Think you need thousands of subscribers before you can make money on YouTube? Not necessarily. If you’re a new creator wondering whether your videos can actually earn you anything, the good news is that a small channel can still open doors to affiliate income, brand deals, freelance work, and other opportunities. Sometimes, reaching the right viewers matters more than reaching a huge audience.
The trick is knowing which earning methods suit your content and how to get started without spending a fortune. Whether you’re just learning how to become a content creator or have already uploaded a few videos, these 15 practical ways to make money on YouTube can help you find an approach that fits your skills, interests, and current audience.
Top 15 Ways to Make Money on YouTube
1. Earn Affiliate Commissions Through Product Reviews
Affiliate marketing allows you to earn commissions when viewers purchase through your referral links. Create honest product reviews, comparisons, and tutorials that answer specific buying questions. Use YouTube SEO keyword research to find relevant topics, disclose affiliate relationships, and track clicks and sales rather than views alone.
2. Secure Sponsorships From Relevant Brands
Brands may partner with smaller channels when their audiences match their target customers. Prepare a media kit showing your niche, average views, engagement, and audience profile. A consistent video content strategy and clear personal branding can help you present your channel professionally. Contact relevant brands with specific collaboration ideas, and disclose sponsored content appropriately.
3. Offer Freelance Services Through Your Channel
Use tutorials and demonstrations to showcase skills such as video editing, graphic design, SEO, copywriting, or website development. Add a contact email or service-page link to relevant descriptions so interested viewers can enquire. If you’re new to client work, these freelancing tips can help you manage proposals, expectations, and projects professionally.
4. Sell Digital Products
Create downloadable products such as templates, spreadsheets, planners, e-books, or editing presets. Choose a problem your audience regularly encounters, develop a useful solution, and demonstrate it in a video. Start with one simple product, collect feedback, and improve it before investing in a larger collection.
5. Run Online Courses or Paid Workshops
If viewers want deeper guidance on a subject you understand, offer a structured workshop or course. Topics could include photography, coding, cooking, language learning, or video editing. Define the learning outcome, price, duration, and included resources clearly. Testing demand with a small workshop can help you avoid creating a course nobody needs.
6. Offer Coaching or Consulting
Creators with relevant expertise can offer one-to-one sessions to help people solve specific problems. Examples include interview preparation, content planning, or business consulting. Use videos to demonstrate your approach and explain how viewers can book a session. Set clear fees and expectations, and never promise guaranteed results.
7. Earn Advertising Revenue Through the YouTube Partner Program
YouTube ad revenue requires eligibility for the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). The standard advertising threshold has generally been 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 valid public watch hours in the previous 12 months or 10 million valid public Shorts views in 90 days. Other account and policy requirements apply, and thresholds may change.
Some eligible creators can access certain monetisation features at lower thresholds, but this does not automatically qualify them for ad revenue sharing. Check the official YouTube Partner Program requirements before planning around them. Publish original, useful content and use YouTube Analytics to identify videos that attract and retain viewers.
8. Offer Channel Memberships
Eligible creators can offer recurring paid benefits such as exclusive videos, members-only live streams, badges, or Q&A sessions. Choose benefits your most engaged viewers will value and that you can deliver consistently. Check YouTube Studio for feature availability and current eligibility requirements.
9. Receive Super Thanks From Viewers
Super Thanks lets eligible viewers pay to appreciate certain videos. Useful tutorials, educational content, and detailed guides may encourage voluntary support. Keep your content valuable without pressuring viewers to contribute, and check whether the feature is available to your channel.
10. Use YouTube Shopping to Promote Products
Eligible creators may be able to showcase products through YouTube Shopping or participate in supported affiliate arrangements. This can suit product reviews, demonstrations, styling videos, and cooking content. Check the features available to your channel, promote relevant products, and disclose commercial relationships where required.
11. Generate Leads for Your Own Business
Videos can attract customers even if you don’t earn directly from YouTube. A photographer could publish preparation tips, while a web designer could explain common website mistakes. Link viewers to a relevant enquiry form or service page, and measure qualified leads and bookings rather than relying on view counts.
12. Create User-Generated Content for Brands
Brands may pay creators to produce product demonstrations, unboxing videos, or tutorials for their marketing channels. Unlike traditional sponsorships, payment may depend on the content you produce rather than your audience size. Build a small portfolio and clarify fees, usage rights, revisions, and advertising permissions before accepting work. Never present fictional experiences as genuine testimonials.
13. Sell Merchandise or Print-on-Demand Products
If your channel has a recognisable identity or community, consider selling T-shirts, mugs, stickers, or niche-specific products. Print-on-demand services can reduce inventory needs, but account for production costs, shipping, returns, and profit margins. Test audience interest before launching a large collection.
14. License Your Original Video Footage
Distinctive footage of events, travel, wildlife, or demonstrations may interest publishers and businesses. Organise your original files, secure necessary permissions, and agree on usage rights and payment terms in writing. Licensing works best when footage has clear editorial or commercial value; income is not guaranteed.
15. Repurpose Videos Into Additional Products
Turn useful videos into checklists, e-books, workshops, or templates that offer viewers another way to use your knowledge. Effective content repurposing should add practical value rather than simply reproduce a transcript. Start with a topic that has attracted repeat interest or useful audience questions.
Which Digital Marketing Skills Can Help You Monetise Your Channel?
Successful monetisation involves more than recording videos. You need to understand how people discover content, what keeps them watching, and what encourages them to take action.
- YouTube SEO: Research relevant topics and write clear titles and descriptions.
- Content planning: Create videos for a defined audience instead of publishing unrelated topics.
- Performance measurement: Use retention, traffic sources, clicks, and conversions to assess results. Learning social media analytics can help you understand what works.
- Promotion and conversion: Guide interested viewers towards relevant products, services, or resources without turning every video into a sales pitch.
Developing practical digital marketing skills can help you approach content promotion, audience research, and performance tracking more systematically. Academy of Digital Marketing (ADM) offers training for learners who want to build these broader skills. Exploring a digital marketing course may provide structured learning and practical exercises, although training cannot guarantee channel growth or earnings.
Want to Know More About ADM?
Not sure which digital marketing skills can help you grow your channel and create more earning opportunities? Then,
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you make money on YouTube with 100 subscribers?
Yes. Affiliate marketing, freelance services, digital products, and consulting can generate income without YPP advertising eligibility. Results depend on audience needs, trust, and conversions rather than subscriber count alone.
How many views do you need to make money on YouTube?
There is no universal minimum for external income methods. Ad revenue requires YPP eligibility, while affiliate commissions and service enquiries depend on viewer intent and conversion rates.
What is the easiest way for beginners to earn from YouTube?
Choose a method that fits your existing skills. Affiliate marketing may suit product-focused channels, while creators with marketable skills may find freelance work more practical.
Can you make money on YouTube without showing your face?
Yes. Screen recordings, animation, narrated tutorials, product demonstrations, and original footage can all work without showing your face. Use content you have the right to publish.
Do you need YPP to earn money?
No. YPP is required for applicable YouTube monetisation features, but you can earn independently through sponsorships, affiliate marketing, services, and products, subject to relevant rules.
How long does it take to earn your first income?
There is no fixed timeline. Your niche, content quality, audience demand, and earning method all affect results. Treat early publishing as a period of testing and learning.
Conclusion
You don’t need a huge following to make money on YouTube, but you do need a clear way to turn useful content into value. Choose one suitable earning method, track meaningful results beyond views, and improve your approach as you learn what your audience needs. Build additional income streams gradually rather than trying every method at once.
