From Content Creator to Earnings Expert on YouTube

Monetize YouTube Videos | The Ultimate Guide to Ad Revenue

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

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Want to make money on YouTube? There are qualifications you have to meet before you can monetize your videos with ads, but you don’t have to have a huge channel.

Here’s everything you need to know to join the YouTube Partner Program and start earning ad revenue:

1. Qualifying for the YouTube Partner Program
2. How to Apply for Monetization on YouTube
3. What is Ad Friendly Content?
4. How to Get Paid Through AdSense
5. Which YouTube Videos Get the Highest Paying Ads?
6. Useful Terminology (CPM, CPV, CPC)

What is the YouTube Partner Program

YouTube’s Partner Program, or YPP, allows creators to monetize their YouTube videos through ads. If you are a YouTube Partner, that means you are earning revenue from the ads being shown before and during your videos.

Before you dive into the below guide, you may need a video editor to start your monetizing on Youtube. Filmora video editor will be the best choice.

Becoming a skilled video editor takes years of practice, but with Wondershare Filmora video editor, you can produce YouTube videos that have a professional look and feel, even if you are new to the world of video editing. This YouTube Video Creator has big icons and an intuitive interface, so those YouTubers who edit videos for the first time can quickly make a video.

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Qualifying for the YouTube Partner Program

In order to qualify for YPP, you need to prove that you’re creating consistent, original, content and that people are watching your content. YouTube believes that has been proven when you reach these qualifications:

1. 1000 Subscribers
2. 4000 Hours of Watch Time (over the past 12 months)

Not quite there yet? Here’s a list of actionable tips that can help you grow your channel.

If you meet these requirements and are approved for monetization, but then drop below them, your channel will not be automatically demonetized. YouTube may review your content and demonetize you if you seem to have stopped posting videos, but this will not be automatic.

Remember: meeting these milestones does not grant you automatic monetization.

You can apply for YPP when you reach the milestones above, but your channel will still need to be reviewed by a human working for YouTube. Reviewers will be watching for:

1. Nudity or sexual content
2. Harmful, dangerous, threatening, or hateful content
3. Violent or graphic content
4. Harassment or cyberbullying
5. Spam, scams, and misleading metadata
6. Copyright infringement or impersonation
7. Privacy violations
8. Fake subscribers
9. Other guidelines violations

If your content violates any of YouTube’s Community Guidelines you may be denied monetization. Learn more about YouTube’s Community Guidelines here.

How to Apply for Monetization on YouTube

Once you qualify for YPP, applying for monetization is easy.

1. In the Creator Studio, select Channel > Status and features.
2. Under ‘Monetization’, click Enable and follow the steps that appear to accept YouTube’s terms.
3. Wait to be approved.

If you’re approved, you can start earning money as soon as your AdSense account is set up!

If you’re not approved, you can apply again in 30 days.

To make sure you’re approved the next time you apply, review all of YouTube’s related policies (Partner Program policies , Terms of Service , spam policies , and Community Guidelines ) and remove the content that might be holding you back.

In order to start monetizing, you’ll need to link your channel with an AdSense account. You must be over 18 to create an AdSense account. YouTube creators under 18 can link to the AdSense accounts of their parents or guardians.

Here’s how to sign up for AdSense through YouTube:

1. Under Channel > Status and features in your Creator Studio, look for Paid content. Click where it says ‘active AdSense account’.
2. On the following ‘Monetization’ screen, click Next to go to AdSense.
3. You will be asked whether you want to use the Google account you’re already signed in to for AdSense, or if you want to use a different account.
4. The next step is ‘Your Website’. This will automatically be filled in with your channel. Click Accept association if it’s right.

Note: you can only have one AdSense account. Do not make a second one if you already have one. Duplicate accounts may be banned, which will stop you from monetizing your videos.

What is Ad Friendly content?

Not all content that meets YouTube’s Community Guidelines will be considered ‘advertiser-friendly’. Companies don’t want to run ads alongside content that doesn’t match the values of their brands.

YouTube may disable ads on any video it doesn’t think is ad-friendly. Videos which may be flagged as inappropriate for ads include (but are not limited to):

1. Videos that cover controversial or sensitive subjects.
2. Videos depicting the use of drugs or dangerous products.
3. Videos may encourage harmful or dangerous behavior.
4. Videos with swearing (but not ALL videos with swearing – quantity and context are factors).
5. Videos which contain hate speech.
6. Videos that depict family entertainment characters (i.e. Disney princesses) engaged in inappropriate behavior (even if you’re being satirical).

If you want to make sure all of your content is advertiser-friendly, here are some best practices suggested by YouTube:

1. Be respectful of your viewers and any people or groups you may include or mention in your video.
2. Extend this respectful tone to your thumbnails and video titles, and make sure your thumbnails and metadata accurately depict your video’s content.
3. Don’t try to monetize videos that already contain ads (i.e. paid product placement ).

How to Get Paid Through AdSense

In order to receive a payment from AdSense, you need to earn at least $100.

For example, if you only earn $10 in a month, you will not receive a payment that month. You will not lose that $10 – you will receive it when your total earnings reach or exceed $100.

You will also need to provide AdSense with tax information and verify your identity and address in order to start being paid.

The most popular way to get paid through AdSense is via an EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer). To receive your payments this way, you’ll need to link your bank account to your AdSense account.

Here’s how:

1. Log in to AdSense.
2. Click Settings in the menu on the left, and then select Payments.
3. On the Payments page, click Manage payment options.
4. Click the Add payment method.
5. You’ll be prompted to add your bank account details.
6. Make sure the name on your AdSense account matches the name on your bank account (if you’re under 18 and cannot make your own AdSense account, this may mean you’re using your parent or guardian’s bank account).

Which YouTube Videos Get the Highest Paying Ads?

Not all ads pay the same, and not all videos will be able to attract the ads that pay the most.

How much money your video has the potential to earn depends on:

1. The size of your channel
2. Your niche on YouTube
3. The specific topic of the video

That the size of your channel matters probably isn’t a surprise. The biggest brands want to run their ads beside videos that are getting more views.

Whether or not your YouTube niche has a high potential for profit will depend on a couple things:

1. How many other channels are in your niche?

The more people there are making similar videos to you, the thinner the available ads are spread.

1. How many cheap or expensive products are being advertised in your niche?

If the products are free or inexpensive (i.e. free online games) then that limits your earning ability. In large niches like gaming, the few higher paying ads will go to the most popular channels and the low-paying ads will be spread amongst everyone else.

If you have a very specific niche, i.e. luxury cars, then you will have less competition and the ads available will likely be for more expensive products (and thus the ads themselves will be higher paying).

Even if you are in a large niche, you can still make videos on specific topics designed to attract higher-paying ads and more revenue. Pay attention to the analytics in your Creator Studio to learn which of your videos earn the most. Then, make more videos on similar topics to boost your earnings.

Another factor that can affect what ads appear alongside your videos is the viewing habits of individual viewers. People are shown ads that YouTube believes are more relevant to their interests.

Useful Terminology (CPM, CPC, CPV)

A lot of people think your ad revenue is determined by your view count. This isn’t true – it’s determined by ad impressions.

How much revenue you earn from the ads running around your videos depends on these three things:

CPC: ‘cost per click’. Most of the ads on YouTube are CPC, meaning that an ad impression is only recorded when an ad is clicked on.

CPV: ‘cost per view’. Skippable pre-roll ads are the only ads on YouTube which record ad impressions without clicks. These ads record ad impressions when viewers watch 30 seconds of the ad instead of skipping it.

CPM: ‘cost per mille’ or ‘cost per thousand’. This refers to how much money gets paid out for 1000 ad impressions.

Your CPM will be affected by a multitude of things including the ads themselves and the size of your channel. AdSense has made it a rule that you cannot disclose your CPM to anyone, which makes it difficult to determine what you should expect.

Note: never click on ads near your own videos or instruct your viewers/friends to do so. If your clicks are higher than what AdSense considers normal they may ban you.

Sites like Social Blade provide estimated earnings for any channel you want to look up. Looking up channels that are where you plan to be in the near future could help you set your own expectations.

Are you able to monetize your videos? How many more subscribers or hours of watch time do you need?

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Micro-Moments of Fame: Do YouTubes Shorts or TikToks Get the Edge?

YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok: Which One Is Better?

Shanoon Cox

Aug 21, 2023• Proven solutions

YouTube Shorts is the latest feature designed to mimic TikTok’s creation, but can it go hand in hand with one of the biggest social media apps? Let’s discuss this scenario in detail in this article!

YouTube’s TikTok competitor, YouTube Shorts, is now rocking globally. Seeing the success of Instagram Reels and TikTok, it seems like YouTube didn’t want to lag behind the game. So in September last year, it decided to step into short-form content via YouTube Shorts, a social platform for quick 60-second videos hosted on the YouTube app.

According to the Shorts product lead Todd Sherman, the social media giant aims to unleash new grounds for creativity.

On the other hand, TikTok is a short-form, video-sharing app that assists users to share and make 15-second to 60-seconds videos on any topic.

TikTok contains a separate app for the Chinese market, Douyin, with 300 million-plus active monthly users. The new app’s logo is a merger of the Duyin and Musical.ly logos.

And, we’re going to discuss the comparison of both these giants, i.e., YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok, in terms of which app is better for making short videos.

Part 1: Is YouTube Shorts the New TikTok?

In general, we can’t say that YouTube Shorts is the new TikTok because YouTube Shorts is YouTube’s expansion and have its own identity than TikTok.

YouTube Shorts is playing hand in hand with TikTok as the short-form video platform, but the Shorts integration with the broader ecosystem of YouTube is its key selling point according to Google’s service.

Ironically, while YouTube is laying ways to emulate TikTok’s format, TikTok is experimenting with formats that are closer to YouTube’s traditional focus. This is why TikTok has tripled its maximum video length to three minutes for everyone and has been developing apps slowly on TV platforms like Fire TV and Android TV.

At a glance, YouTube Shorts looks pretty similar to TikTok. However, there are certain TikTok features that even the Shorts product manager Todd Sherman disagrees with is that of the YouTube Shorts. Sherman said the way TikTok works is quite an industry-wide standard than the point of view of any single app.

Even though YouTube is quite late to the short-form content game, it has a strong brand of YouTube behind it.

Thus, saying that “YouTube Shorts is the new TikTok” doesn’t even qualify in terms of the $100 million fund sanctioned for the creators of YouTube Shorts.

Part 2: YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok: What Are the Similarities and Differences?

In this section, we’ve defined the analysis of YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok in the form of both a comparison table and specific points of similarities and differences.

Section 1. The Similarities Between YouTube Shorts and TikTok

• Both these platforms are for short-form video content.
• The TikTok and YouTube Shorts both assist creators in adding music from their audio libraries, and users can view all videos beneath the audio library.
• Both offer analytics, including video views, likes, comments, watch time, shares, impressions, and reach. You can view these analytics on a desktop or mobile device for both platforms.
• The Shorts and TikTok feed provide a full-screen immersive experience with the engagement menu shown on the right-hand panel.
• Their feeds scroll in the same manner. Plus, there is an endless number of videos lined up for users to discover and watch. Yet, there’s no auto-scroll on either, and users must scroll manually for the following video to come up.
• Both provide tools that assist creators in earning money from their content creation.
• Users can subscribe or follow creators directly from their videos in both feeds.
• Both offer creators the ability to alter their video content’s speed and help them to set timers with the filming process.
• YouTube Shorts TikTok give creators the ability to upload video content they’ve previously filmed.
• You can add closed captions and overlaying text to both of these platforms.
• They both assist creators in setting a video for the public, so anyone can view it or set it to private.

Section 2. The Differences Between YouTube Shorts and TikTok

• The monetization features of both these platforms are entirely different. Shorts offer their ‘Shorts fund,’ whereas TikTok provides Shoutouts and Digital Gifts.
• Shorts can only be 60-seconds long, whereas TikTok’s can be as long as three minutes (it could soon be stretched to five minutes duration as per their recent test).
• TikTok allows users to add video captions that are present in the bottom left area of TikTok. At the same time, users can add a video title in Shorts which is present in the exact location as a TikTok caption. And, a video description that is only viewable when users click the three dots above the link button and click ‘Description’ can be in YouTube Shorts.
• YouTube has a large music library which gives users an abundance of undiscovered and popular songs to select from, possibly more than the TikTok offerings list.
• TikTok has a vast library of filters, including greenscreen and AR effects, whereas Shorts only provides filters that edit the video’s tone, temperature, brightness, etc.
• Shorts’ ‘private’ video option allows creators to choose or see who watches your video. On the other hand, TikTok’s ‘private’ video option only allows the creator to view the video.
• You can view the TikTok analytics directly in the TikTok app. On the other hand, YouTube Shorts analytics can be visible in YouTube Studio.

Features TikTok has, but YouTube Shorts does not…

• A stitch and duet feature, where users can add other creators’ videos to their accounts.
• A Q&A feature to leave questions for creators to answer with a video. Creators can also reply to their comments.
• A discovery tab that assists users in viewing trending sounds, effects, and hashtags.

Features YouTube Shorts has, but TikTok does not…

• A scheduling tool that assists creators in scheduling the timing of their Shorts going live.
• The option to select whether their videos are for kids or not. Or if they’d like to restrict their videos to viewers under 18.
• You can edit even after publishing.
• The option to “unlist” your Shorts, which means anyone can view it with a link to that video.

Part 3: YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok: Which One Is Better for Short Video Promotion

One of the differences that may determine the success of YouTube Shorts is that it is not a traditional social media app. While TikTok entices users to create, watch, and even share videos with friends within the app, the YouTube Shorts format is pretty different from TikTok.

Since YouTube doesn’t have this simple method of direct messaging and isn’t wholly dependent on creating, sharing, and watching Shorts, it looks that it may have a hard time keeping up with TikTok’s success.

Another drawback of YouTube Shorts in comparing YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok is that Shorts isn’t available through a dedicated app like TikTok. Thus, even though it keeps up the promise of creating, watching, and sharing both long and short-form content, it may turn away those who prefer focused access to quick content. Regardless, with YouTube Shorts now starting to become available to more users, the battle in the viral video market with TikTok is sure to heat up.

Before giving you our opinion on which is the better platform for short video promotion, go through the following conversation first.

Ramona Pringle is an associate professor and a tech expert at Toronto’s Ryerson University. She said in an interview that because YouTube already has figured out video content, the transformation to add short-form video will be natural.

She also mentioned that YouTube Shorts is the platform best placed with the competition from TikTok than all other platforms. However, YouTube doesn’t need to be TikTok as it has its strategies and broad audience base.

Like Pringle, Matt Navarra, a social media consultant based in the U.K., said in an interview that Shorts is a logical evolution and extension of YouTube, which has further given rise to TikTok. But unlike TikTok, Shorts has a few features that it can take benefit from. Among these features is the extensive audio library content, the greater scope for users to remix and create duets and stuff from scratch. Undoubtedly, you can’t deny the experience of YouTube in terms of access to partnerships with the music industry and licensing.

Thus, keeping all these factors in mind, we’d like to conclude that both the YouTube Shorts and TikTok are great and considerable platforms for short video promotion. Still, we’d like to place YouTube Shorts in the upper place due to its global availability. Whereas TikTok is already banned in certain countries.

It also depends upon the audience base of the country as to which platform is in use the most. Suppose it’s TikTok that people primarily use in a particular country or location where the brand wants to advertise itself. In that case, going with TikTok for short video promotion is better and vice versa.

To get more information, click the following video!

TikTok or YouTube? Creators at VidCon 2023 Reveal Their Platform of Choice

Conclusion

So, this is our detailed overview of YouTube Shorts vs. TikTok.

Since YouTube wants its new platform to progress and stand a chance in front of TikTok, they will make Shorts a priority, and thus much more likely to promote it to a broad audience.

As we step further into the year, it is yet to consider which short-form video platform will be popular among the creators, marketers, and consumers.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox