How do "influencers" make money on YouTube?

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infinity ag
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8:04a, 5/11/23
Let's say that I have a channel and I have $1M subscribers. Each video I put out there garners $1M views I put out 1 video a month.

How much will I make?
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jamey
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8:11a, 5/11/23
AG
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McNasty
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8:19a, 5/11/23
AG
Product placement and sponsorship is where the real money comes from.
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JuanDurfel
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In reply to infinity ag • 8:36a, 5/11/23
AG
infinity ag said:
Let's say that I have a channel and I have $1M subscribers. Each video I put out there garners $1M views I put out 1 video a month.

How much will I make?
in this age of "influencing" it's a lot more than just calculating revenue based on X amount of subscribers on your channel.

Social influencing results in "You" becoming an entire digital (and sometimes physical brand).
> Youtube channel
> Live streaming on Twitch or other live stream platform
> Routine posting of content/reels to instagram/facebook/tiktok, etc. (cross-posted across all social media for maximum engagement)
> Brand deals and advertisements that are posted to said social media platforms
> Using your 'brand' to develop your own product/commodity that you can sell (e.g. Mr. Beast and his Burger & Feastables). People buy your product b/c they like/recognize your brand.

Also, Youtube is very algorithm driven.. and heavily favors channels that post regularly.. thus if only posting once a month, the algorithm might suppress your channel.. even if you have 1M+ subs. At the end of the day, the subs don't matter, it's the views/advertisements/engagement.
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gvine07
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11:29a, 5/11/23
AG
I don't think views are a very good metric anymore - they are very easy to game.

It's all about engagement and your niche. One of my coworkers has a Youtube and Instagram - she only has ~11,000 followers but they're very engaged. She gets sponsors worth $2,000-$10,000 to do different things. Sometimes it's for her to wear a breathing strip, or to document a trip. She has a price for a mention in her story, more for her post, and more for long videos. If the sponsor wants language in the contract that she can't use competing products, then she makes sure they pay a premium for that. As far as I know she doesn't get any money directly from Youtube or Instagram, and she has to find the sponsors on her own.
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Kenneth_2003
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12:36p, 5/11/23
AG
Another avenue is Patreon. So your viewers that want to can pay you directly for exclusive content. Maybe it's outakes or bloopers or disagree that just didn't make the final cut.

Viewer/subscriber engagement is often key and very time consuming
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gigemhilo
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3:46p, 5/11/23
AG
I have a couple clients that do Youtube videos. Its pretty shocking what they make - but you have to do something that is interesting enough for people to watch.

or just shake your butt.
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htxag09
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In reply to gvine07 • 10:51a, 5/12/23
AG
gvine07 said:
I don't think views are a very good metric anymore - they are very easy to game.

It's all about engagement and your niche. One of my coworkers has a Youtube and Instagram - she only has ~11,000 followers but they're very engaged. She gets sponsors worth $2,000-$10,000 to do different things. Sometimes it's for her to wear a breathing strip, or to document a trip. She has a price for a mention in her story, more for her post, and more for long videos. If the sponsor wants language in the contract that she can't use competing products, then she makes sure they pay a premium for that. As far as I know she doesn't get any money directly from Youtube or Instagram, and she has to find the sponsors on her own.
And this is why it stops making sense to me. I mean watching videos because you enjoy the content (Dude Perfect, for example) is one thing.

But people like my wife who follow influencers for fashion, etc. don't make sense to me. All they're doing is pushing product they're paid to push. Sure, they could filter that to only stuff they like, but, bottom line, if they aren't being paid they aren't going to recommend it....
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Kenneth_2003
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11:42a, 5/12/23
AG
As others have alluded to, it's not just the views on YouTube. YouTube will even demonitize a video if something within it violates their TOS or content policy. Most of the YouTubers that are making any "real" money are monetizing something else.

They've been paid for product placement within a video or a series of videos. This is dirt cheap and targeting advertising for companies.

They're selling merchandise of their own -- tshirts, coffee mugs, artwork, photographs, etc.

Exclusive or member only content. (Both porn and not porn here)

Services -- their social media in turn drives people to their business
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ABATTBQ11
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4:06p, 5/12/23
AG
Simply put, they make money the exact same way celebrities do: They do something to get a lot of people to pay attention to them, and then they get people to pay them for those people's attention.

How do the Kardashians make **** tons of money? They got a reality show because they have huge butts and people watched for the big butts. They turned that into a brand, and they used that brand as a marketing vehicle for sponsorships, partnerships, product lines, etc. Now they're rich AF.

Influencers do the same thing, but replace reality show with popular social media following and big butts with entertaining/informative videos/posts.
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reproag
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In reply to infinity ag • 10:54a, 5/20/23
AG
infinity ag said:
Let's say that I have a channel and I have $1M subscribers. Each video I put out there garners $1M views I put out 1 video a month.

How much will I make?
Travis from Shop Nation breaks his YouTube income down every year. Here is 2020's 100K subs

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Charismatic Megafauna
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In reply to ABATTBQ11 • 8:17p, 5/21/23
AG
ABATTBQ11 said:

How do the Kardashians make **** tons of money? They got a reality show because they have huge butts and people watched for the big butts. They turned that into a brand, and they used that brand as a marketing vehicle for sponsorships, partnerships, product lines, etc. Now they're rich AF.

Nb: the kardashians started out rich af, because their dad was a very successful attorney and put a cherry on top of his kids inheritance by helping get oj acquitted. Kim is such a narcissist that she leaked a sex tape to try and get the world to care about her, and apparently it worked
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evan_aggie
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8:21a, 5/22/23
AG
Feet pics.
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AggieMainland
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9:08a, 5/22/23
1 video a month is poor. The most profitable youtuber have daily or near daily videos. The algorithm rewards you for more videos. With 1 video a month, you might have a bunch of subscribers but you've video won't be recommended to them since you don't post enough. They can go out of their way to find the video and watch but the most videos come when the youtube algorithm likes your account (you are a money maker for them) and they highlight to others when they log in.
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GoAgs92
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10:13a, 5/22/23
AG
To make top tier money on that junk is a full time job, and by full time it's practically 24/7, you have to engage with your followers all day every day.

This is why you see this "influencer" that "influencer" committed suicide. Only the tip of the iceberg get famous and make the big big bucks. Not only that one slip up or 20 year old tweet with a forbidden word and it's over.
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Scud Runner
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In reply to GoAgs92 • 10:40a, 5/22/23
GoAgs92 said:
To make top tier money on that junk is a full time job, and by full time it's practically 24/7, you have to engage with your followers all day every day.

This is why you see this "influencer" that "influencer" committed suicide. Only the tip of the iceberg get famous and make the big big bucks. Not only that one slip up or 20 year old tweet with a forbidden word and it's over.


Understatement. I've seen it up close and there's no amount of money I'd take to live that life.
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62strat
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In reply to infinity ag • 2:53p, 5/22/23
AG
infinity ag said:
Let's say that I have a channel and I have $1M subscribers. Each video I put out there garners $1M views I put out 1 video a month.

How much will I make?
I'm gonna guess $1M.
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Foamcows
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1:58p, 5/23/23
AG
length of video, genre of content, if you allow ads to be inserted will all impact how much you tube pays per view.
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