How to Make Money on YouTube in 2026: 8 Practical Ways

Discover how to make money on YouTube in 8 effective ways. We cover affiliate marketing, YouTube's monetization tools and more.

Last Updated: December 18, 2025
17 min
Reviewed by Ortal Hadad
by Abel Grunfeld.
17 min read

It’s well-known that YouTube can be seriously lucrative for its content creators. The beauty of the platform is that it’s easier than ever to get paid for doing what you love - creating videos!

That said, if you’re new to the game, it can be difficult to understand how to monetize your youtube videos and start making money. The possibilities are endless, from the YouTube Partners Program, branded merch, to Affiliate Marketing.

In this article, we walk you through all the different revenue streams available to YouTubers so that you can take your pick and start making money from your content.

TL;DR

You can make money on YouTube by joining the YouTube Partners Program, licensing your content to media outlets, joining an affiliate marketing program, selling branded merch, crowdfunding, or creating sponsored content.
YouTube pays through Google AdSense every month.
To maximize your YouTube income, make sure to understand your audience, focus on a niche, and master video SEO.
The amount of money YouTubers earn varies from channel to channel.
To maximize your reach, make sure to consistently brand your content, create effective thumbnails, and promote your videos on other socials.

Can You Make Money on YouTube?

Absolutely. Anyone and everyone can technically make money on YouTube.

That said, making money on YouTube is not a given. Simply creating a YouTube channel or account does not automatically monetize your content. As with most things, you need to meet specific criteria; creating income through YouTube takes effort and work.

But don’t panic yet. Luckily, there are multiple ways to monetize your YouTube channel and start earning money.

How YouTubers Make Money through the YPP

When YouTubers talk about making money from their content, they could be referring to several different income streams. However, the most standard and straightforward way is through YouTube’s Partner Program. Let’s take a closer look:

YouTube Partner Program

When you think of the most standard way of making money on YouTube, you’re probably thinking of the YouTube Partners Program (YPP). Being a YouTube Partner gives you access to different ways to make revenue out of your videos and content:

Advertising revenue

As a YP, you’ll be able to earn ad revenue from overlay, display, and video ads that run on your channel.

YouTube Premium Revenue

YouTube Premium (previously ‘YouTube Red’) is a way for paying members to watch videos ad-free. YouTube Premium represents a second income stream in addition to ad revenue because you receive a cut of their membership fee when they watch your videos.

Channel memberships

With channel memberships, you can offer exclusive perks, rewards, and benefits to viewers who choose to pay for a subscription and become paid members of your channel. You can set the different membership levels and what special perks each tier gets access to.

Merch Shelf

The YouTube Partners program also means you can start selling branded merchandise to your viewers directly through YouTube via your very own merchandise shelf.

Super Chat & Super Stickers

The Super Chat & Super Stickers features aim at content creators who do live streams and YouTube premieres. Your fans and viewers can pay to buy these specially designed stickers and messages to show their support for your work.

YouTube BrandConnect

Through BrandConnect, YouTube connects creators to brands looking to run branded content campaigns. Essentially, this service is trying to make it easier for brands to find YouTubers that they can advertise through and for content creators to strike lucrative deals.
Note: currently, the BrandConnect service is only available in the U.S., Canada, or the U.K.

YouTube Shorts Monetization

While Youtube's Short Funds is no longer available, you can still monetize with this YouTube Shorts ad revenue. You have to abide by YouTube's Shorts guidelines for your content to be eligible. In summary this is how the ad revenue works:

YouTube adds all ad revenue together at the end of each month.
This ad revenue is then calculated into a Creator Pool. If creators used music in a Short, then your rewards are split between the music artist and the Creator Pool. Otherwise all the monetary rewards go to the Pool.
Your monetary allocation is based off your share of total Shorts views.
You keep 45% of this allocation.

For a full step-by-step into the process, check out YouTube's Shorts Monetization guidelines.

How to join the YouTube Partner Program

If you want to become a YouTube Partner, you’ll need to fulfill specific eligibility requirements. Here’s what you need to do:

Enable 2-Step Verification for your Google Account
Make sure you comply with YouTube’s Channel Monetization Policies
Live in a country or region where the Program is available
Have a clean slate with no community guideline strikes against your channel
Have 4000 public watch hours or more in the last 12 months
Have 1000 subscribers or more
Link your Google AdSense account to your channel
Get reviewed by YouTube

How do you get paid by YouTube?

Once you’ve put in the hard work to monetize your channel and content through the YPP, it’s time to get paid! But you may be wondering how exactly you receive payment from YouTube.

YouTube pays through AdSense, which is why you need to link up your account to your YouTube channel when first joining the YPP. A little note: you won’t be paid as soon as you start earning. Instead, your earnings need to pass certain thresholds before AdSense starts sending you your money.

Here’s how getting paid through AdSense works:

If you live in specific locations, you’ll need to input your tax information and verify your identity before you can get paid.
Once you’ve earned above the address verification threshold (above $10USD), you’ll receive a PIN in the mail.
When your earnings go above $10, you’ll need to select your payment method.
You will only start receiving payments when your unpaid earnings surpass AdSense’s payment threshold, which is $100USD. And you will receive a monthly payment.

Monetizing Your YouTube Videos

Although the YPP is a straightforward way to monetize your YouTube content, it’s not the only way to make money on YouTube. So what other ways do YouTubers make money?

8 Other Ways to Make Money On YouTube

License your content to the media

Licensing your videos out essentially means giving other media platforms or organizations the right to replay your content for a fee.

Get your fans to pay you directly

If you’ve got a loyal and committed audience, chances are they’ll want to support you and your work.

Use crowdfunding

If you’re asking your fans to make a regular contribution to support you and your channel, you should look into setting up a Patreon account.

Become an affiliate partner

Affiliate marketing is a great way to monetize your YouTube channel if you haven’t yet got a super big following.

Become an Amazon Influencer

A common example of affiliate marketing is the Amazon Influencer program.

Create sponsored content

Sponsorship deals can arise organically.

Sell your merch

Even if you’re not a YouTube Partner, you can still sell your own branded merchandise.

Sell a branded product

This monetization strategy will work better for certain types of channels than others.

Best Practices to Make Money from YouTube Videos

Understand your audience

The first and most important thing you need to understand is your existing and target audience.

Make videos that appeal to a niche audience

Though you may read the word ‘niche’ and ask why you’d limit your audience, this is a highly effective way to ensure your channel is super profitable.

Master Your YouTube SEO

YouTube SEO is essential for encouraging organic traffic to your videos.

Build Your Following With Consistent Posting

Another important way to build out your audience base is to be _consistent.

Make the Most of Your Descriptions

In addition to boosting your YouTube SEO, your video description is critical for maximizing viewers and watch time.

Create Engaging and Informative Content

You should strive to create genuinely engaging and informative content.

Collaborate With Other YouTubers

If you’re still trying to grow your channel, a great way to gain additional exposure is by partnering with other YouTubers.

Try to Make Your Videos 8+ Minutes Long

There isn’t a minimum length of video for monetizing to make it clear.

Create Effective Shorts to Drive More Views

Not only can you make more money with YouTube Shorts, but you can also use them to drive more views to your channel content.

How much money do YouTubers make?

Before we look at specifics, it’s important to understand two crucial metrics: RPM and CPM.

What is RPM?

When we think about how much YouTubers make for every 1000 views, we’re thinking about RPM or ‘Revenue per Mille.’

What is CPM?

CPM stands for ‘Cost per Mille,’ or more specifically, cost per 1000 views.

Who are the top paid YouTubers?

According to Forbes, the following 10 YouTubers were the highest paid for the year 2020:

How many video views do you need on YouTube to make money?

To join the YPP, you’ll need at least 1000 subscribers combined with a minimum of 4000 watch hours in the last year.

Do you get paid for uploading videos on YouTube?

You won’t get paid just for uploading videos to YouTube. However, if you’re a YouTube Partner, you’ll get a cut of ad revenue and be able to benefit from other monetization options.

How much money do 1 million YouTube views make?

There’s no single set figure for the money you can receive for hitting 1 million views.

How many views do you need to make $1000 on YouTube?

Unfortunately, there’s no standard for the number of views you need to make $1000.

How much money do YouTubers with 100k subscribers make on YouTube?

Again, the figure will vary greatly depending on which channels you look at.

How much will YouTube pay for 1000 views?

This depends on your specific channel, niche, and other metrics.

How many subscribers do you need to make money on YouTube?

Theoretically, you don’t need that many subscribers to start making money from your videos.

How many YouTube views do I need to make $2000 a month?

According to Influencer Marketing Hub’s YouTube Money Calculator, you’d need 36,562 views/day with an average engagement rate of 50% to make $2000 a month.

How many views do you need on YouTube to make 100k a year?

Using the same calculator, you’d need 150,000 views a day with an engagement rate of 50% to make $100,000 a year.