetize your individual videos.

Your channel is now monetized, but you will not be able to earn money until you have linked your channel to your AdSense account.

7. There will be a reminder to link your channel and your AdSense account in the next screen. Click on the Link my account button. Or, go to Google.com/adsense and click Sign Up Now. Either method will take you to the Welcome to AdSense page.

8. Click Sign In to sign in to your Google account, which is the same as your YouTube account.

9. After you have signed in it will show you your channel url next to My website and give you a chance to change your language. Click Continue.

10. The last step is to fill out all your contact information before you submit your application. Your approval should come within two days.

11. Go to your Video Manager and check the boxes next to all the videos you want to enable ads for.

12. Click on Actions and then select Monetize.

13. In the window that pops up you will be given a chance to choose what kinds of ads you want to allow in your videos. You must also specify here if you have included paid product placement in your video.

14. Wait for the review process to finish and ads to start appearing in your videos. If you are using any licensed, royalty free, content (like a music track) then YouTube may ask you to prove you have the rights to it.

How much you can get from Ads

The ad revenue generated on YouTube is split between Google and you. You’ll get 55 per cent and Google / YouTube will take the remaining 45 per cent. This means that, if an advertiser spends $200 on your channel, you could be earning $110 directly. You’ll earn both for ‘impressions’, which is the number of views the ad received, and ‘click throughs’, which is when someone clicks on the ad for more information.

Be aware that, in order to get paid, your audience will need to have viewed at least 30 seconds of the ad, or to have clicked through to the advertiser. As a rule, around 15 per cent of viewers will convert into ad revenue, so you can start to calculate just how much your video could be worth.

To give you an example, if you enjoy daily video views in the region of 3,000 views per day and achieve click through / view rates of the average 15 per cent, you’d be earning $0.85 - $1.40 per day or $25 - $43 a month for that one video. If you could increase your views to 5,000 per day, your monthly earnings would rise to $41 - $70 per month.

When working out how to make money on YouTube, keep in mind that every single video has the potential to earn you money. Although one video might only make a dollar a day, imagine when you’ve got 10 videos performing to the same standard, or 100. As you build up your library of content, you have the potential to earn exponentially more as time goes on.

Want to know how much you can get from Ads? Check this YouTube Money Calculator

How to optimize your video to attract advertisers

There is, understandably, a good deal of competition for hosting advertisements on YouTube. In order to get more and better brands advertising in your space, you’ll need to make sure you’ve done all that you can to make your channel attractive to them.

1. Target a specific demographic

Your advertisers want to place their products in front of a very specific audience, so the more embedded in your niche your videos are, the more likely you are to attract investment. If you try to be all things to all people, advertisers are going to see that you’re a risky prospect and will move on to a channel that’s more targeted.

To check demographics, YouTube has everything already there for you. In the YouTube Studio, you’ll find the exact demographics of your audience profile, including age, country of origin and gender. You can see how appealing your videos are to the people you are targeting by checking the spread of representation here.

1. Pay attention to your video metadata

YouTube metadata is an often-overlooked element of content that is actually incredibly important, both for advertising revenue and for views in general. What we mean when we talk about metadata is your tags, title and description of your video, all of which should make use of high traffic keywords that you’ve researched as being relevant.

YouTube’s own keyword suggestion tool can be a great place to start finding those golden keywords that will get you noticed. Advertisers often use your metadata to locate videos that their customers are watching, so SEO is crucial here. Not only that, but when viewers are looking for new videos to watch, the SEO of your metadata will define where in the search results you fall, so putting some time and energy into this can get you more views too.

1. Avoid dodgy video content

There are some types of content which are just not a good idea for YouTube. In fact, the platform could exclude you from advertising altogether if your content is found to contain any of the following:

• Sexually suggestive content: This includes making jokes based around sexual topics, as well as partial nudity of anyone in the video.
• Violence: This ranges from topics of extremism to videos of people sustaining serious injuries, as well as threats and suggestions of violence.
• Inappropriate language: Even the most popular YouTubers have started bleeping out their profanities, so avoid vulgar language or anything that could be construed as being threatening.
• Drugs: Promotion of the use, sale or abuse of drugs and other controlled substances is forbidden.
• Sensitive subjects: This includes references to wars, race crimes, natural disasters, political conflicts, even if you don’t show images of the situation itself.

When you’re considering how do YouTubers make money, you should recognize that those who make the most money avoid creating content that breaches any of these rules. YouTube does notify you if it feels your video is in breach of ‘advertiser friendly’ policies, and you’ll have the chance to contest the ban, but if you steer clear of dodgy content in the first place you shouldn’t run into any issues.

Make money on YouTube without ads

Of course, life is not all about ads, and with YouTube continuing to tighten its criteria around advertising it can be a good idea not to have all your eggs in one basket. Add to this the huge viewership you’re going to need in order to make serious money, it’s worth investigating other methods of making money on YouTube. Here are some of the best ideas.

1. Work with brands

Influencer marketing is big business right now, and brands all over the world are investing in individuals who have secured the loyalty and trust of their target demographic. Sponsored videos might feature product placement, promoting a product from your sponsor, or you may be asked to produce a particular piece of content to support their campaign. Check out influencer marketplaces like Famebit, Grapevine Logic and Crowdtap to see what’s available to you. If you want to make work with brands, you can check out InflueNex , a powerful influencer marketing platform, which will help you to build good relationship with brands.

1. Selling products or merchandise

Selling ‘merch’ is a great way to discover how to earn money from YouTube. T-shirts, tote bags, mugs, hats…whatever fits with you and your brand can become an amazing source of revenue for your business. Not only does this increase your exposure as a brand by putting it out there into the non-YouTube world, it also gives your fans a way to literally buy into what you’re doing.

1. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing doesn’t have to be hard work or complicated. Registering with big sales platforms such as Amazon is often as simple as filling out a couple of forms. Once registered, you can use your own special links to hook your viewers up with a product that you would recommend, and you’ll get a proportion of the final sale value. It’s not only Amazon who offer affiliate programs; most major brands will offer some kind of sales commission, so if you’re in a niche that calls for specialist products to promote, do contact brands directly to find out what they can offer.

1. Crowdfund

If you’ve got an amazingly creative idea but lack of funds is stopping you from putting it into action, crowdfunding could be the way to go. Crowdfunded projects can use the money they make to buy better production equipment, hire people to work on the project, pay for props, anything really. A good way to get started with crowdfunding a particular idea is to create a ‘trailer’ or sneak peek that gives people a better idea of what you want to do. Make sure it gets them so excited that they can’t help but donate to your cause!

1. Renting out your video

You have the ability to rent out individual videos for cold, hard cash, just like a pay per view service. The options for this are in the Creator Studio, where you can set the amount you want to rent it out for as well as creating an enticing trailer to encourage people to buy. Choose to either sell your video permanently, letting the person view it whenever they like, or rent for a limited time, usually 24 to 72 hours.

1. License your content to the media

If you’re lucky enough to make a video that goes viral, you can make serious bucks by licensing it to the wider media. From online news sites to TV shows, there are loads of other content creators out there willing to pay good money to use your amazing clip, and may will reach out to you directly with offers. You can also proactively offer your content for sale via sites like Juken Media, where others can find it and purchase it directly.

Now you know how to earn money from YouTube, what are you going to try? Let us know how you get on and which ways make money for you!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett