YouTube has become the tank of content, and not just a video streaming platform. According to an analysis by Statistics Brain, a whooping 1,325,000,000 audience use YouTube, 4,950,000,000 videos are watched daily, approx 3.25 billion hours are consumed on YouTube videos every month. If this data is taken into consideration, then it will wise to say that YouTube influencers are more popular than our traditional celebrities.

For sure, these YouTube stars do not provide their content and entertainment free of cost. They do not invest their time and energy on the platform for philanthropic reasons. With the increasing popularity of YouTube, these stars have realized that it’s the perfect platform to make money, which can turn into serious good money, if you manage to mark your attendance in the list of famous and top ranked influential persons.

Now, the question arises – How successful YouTube influencers make money? It’s certainly not the case where you upload a video, sit back and wait to make money. The reality is same as of every other website – To earn money on YouTube, you need to create quality and engaging content attracting traffic which, by any means, convert. Let’s assume your content posses such quality; here are some ways you can make money on YouTube.

1. Advertising Revenue: Everyone knows YouTube is owned by Google, so it’s very easy to sign up for Google ad sense and latch ads to your videos. These ads are different for people who view your video, depending upon the web surfing history of the viewer.

 While most of the people may take it as free money, the fact is the vast majority of people who sign up for ad sense, receives a very little or no money in return. Although its not clearly stated or disclosed, Google takes about 45% of what advertisers pay. In reality, you earn in between $1 to $2 per 1000 views (CPM), which changes regularly. To count a ‘view’, viewers have to fully watch the ad. Another way is to apply CPC (Cost per click) ads on your YouTube page, where you rely on people who actually click your ad.

One of the most important things for an average YouTube user is, there is minimum payout threshold of $100. It means, that if you do not earn enough money, Google will never pay you at all, turning the table towards traffic. Just like every other websites, if you manage to build a decent traffic, you will reach a point where the Google’s threshold is exceeds, and you can start getting payments from them.

2. Joining a MCN (Multi Channel Network): If you manage a successful, high traffic and engaging YouTube channel, it would be wise to consider joining a MCN aka Multi Channel Network. Some of better knowns are Fullscreen, Cinecurry, Freedom etc. To explain MCN in a layman language, MCN is an entity which affiliates with various YouTube channels, often offering assistance to content creators in spaces like product programming, funding, cross promotion, digital rights, audience development etc. In other words, they are talent agents.

In return of the revenue generated by Ad Sense (or any other form MCN arranges for you), they felicitate deals for you and connect you with various other YouTube talent. Living in the right place, your MCN may even provide you a studio for content creation.

If you are an out of the box talent, these entities will surely boost your growth. If your star shines, you could be invited to their original productions. They are the best source to get the mass exposure for truly talented ones.

3. Product Placement: Once you have established yourself on this platform, there is more room for sponsorship opportunities. You can register your channel on the Various Influencer platforms such as vuroll.com for collaboration opportunities with leading Brands.

In this, the vuroll will help you to collaborate with brands to achieve the sponsorship opportunity with brand’s product in your video. This could be on simple levels like wearing branded apparel, or driving a particular car model. Only, a simple recommendation of a product can also provide an endorsement. This is yet another example, how trends have shifted to YouTube videos from movies and TV. If your videos are good enough, with tremendously large audience, sponsors recognize your influencer, as important as of traditional media.