I'm seeing more people posting earning from YouTube despite the fact that there is a clause in YouTube Terms and Conditions that prohibits talking about how much a YouTuber makes from ad revenue (unless it has been removed, unlikely though).
People in the past have been wary of discussing it as their channel potentially could be shut down. However I guess they see others have openly discussed it and not got closed down (yet) so they have taken the risk themselves to improve their viewing figures.
The problem is these video earnings will vary enormously depending on who is posting them. It is not that they are lying, it's just that YouTube ad revenue varies greatly depending on the niche they are in. This makes a lot of sense if you think about it as the ads are targeted and there is less profit available targeting people interested in, say, recycling soda cans compared to people interested in learning to trade futures or invest in property.
I follow a couple of people in the UK cabinet making field (a fairly low ad revenue niche).
They both have similar YouTube channels, so I guess they started following each other, started up a dialogue and came up with the idea to start a podcast together where they just chat for an hour or so over skype (they live about 300 miles from each other).
Sounds boring and they didn't know if it had legs so took a gamble and committed to doing 10 'shows' last year. The response however was strong enough that they are into season 4 now.
They have Amazon links for most of the products they use and recommend. Patreon channels for both YouTube channels and the Podcast channel (they are now releasing a fortnightly Patreon only Podcast). They also have a small selection of merchandise, so basically everything you said. They also post regularly to Instagram and Twitter. On top of that they also have built up enough momentum to have a show sponsor which might not bring in lots of money but adds to the bottom line.
I came across both when they were running at less than 10k subscribers and it has been interesting watching their progress over a couple of year or so.
They only have 100k followers between them (split 60/40) but the one is now about to go full time on YouTube (60k followers). The other is reducing the amount of paid work he does.
Neither is making a fortune but having the diversity has helped create multiple income streams. That diversification has also created a larger internet footprint which has got them noticed more so now they are becoming minor celeb's in their field. Being invited to invitation only events here and abroad. Asked to do radio spots etc. which all helps improve the footprint further which adds to the momentum and so bottom line.
It's like building with Lego.
@luniac Congratulations. You are in a very popular niche so hopefully there is still plenty of mileage to come from it. I watched your video and found it strangely hypnotic (even though I don't get the fascination of the game itself).
I'd really be looking at ways to capitalise off it to maximise on building your audience. A YouTube audience is very much like an email list in as much as the bigger the list the more revenue you get back when you feed it content.
I'd certainly pin a call to action at the top asking people to subscribe. I take it you can't edit the video to add a call to action at the end?
Look forward to seeing you hit new heights.
