How Much Can YouTube Creators can Earn Money In 2021

YouTube creators who are part of the Partner Program can monetize their videos with ads.

The amount of money different creators make per video varies based on a variety of factors.

We spoke with dozens of creators who shared how much money they've earned on YouTube.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

This is the latest installment of Insider's YouTube money logs, where creators break down how much they earn.

Social-media creators who are part of the YouTube Partner Program can earn money off their videos with Google-placed ads.

To start earning money directly from YouTube, creators must have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past year. Once they reach that threshold, they can apply for YouTube's Partner Program, which allows creators to start monetizing their channels through ads, subscriptions, and channel memberships.

Creators on YouTube can earn their money a number of ways, from sponsorships to selling merchandise.

But revenue from Google ads is a big chunk of many YouTube stars' incomes.

For instance, finance YouTuber Nate O'Brien made $444,000 in revenue from YouTube ads in a year with about 1 million subscribers. Those Google-placed ads were his top source of income.

But YouTube creators can make money with far fewer followers. Nano influencer Jen Lauren, who had 1,900 YouTube subscribers when she spoke with Insider, earned $195 in a recent month.

When it comes to a viral video, how much money a YouTube creator makes can vary wildly. We spoke with YouTubers who broke down how much they'd made on videos with 1 million views, and their answers ranged from about $3,400 to $40,000, depending on the type of content and viewer demographics.

In all, Insider has spoken with dozens of YouTube creators about how much each of them made per month, on videos with 100,000 or 1 million views, and other financial topics.

Here's a comprehensive breakdown of Insider's YouTube money logs series:

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Many YouTube creators earn money off the ads that play in their videos and receive a monthly payout.

So how much do YouTubers generally make per month?

Here's a full breakdown of our coverage of how much YouTuber creators earn monthly:

Tiffany Ma, a lifestyle creator with 1.8 million subscribers

Nate O'Brien, a personal-finance creator with 1 million subscribers

Kelly Stamps, a minimalism-lifestyle creator with 600,000 subscribers

Charlie Chang, a personal-finance creator with 350,000 subscribers

Charli Prangley, a web and graphic design creator with 200,000 subscribers

Erin Winters, a business creator with 200,000 subscribers

SemideCoco, an ASMR creator with 150,000 subscribers

Levi Hildebrand, a zero-waste creator with 125,000 subscribers

Chloe Tan, a college life creator with 80,000 subscribers

Macy Schmidt, a lifestyle creator with 50,000 subscribers

Marissa Lyda, personal-finance creator with 50,000 subscribers

Erica Boucher, a creator with a DIY candle making channel with 31,000 subscribers

Meghan Pruitt, a college influencer with 6,800 subscribers

Jen Lauren, a nano influencer with 1,900 subscribers

For every 1,000 ad views, advertisers pay a certain rate to YouTube. YouTube then takes 45% and the creator gets the rest.

Some subjects, like talking about money on YouTube, often can boost a creator's ad rate by attracting a lucrative audience.

How much do creators earn per 1,000 views (called the RPM rate)?

Here's a full breakdown of our coverage of what YouTube creators earn per 1,000 views:

Creators on YouTube often have no idea how much money they will earn off a single video after they upload it to the platform.

Many creators also try to avoid swearing or copyrighted music in their content because those factors can increase a video's chance of getting flagged by YouTube and demonetized.

So if a creator does everything right in the eyes of YouTube, how much can they expect to make at the top end?

We asked 17 YouTube creators what the most money they'd made of a single video was.

Read the full post: YouTube stars reveal the most money they've made from a single video

How much money a single YouTube video with 100,000 views makes from Google-placed ads depends on the content of the video and the audience who watches.

The amount of money a video will earn also depends on its watch time, length, and video type, among other factors.

Here's a full breakdown of our coverage on how much YouTube creators make for 100,000 views:

Though making money from YouTube depends on a variety of factors, amassing 1 million views can often net a creator a big payday.YouTube creators who are part of the Partner Program can monetize their videos with ads.