Are you searching for ways to make income as a side hustle? Looking for something that you can do by giving 2-3 hrs every day? Give Youtube Shorts a try.
Before we explore how to make money from Youtube shorts, let’s understand what a Youtube short is. As the name implies, Youtube Short is a short video with a runtime ranging between 30 secs to 1 minute. After the massive popularity of Instagram Reels and the rise of short-form video content, Youtube decided to launch a similar platform- Shorts. It is a tremendous opportunity for every creator to showcase their talent and make money from Youtube shorts.
Did you know Youtube Shorts receive 50 billion views daily on the platform and it is rapidly increasing with increase in the popularity of the platform.
Youtube could be a scary platform for beginners, but it’s easy to make money here as a side hustle if you know the right strategies and know how to generate quality content. Youtube Shorts is a huge win for the creators as it helps increase views and engagement for creators which is not easier with long videos.
According to reports, YouTube Shorts continue to grow by 135 percent every year and have over 1.5 billion monthly users.
Are you curious about the potential earnings and if it’s even possible to monetize YouTube Shorts? If your answer is YES, here are the top 5 strategies to make money from youtube.
- YouTube Partner Program –
One of the primary ways of earning from Youtube shorts is by joining the Youtube Partner Program. The YouTube Partner Program is a revenue-sharing model in which the creators earn a share of the ad revenue. It is estimated that YouTube provides $3 per 1,000 views to Shorts creators but as per the VidIQ report, current short content creators make way less than these figures.
In 2023, YouTube announced that creators will be eligible for Youtube Partner Program when they meet specific criteria like –
- reaching 500 subscribers
- 3000 valid watch hours in the last 1 year
or
- 3 public million Shorts views in the last 90 days.
(Note: these criteria are currently applicable for creators based out of the US, UK, Canada, Taiwan, and South Korea only. Youtube will soon apply these regulations in other markets as well.)
Youtube also offers some additional monetization strategies like paid chat, channel memberships, shopping features and tipping for smaller creators.
2. Revenue Sharing for YouTube Shorts
Youtube has introduced Ad revenue sharing for Shorts. In the Youtube Shorts Feed, ads play between the clips and creators get a cut of the revenue on these ads. This feature allows creators to earn a regular YouTube Shorts income from short-form content on the platform.
There are 4 steps in Youtube’s Ad Revenue sharing funnel –
- Collect Ad Revenue – Every month, revenue from ads running between videos in the Shorts Feed is added up and used to reward creators and cover the costs of music licensing.
- Calculate the Creator Pool – This ad revenue is then to the Creator Pool based on views and music use across Shorts uploaded by the creators.
- Allocate Creator Pool – The revenue from Creator Pool is distributed among monetizing creators based on their total views.
- Creator Payment – Creators keep 45% of their allocated revenue, regardless of whether music is used or not.
Check out how Ad revenue sharing works with Youtube Shorts and how creators get their payments –
According to YouTube, “each month revenue from ads running between videos in the Shorts Feed gets added together and used to both reward creators and help cover costs of music licensing”. The more Shorts views you accumulate, the greater your earning potential through revenue sharing.
3. Create Sponsored Content
Creating Sponsored Content is one of the most profitable ways to make YouTube shorts income. Brands are willing to pay creators to promote their products or services through Youtube videos and Shorts.
Small companies are created every day and their aim is to be seen by their target audience. Look for companies aligned with your content niche and negotiate payment based on the number of views and engagement your channel generates.
Use this Youtube Money Calculator to calculate the value of your Youtube Channel and set reasonable rates for sponsored content.
Remember to maintain transparency and disclose any sponsored content according to YouTube’s guidelines.
4. Affiliate Product Sales
Another way to make money from youtube is by joining reputable affiliate programs like Amazon Associates program, Hubspot Affiliate Program and many more.
You can share product links with your subscribers and every time someone makes a purchase using your affiliate link, you can earn a small percentage of the revenue as your commission.
Since adding links directly in Shorts is not currently possible, consider placing the affiliate links in a pinned comment or on your YouTube profile page.
5. Sell a Product or Service
If you are a business owner, or sell online, whether physical or digital products, Youtube Shorts is a rich platform to promote your product or service with your audience.
Showcasing your products or demonstrating your services through Shorts will increase the reach of your product to numerous people and has a higher chance of converting viewers into customers.
This generates additional revenue and also helps build your brand and attract potential customers. Don’t forget to include important links and call-to-action in your Shorts’ descriptions or pinned comments to draw viewers to your channel.
Bonus Tips –
Also, consider leveraging Youtube Premium. Currently, more than 26.7M people have a YouTube Premium account. Create valuable and informative content that is exclusive to Youtube Premium members. Since these viewers have purchased YouTube Premium membership, the profit that Youtube earns from these users is shared with you.
Additionally, consider offering Channel membership. With channel membership, viewers can pay a membership fee to access exclusive content and resources. Offer perks like educational content, exclusive offers, coupons, free ebooks, or behind-the-scenes access to compensate for the memberships. Check out the Youtube Monetization Trends for 2023.
Youtube long-form videos combined with Shorts is an explosive combo which will help you reach the views and engagement to make the Youtube earning you always dreamt of.
From being eligible for YPP and ad revenue sharing to getting sponsored deals and sharing affiliate links, you can turn your passion into a profitable side hustle.
Whether you are selling your services or marketing other’s products, the profit is going into your pocket.
Remember, to ensure your eligibility for monetization and protect your earnings, it is important that you must follow YouTube’s guidelines and policies. Familiarize yourself with the Youtube’s Community Guidelines, Copyright policies, and Terms of Service.
Now that you have all this information about how to make money from YouTube shorts, get up and begin your YouTube side hustle today.
