Most "make money on YouTube" advice starts with ad revenue. The creators who actually earn a living from YouTube mostly don't.
We used YouTubeTranscript.dev to transcribe twelve videos from creators who make money on YouTube, from small faceless channels to a 20-million-subscriber entertainment brand. We read every word, compared what they said, and checked the claims against YouTube's own rules. Below: what YouTube requires, the honest math on ad and Shorts revenue, and the income streams these creators actually use, in the order you can unlock them.
How we researched this: we've summarized each creator's advice in our own words, with timestamps linking to the exact moment they said it. Earnings figures are what the creators report about themselves; we can't verify them. YouTube's rules were checked on YouTube's Help Center and blog on October 11, 2026.
The short answer
- Ad revenue needs the YouTube Partner Program (YPP): 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 watch hours (or 10 million Shorts views). The bar doubles for new applicants on February 1, 2027.
- Everything else can start on day one. Your own product, coaching, affiliate links and an email list don't need YouTube's permission.
- The creators we studied say the same thing in different words: ad revenue is the floor, not the plan. Gabe Bult calls AdSense "usually the worst way to make money" (10:35).
- The starkest example: the team behind the Content Creators channel says its videos have earned about $170,000 from ads in total, but about $1.3 million from its own courses sold through those same videos (08:31).
What YouTube requires to pay you
| Program | Requirement today | From February 1, 2027 (new applicants) |
|---|---|---|
| Ad revenue (full YPP) | 1,000 subscribers + 4,000 watch hours in 12 months, or 10M Shorts views in 90 days | 8,000 watch hours in 365 days, or 20M Shorts views in 90 days |
| Shopping and fan funding | 500 subscribers, 3 public uploads in 90 days, + 3,000 watch hours in 12 months or 3M Shorts views in 90 days | Unchanged |
| Shorts ad revenue (existing partners) | Share of the Shorts pool | Only in months with 10M+ Shorts views in the last 90 days |
What the 2027 change means for you:
- Already in YPP? You stay in. YouTube says the update "won't impact creators already in YPP."
- Not in yet? Reaching 4,000 watch hours before February 1, 2027 lets you apply under today's rules. Jessy C. made a whole video on beating the deadline (00:26).
- Shorts-only channels below 10 million views in 90 days stop earning Shorts ad revenue from February 2027, but keep earning on long-form videos.
How much YouTube actually pays
YouTube keeps a share of ad revenue. You get 55% on long-form videos and 45% of your share of the Shorts pool. The number to track is RPM: what you earn per 1,000 views after YouTube's cut.
Monthly ad income = monthly views ÷ 1,000 × RPM
RPM varies a lot by topic. Gabe Bult estimates that a real estate and finance creator with 5.4 million recent views could earn $30,000 to $60,000 a month from ads, assuming roughly $10 per 1,000 views (source). That's his guess from the outside, not their real numbers, but it shows why topic choice matters as much as views.
| Monthly views | At $2 RPM (entertainment) | At $5 RPM (general) | At $10 RPM (finance, business) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $20 | $50 | $100 |
| 100,000 | $200 | $500 | $1,000 |
| 1,000,000 | $2,000 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
These RPMs are illustrative round numbers, not measured averages. Your own RPM is in YouTube Studio once you're monetized. For scale: the Content Creators team works out that at a $3 RPM, $5,000 a month from ads takes roughly 1.6 million views every month, and says its own channel gets about a million monthly views and still earns less than that from ads (02:00).
Three things the bigger creators add:
- Watch time beats views. Ads pay more on videos people watch for longer. Nathan, the creator behind the roughly 20-million-subscriber Unspeakable channel, shows one long video with about 43 million views that earned around $900,000, and notes that a short video with the same views might not reach $100,000 (01:01).
- Ad income swings by season. He says his ad revenue was down nearly 60% in January, when advertisers cut spending (02:30). Don't budget on your best month.
- Good videos keep paying. A video he hadn't touched in about three years still earned around $4,000 in the last 28 days (15:01).
What about YouTube Shorts?
Shorts pay far less per view, but they're quick to make. Alex Christian, who runs Shorts channels, says the old rule of thumb of 2 to 10 cents per 1,000 views is out of date for Shorts aimed at viewers in the US, UK and Canada, where he sees roughly 20 to 40 cents (01:01). At 30 cents, 40 million views in a month works out to about $12,000 (01:32).
Two cautions. First, YouTube won't monetize mass-produced or reused content, such as AI templates or clips with nothing added; he stresses adding real commentary, editing or a point of view (02:31). Second, Shorts views don't count toward long-form watch hours, and from February 2027 the Shorts entry bar rises to 20 million views in 90 days (see the table above).
The 7 ways creators actually make money
In the order you can unlock them:
1. Your own offer: coaching, a product or a community (no minimum)
This is where the biggest numbers in our research came from, and you don't need YouTube's permission.
- Gabe Bult says a student made over $9,000 with 1,000 subscribers from a coaching offer (07:13).
- His $20-a-month accountability community reached about $7,500 in recurring monthly revenue (08:33).
- A course built from audience requests made over $60,000 in its first launch (09:53). He'd planned a minimalism or finance course, but nearly everyone he interviewed wanted to learn how to make money on YouTube.
His test for pricing: would the product still feel fair at 10 times the price? If yes, it's a no-brainer for the buyer.
The Content Creators team makes the strongest case for a digital product:
- One of their videos earned about $11,000 from ads, but about $285,000 in course sales from a single mention of the course at the end (05:31).
- Across their channel they see roughly one sale for every 300 to 400 views (09:01). That's their number, not a benchmark, but it shows why a product changes the math.
- They describe a travel couple who noticed viewers kept asking where to go in Switzerland, turned the answer into a $49 PDF guide, and sold about 2,500 copies (11:00).
Their reassurance for beginners: you don't need to be the top expert, just a few steps ahead of the person you're helping. Ebooks, templates, guides, communities, coaching and courses all work.
Start here if you have a skill people already ask you about, or viewers keep asking you the same question.
2. Affiliate links on buying-decision videos (no minimum)
Reviews and comparisons earn from people who are about to buy, so a small channel can out-earn a big one.
- Gabe's sauna and cold-plunge review channel made over $50,000 with about 1,500 subscribers (06:53).
- One video on it made over $10,000 over two to three years and still earns hundreds a month (06:07).
In his words, viewers on that channel "don't care about me in the least." They want to know what to buy. That's the point.
Sean Cannell of Think Media boils the Amazon version down to a short checklist, and says his first commission check was $212 before it grew to about $3,500 a week (01:00):
- Join the Amazon Associates program. You need at least one sale in your first 180 days to keep the account (00:00).
- Make simple videos around products: reviews, tutorials, or everyday videos where the product fits naturally.
- Put tracked links in the description and the pinned comment.
- Add a disclosure, such as "As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases," to meet FTC rules (00:32).
The catch, from the Content Creators team: commissions are often only around 1 to 10% of the price, so affiliate income needs volume (04:02). Joshua Mayo, who ran a faceless product-review channel as an experiment, set up his Amazon links before posting a single video, because affiliate income doesn't need monetization (36:01).
Start here if your topic involves products people research before buying.
3. An email list (start at around 1,000 subscribers)
Not income on its own, but it's where later launches get paid. Aprilynne Alter says she put it off too long, and that most sales of her coaching program's sold-out beta came straight from her email list, contributing to a six-figure launch (25:30). Her tip: offer a free checklist, template or PDF in exchange for an email address, and link it in your descriptions.
At a much bigger scale, Nathan makes the same point: his team has shipped over 500,000 merch orders, so new products go to that customer list first and can sell out before they're even mentioned on YouTube (10:30). Owning a list also protects you if an account gets restricted.
4. Shopping and fan funding (500 subscribers)
YouTube's lower tier opens Shopping (tagging products, including your own merch) and fan funding features like Super Thanks once you hit 500 subscribers plus the watch-time requirement in the table above.
5. Ad revenue (1,000 subscribers + YPP)
The most famous income stream and, for most of these creators, the smallest. The plus side: it grows with your library. Gabe's examples are creators posting daily, unedited talking videos, who he estimates earn $7,000 to $75,000 a month in ads at 1 million to 6.6 million monthly views (source).
6. Merch and your own products (any size, but don't wait as long as he did)
Nathan's biggest regret: he posted hundreds of videos a year without selling anything, and only started merch at around 2 million subscribers when he thinks 100,000 would have been the time (07:02). His rules for selling without feeling pushy: make the product part of the channel's identity, show it being designed and let viewers weigh in, and make sure the quality earns repeat buyers.
7. Sponsorships (wait until about 10,000 subscribers)
Here our sources disagree with the usual advice. Aprilynne Alter says don't take sponsorships between 1,000 and 10,000 subscribers unless you really need the money (24:35). Deals mean scripts, approvals and back-and-forth "for just a few hundred dollars," and can hurt viewer retention. Past 10,000, she takes them and reinvests the money in editing help so she can make more videos without burning out.
Audience matters more than follower count. Varun Mayya, describing the Indian creator market in 2022, found that sponsors pay business, tech and finance creators far more than similar-sized lifestyle creators, because those advertisers can afford more per viewer (02:31). His figures are dated and India-specific, but the pattern holds: who watches you sets your price.
At a much larger scale, creators also license or sell their video libraries, run live shows and build theme parks. Nathan says his team sold part of its content catalog in an eight-figure deal (14:01). These aren't starting points, but they show how far the library you build can go.
Work backwards from your goal
Gabe's framing is the most useful math in our research: with a $1,000 product, one sale a month is $1,000 a month (source). Now ask how many views it takes to get one buyer.
| Goal: $1,000 a month from... | What it takes |
|---|---|
| Ads at $5 RPM | 200,000 views a month |
| Affiliate at $50 commission | 20 sales a month |
| A $100 digital product | 10 sales a month |
| A $1,000 coaching offer | 1 client a month |
That's why small channels that sell something often out-earn much bigger channels that rely on ads. If you borrow the Content Creators team's ratio of one sale per 300 to 400 views, 10 sales of a $100 product would take only about 3,000 to 4,000 views a month, versus 200,000 for the same money from ads.
Can a faceless channel make money?
Yes, and several of the creators we studied run faceless channels. Joshua Mayo's test before picking a faceless niche is three questions (02:01):
- Could you make 100 videos on it without showing your face?
- Are people already watching this kind of video?
- Is there a clear way to earn later: affiliate links, a product or ads?
His other advice: use your own voice if you can, because it makes the channel feel human and helps avoid looking like mass-produced content (18:01). And if you use realistic AI-generated visuals, tick YouTube's "altered or synthetic content" box when you upload; it's required (06:01).
A 90-day plan
- Weeks 1 to 4: pick a topic where viewers have a problem worth paying to solve. Publish your first videos. Our guide to your first 1,000 subscribers covers the growth side.
- Weeks 5 to 8: add one money path that needs no minimum: an affiliate link on every buying-decision video, or a simple coaching or service offer in your description.
- Weeks 9 to 12: start an email list with a free download. Talk to 10 viewers about what they're stuck on, as Gabe did before building his course. Their answers tell you what to sell.
Do this research for your own niche
Everything in this article came from reading what successful creators actually said, not what their thumbnails promised. You can do the same for your niche in an afternoon:
- Find 5 to 10 videos from creators who earn in your space.
- Get their transcripts with our free YouTube transcript tool, or a whole channel with a free account.
- Search them for "affiliate", "course", "sponsor" and "$" to see how they really make money. Or ask the AI chat to list every income stream mentioned.
For bigger questions across many videos and channels, see YouTube Deep Research.
The videos we analyzed
Also used: How to Make Money with YouTube Shorts in 2026 (Alex Christian), How To Start a Faceless YouTube Channel That Makes Money in 2026 (Joshua Mayo), 7 Steps to Make Money with a Small YouTube Channel (Think Media), YouTuber Earnings REVEALED! (Varun Mayya, 2022), If I Started YouTube in 2026, This Is What I'd Do (Gabe Bult), how to grow a youtube channel from 0 in 2026 (Jessy C.) and How I Got 1000 Subscribers in 8 Days (George Alexander). YouTube rules: YouTube Partner Program overview, revenue sharing and YouTube's August 10, 2026 announcement.
Frequently asked questions
How many subscribers do you need to make money on YouTube?+
For ad revenue you need 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 watch hours in 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days. From February 1, 2027, new applicants need 8,000 watch hours in 365 days or 20 million Shorts views in 90 days. But you can earn from your own products, coaching and affiliate links with no minimum at all.
How much does YouTube pay per 1,000 views?+
It depends on your niche and audience. You keep 55% of ad revenue on long-form videos and 45% of your share of the Shorts pool. Multiply monthly views by your RPM (revenue per 1,000 views) and divide by 1,000 to estimate earnings. Finance and business topics usually pay several times more than gaming or entertainment.
Is YouTube changing the monetization requirements in 2027?+
Yes. YouTube announced on August 10, 2026 that from February 1, 2027 new applicants need 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Creators already in the YouTube Partner Program aren't affected.
Can a small YouTube channel make money?+
Yes. Gabe Bult reports over $50,000 from a sauna and cold-plunge review channel with about 1,500 subscribers, mostly from affiliate links on buying-guide videos. He also describes a student who earned over $9,000 with 1,000 subscribers from a coaching offer.
What is the fastest way to make money on YouTube?+
Sell something that solves a real problem for your viewers: a product, a service or affiliate recommendations. All three can earn from your first videos, long before you qualify for ad revenue.
How much do YouTube Shorts pay?+
Far less per view than long videos. Shorts creator Alex Christian says Shorts aimed at viewers in the US, UK and Canada can earn roughly 20 to 40 cents per 1,000 views, so 40 million views in a month at 30 cents would be about $12,000. Older figures of 2 to 10 cents still apply to audiences in lower ad-spend countries.
Can a faceless YouTube channel make money?+
Yes, through ads once monetized and through affiliate links or your own products from day one. YouTube won't monetize mass-produced or reused content, so faceless videos need original scripts, commentary or editing. If you use realistic AI-generated visuals, YouTube requires you to tick the altered or synthetic content box when uploading.
Should small YouTubers take sponsorships?+
Aprilynne Alter advises against it between 1,000 and 10,000 subscribers unless you need the money. Brand deals take a lot of time for a few hundred dollars, and that time is better spent making better videos.