Do you want to make money on YouTube? Millions of creators are earning a very good living from the platform by uploading content that drives huge views and engagements. Whether that income is from advertising revenue, merch sales, or brand deals, we keep you updated with best practises and ideas.

How To Make Money on YouTube

Do you know how to do keyword research so you understand what videos people are actually searching for on YouTube? Do you know how to create a custom YouTube thumbnail? Do you know how to create a Playlist on YouTube?

vidIQ has a ton of tips that will help every creator maximise their video content. We publish content every week to keep you up to date with all the best practices.

YouTube Tips & Tricks

YouTube Shorts content is set to explode! 

All the latest tips, tricks, and rock-solid advice you need for this new feature.

YouTube Shorts

Ask any YouTuber and they will tell you that generating significant views and subscribers isn't easy. But with the right strategy and tools, any video creator can build an engaged subscriber base when they understand what those subscribers want to watch.

Appealing to an audience to watch content you are passionate about making is just the first step, you need to know how to reach them and get your videos discovered. Our guides to how to guide more views on YouTube will give you the best tips to succeed on the platform.

How To Get More Views on YouTube

Six months ago, we told creators to experiment with YouTube Shorts. We advised them to film vertical videos under 60 seconds (as the requirements suggest), post them to YouTube, and create a featured section on their channel to house the content.

Why did we suggest this? In just a few weeks, we saw channels getting thousands of views from Shorts. They mostly came from the YouTube Shorts shelf, a display area where different Shorts are featured. By the time a creator’s video left the shelf, it would have hundreds, thousands, or millions of views.

That’s how powerful Shorts are. With them, you can gain more subscribers in two weeks than you’ve had all year. Without them, you’ll miss a valuable opportunity to get discovered on the platform.

How to Create a YouTube Short: The Complete Beginner's Guide

If you want to know exactly why that is, watch our latest video about Shorts and the competition that’s quickly surrounding them.

The best time to post a Short was months ago. But if you hurry, you can still reap the benefits of creating content that gets played millions of times.

Need a push to get started? Here are three undeniable reasons to experiment with Shorts.

Reason 1: Creators Are Still Getting More Views and Subscribers From YouTube Shorts

The first reason is a little obvious but worth repeating. Extra views from Shorts have helped many channels grow, and they’ve got the numbers to prove it.

. In September 2020, he had 40k total channel views. After posting original, 3D-animated Shorts, he now has more than 3M subscribers and almost 2B views.

How This YouTube Creator Got 1.5 Billion Views In Just 80 Days

Jake isn’t the only creator to reap the benefits of Shorts. There’s also MrBeast, a popular creator who grew his 

 to 4.79M subscribers. Professional YouTube channels such as 

 have Shorts with more than 200k views each. Members of the vidIQ community have seen explosive growth, and some TikTok creators have successfully transitioned to Shorts.

You could be next if you act now. Shorts are viewed 3.5B times each day, so there are plenty of people willing to watch your videos.

Reason 2: Pretty Soon, You’ll Have to Compete With Creators From the U.S.

Did you hear the news? Beginning in March, U.S. creators will get a beta version of the in-app Shorts camera.

The announcement came from Neal Mohan, chief product officer at YouTube. On Feb. 17, he shared the news in a 

“Currently, Shorts is available in beta in India. Since the beginning of December, the number of Indian channels using Shorts creation tools has more than tripled... In the coming weeks, we'll begin expanding the beta to the U.S., unlocking our tools to even more creators so they can get started with Shorts.”

To be clear, anyone can post a Short today. As long as a video is vertical and under 60 seconds, YouTube will recognize it as a Short. What Mohan is mentioning above refers to a TikTok-style camera that’s only available in India. With it, creators can record, edit, and post Shorts directly inside the app, adding music and other special effects to their content.

When the U.S. market gets the Shorts camera, things are going to get very competitive. More creators will have tools for creating better Shorts. Plus, thousands of people who never posted a Short will do so just because there’s a new feature encouraging it.

In the coming weeks, it’s going to be harder to do what creators like Jake, MrBeast, and LegalEagle have done. Rather than wait, it's better to experiment with Shorts right now.

Reason 3: If YouTube Monetizes Shorts, You Can Make More Money

Right now, there’s no way to monetize Shorts. The Shorts display area doesn't support ads, and advertisers may not want to appear on a seconds-long video.

But if you think about YouTube’s history, things are always changing at the company

Just because creators aren’t making money from

Shorts today, that doesn’t mean they won’t in the next five or 10 years.

It's likely YouTube isn’t doing this for free. With content as popular as Shorts, the platform could be searching for ways to monetize it as we type.

Before that happens, put yourself in a position to earn Shorts revenue. If you start posting them now, you can increase your chance of monetizing that content.

Use These Tools to Start Leveraging YouTube Shorts

Even if you decide to post a few Shorts, you’ll need a way to measure their impact on your channel. When you 

, you’ll find two powerful tools within the Chrome extension – one for tracking Shorts views and another for researching popular Shorts on YouTube.

This dashboard is on the top right corner of all YouTube pages. Hover your mouse over the menu to discover how many Shorts views your channel earned in the last 48 hours. For easy access, click the box beside this metric to add it to your dashboard.

This tool lets you research the most-viewed videos on YouTube for any keyword. To access it, go to the YouTube Studio and click 

Type #Shorts into the search bar, then filter the results to show channels with 1,000 or less subscribers. This will show you all of the small channels on YouTube getting tons of views with Shorts. You can use this as motivation to start posting your Shorts or an idea generator for future Shorts.

Shorts are doing well on YouTube. They’re going to be around for a long time, so don’t wait to post your first vertical, less-than-a-minute video. Do it now to reap the benefits before creators in both India and the U.S. can do the same.

Is it too late to capitalize on the viral nature of YouTube Shorts? No, not yet. But in the coming weeks, it may be harder to stand out with short video content.

3 Reasons to Upload YouTube Shorts Before the Competition Gets Tough

The world of copyright isn’t always as cut and dried as a rights holder claiming that you used their content. There can be a number of complicated moving parts when it comes to digital rights management and your responsibilities and obligations as a YouTube creator.

In the first of a series on rights management and social video, we're going to answer a question we get asked a lot: 

what is the difference between a copyright strike and a copyright claim?

 Please note that this post is an overview of how copyright works on YouTube. Please consult a lawyer if you need advice on a specific case.

Before we take a deeper dive into the differences, here's a quick overview of both types of copyright infringement processes. Essentially a copyright claim is someone asserting that you have used their content, whether that be a video clip, an image, or a piece of audio. A copyright strike is much more serious for a YouTube creator and your channel can be suspended for repeated copyright offenses.

Copyright claims are also known as Content ID claims. Content ID is a fully-automated digital rights management tool on the YouTube platform that scans videos and notifies the rights holder if their video clips, images, or audio have been used without express permission. Regarding copyright/Content ID claims you should know the following:

A claim will not adversely affect your YouTube channel.

The rights holder can claim the revenue on your video if you have used their content.

The copyright holder can place ads on your video to generate that revenue.

The copyright holder can restrict your video in some countries or regions.

The copyright holder may also choose to take no action (but absolutely don’t rely on that!)

Copyright claims are a part of Copyright Law.

Copyright claims only apply to the videos flagged and not the entire channel

A claim can be proven false depending upon if you really own the content that is being claimed by someone else.

A copyright strike is issued to a creator if they’ve uploaded something within their video that they do not own the rights to. The copyright holder has the right to remove that video from YouTube altogether, which means it’s blocked everywhere and the ability to generate any further ad revenue is shut down. Creators should know the following about copyright strikes on YouTube:

A copyright strike WILL adversely affect your channel.

The copyright holder can completely remove your video from YouTube.

If you receive a copyright strike you won’t be able to monetize your videos.

You also won’t be able to live stream from your account.

If you receive 3 copyright strikes, your YouTube channel will be terminated and you’ll be banned from creating another one.

Unsurprisingly, YouTube isn’t here to play when it comes to copyright infringement. The platform has 

 that match copyright policies in the USA (and presumably beyond), and it states very clearly that:

“Creators should only upload videos that they have made or that they’re authorized to use. Users should not upload videos that they didn’t make or use content in videos that someone else owns without necessary authorizations."

So, with that warning in mind, let's take a more detailed look at claims and strikes.

YouTube's copyright infringement detection is incredibly sophisticated. The platform uses proprietary software called Content ID which scans content and notifies creators (who have access to the tool) where their work may have been copied. That creator can then decide whether to make a claim, depending on whether the video falls under 

, instead of submitting a copyright takedown notice.

These YouTube accounts can also make a manual claim for anything the Content ID tool misses for any reason.

As a general rule, Content ID claims are made against video clips, audio, and other content that qualifies as owned media and hasn’t been available for publication on YouTube. Claims are issued to creators if they don't own the TV or music clips, music, or other copyrighted media.

The rights owners have full control of their Content ID policy. Some creators and media publishers always opt to stop certain content from being uploaded to YouTube, like TV clips or music videos. Others allow their content to remain published on the uploader’s channel but only if some or all of the advertising revenue is funneled back to the copyright owners as compensation.

That all sounds a little confusing so let’s break it down.

ContentID claims come with a monetization, tracking, or viewing restriction rule. For the latter, the video may only remain live in certain countries or regions at the rightsholder’s discretion. The owner can also decide to:

Block the entire video from being viewed on YouTube.

Monetize the video by placing ads against it - this might come with the option of a potential revenue share with the uploader.

The rights owner takes 100% of the revenue share from ads. The creator can still keep the video up but they won’t generate any revenue from that upload.

Track the video’s viewership stats which disables any monetization and lets the owner see how well your video is performing in case they choose to claim any revenue in the future.

YouTube itself has a handy guide for the options 

 Not everyone can access the Content ID feature. YouTube has very specific criteria for rights owners who want to track their content. Find out 

OK, let's tackle what happens if you receive a Content ID claim against one of your videos.

In order to resolve and remove a copyright claim, the uploader will need to dispute it. Once the claim has been formally disputed by the uploader, the rights owner then has 

 to that appeal with the option of either:

Releasing the claim if they find evidence that the uploader does in fact have permission to use the material (as is often the case when a creator uses a music track licensed through a third party like 

Rejecting the dispute and upholding the claim because they believe they still have a strong and valid case

Removing the video in question from YouTube by submitting a copyright takedown request. This will lead to a copyright strike against your channel (see below).

Deciding not to respond to the appeal and let the claim on their part expire.

While the content is in dispute any viewing restrictions are reversed, and the video can continue to generate revenue through ads. However, that revenue will be held in a neutral account and only released to the party who wins the dispute.

If the rights owner doesn’t respond within 30 days, the Content ID claim is automatically released. But if they reject the dispute, the claim gets reinstated once more. The uploader can again appeal and fight their case, and again, the rights holder has 30 days to respond. In the meantime, the ad revenue holding account kicks in again, as does the lift on any viewing restrictions.

At this stage in the dispute, the rights owner can either release their claim, choose to take down the video, or set up a “delayed takedown.” If the owner opts to go down the delayed takedown route, the uploader will be automatically notified that they have just 7 days to retract their appeal or the video will be automatically taken down and disappear forever from YouTube. 

Talking of YouTube, take a few minutes to watch their advice about ContentID claims:

So, we’ve covered the main points of Content ID claims, now let’s take a look at copyright strikes.

PSA: You do NOT want to attract any copyright strikes against your channel!

A copyright strike is issued when a rights owner requests the legal removal of a video on YouTube because the uploader didn’t have the permission to use their images, audio, or video clips. 

), a strike differs significantly from a claim.

Copyright strikes are manual and are activated when a rights owner files a DMCA takedown request. The owner must supply YouTube with specific information regarding the takedown which includes:

The rightsholder’s contact information.

A thorough description of the material the owner wants to protect.

A sworn statement of good faith belief that the material (a video clip, a gif, an image, etc) has been used without express permission.

After a takedown request is filed by the rights owner, YouTube has to remove the video in question from the uploader’s channel. That creator is notified, and they can either file a counter-notice or accept the takedown decision.

If the video is taken down following a manual claim, the creator’s channel will receive a copyright strike. Oh, and deleting the offending video will not resolve the strike.

What Happens After Your First Copyright Strike?

If you receive a copyright strike against a video, take that as a real warning that YouTube now believes that your account is losing 

. The first copyright strike received may negatively affect some channel features like a stop to any live streaming or monetization. 

YouTube is willing to give the creator another chance at this stage though because the first copyright strike will expire after 90 days as long as they complete the courses in 

What Happens After Your Second and Third Copyright Strike?

OK, the danger level just turned up a notch. If your channels receive a second copyright strike before the first strike has even expired, you will have then have to wait 

 90 days until the second strike has expired. In the meantime, your account remains out of good standing.

If you receive a third copyright strike before the first two strikes have expired, 

YouTube will automatically terminate your account and remove all of your uploaded videos

. You’ll also be banned from creating any new channels.

In a few cases, the bad news doesn’t end there. You could face a legal challenge and the media you used without permission could take you all the way to court. If you lose the case you could end up with massive legal fees plus a substantial fine to pay off. Good times.

Can You Still Monetize Your YouTube Channel If You Have Received a Copyright Claim or Copyright Strike?

the video below. and the answer is possibly, maybe, but also probably not. 

 but aren’t accepted, YouTube doesn’t give enough of an explanation as to why you were rejected, so you’ll never know whether your application failed because of a copyright issue.

However, we do know that to monetize your channel, you have to comply with YouTube's Terms of Service, copyright guidelines, and community guidelines, as well as Google's ad policies.

So if you have a copyright claim or a copyright strike on your channel, will you be rejected for monetization? No, but bear in mind copyright strikes are serious offenses.

If your channel has no copyright claims, and no copyright strikes, you'll automatically be accepted into the YouTube Partner Program? Again, no because you've also got to consider all of the other community guidelines you need to adhere to.

The difference between copyright takedowns and Content ID claims

The legal issues all YouTube creators need to know about

The expert's guide to Fair Use & copyright on YouTube

How to get royalty-free music for your YouTube videos

YouTubers, do you know the difference between a copyright claim and a copyright strike? If not, find out right now.

What's the Difference Between a Copyright Claim and a Copyright Strike?

For some creators, the new YouTube Shorts feature has been a goldmine for generating more views. We’ve witnessed several channels post vertical videos of less than 60 seconds, have them featured on YouTube’s 

 shelf, and get thousands of views in a short amount of time.

That’s exactly what happened to Dan, our executive producer at vidIQ. He posted this YouTube Short to his gaming channel, and it took off with 830K views and counting:

 to be making a decent amount of cash, right?

Nope. Not even close. For a video with three-quarters of a million views, Dan has only earned $6.82 so far. That’s a frightening pittance of money, even for newer creators, so our thoughts go out to our dear executive producer. Hang in there, Dan!

But in some small way, maybe we should be thankful for those $6.82. By now, it’s a known fact that Dan’s video shouldn’t be making any money because 

. The Creator Insider team said so themselves in 

, which explains what YouTube Shorts are and how they behave.

In regard to monetization, their exact words were...

“Stating it upfront, right now: Shorts aren’t going to be supported by ad serving, and they’re not going to generate YouTube Premium subscription revenue.”

So that raises an interesting question about Dan’s YouTube Short and its $6.82 worth of revenue. 

Where is the money coming from if vertical videos of less than 60 seconds aren’t monetized?

Monetization 101: YouTube Shorts vs. Regular Videos

We’ve mentioned this in previous blog posts, but we’ll state it again right now. There are a couple of ways to watch a YouTube Short, and the most common is by discovering it on the Stories and Short Videos shelf. 

The other way is by viewing it as a regular YouTube video. That’s what happens when viewers watch a video on channel pages, within browse features, and many other areas on the platform.

If a video is watched as a YouTube Short, it earns no revenue. On the flip side, regular YouTube videos 

 have ads, and therefore, generate revenue.

Need more insight on how this works? Watch our latest video about YouTube Shorts and how certain traffic sources can determine your payout:

Or, to understand the viewing modes of YouTube Shorts, take a look at Dan’s gaming channel, 

. When you navigate there, you’ll notice he created a featured section where you can see all of his Shorts.

Simply tapping on one of those videos and watching in full doesn't help Dan make money from a YouTube Short. Instead, you’d have to go deeper into his channel, sort the content by most popular, find the Minecraft Short with nearly a million views, and tap on it. The video will load within a regular YouTube player that does serve ads - and that helps Dan get paid.

When you make a YouTube Short, it's almost as if you have two shots at pleasing YouTube’s algorithm. If the regular video doesn't perform well, maybe the YouTube Short version of it will. We’ve read many 

 in the vidIQ community who’ve witnessed the ‘Shorts surge’. It’s what happens when your video views are stagnant, then suddenly spike when YouTube features your content on the Stories and Short Videos shelf.

But of course, this surge generates views within the ‘YouTube Shorts’ traffic source, and as we mentioned before, those aren’t monetized. So Dan’s $6.82 of revenue really came from these traffic sources, and they account for just 100,000 of his 750,000 views:

Why Is Short Video Revenue Much Lower on YouTube?

OK, back to the money question. No matter how you look at it, $6.82 is a terrible return for 750,000 video views. So how can this be?

To get the answer, we studied this graph in Dan’s YouTube analytics. It shows estimated playbacks, which indicate how many video views had ads served on them.

As you can see, the number is astonishing. Even taking out all of the Shorts views that can't be monetized, only 3% of regular YouTube views were monetized.

This is a wild generalization, but in our experience, a monetized channel can usually get two-thirds of their views monetized. For example, on a video with 100,000 views, 66,000 of those views will be monetized in some way.

This is just a theory, but we think the brevity of YouTube Shorts makes their revenue lower, even when watched as a regular video. Think about it: A video of less than 60 seconds attracts fewer viewers outside of the never-ending carousel of the Shorts shelf. 

So on a regular Watch Page, advertisers won’t be jumping at the chance to show ads to less potential viewers. Plus, placing even two ads on a one-minute video is just enough ‘commercial time’ to alienate viewers.

YouTube Shorts and the Power of Discovery

From a business perspective, what is the point of YouTube Shorts if you can’t make money from them? What if you want all your views to come from the regular YouTube player so you can get paid?

The answer to that is channel discovery. Over the last couple of months, evidence suggests channel size matters less when it comes to YouTube Shorts. It's almost as if creators have an equal chance of their videos being discovered on the Shorts shelf, which is a massive advantage for smaller channels.

Take Dan as an example. He only earned $6.82 from regular views on his YouTube Short, but he gained nearly 6,000 subscribers in the process.

If you’re a smaller creator trying to reach the 1,000 subscribers needed to monetize your channel, gaining 6,000 subscribers from one video is amazing.

Of course, this comes with challenges. First, how do you convert those YouTube Shorts subscribers into fans of your long-form content? And second, how do videos with a shorter viewing duration impact a channel’s Watch Time? All of this would be solved by YouTube allowing Shorts monetization, but will that ever happen?

For Now, Focus on the Benefits of YouTube Shorts - Not the Money

YouTube Shorts may never be monetized, and if so, creators should focus on the sweeter gains of short-form content, which are more views and subscribers. YouTube does change its strategy now and then, so be on the lookout for any monetization news around YouTube Shorts.

Until then, it looks like Shorts are primarily for video discovery. When executed the right way, creators will benefit from that one, intended purpose.

Want to make money from YouTube Shorts? It's possible but not exactly profitable. Here's what you need to know about making money from short, vertical content.

How to Make (Some) Money from YouTube Shorts

If you’re a video creator who wants to make money online, joining the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) is one of the best ways to do it. On a basic level, the program lets creators monetize their content with advertisements, and in turn, earn a profit as solid as their work ethic.

YouTube and its creators are part of a revenue-sharing model, and that helps both parties stay in business. For example, when a creator enables ads on their YouTube videos, and viewers watch those ads, the revenue is split between YouTube and the creator. 

The latter receives 55% while YouTube takes the remaining 45%.

That may seem like a big chunk of money for YouTube, but with hard work and dedication, your 55% share could be millions of dollars - as is the case with creators like 

Think you’re ready to join the YPP and start building a career on YouTube? Here’s a complete guide to bring you one step closer to applying.

YouTube Partner Program: Minimum Requirements to Apply

Before you can apply to the YPP, you need to accomplish two important goals on YouTube:

Attract 1,000 subscribers to your YouTube channel.

Earn 4,000 hours of public Watch Time within a 12-month period.

If you need help reaching these milestones, we’ve got a few resources to help you out:

To reach the subscriber count you need, read our blog “

How to Get Your First 1000 YouTube Subscribers.

” It outlines powerful ways you can cater to your audience, communicate your channel’s value, boost your content’s search engine optimization, and more.

If it’s Watch Time you’re struggling with, read our blog, “

” It explains how consistency, evergreen content, and live streams can help you earn more Watch Time hours.

How to Apply to the YouTube Partner Program

When you’re ready to apply to the YPP, you can complete the application in the YouTube Studio. Just click ‘Monetization’ in the studio’s left navigation menu. That’ll bring you to the YPP application page, which requires three steps before you can press submit:

Review and agree to the YPP’s Terms of Service.

Wait for YouTube to review your channel and inform you of its decision.

For in-depth guidance on how to complete the application, watch the video below. It shares extra tips, such as the importance of checking your channel’s location settings and extra documents you need to read before applying to the YPP:

How Long it Takes to Get Accepted to the YouTube Partner Program

After applying to the YPP, you may be wondering how long YouTube will take to review your application. The official answer from the platform’s 

 is about one month. However, plenty of creators have been accepted before then, so keep checking your email.

In our experience, we were able to monetize two of our channels in 

. YouTube reviewed both applications over a weekend, which we weren’t expecting. For more information on what that was like, watch the video below:

Admittedly, our smooth experience was probably due to the vidIQ YouTube channel already being monetized. We were trying to get a Russian and Spanish language channel into the YPP, and they’re both branded as vidIQ.

If you don’t make it into the program on your first attempt, don’t give up. You can always reapply in 30 days after fixing any issues on your channel.

How the YouTube Partner Program Benefits Creators

The YPP is great for boosting your income, but that’s not the only benefit of joining. The program also gives creators access to a copyright match tool and the platform’s creator support teams. The copyright tool helps you find and flag stolen video content, and the creator support teams help you get more value out of YouTube.

Are you ready to apply to the YouTube Partner Program? Just follow our step by step guide!

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