Sharing content online is a trend that continues to increase in popularity, however many people are still not claiming and monetizing their content. Turning on monetization on YouTube will enable ads on your videos, creating a revenue stream based on type of ads and number of views. With all that revenue being generated from your content, you want to make sure it’s going to the rightful owner, you!
Why Should I Monetize?
YouTube has over 1 billion monthly users, almost one-third of all people on the Internet. Every day, people watch hundreds of millions of hours of videos on YouTube that generates billions of views. According to YouTube statistics, the number of hours that people spend watching videos on YouTube is projected to increase by 60% every year, so it is important to understand how to take advantage of this community and make money on all of the content you create. Creating video content requires time, planning, and effort; monetization allows you to earn money from your hard work. Monetization occurs when it is enabled by users or copyright holders through Content ID . Once enabled, you can decide which types of ads run on your videos, like a lower third banner or skippable ads before your content. YouTube sells ads on the videos on its platform, and a percentage of that revenue goes to the owner of the video or the copyright holder. Advertisers pay YouTube for the ad exposure and a percentage goes to you! Overall, you should monetize your videos on YouTube to take advantage of the vast amount of revenue that is available through the platform.
What Can I Monetize?
The first rule to make money on YouTube is that you must obtain the proper rights. Whether it is a daily vlog, tutorial, or an music video, the easiest way to ensure monetization without copyright issues is to create all elements of the video yourself, guaranteeing that you own the rights to that content. If you have derivative work or content that’s from another creator in your videos, you can still monetize it on your channel, as long as you have the proper permission from the person or company that holds the copyright. When you use music in your video that you do not own or don’t have permission to use, the copyright owner can take action against your upload including monetizing your video, muting your audio, or even taking down the video entirely. Having permission, most commonly in the form of a license, allows you to use copyrighted material in your video and still monetize your upload. However, licenses aren’t needed for content within the public domain or royalty-free content.
Not only can you monetize your videos through your own channel, you can also monetize through other channels using Content ID. YouTube’s Content ID protects your rights by allowing you to monetize from videos that contain your content, even if it is uploaded by another user. Content ID instantly compares all video uploads against all its reference files looking for a match. When a match is found, notifications are sent to the copyright owners allowing them to take certain actions, like block the video or monetize. When monetized, ads will play on videos that contain either a sound recording, composition, or music video you own the copyrights to and YouTube will give you a portion of the ad revenue that those videos generate. In order to utilize Content ID and monetize on an upload using your content, all video and audio rights must be exclusively yours. Remember, the best way to ensure monetization is to make original content.
How To Optimize Monetization
As stated, video content generates its revenue from advertisers that place ads before or during video streaming. You don’t make money on YouTube based on the amount of views alone; you also make money based on viewer’s engagement with the ad. Engagement means watching an ad for more than 30 seconds or clicking on it. In order to attract the most advertisers, your content should be advertiser friendly. Try to avoid overtly violent, gory, or sexually suggestive theme. Think about the ads that you allow on your videos. Non-skippable ads will guarantee engagement but might turn away viewers. Larger view counts contribute to more ad engagement so keep your content sharable by grabbing the attention of your users and connecting with them emotionally. Don’t forget to encourage viewers to share it on your social channels!
How To Get Paid
You may be wondering how exactly you get the money you earned into your pockets. Every month, we receive our statements from Vevo and YouTube. Vevo’s statements are based on plays from about 4 months prior, and Content ID payments are based on the previous month. The statements are then ingested into our system and any earnings from your content is sent to your account. Once we have your statements loaded into the system, you’ll be able to go to Vydia dashboard to keep track of any money accrued. The money can be used as a credit to any other service on our site or once you have at least $35, you can withdraw directly to a PayPal account or request a check.
Being able to monetize your views is a rewarding aspect of creating. All the hard work that you put into content shouldn’t go to waste. Vydia helps thousands of artists avoid the pitfall of monetizing their videos. We have a team of experts that will review your content and help navigate you through the process monetization. If you’re interested in monetizing your videos sign up here or would like to learn more, please reach out to our team here.