Day 24: Making Money on YouTube

Money.

Pink Floyd says it’s a gas. Liza claims it makes the world go ’round. And according to Michael Jackson, people lie for it, spy for it, kill for it, die for it. Needless to say, money is a pretty important part of our lives. So can you imagine making six-figures worth of it by uploading videos to YouTube? According to this New York Times article, this seemingly impossible feat is actually a reality for some YouTube stars who have turned hobby into full-time internet career.

YouTube – which has over 100 million views per day – opened the door for much larger audiences for some independent content creators. Over time, these YouTubers are quitting their day jobs in exchange for YouTube sponsorship and advertising revenue.

But exactly how does it all work? One of the biggest road blocks in verifying YouTube salaries is that YouTube users, upon getting accepted into the Partnership Program, are required to sign a confidentiality agreement that prohibits them from divulging any financial information.

However, an article from Yahoo Finance recently reported annual earnings of some YouTube partners – and several prominent figures on YouTube claim the numbers are accurate. The article details ten YouTube stars who earned over $100,000 the previous year from the website. These people are not associated with major companies or brands, and instead built their following from the ground up.

So let’s break it down. Advertising revenue is based on the number of views a video gets. Revenue is generated by CPM (Cost-per-mille, or cost per 1,000 views), and according to reports, the average CPM ranges from somewhere between $0.75 to $2.00.

For example, take this video from Ray William Johnson, the second-most subscribed YouTube channel of all time, which has received 3,638,347 views to date.

If we go by those reported numbers, the revenue would factor out like so:

3,638,347 views /1,000 views (CPM) = 3,638.35

3,638.35  x  0.75 = $2,728.76 (lowest range)

3,683.35  x  2.0 = $7,366.70 (highest range)

So this particular video could generate anything from $2,700 to $7,300 in advertising revenue. Those earnings are then divided between YouTube and the partner. So for Ray, this video could earn him anywhere from $1,300 to $3,600. As of today, Ray has uploaded just over 180 videos. If his viewership is consistent, he could have earned up to $650,000 from his YouTube channel alone!

$3,600  x 180 videos = $648,000

Of course, this is the exception and not the rule, as it has been reported that only 3% of YouTube’s content is from its Partners. Obviously these numbers are appealing, and would be great motivation for anyone to want to become a YouTube partner, but it definitely takes time and persistence.

Other reported YouTube partner annual earnings include:

• Shane Dawson – $315,000 (annual views = 431,787,450)
• The Annoying Orange – $288,000 (annual views = 349,753,047)
• Philip DeFranco – $181,000 (annual views = 248,735,032)
• Ryan Higa – $151,000 (annual views = 206,979,909)
• Fred Figglehorn – $146,000 (annual views = 200,656,150)
• Smosh – $113,000 (annual views = 154,936,876)

When it comes to content, the Partnership Program is pretty much a win-win for YouTube and its partners. When provided with a steady source of income, partners are motivated to hone their video-making skills and produce higher-quality content for the site. YouTube, in turn, gets better content and greater views.

In the end, is it worth it? For someone to think they could be making that kind of money right off the bat would be insane. Some of the partners have been on YouTube for years, but only became partners and started earning money this past year. It takes a lot of time, energy, and imagination to keep viewers watching and subscriptions intact. But for someone with great ideas, charisma, and a lot of time on their hands, YouTube could be a viable career option.

To learn how to apply for the YouTube Partnership Program, watch my tutorial video here.

Day 23: Finding Royalty-Free Music For YouTube

If you’ve kept up with my blog posts and YouTube videos, you’ve probably noticed the recurring theme of copyright infringement on YouTube.

Let’s say you’re a vlogger hoping to go “viral” on YouTube with your videos, but you use copyrighted music in the background of your videos. What could happen?

1. In the best case scenario, YouTube will do nothing to your video, and run advertisements in the video in which the payments do directly to the record label. For someone hoping to make money off of their YouTube videos, this option is not ideal. For example, I’ve posted one video in which I used Elton John’s “Honky Cat” as my background music, and have yet to be contacted from the site about this copyright issue.
2. In the worst case scenario, YouTube has the authority to remove any/all of the audio from your videos or just remove the video entirely.

If you want to add a popular copyrighted track to your videos the legal way, there are several tedious (and expensive) steps to take. If I wanted to legally use “Honky Cat” in the video of my cat doing cute things, I would have to purchase mechanical rights, public performance royalties, synchronization and transcription rights, publishing rights, neighboring rights, and master use rights. At this point, my wallet will have died from sheer exhaustion!

Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to forego music entirely for your videos – there are plenty of avenues for selecting royalty-free music that is perfectly legal for YouTube. Creative Commons-licensed music can be found easily and used at no fee to the video creator. However, Creative Commons is not to be confused with “public domain,” and there are restrictions.

For example, if you are planning to use music in a video for commercial works and/or you’re planning on making money off of the video, you cannot use a Creative Commons-licensed song without making a separate leasing agreement with the artist or author of the track. That individual may choose to charge you for use of the song, or not allow it to be used at all.

So aside from Creative Commons, what other royalty-free music options do you have?

Incompetech is a great option for finding royalty-free music. It offers a wide variety of royalty free music for use in film and video projects at a good quality and low price. The only thing stipulation is that they require attribution – openly giving credit to the person who created the work. There is a $5 suggested donation, but for YouTubers with a small or non-existent budget, this is probably the best option.

Check out the video below for instructions on how to use Incompetech-provided music for YouTube.

To learn about more options for attaining royalty-free music, check out this blog post.

Day 18: Copyright Infringement on YouTube

When I started learning more about YouTube Partnerships, one of the first thing I researched was how a person should go about becoming a partner. According to YouTube’s Partnership Qualifications page, there are three basic requirements a person has to meet:

You have too…

• Create original videos suitable for online streaming.
• Own or have express permission to use and monetize all audio and video content that you upload—no exceptions.
• Regularly upload videos that are viewed by thousands of YouTube users, or you publish popular or commercially successful videos in other ways (such as DVDs sold online).

On YouTube’s FAQ page, many users have asked why their applications to become a YouTube Partner have been denied. YouTube answered that an account may be found undesirable if that person uses any of the following material without explicit permission of the person who created that material:

• Music (including cover songs, lyrics, and background music)
• Graphics and pictures (including photographs and artwork)
• Movie or TV visuals
• Video game or software visuals. Click here for details.
• Live performances (including concerts, sporting events, and shows)

That got me thinking… I mean, most of the videos I watch on YouTube have some sort of background music playing. If you’ve seen either of these videos, you know what I mean.

Both videos used copyrighted music (Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”, respectively), both videos received millions of views, and both videos are STILL up on YouTube. This got me thinking about copyright infringement and what, exactly, the rules are on YouTube.

So, what is copyright infringement anyway?

According to YouTube…

“Copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner.”

Most often, the reason videos are taken down on YouTube is because they contain unauthorized copies of copyrighted content, and the owners of the copyrighted content alert YouTube that their content is being used without their permission.

YouTube’s copyright infringement page offers some examples of potentially infringing conent:

• TV shows
  • Including sitcoms, sports broadcasts, news broadcasts, comedy shows, cartoons, dramas, etc.
  • Includes network and cable TV, pay-per-view and on-demand TV
• Music videos, such as the ones you might find on music video channels
• Videos of live concerts, even if you captured the video yourself
  • Even if you took the video yourself, the performer controls the right to use his/her image in a video, the songwriter owns the rights to the song being performed, and sometimes the venue prohibits filming without permission, so this video is likely to infringe somebody else’s rights.
• Movies and movie trailers
• Commercials
• Slide shows that include photos or images owned by somebody else

What happens when YouTube finds copyrighted material in your video?

You will most likely first receive an email from YouTube notifying you about your copyright infringemen. From there, a few things can happen.

Your video is matched to third part content

This means that your video has material that’s matched to a third party source (like a record label or television network). In these circumstances, your video will still be available worldwide, although advertisements will be placed in your video in the form of pop-up ads at the bottom of the video screen. These ads, when clicked, generate revenue for the third party source instead of you.

Your video is rejected/banned

If your video is regarded as having “questionable content” such as nudity, violence on others, or inappropriate or derogatory language, YouTube has the right to reject or ban your video. This action may result in your account being flagged, your videos removed from the site, or your account banned all together. Unless you have successfully become a partner with YouTube, they can pretty much say what is and what is not allowed on their site. However, there is something though called “Fair Use.”

YouTube defines FAIR USE as:

“It’s possible that you may be permitted to include small excerpts from copyrighted material in your video if what you intend to use is insubstantial or is incidentally included, or where the intended use you have for the copyrighted material falls within a exception or limitation to copyright under the law in your country.”

However, this depends on the copyright laws within the country in which you live. At this time there is no defined answer as to what is and isn’t allowed in the terms of “fair use.” This is a huge grey area, because some videos (as is the case with the 2 videos above) are allowed on one channel, while other, similar videos are banned completely. Perhaps that thin line depends on the number of views your video receives. Keenan Cahill’s “Teenage Dream” parody has landed him on popular TV shows like Chelsea Lately, Web Soup, and Tosh.0.

YouTube has yet to fully define the paramaters of what they do and don’t allow in copyright infringement cases, but it’s a safe bet to refrain from using copyrighted music in the background of your videos. Instead, I’ll show you how to go about attaining royalty-free music through YouTube in my next post.

Day 11: HowTo Become a YouTube Success (tips from a YouTube partner)

Here is a great video interview with famed YouTube partner Michael Buckley of the WhatTheBuckShow on how he got his start on YouTube, how he went from being suspended on YouTube to becoming a paid, full-time YouTuber, and what he suggests you do (and don’t do) in order to become a partner. I’ll summarize his points below, but watch his video because he’ll make you smile!

Buck’s DOs:

• Uploading videos on Thursdays in the late afternoon is arguably the best time to post, because people are gearing up for the weekend when they watch the most
• Don’t upload several videos at once – space it out for best results
• Keep videos short when you first start out (2-3 minutes,tops)
• Tag your videos appropriately with as many different diverse tags as possible, it boosts your chances of being seen
• How you position and market yourself needs to be ever evolving in order to stay up with the times
• If you want to be successful on YouTube, you have to be present (i.e. you have to be consistently creating new content!)
• Don’t be afraid to ask people to subscribe
• Make a direct video response to the most popular video of the day on YouTube
• Don’t apply for partnerships prematurely – wait until you have enough content, subscribers, views, etc.
• Be engaged and interact with other YouTubers!

Buck’s DON’Ts:

• Don’t mislead people by your video titles (name them after what the content is actually about)
• Don’t use copyrighted music, videos, or other content because you will not be accepted as a partner, and may even get suspended or shut down on YouTube
• Don’t be rude! If you want someone to take a look at your page, be polite and they most likely will!
• Don’t try to please everyone – it’s impossible!
• Don’t call your viewers/subscribers your fans – you’ll sound stupid. Who are you, Julia Roberts??
• Don’t let praise go to your head or mean comments go to your heart

Thanks, Buck!

Day 9: How-To Customize Your YouTube Page (as a non-partner)

As a YouTube partner, you are given much more creative freedom over the appearance of your YouTube channel. You can add personalized banners, backgrounds, and additional images to your page in order to make your page look more appealing.

As someone who is not (yet) a YouTube partner, I wanted to share with the rest of the YouTube neophites out there how to go about customizing your channel. Follow these easy steps to change the colors and profile picture on your page.

How-To Customize Your YouTube Page

1) When you first log-in to YouTube after setting up and verifying your new account, click on your username’s drop-down menu in the top right corner of the page, and select “My Channel.”

2) Once on your channel page, click on the “Themes and Colors” tab at the top of the page.

3) From here, you can select one of the 11 preset YouTube themes or create your own theme.

4) If you select one of the preset color themes, you can modify the colors and text options by clicking “show advanced options” directly below the theme icons. You can also choose a background image to tile on your page in lieu of a solid color.

5) If you want to create a new theme, you will need to click on the “new theme” link  and pick a name for your theme. Like in step #4, here you can change the colors/fonts/background image of your page as well.

Be sure to click “Save Changes” before you exit!

6) To change your channel profile picture, you will need to select “My Account” from the same drop-down menu on the homepage.

7) Once you are directed to your Account Settings page, click the “change” button and select the desired image from your computer. Be sure to save before leaving this page,  and allow up to 30 minutes for YouTube to make the changes.

There you go! A simple, step-by-step guide on how to take your YouTube page from bland to bling! This is your opportunity to really let your personality and tone shine through, so don’t be afraid to experiment with different color and font settings.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions that I may not have covered.

Day 7: Five “Top” YouTube Partners

These YouTube partners may rank either at the top of YouTube’s Channels page OR at the top of my heart. Either way, they’re producing great content, and they have a steady throng of followers/subscribers/fans/worshipers who tune in to see what videos they’ll upload each week. I’ll throw in a clip of each so you can get a better idea of exactly what they’re doing with their time.

NigaHiga

Real Name: Ryan Higa, 21

Category: Partners, Comedians

Rank:

• #1 – Most Subscribed (All Time)
• #1 – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Comedians
• #1 – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Partners

Subscribers: 3,438,668

Channel Description: Japanese-American Ryan Higa and his friends (known as “The Yabo Crew”) make topical comedic commentaries which usually entail Higa ranting alone in front of the camera. He is the most-subscribed YouTuber of all time.

Video Clip: Ryan’s Thoughts on Rebecca Black and Racism…

Smosh

Real Name: Ian Hecox, 23 and Anthony “Tony” Padilla, 23

Category: Partners, Comedians, Entertainment

Rank:

• #4 Most Subscribed (All Time)
• #4 Most Subscribed (All Time) – Comedians
• #4 Most Subscribed (All Time) – Partners
• #6 Most Viewed (All Time) – Comedians

Subscribers: 2,326,661

Channel Description: Web-based comedians who upload videos relating to video games, current event nonsense, and their own random thoughts. They have several supplementary “shows” within Smosh, such as “AskCharlie with Charlie the drunk guinea pig,” “Ian is bored,” and “Lunchtime with Smosh.”

Video Clip: Smosh’s 2010 Video Recap Remix

OMGFacts

Real Name: Gabby Montero, 22 and Emerson Spartz, 23, Adorian Deck,17

Category: Partners, Reporters, Education

Rank:

• #5 – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Reporters
• #10 – Most Viewed (This Week) – Reporters

Subscribers: 343,961

Channel Description:

OMG Facts was originally a Twitter account created by 16-year-old Adorian Deck in September 2009. At various times throughout the day, Adorian would tweet random facts he’d discovered. Within four months, the account had reached 300,000 followers and was being followed by celebrities.

In the meantime, Gaby Montero and Emerson Spartz, founders of GivesMeHope, were inspired by OMG Facts to create a facts site and saw several opportunities. Their first observation: what about people who don’t use Twitter? Second, they thought there must be a better way to choose which facts to publish than the unscientific method Adorian used on Twitter.

Basically, it’s a channel that updates with videos on random facts about, well, random things!

Video Clip:

WhatTheBuckShow

Real Name: Michael Buckley, 35

Category: Partners, Comedians, Pop Culture Commentary

Rank:

• #22 – Most Subscribed (All Time)
• #13 – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Comedians
• #20 – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Partners

Subscribers: 1,040,692

Channel Description: Michael Buckley writes/hosts/produces/edits/writes his own material that mostly covers pop-culture news and current events. He occasionally covers sports and politics but would much rather talk about what happened on X-Factor or Hannah Montana.

Video Clip: Celebrity Gossip – Justin Bieber Works Out!

Michelle Phan

Real Name: Michelle Phan, 23

Category: Guru, Beauty

Rank:

• #1 – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Gurus
• #17 – Most Subscribed (All Time)
• #16 – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Partners

Subscribers: 1,253,710

Channel Description: A makeup artist who, with the help of her friends, gives her loyal subscribers weekly videos on how to apply makeup, style hair, and put together stylish outfits. Target audience is majority female and in the 14-24 demographic age range.

Video Clip: How-To Blow Dry Your Hair

Day 6: Who Are These People Anyway?

Day 5: Becoming a YouTube Partner

Day 4: For Partners Only

I’ve been working on uploading some of my videos to YouTube this week. During my quest, I stumbled upon a rather annoying glitch in the relatively easy video upload process. In choosing your video’s “thumbnail” (i.e. the image that will appear as the static image for your video), YouTube presents you with only three options for your thumbnail selection. They are taken as screen-grabs from your videos, and as you can see from my lovely selection below, they fail to produce images that do not make me look like a lunatic.

“Surely, there is a way to change this,” I rationalized. Many of the videos I see on YouTube have thumbnails that present them as relatively normal-looking human beings. So, I researched this subject a bit on the YouTube ‘Help’ forums, and look what I discovered!

“The use of alternate thumbnails is a feature only available to partners“

In my attempts to set up my account as a vlogging neophite, I came across yet another benefit of becoming a YouTube Partner. You would think that modifications like this would be available to the masses, right? ‘Tis a sad day for the beginner vloggers on YouTube.

Now, on to my next vlog which I will record in the hopes of looking relatively normal in one of the screen grabs.

 

On a totally unrelated note: Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Day 3: Advantages & Disadvantags of YouTube Partnerships

What’s all the fuss about YouTube Partnerships anyway? Why would someone want to devote hours/days/weeks of their time sitting in front of a camera or hunch-backed over a computer editing videos to upload to YouTube? In this post, I’ll go over some of the top advantages (and disadvantages, for that matter) of becoming an official YouTube Partner.

Advantages

You make money from advertising revenue sharing

Perhaps the biggest draw of becoming a YouTube partner is the presented opportunity of actually cashing in on the videos you make. The advertising revenue generated by your page is contingent on how many viewers click-through on your online advertisements (pay-per-click; PPC) and how many people actually view your video (CPM; cost-per-mille, or cost per thousand viewers). The CPM is a flat rate of$20.00 per 1,000 views of your video. The advertising revenue made from your YouTube page is then divided between YouTube, the AdSense publisher, and the partner who has provided the video itself.

Unfortunately for us non-parters, existing YouTube Partners are required to sign a confidentiality agreement precluding them from talking about their ad-generated revenue on YouTube. Because of this, it is difficult to know with certainty the exact earnings of most of these users. I’ll go into more detail about this in a later post.

You receive greater exposure on YouTube

Second to the money you receive from your videos comes the elevated exposure on YouTube. When you become a partner, your videos are put at the very top of search lists. This increases your likelihood of views, and subsequently, the number of subscriptions to your channel. Both of these elements contribute to your success as a YouTube Partner.

You’re offered more customization options for your channel

For anyone like me who has just started making videos, you become instantly aware of how little control you have over the appearance of your page and videos. For instance, you are only able to choose from 3 thumbnail images to represent your video. These 3 snapshots are pulled by YouTube from your video, and are often quite unflattering.

Partners of YouTube can customize their channel pages with skins – backgrounds tailored to your brand’s image, colors, logos, etc. They can choose their own video snapshots to use as the thumbnail, or they can use any JPEG picture from their photo library instead. Partner are afforded with a much higher level of control over their video content compared to non-partners.

You have proprietary rights over your videos

Before you’re made partner, YouTube owns the rights to your videos. YouTube can manage, restrict or remove your content as they see fit. However, once you’ve been accepted as a YouTube partner, you own the copyright and distribution rights of your original videos – with no exceptions.

Disadvantages

Restrictions on “original content”

YouTube partners must own the copyright and distributions rights to all video and audio content they use – without exception! They are only allowed to use third-party content with the direct permission of that content provider, and that provider will receive a portion of the advertising revenue from the video. Any violation of these terms could result in immediate termination of the partnership.

Restrictions on user location

As of now, YouTube partnerships are only available to users living in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany,  Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Users outside of these countries are permitted to apply for partnerships, but the chances of being accepted are significantly lower.

Strict rules of YouTube Partnerships

There are several rules that must be followed in order to maintain your YouTube partnership and stay in good-standing. These rules often restrict many aspects of what you can and cannot do in terms of your videos, optimization, and page design. Some of these include:

–  You may NOT direct user attention to the advertisements on your page via arrows, other directional       gimmicks, or by saying things like “click this ad” or “support me by visiting these ads”

–  You may NOT place misleading pictures alongside the advertisements

–  You may NOT compensate viewers for clicking ads or performing keyword searches for your own benefit

These are just a few of the rules for YouTube partners. To read more about this subject, visit this link on keeping your page in good-standing with YouTube.

Greater exposure means a greater likelihood of unwelcome visitors

Of course, with greater visibility come the inevitable cyber-bullies of the world wide web. YouTube partners – any YouTube user, for that matter – are offered a variety of privacy settings for their videos. You can make videos private, available only to those you accept as “friends”, or you can set them to public. In the event that you make your videos public, you can select the option of filtering which comments are allowed on a case-by-case basis, or allow any and all comments to show on your video’s page.

In order to increase views and subscriptions, making your videos public and open to all comments is your best bet. However, it is imperative that, in the words of YouTube Partner Michael Buckley that you “don’t let the praise go to your head, or the bullying go to your heart” when it comes to viewer comments. You have to take them with a grain of salt and just keep doing what your doing!

 

Hopefully this provided you with a greater explanation of the benefits of becoming a YouTube Partner. Stay tuned for more detailed posts on these individual advantages and disadvantages!