When you think about how content creators make their money online, your mind pictures someone sitting on a cozy chair at home, uploading videos and images, and watching ad money rolling in like it’s their right.
That’s great. But it isn’t the whole truth.
I won’t tell you that ad revenue isn’t a real thing. But there’s something you need to know. A report says that 50% of content creators make less than $5,000 each year. And only 4% of them go above the $100,000 mark in yearly earnings.
So, if you’re among the 50% and not the outliers, you can’t rely on adverts to make more money. And if you do, you’ll most likely remain stagnant (in terms of earnings).
Besides ads, you might be wondering what other ways exist for creators to earn money. I’ll take you through that in this guide. So sit back and get comfortable.
The Truth About Advertisements
Everybody thinks that ad revenue is where all the money it. Take a good look at it and you’d know that it isn’t all that.
Let’s say you’re a creator on YouTube. The revenue you’d get from ads will depend on what your videos are all about. For example, if you’re in a niche that has high demand (for example, tech), you can get $12 to $20 for every 1,000 views. But if you’re into basic storytelling, that ad revenue drops down to $2 to $5.
You should see the issue at this point. If you want to get the huge sum you want from adverts, you must have thousands of views each day to make this dream a reality. And with platforms like YouTube being super competitive, getting these views consistently can be an issue.
The Real Riches Are in Brand Deals
Move aside ads, there’s something better. And it’s known as brand deals. There are thousands of companies that can pay you sweet cash to talk about their product or services in your posts or videos.
Still using YouTube as my basis, you’ll find creators with about 50,000 to 75,000 subscribers can get about $3,000 to $5,000 per video. This is just for one post. If you calculate what they’ve made in ad revenue during that period, it’ll come in at several hundreds of dollars.
Your Fans Can Pay You
When you’re someone that delivers top content on social media platforms, you’d find hundreds of people that are willing to pay you for what you post.
So, instead of refreshing your email regularly to see if a company bought an advert, you know that you’ve got fans that are willing to subscribe to your service with a portion of their paycheck.
On YouTube, creators can post content that only subscribers can see. But the platform that made this earning model popular was Patreon.
About 286,000 creators are on this hub with at least 1 person that pays a subscription. And since the company opened its doors, creators have earned around $10 billion.
It gets better. With Patreon giving its creatives over 80% of each subscription, those that contribute to the site can enjoy millions in earnings each year as long as they’ve got a huge and active following.
The Weirdos Making Bank
Not every creator goes through the route of brand deals or subscriptions. Some make money in ways that aren’t as popular.
One of these channels is affiliate marketing. You’d see some creators telling you to take a look at the description section of their post and click the link to buy a particular item. When someone does so via that URL, a portion of that product’s total will come back to them as revenue.
And then, there are those that go into niches that not many think about. Using platforms like Twitch or Kik, you’d find streamers that play video games. If they’re good at what they do, you’ll find viewers supporting them with donations of different amounts.
That said, some creators have even gone as far as partnering with crypto casinos and other betting platforms. The best part? They don’t need their content to revolve around the service. All they need to do is wear their merch or watermark their videos in the brand’s name.
This route has been shut down by most platforms; creators have resorted to giving their fans perks to visit their Discord channel for more information about the service they intend advertising. That way, they avoid channel or account suspension.
The Reality Check That Most People Ignore
Content creators are out there making thousands of dollars every month through ads, brand deals, and subscriptions.
But they didn’t get to this point by chance. They worked for it. Most of them have gone through several failed channels before they finally found something that worked for them.
So, don’t just think you can’t create an account or channel and start printing in money a week after. The journey to financial freedom through content creation requires months (or years) of consistency. If you know this and can put in the work, you’d be able to earn amounts you never thought were possible for a regular person.
