You can earn money on YouTube without 1,000 subscribers through affiliate marketing, selling your own digital products (ebooks, courses) or physical merchandise, offering services (coaching, freelancing), securing brand deals (influencer marketing), and using fan funding features like YouTube Shopping or Super Thanks, all by focusing on providing value, optimizing videos for search, and building a niche community.
To generate revenue from ads and from YouTube Premium, as well as merch and fan funding, YouTube channels will need to hit the following targets: 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months OR. 1,000 subscribers with 10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days.
To make $2,000 a month on YouTube from ad revenue, you generally need 400,000 to 1 million monthly views, depending heavily on your niche's CPM (cost per mille/thousand views) and RPM (revenue per mille), but many creators report needing 500,000 to 1 million+ views for a comfortable living, with high-value niches like finance potentially reaching it with fewer views and lower-value niches needing significantly more, plus other income streams like sponsorships.
Sharing Content from other Creators. One of the easiest and most popular ways to make money on YouTube without making your videos is by sharing content from other creators. This method is about curating and posting videos created by others, a practice often called aggregation.
YouTube is capable of detecting fake subscribers. It has special tools and systems in place to detect foul play in accounts. If they consider that a channel has manipulated the system and violated YouTube's Terms of Service, they will take action against that channel as they see fit.
To make $1,000 on YouTube, you generally need between 100,000 to 500,000 views, but this varies wildly, often requiring 250,000 to over 1 million views depending on your niche (finance pays more than gaming), ad engagement (RPM), audience location, and if you use other income streams like sponsorships, as YouTube's payout is roughly $1-$10 per 1,000 views (CPM/RPM).
Creators in eligible countries can apply to the expanded YouTube Partner Program when they reach either of the below eligibility thresholds: Get 500 subscribers with 3 valid public uploads in the last 90 days, and 3,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months, or.
To make $5,000 a month on YouTube, you generally need 500,000 to over 1 million views monthly, but this varies wildly based on your niche (finance pays more than gaming), viewer location (US/UK pays more), video length, and if you use other income streams like affiliate marketing, sponsorships, or digital products, which can help you reach $5k with fewer views. High CPM (cost per mille/thousand views) niches and longer videos boost earnings significantly, making $5k achievable with fewer views than low CPM niches.
The "30-second rule" on YouTube refers to the critical first moments of a video, where creators must hook viewers within about 30 seconds to get them to keep watching, as YouTube registers meaningful engagement after this mark, impacting visibility and watch time. It's a key focus for audience retention, with strategies involving dynamic editing (B-roll, angles), emotional hooks, and clear value propositions, but it's distinct from copyright myths about using 30-second music clips.
Ways to make money in the YouTube Partner Program
Is it hard to make money on YouTube? Making money on YouTube requires consistency and hard work. You'll be competing against thousands of other content creators, so you need to create high-quality videos that engage your viewers and provide them value.
How many views do you need on YouTube to get paid? YouTube's threshold for payouts is $100. This means you must generate $100 in revenue in order to transfer the money you make from YouTube to your bank account. At a CPM of $7.84, you'd need 12,755 views to receive a payout.
For example, An RPM of $3 earns you $3,000 at 1,000,000 views. Look at similar channels: If you aren't monetized yet, look at similar channels. Many YouTubers even have a “What I make” type video. Dive into your analytics: You can see (and replicate) content with high RPM and views, that earned you a lot.
Let's look at the most effective and up-to-date ways to grow your YouTube channel and reach that 1,000-subscriber milestone faster.
Side hustle ideas are everywhere.
YouTube Premium subscription revenue sharing for Shorts
This offering also applies to engaged views on Shorts. YouTube will pay 45% of the net revenue from YouTube Premium that is allocated to monetizing creators for Shorts.
At 1,000 subscribers, Partners are able to unlock ad revenue and start earning money from the ads shown on their videos.
The original "Baby Shark" video by Pinkfong is now the most viewed video on the site.
How Much Do Small YouTubers Make? YouTube pays creators based on cost per mile (CPM). A small YouTuber can earn between $50 to $100 per month. However, the earning rates may vary from a few cents, depending on multiple factors.
Sign in to your AdSense for YouTube account. On the left, select AdSense for YouTube. Your current balance for your YouTube earnings and your last payment amount shows. You can also access YouTube-specific resources.
To make $10,000 a month on YouTube, you generally need millions of views, often ranging from 1 million to 2 million+ monthly views, depending heavily on your niche, viewer location, watch time (RPM/CPM), and monetization methods beyond just ads, as ad revenue alone (averaging $0.01-$0.03/view) is low, while finance/tech niches can earn much more per view than vlogs/gaming.
While creators will still need to hit 4,000 watch time hours and 1,000 subscribers to earn ad revenue on YouTube, they only have to hit 3,000 hours of YouTube watch time and 500 subscribers to access the early route to the program.
What kind of content can I monetize?
Turn on ads for individual videos