Do YouTubers Get Paid for Subscribers?

Oct 28, 2020

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Many YouTubers earn a significant amount of money by building an audience and creating YouTube videos. But how do YouTubers make money? Do YouTubers get paid for subscribers? After all, many content creators place a lot of stock in their subscriber counts. So, they must be getting rewarded for having a high subscriber count somehow, right?

YouTubers do not get paid directly for subscribers. YouTubers are only paid through Google AdSense for the number of monetized views their videos receive. An argument could be made that YouTubers are indirectly paid for subscribers, as subscribers can lead to more monetized views. However, as I said, YouTubers are not paid directly for subscribers.

Often, when people talk about making money on YouTube, they are talking about making money through Google AdSense. Ads are placed on monetized videos, and creators are paid based on how many times the ads are seen by viewers. This is why YouTubers are not paid directly for subscribers and are only paid for the number of monetized views they get.

Are YouTubers Paid for Subscribers

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Are YouTubers paid for subscribers? Well, as I mentioned above, YouTubers are not paid directly for subscribers. However, as I also mentioned, an argument could be made that YouTubers are paid indirectly for subscribers, as having more subscribers can lead to more views.

It's important to recognize that subscriber count is no longer as important as a metric as it was in the past. YouTube has gotten better at determining what users want to watch and delivering videos to them. If a user enjoys your videos, they will be delivered your videos without needing to be subscribed to your channel.

While channels that earn lots of money on YouTube tend to have lots of subscribers, their income isn't based on their subscriber count. Many channels with 10,000 subscribers earn more money than channels with 100,000 subscribers. This further illustrates the fact that YouTubers are not paid for subscribers.

How Many Subscribers Are Needed to Get Paid on YouTube

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I know what you're thinking- I just told you that YouTubers aren't paid for subscribers. But then why am I mentioning that YouTubers need a certain number of subscribers to get paid? Well, the thing is, YouTubers can only get paid via Google AdSense when they are a member of the Partner Program.

Originally, every channel was able to join the Partner Program and make money via AdSense. Nowadays, however, this isn't the case. Channels now need to have a certain number of subscribers to be eligible to join the Partner Program. But how many subscribers are needed to get paid on YouTube?

A channel must have 1,000 subscribers to get paid on YouTube. You see, channels with less than 1,000 subscribers are not eligible to join the YouTube Partner Program. Since only partnered channels can make money via AdSense, this means that any content creator looking to make money through AdSense will need to have a channel with 1,000 subscribers.

After a channel reaches the 1,000 subscriber milestone, subscriber count becomes essentially irrelevant when it comes to making money on YouTube. Remember, content creators make money based on the number of monetized views their videos get. The number of subscribers their channel has doesn't matter.

What Are YouTubers Paid Based On

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You might be wondering- what are YouTubers paid based on? As I stated above, YouTubers are paid through Google AdSense based on the number of monetized views their videos receive. Due to this, a content creator is not paid a certain amount of money based on how many subscribers they have.

It is important to recognize that different types of videos earn different amounts of money. Certain types of videos have a higher CPM than others. A video with 10,000 views might get paid less than another video with 10,000 views, as the subject matter of each video might be different.

Of course, there are many different monetization methods available for YouTube content creators aside from AdSense. Certain monetization methods require more expertise than others to utilize. However, many new content creators have no problem utilizing most monetization options on their channels.

Some of the most popular monetization methods for YouTube channels include:

  • Affiliate marketing
  • Brand deals

So, while many content creators are paid through AdSense, they can also be paid by other means. Again, the number of subscribers might indirectly affect the amount of money a creator makes with the above monetization methods, but their subscriber count wouldn't directly affect their income.

Examples of Channels With Low Subscribers That Earn a Lot of Money

There are many examples of YouTube channels with low subscriber counts that earn a lot of money. As you'll notice with most of these channels, they have a solid monetization strategy in place. At the end of the day, if you wish to make money on YouTube, you will need to develop a monetization strategy for your channel just like these channels have done.

Sam Ovens

Sam Ovens is a highly successful entrepreneur in the business and marketing niche. His YouTube channel has around 100,000 subscribers, which in the grand scheme of things is quite small. Even with this relatively small subscriber count, Sam earns millions of dollars every year by selling digital products and in-person mastermind presentations.

Miles Beckler

Miles Beckler is a content creator in the business and marketing niche. While his channel might have over 160,000 subscribers now, it was earning a significant amount of money when it only had around 10,000 subscribers. Due to his monetization strategy, Miles was able to earn over six figures with a small channel, proving that subscriber count isn't everything.

Conclusion

Do YouTubers get paid for subscribers? Well, as you will now know, YouTubers are not directly paid for subscribers. The number of subscribers a channel has is quite irrelevant to the amount of money it makes. Sure, channels with more subscribers tend to make more money, but this isn't due to their subscriber count- it's due to the number of views they get.

Daniel James
Hi there! I’m Daniel, the founder, and CEO of Tubefluence. I help businesses and influencers utilize the power of YouTube marketing to grow an audience and generate leads.
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