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How to monetise your YouTube channel?

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  • 3 min read

YouTube is one of the most popular streaming platforms available completely free of cost to everyone with an internet connection, provided you can keep up with the increasing number of ads. These ads are necessary to sustain YouTube’s free nature and are the primary source of channel monetisation for just about every YouTuber.

That said, earning revenue from YouTube isn’t as straightforward. However, actually monetising your channel is quite easy. In this article, we discuss the requirements to monetise your YouTube channel and the process you need to follow.

Also read: Are YouTube Shorts cannibalising the platform’s long form content?


What do you need to monetise your YouTube channel?

The most common way to monetise your YouTube channel is to join the Youtube Partners Program (YPP). There are two sets of requirements that you need to meet here.

How to create a YouTube channel and get custom URL?

To generate revenue through your subscribers using Super Chats, Super Thanks, and channel memberships, you need to meet the following minimum requirements.

  • 500 subscribers
  • Three public uploads in the last 90 days
  • 3,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months or three million public YouTube Shorts views in the last 90 days.

The second tier of monetisation is video ads — the ads you see on YouTube videos before (or sometimes during) the actual video. Here are the minimum requirements you need to meet.

  • 1,000 subscribers
  • 4,000 hours of public watch time within the last 12 months or 10 million public YouTube Shorts views within 90 days.

Monetising your YouTube channel

As mentioned, you can monetise your YouTube channel by joining the YPP. Provided you’ve met the aforementioned requirements, follow these steps to monetise your YouTube channel.

Step 1: Head over to YouTube Studio and click the Earn tab.

Step 2: If you’ve met the minimum requirements, you’ll see an Apply Now button under the first set of milestones. Click it to apply to the YPP, and YouTube will take care of the rest.

Remember that once you’ve applied to the YPP, you don’t need to reapply when you meet the goals for a higher milestone. For example, if you apply for YPP with the first tier of milestones, fan-based earning tools, you don’t need to reapply once you meet the requirements for video ads.

Once monetisation is enabled, you must head over to the Content section in YouTube Studio and enable monetisation for individual videos. Ensure that any videos you enable for monetisation meet YouTube’s content policies and don’t infringe copyrights.

Additionally, regardless of their monetisation status, ads will not appear on every video. The safest way of monetising a YouTube video and ensuring that it doesn’t get demonetised later is to create content in the PG to PG-13 range. Your content will be specific to your channel and audience, so don’t think too hard about the content type. You’ll be good to go if you’re meeting YouTube community and content guidelines.

Also read: YouTube symbols and icons explained

Yadullah Abidi

Yadullah Abidi

Yadullah is a Computer Science graduate who writes/edits/shoots/codes all things cybersecurity, gaming, and tech hardware. When he's not, he streams himself racing virtual cars. He's been writing and reporting on tech and cybersecurity with websites like Candid.Technology and MakeUseOf since 2018. You can contact him here: yadullahabidi@pm.me.

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