We are all familiar with Google’s AdSense partner program that allows users to earn money from their videos, but YouTube is still run by specific algorithms that are hidden from the public. As much as we would like to define just how much YouTube pays its users per view exactly, the best we can do is make a rough estimate of decoding the secret puzzle of YouTube’s pay per view system.
Understanding how the YouTube Partner Program works
First and foremost – Not everyone can earn from by creating videos on YouTube. There are certain conditions and requirements a creator must fulfill before they can become eligible to enter the YouTube Partner Program and monetize their videos. In a nutshell, this is what you need to know about the YouTube Partner Program:
- Requirements: In order for a YouTube channel to be eligible to join the YouTube Partner Program, it needs to reach 4000 watch hours and over 1000 subscribers in the previous 12 months. All YouTube creators are allowed to join as long as the program is available in their country.
- How it works: The YouTube Partner Program allows creators to monetize their content on YouTube by allowing advertisements to be served on their videos and from YouTube Premium subscribers watching their content.
- AdSense revenue: Google pays out 68% of the AdSense revenue, meaning that for every $100 an advertiser pays, the publisher will receive $68. The rates that an advertiser pays varies between $0.10 to $0.30 per view. The average is $0.18 per ad view.
- The average payout: On average, a YouTube channel can receive up to $18 per 1000 ad views. This means that for every 1000 video views, the channel will receive somewhere between $3 and $5.
Creators can apply to join the YouTube Partner Program from their account in Creator Studio. After you have applied to join the YouTube Partner Program, you should expect to receive an email with details on the status of your application. These are the steps you need to take in order to apply to join the YouTube Partner Program.
In order to make sure you meet the requirements and conditions set by YouTube, you can check your Watch Time and subscribers in YouTube Analytics. For more details, refer to the official YouTube Partner Program support guide.
Metrics that matter – Learn the basic ad models
Now that you know how the YouTube Partner Program works, you should know how your earnings are affected. YouTube creators get paid based on these two metrics:
- CPC or Cost Per Click, refers to the price an advertiser pays each time a visitor clicks on the ad. These are the adverts that require your viewers to click on the ad for you to earn anything. The ad revenue is collected when a viewer clicks on the ad, thus the name of the advert – Cost Per Click.
- CPM or Cost per 1000 impressions. For it to be counted as a view for payment, a viewer must watch the ad for at least 30 seconds or half of the ad of a shorter video.
- CPE or Cost per engagement differs from the two aforementioned ad types. With these ads, the advertiser pays only when a user interacts with the ad in a different way other than just clicking on it.
- Active View CPM only takes into account those viewable impressions, and the advertiser only pays for those impressions that are counted as viewable. Meaning that for the impressions to be deemed viewable, at least 50% of the ad must be displayed on-screen for at least one second.
CPM’s are mostly used for driving awareness and brand engagement. Advertisers usually choose a niche that their ad is most related to. For instance, if they want to promote their discount prices for holiday vacations, they tend to reach travel/adventure YouTube channels and place ads on travel videos.
CPC’s, on the other hand, are used for a totally different purpose. Advertisers turn to Cost Per Click ads on YouTube whenever they want to raise revenue, drive conversions, visits, sales, etc. When the viewer clicks on the ad, they’re taken directly to the promoted site and the creator is paid for the cost of that click.
We mentioned that with CPE’s, advertisers expect some sort of particular behavior. Examples of such interactions may include:
- Taking a poll
- Taking a product tour
- Signing up for an email newsletter
Basically, advertisers only pay when the visitor engages with their ad in a way that goes beyond clicking.
Out of the four main ad bidding types, CPC is the most popular, then comes CPM on the second place, and then CPE, and Active View CPM.
The factors that influence how much YouTube pays
There are various factors that come into play when the question of exactly how much YouTube pays is being asked. Because there are so many factors that influence the earning potential, the exact sum varies from one situation to another.
By doing extensive research and cross-referencing our information with other credible sources, we have managed to assemble every relevant factor that plays a role in your potential earning on YouTube:
- Ad-skipping reduces the payment
- Watch time
- Audience retention
- Quality of traffic
- The quality of the ads play a vital role
- Video length impacts the number of ads placed
- Audience ad-blockers impact the demographic reach of the advert
- YouTube’s monetization policy chooses which videos can be monetized via AdSense
Don’t forget the most important part of what YouTube pays – being a good enough channel to actually earn money!
Date: November 22, 2018 / Categories: Analytics, Statistics, / Author: Rich Drees
