Making money on YouTube channels is a hot topic right now. Everyone seems to be talking about it, and for a good reason! There are so many people out there making mountains of cash by playing games and streaming their gameplay live. But what if you don’t know how to get started making money on YouTube?
Don’t worry, I’m here to help. One of my best friends has been making money on YouTube for years, and thanks to him, now I know all the tricks of the trade. So whether you’re just starting or you’re looking to take your channel to the next level, keep reading. I’m going to share everything you need to know about making money on your youtube gaming channel.
How To Make Money On A Youtube Gaming Channel? The easiest and most common way is to monetize your gaming channel through YouTube Partner Program and earn through ad revenue. In addition, you can also make money through paid sponsorships, marketing, partnerships with popular brands, and selling your own branded merchandise.
You know that making money on a Youtube gaming channel is possible. You’ve seen other people do it, and you know that you have the skills to make it work. But where do you start?
I’ll tell you everything you need to know to make money on your gaming channel. So, whether you are just starting a gaming channel or have been growing one for a while, read on for some great tips.
How To Make Money On YouTube – The Initial Steps
When it comes to making money on Youtube, Gaming channels are becoming more and more popular, and if done right, they can be a great way to make money on Youtube.
You’ve seen the big names and their huge followings, and you know that you have the skills to make it work. But you don’t know where to start. How do you monetize a Youtube gaming channel?
The first thing you need to do is find your niche. What games do you like playing the most? What kinds of content are you interested in making? Once you figure that out, focus on creating great content that viewers will love watching.
Too many wannabe Youtube gamers think they can just dump a few low quality gameplay video on their channel, get thousands of views, and start making money immediately.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Creating a gaming channel that gets to the point where it can be monetized takes a huge amount of dedication. You need 1000 subscribers and 4000 watched hours before youtube will even consider you ready to show ads on your videos.
And 99.9% of people who start a Youtube channel quite before ever hitting those magic numbers.
So, to make money on Youtube, you’ll need to understand what makes a successful YouTube gaming channel. There are a few things to keep in mind.
- Focus On Content Quality
First, your content must be high quality. People will only watch your videos if they are interesting and engaging.
Make video that people are actually actively searching for.
- Build A Community
Second, you need to build a strong community around your channel. Fans will help promote your content and encourage others to subscribe.
So make sure you answer people’s comments on your videos. Yes, this can take time, but people will get to know you and will want to watch you, not just your video’s content.
- Be Consistent
Finally, you need to be consistent with your uploads. If people can count on seeing new videos from you every week, they’ll be more likely to keep coming back for more. You need to be posting between 1-3 videos every week. Youtube and it’s viewers like consistency. Think about it, imagine when Game of Thrones was showing on TV that showed up one week on a Tuesday at 10pm, then next week it showed up on a Friday at 11am, then the following week didn’t show at all. Viewers would get immediately frustrated.
So your channel needs consistency.
Once you have these basics down, keep making videos until you get over 1000 subs and those 4000 watched hours. Then you can start monetizing your channel.
But first, how much earning potential does a gaming channel have?
How Much Money Can a Gaming Channel Earn?
If you’re one of the millions of people who enjoy watching gamers play video games and are setting up your own gaming channel, you might be wondering how much money YouTubers make from streaming.
Turns out, it can be a pretty lucrative gig! Some of the top earners make seven figures annually. Let me surprise you with some facts and figures.
- Half of the top 10 YouTube earners have a gaming channel.
- YouTube’s most influential gamers earn more than $12 million a year.
Are those numbers too big for you to target? Ok, let’s talk about an achievable goal. On average, YouTube gamers can make about $60,000 per year.
So, if you’re thinking about starting your own YouTube gaming channel or already have one and want to increase its earnings, don’t let the uphill climb discourage you. With hard work and a bit of luck, you could be joining the ranks of some of the most successful gamers on YouTube.
Now let’s learn about the different ways you can make more money with your gaming channel.
Ways To Make Money With A YouTube Gaming Channel
If you stay consistent with your efforts, making YouTube videos could be a viable source of income. After all, it’s a great way to share your love of games with the world and potentially make some money while you’re at it.
So, if you’re looking for ways to make money with your gaming channel, this section just might be the answer you’ve been searching for.
Here’s how you can earn more.
- Monetizing Your YouTube Gaming Channel with ads
- YouTube Super Chat
- YouTube Gaming Memberships
- Selling Channel Merchandise
- Through Affiliate Marketing
- Offering Services To Others
- Collecting Membership Fees or Donations
Let’s learn a bit more about each of them.
1: Monetizing Your YouTube Gaming Channel with ads
Ad revenue generation is the first step towards an increased channel income. Your YouTube gaming channel will be monetized after it becomes eligible for the YouTube Partner Program once you meet the following criteria.
- Watch time of at least 4,000 hours in the past year.
- At least 1,000 subscribers.
A good tip for you is to make some quality content and keep your videos longer. That will help you earn more as compared to shorter videos by retaining viewers for longer times.
That’s because YouTube’s philosophy is to focus on viewing time instead of view count. After all, it wants as many people watching its videos for long periods. This means that a video with longer play times will have more ads, which can lead to bigger advertising revenue much quicker than if you focus only on the number of views.
So, high-quality, long-form content is the key to boosting your earnings after joining the YouTube partner program.
2: YouTube Super Chat
YouTube Super Chat is a valuable feature for the audience that allows viewers to pay $1-$500 to display their chats at the top of the chat feed. They have a chance to be seen by others, especially if it’s in a channel where many people are typing away at once.
The only drawback? YouTube takes 30% off all transactions, which leaves 70% for the streamer. But I would still deem this percentage good enough.
There are certain requirements before you can enable this feature on your YouTube channel.
- Be eligible for the YouTube Partner Program
- Be 18+ of age.
- The Super Chat feature should be available in your country
The Super Chat feature can help increase the popularity of the YouTube gaming channel and draw more eyes while also providing a way for the content creators to make money off the community they’ve created online on YouTube.
3: YouTube Gaming Memberships
YouTube Gaming is changing the game by making it easier for gamers to earn rewards. Sign up with your YouTube account and get access to exclusive perks like extra videos, emotes (and more!), all while supporting your favorite creators.
YouTube Gaming allows influencers and streamers to offer exclusive perks for viewers who join their channel. Creators can decide what memberships they will have (between $1-$99) and which tier will provide what benefits.
There are a few prerequisites that you must fulfill before you can offer memberships on your gaming channel.
- Be a part of the YouTube Partner Program
- Be 18+ of age
- Have 30,000 subscribers or more
YouTube creators will be able to name each tier that they offer and will receive 70% of membership fees.
4: Selling Channel Merchandise
YouTube’s merch shelf is a great way to showcase and sell your branded merchandise. When you have an active following, consider creating items for your viewers. The shelf of your merch will be available in your store tab on the channel homepage. There’s no need to show it in each and every video.
Your merch shelf can have up to 12 items. And you can source them from some retailers like:
- Crowd made
- Creator Ink
- Design by Humans
- DFTBA
- Fanjoy
- Juniper
Once you have partnered with any of these vendors and retailers, you can turn on your shelf from the monetization tab of your channel. There are some requirements that have to be fulfilled if you want to be eligible for Merch Shelf.
- The channel should be approved for monetization
- Be a part of the Youtube Partner Program
- Your gaming channel has to have more than 10,000 subscribers
- Your channel’s audience should not be set as Made for Kids
- Should not have received any hate-speech community guideline strikes.
You can also pin the merch items during live streams so that more of your viewers can notice and buy them.
5: Collecting Membership Fees or Donations
Imagine a world where the viewers could get exclusive access to content creators and artists. Sounds crazy, right? Well, it’s already happening with the rise of crowdfunding websites like Patreon.
You can simply provide a link to your Patreon in the video descriptions for your viewers to follow. No need for any extra hassles.
With Patreon, you can create different memberships or perks which determine what kind of things your subscribers will get in return. As you have a YouTube gaming channel, you can join a Discord server with some of your exclusive tier patrons, or team up to play a game with a few of your highest-tier Patreon subscribers.
Patreon is a great way to earn more with the help of your viewers. But it requires you to keep interacting with your audience constantly to keep them engaged. This helps the viewers keep on buying the memberships or donating extra if they really like your content.
6: Through Affiliate Marketing
If crowdfunding sites aren’t your cup of tea, there’s always the option to put an affiliate link in your videos. Lots and lots of companies out there utilize these programs so that they can help promote their products or services – which might be something you’re interested in promoting too.
Once you have built a significant fan following, you may be approached by different tech or gaming companies (since your channel is related to gaming) who want to utilize your reach to promote their products. Choose the products and the companies wisely, and you may start raking in tons of money very soon.
But, here’s a piece of advice from me – do not fall for every company that comes along the way. Only partner with those whose products are worthy, are actually useful and look appealing to your viewers. This will help you save your credibility in the long run without damaging your reputation.
7: Collaborating or Offering Services To Others
You will also be able to earn more by offering your services to other YouTube channels, influencers, or companies. For example, if you are exceptionally great at a game, you may be asked to join official gaming competitions organized by third parties, other YouTube gaming channels, or companies themselves.
The game developers could also invite you to check out the beta versions of the new games if you have a keen eye to pick out the issues and bugs.
Top gamers are invited to have their gameplays or actions feature in the official trailers or even become a part of the game itself. For example, many top PUBG players have had their official voice packs released in the game in their own voice.