YOUTUBE ADSENSE (IT ISN’T ALL ABOUT THE VIEWS)

If you are a YouTuber then you probably hope to one day replicate the earnings of content creators like Shane Dawson (famed for his conspiracy videos and general personal life content), Philip DeFranco (who covers gossip and politics), or PewDiePie (who offers a blend of commentary and gaming content). The amount they earn on YouTube is easy to glean – just check out SocialBlade.com and it will tell you how much they have made in the previous 30 days, their social blade rank, and how many video views they have had on a daily basis.

WORDS MARISA CUTILLAS

* At the time of writing, Adsense was as indicated in this article. Fluctuations can be observed owing to COVID-19 and earnings vary depending on the amount of content created in a given month.

I just checked Shane Dawson’s channel, for instance, and see that in the past 30 days he has made €132.600* – not bad considering his last video was uploaded two months ago. The little boy Ryan of Ryan’s Toy Review, meanwhile, makes $11 million per year just for opening up and reviewing toys.

IT TAKES MILLIONS TO MAKE ‘EM

According to YouTube, the number one ranked channel is les boys tv2 (I admit I had never heard of them prior to writing this). They hadn’t uploaded a video in eons, it seems, so their Adsense stood at zero. I made my way to the second highest ranked creators – T-Series (the famous Bollywoodfocused channel that pushed PewDiePie off his pedestal as the

world’s most subscribed-to YouTube channel). According to Social Blade, T-Series’ estimated yearly earnings range between €10.5M and €167.4M (experts say the right amount is closer to the higher estimation).

ADSENSE AND VIEWS

It is generally true that in order for a video to make money, it needs to have views. Thus, views are more important than your subscriber count. YouTube compensates its content creators 55 per cent of its ad revenue, paying them an average $4.18 for every 1,000 views of ads shown in their videos. That amounts to a very low amount per view and creators do not earn anything if viewers click off an ad before a specific amount of time has passed.

COSTS PER 1000 VIEWS VARY

Not all YouTubers make the low amounts mentioned above. Some have a CPM (Cost per 1000 Views) of up to $25. The big difference depends on various factors, including geographic location (the advertisements played in the particular part of the world you are in), whether or not your content is advertiser friendly, and whether or not the views trigger an ad (bear in mind that some users use ad blocks). As noted by Medium.com’s

Roberto Blake, advertisers can decide to support only content in a specific language. You can also make more revenue if your viewers stay watching your content for longer, and if you don’t use swear words or talk about subjects that can be triggers for mental illness or audience discomfort. Some genres earn more than others; for instance, content that is technical or specialised can garner a higher ad rate than those on general entertainment or gossip.

THE DILEMMA FOR CURRENT CREATORS

In a recent podcast with popular YouTube personality Trisha Paytas, comedian Colleen Ballinger (who doubles up as wacky personality Miranda Sings) expressed the current problem facing many YouTube content creators. On the one hand, if their content is deemed to be aimed at children (something as simple as a video of Ballinger in a tub of Slurpee was deemed thus), YouTube demonetises the video. If, on the other hand, the content contains profanity or mentions anything YouTube deems triggering or polemic, the video will also be demonitised. As Ballinger pointed out, as it stands, creators just can’t win.

BEATING THE SYSTEM

Is there a way to continue breaking the bank, as PewDiePie, T-Series of even Jeffree Star do? It’s sometimes a matter of hit-and-miss but general guidelines do exist. First of all, try to post adult yet family-friendly content. The balance can be hard to strike; don’t allow your content to appeal too much to children. Secondly, use analytics to identify the videos that have been your biggest hits and try to make similarly themed content. Tag your images, aim to have a wide variety of ad types on your channel, and place the best performing advert first in your page’s HTML code. Don’t overdo the ads or your audience will get bored and log out. Most importantly, remember that in YouTube (as in any other media), content is King, and content that tells a story is Palpatine.