I'm a YouTuber with 120k subscribers and about .5M

I'm a YouTuber with 120k subscribers and about .5M

I'm a YouTuber with 120k subscribers and about .5M views/mo.  The simple answer is: it varies...a LOT.

My channel makes from $3k-6k/mo.  But, that is unusually high for the amount of views I receive.  Here's the breakdown.

You basically get paid 4 ways:

• ad revenue
• channel sponsor revenue
• sponsored videos
• referral/affiliate programs

Ad revenue:
- you get 50% of ad earnings, youtube gets the other 50
- If you belong to a YouTube network i.e. Maker, they get another 50%
- About 50% of views are "monetizable" i.e. receive an ad.  This varies depending on your audience.
- My CPM (cost-per-1,000 ad views) is extremely high at $15-26.  Many channels are closer to $8 CPM again, this is due to my tech category.  CPM also changes a lot throughout the year.  Christmas is very high as companies are all advertizing, while Jan-Mar months will see half of Dec.

I'm not a part of a network, so for rougly .5M views/mo, I receive $1,500-$3,500/mo in ad revenue

Channel Sponsor Revenue i.e. viewer donations:
- while channel sponsorships may yield good results for some channels, few people click my "sponsor this channel" button.

I receive about $50/mo from channel sponsors

Sponsored Videos:
- Like CPM, sponsored video rates depend a lot on the audience.  Sponsored-content videos pay $40-$200 CPM and you get 100% of the revenue.

From time to time, I'll do sponsored videos, for $400-$1,000

Referral/Affiliate Programs
- Again, depending on your category, referring products may be a viable opportunity.  Many affiliate programs offer ongoing profit sharing, while some simply give you an up-front cost for signups/purchases.

I make $1,000-$2,000/mo in affiliate referrals.

Straight in there with the killer question, you shrewd lot. Well, the answer is a bit of a mixed bag really, if we’re honest.

While you might be lucky and find a video clip of yours goes viral and earns you £100,000 (like the guy who uploaded a clip of one of his son’s biting the other one’s finger), this is very unlikely. That said, if you have got something funny, by all means give it a shot.

You’re much more likely to build up revenue by getting an audience through constant content, whether you’re making vlogs, cat videos or just talking about custard creams.

You might remember the tale of 17 year old Fred Pye – he hit the news recently forearning £24,000 a year by making walk-throughs for Grand Theft Auto.

But as we said, it isn’t all like this. Livie Rose, a beauty blogger from Brighton says her pay fluctuates from thousands one month to £50 the next, and some people only report a few pounds here and there.

• Most people think of YouTube (GOOG) as a place to find instructional videos, watch music videos or to waste time. Another group of people, however, look at YouTube as a major revenue source for their online business. In fact, the highest paid Youtube channel is DC Toys Collector who has earned $4.9 million with her channel DC Toys Collector. Making money with YouTube takes some time and effort, but those efforts can pay off with big money.

• Create an Account and Turn on AdSense

• The first step to making money with YouTube is to sign up for an account. If you have a Gmail account, or use any products that require a Google account, you already have an account to use that you just need to link to YouTube via the YouTube account page. Once your YouTube account is up and running, your next step is to link to an AdSense account. AdSense is the primary advertising engine Google uses on its own sites and partner sites, including YouTube. When you create your AdSense account, you will need to input payment information and provide tax reporting information such as a social security number or employee ID number (EIN) for your business.
• Make Videos

• Your next step is creating the actual videos. There is no universal model for what works and what doesn’t work on YouTube. Some of the most popular content include professionally produced music videos and impromptu family videos recorded with a smart phone. If you want to record with a phone, you likely already have your camera in your pocket. Recording in HD will produce a better quality video, so be sure to use the highest quality possible on your phone. If you want an even more professional video, you can use a DSLR camera and external microphone.

• Once you finish recording, you can edit your video with a desktop program like the free Windows Movie Maker or iMovie, which come with new computers, or a paid program like Adobe Premiere for more robust features. YouTube also has a free editor with basic features. As you edit your video, be sure you don’t use copyrighted music. If you do, your videos won’t be eligible for YouTube advertising.

• Upload to YouTube and Configure for SEO

• Now that your video is complete, it is time to upload your video to the YouTube servers. You can drag and drop videos from your computer into the uploader, or you can add them individually by clicking on the upload arrow. Depending on the size of your video and your Internet connection, uploading could last anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. You can upload multiple videos at a time as long as you do not close the upload page in your browser.

• When your video is uploaded, or while it is uploading, you can fill out information about it. Be as detailed as possible when creating a title, description, category, and tags. YouTube is the second largest search enginein the world, and good search engine optimization (SEO) can be the difference between a few views and a few million views.

• Promote Your Video

• Now that your video is online, it’s time to get the word out. Share your video on social networks, blogs, forums, message boards and anywhere else you can online. You can embed your video on other sites or link to the video so viewers can watch it on YouTube. Just be careful to avoid spamming because that would result in fewer views for your videos.

• Your AdSense earnings are determined by the number of views the video receives, which advertisers show up on your video, and how many times the ads are clicked. High engagement and clicks are more important than total views, but the more views you receive, the higher likelihood of clicks. Depending on your video’s engagement levels, you can earn anywhere from 30 cents to $10 per 1,000 views. Making videos that people will actively watch until the end will earn you more than a video where people click away after only a few seconds.

• The Bottom Line

• As long as your videos are being watched, YouTube income is passive after the video is posted. Keep track of which videos perform the best and create videos with a similar topic. As your video library and views grow, so will your income.

In response to these blown out of proportion numbers / answers. Sure, you can gross "$100,000"-- but don't forget the costs. And, your time.

Business Insider did some napkin math for those of you thinking of quitting your jobs this second to make a channel.
Here is what they had to say:

In other words, Kay is probably getting by on less than 50% of what her videos make in gross revenue. In a $100,000 year, she might be looking at $21,000 annually, after YouTube's cut, taxes and editing costs, according to our back-of the-envelope math ($100,000 minus $45,000 for YouTube, minus editing costs at $500 per week for 50 weeks, minus 30% for the IRS).

I feel like they used a low number and didn't think that she said she EARNED 100k, but it's still something to think about. It's not necessarily free money falling from the sky.

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Real world example from my circle: 

Living in California, you meet all these amateur YT folks. 
I have a good friend who actually is "successful" doing it. 
She turned down a Google job offer to maintain her YouTube channel. 
It's a full time job like anything else. Sure, it's more rewarding than flipping a burger and many other things, but she spends a heck of a lot of time and weekends crafting what she'll do next.