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Wondering how much small YouTubers make on YouTube?
Today I’m going to share with you exactly how much I earn with my small YouTube channel of 13,000 subscribers.
I’m also going to share with you how you can increase the amount of money that you make through AdSense in a month and a few tricks that I have learned that I really wish I would have known years ago.
Just to give you a bit of background, I currently run two YouTube channels.
I have the Madeline Blogs YouTube channel which is actually not monetised through AdSense so far, because I have yet to reach 1,000 subscribers. I am working towards that goal, which I’m sure a lot of you are as well. This channel is all about blogging and social media tips.
And I also run the Madeline Vlogs YouTube channel, which is my main channel and it is in the motherhood, home and lifestyle niche. I have grown this channel to 13K subscribers so far and this one is monetised through a few different ways.
How Much Do Small YouTubers Make?
In this post I’m going to share with you exactly how much I make through AdSense on that main channel, because it is bringing in an income every month.
It’s still quite a small channel compared to the really big ones on YouTube, but I just wanted to share how much you can expect to make through AdSense on YouTube even if you have a small channel.
I think it would be really fun to see how much you guys think I make on YouTube so I’m going to give you my stats for the past month and then I want you to write in the comments below how much you think I make before you read the rest of the blog post.
I just thought it would be interesting to see what your guesses are and if they are near to the amount that I actually make.
So on my main channel on YouTube, I currently have over 13,000 subscribers and my view count is usually around 50,000 views per month. Sometimes it’s 60,000 or more, it really depends.
For the past 28 days, on this YouTube channel I had around 69,000 views.
Go ahead and write your guesses right now in the comments below.
How much I earn as a small Youtuber with 13,000 subscribers
It is quite obvious that the amount you make in a month depends on the amount of views that you have. For the past 28 days I had 69,000 views, as mentioned before.
However, views are not everything, which I’m going to share in a second exactly why that is.
For this month, I had made $356 from AdSense.
That’s the amount I made simply from Google AdSense for that amount of views.
And while that’s a pretty good chunk of money, it’s obviously not something that can give you a full-time income. Which is why I have a whole bunch of other income streams coming into my business, so I’m not simply relying on AdSense.
I’m kind of looking at it as the cherry on top of everything else.
Now obviously the more you grow, the more views you have, the more money you’re going to make. But it also really does depend on how much of your video people watch.
That is because the more that they watch through your video, the more ads they will see, which means there will be a higher revenue for you.
Your AdSense revenue also depends on the niche that you’re in. I’m actually really curious to see the difference in the future.
Because the Madeline Vlogs channel that I’m sharing with you now, that I have monetised and made $3565 with last month, is a lifestyle channel. It’s a kind of lifestyle, cleaning, home making and motherhood channel.
I have heard that channels that are in the lifestyle niche actually have a lower RPM, so they earn a little bit less than channels who are more niched down or more specific on certain topics, like finance, blogging, business etc.
On my second channel I do share the blogging and business side of things.
So when I do monetise this second channel with AdSense (ie. I reach 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours), I’m curious to see the difference in RPM between this business type of channel and the lifestyle one.
I will definitely keep you up to date when I do reach that point, because I think it will be interesting to see the difference.
How do YouTubers make money
As you can see from the stats above, simply relying on Google Adsense for your entire income as a YouTuber is not ideal. This is why most YouTubers diversify their earnings through other ways too.
I also have multiple income streams, because obviously you cannot rely on just that amount of money to make your full-time income.
I talk more in depth on all the ways you can monetise a blog (and this applies to YouTube as well) in this blog post about how to make your first $100 blogging.
Also, if you’re wondering what the difference is between monetising or creating on YouTube in comparison to a blog, you can read all about it in this post on blogging vs YouTube.
Aa few other ways in which I monetise this YouTube channel are:
- Through affiliate links – on that channel, on my blog and on my Instagram as well. I use LiketoKnow.It, Amazon and I also have specific products that I share through my affiliate links.
- I have my own products that I sell – I sell presets for Lightroom, which people really love. I also have courses that I sell, on blogging and social media tips.
- I also do brand work, so I work on sponsored posts on Instagram, on my blog and on my YouTube channel as well.
- I also have blog ads through Mediavine which are actually really good. The Mediavine ads on your blog make a really good amount of monthly income.
Those are my main income streams. I think it’s really good to diversify your income and I also think it’s really important to not just look at YouTube AdSense as the be all, end all.
Reaching that milestone of getting your channel monetised is not everything. Of course, it’s a good milestone to reach, because it shows you’re obviously on a good path, but it’s not everything. I know when you first get monetised, what you initially earn will be just pennies.
Even as you’re growing your view count and your subscribers, it actually takes a while to build up some income just from Google AdSense.
How Much Does YouTube Pay Per View?
I want to show you something that’s quite interesting, regarding a few different types of videos and how much I made from each of those.
I’ve got here four videos that I want to share with you and how much I made from each of them, because it’s quite interesting to see the difference in income.
Video 1: earnings for 26,000 views on fashion video
The first video is a Primark shopping one that has gotten 26,000 views so far and I have made $154 from this.
That’s really good for a video that’s been recently published.
Video 2: earnings for 30,000 views on home decor video
Then I’ve also got a similar size video, which has 30,000 views. This is an IKEA sofa video and this one made $166.
So very similar in the amount of money I made from each of these, even though the watch time is different on them.
If you notice on the Primark video the watch time is 2,000 hours, while for the IKEA video the watch time is only 1,000 hours.
However, the IKEA video actually earned me a bit more than the Primark video. There are a few reasons why your videos will make different amounts of money and I’ll share in a second why that is.
Video 3: earnings for 23,000 views on product reviews video
This one is an Amazon best buys video, which has 23,000 views, so very similar to the Primark video.
While the Primark video had $150, this Amazon buys one has only $70 and that’s because it’s a shorter video.
The Amazon video is only 10 minutes long, whereas the Primark video is 25 minutes long. And because people have watched the Primark video for longer, it means they had seen more ads on that video, obviously leading to a higher income.
That’s why the revenue on these two videos is different. Even though the view count is very similar, the ad revenue is much much higher on the Primark one.
Video 4: earnings for 25,000 views on organising video
Then similarly, I have this video on kitchen organising and decluttering, which has 25,000 views and it’s made only $66.
Again, this is a shorter video, which means it will have a lower revenue even if it gets tons of views.
That’s one of the tricks on how to increase your AdSense revenue: to make videos longer. But the thing is you can’t just make them longer with fluff, you have to make them longer with interesting things, information that people really need to hear.
So you can’t just film a really long video just for the sake of it, but instead you really need to pack more value in it.
Because otherwise people won’t watch the video all the way through and it will actually damage your YouTube channel.
You do want people to watch as much as possible, so you can make those videos longer, but again pack them with value.
Why should YouTube videos be 8 minutes or longer?
The mid-roll ads only appear on videos that are 8 minutes or longer. This means that videos with that duration will get a chance to have more ads on them, meaning a higher income.
So I aim for all or most of my videos to be over 8 minutes long. On my lifestyle channel, I actually make them around 20 minutes a lot of the time.
How do I get high RPM on YouTube?
The amount of money that you make per video is dependent on something called RPM. In case you don’t know, that’s a very common term in the ad space.
RPM stands for Rate Per Mille, which means rate per 1,000 views on YouTube.
For example, for the Primark video, my RPM is around $6. That means I made $6 for each 1,000 views I got on that video.
Your RPM can vary so much depending on a few factors:
- Season. RPM depends on the season that we’re in. During Q4, which is the last trimester of the year, RPM is usually at its highest. That’s when advertisers actually pay more for ads during that quarter, so you will make a higher amount of money during those months. That’s generally what happens every single year and that’s because it’s the holidays, so advertisers and brands are willing to pay more for ads.
- Country. Another factor is the country that you are in and also the country that your audience is in. There are certain countries that have a higher RPM (for example: US and UK), simply because more advertisers in those countries pay for ads.
- Niche. Your niche also affects your RPM, as certain niches have a much higher ad revenue than others.
There are a lot of things that influence your RPM that are out of your control. However, there are things you can control to increase your RPM, such as make your videos interesting, make them longer and to pack them with value so that people watch all the way through or as much as possible from your video.
One thing that’s really important on YouTube is to stay consistent, which I feel like a lot of people struggle with. This is why I have created this post on how to stay consistent and how to stay organised as a creator, blogger, YouTuber or influencer.
I hope you found this post on how much small YouTubers make helpful. Are you a small YouTuber yourself? Comment below and let me know where you’re at in your YouTube journey.
Thank you, very informative and helpful for a small channel maker. I recently hit the goals and made it ino the partnership program.