On February 5th, 2018
we accidentally saw
just how much Marques Brownlee makes per month from YouTube Ads.
He released a video showing his phone
without realising that he accidentally showed his YouTube analytics.
Before he managed to remove it, We managed to make a copy of it.
This will be the first invaluable piece of our puzzle
as we set out to find out how much MKBHD earns.
Let’s begin by calculating his Cost Per View
we do this by dividing his estimated revenue, by the total number of views shown on his phone.
In January 2018 he made 0.0018 cents per view, or 1.86$ for every 1000 views on his channel.
It’s not a bad start, but how much does MKBHD make from YouTube’s ad revenue in a year?
Well, now that we know his Cost Per View, we can get a pretty accurate idea.
Let’s take his total number of views for the last 12 months from the day of making this video,
multiply it by our Cost Per View,
and we get $1 031 538 dollars.
This is how much ad revenue he is left with after 12 months,
and I say left with because Google took a 45% cut.
If we also take Google’s cut into into account,
MKBHD’s channel made a total of $1 875 523 in ad revenue,
with Google taking 843 thousand dollars.
But we all know that Marques also makes money from selling his merchandise,
like t-shirts and hoodies from a company called Cotton Bureau,
sponsorships and commissions from his affiliate links.
So, lets dig deeper and find out exactly how much MKBHD makes in TOTAL.
This, is where the second piece of our puzzle comes into play:
a snippet from Marques’ interview from March 21st, 2019 where he says,
that his yearly Ad Revenue which we already calculated,
makes up (Marques speaks) "40-50%" of his total revenue.
Since he still hasn’t yet launched his secret business which I’ll reveal somewhere at the end of this video,
It's safe to assume that this ratio is still the same in 2020.
With this information, let’s take his Ad Revenue earnings for the last 12 months
and calculate what his total revenue would be if they made up either a 40 or 50 percent share like he said.
Assuming his CPV and the revenue ratio remains the same,
2.06 - 2.58m million US dollars
is an accurate estimate of how much MKBHD earns in 1 year
from YouTube advertisements, sponsorships, merchandise and affiliate links.
But REVENUE is not PROFIT!
this isn’t how much money he actually keeps.
Apart from Google’s cut, his still has expenses, such as salaries for his full-time and part-time staff,
new video gear and travel costs.
To get an estimate for his expenses,
lets go ahead and find the average salary for the entry level equivalent of the positions his staff have.
and, assume that he needs another 150k for his part-time staff and all other expenses.
If we round up 147 to 150, we have total yearly expenses of 300 thousand dollars.
Now before you think to yourself WOW, that’s still a ton of money!
lets not forget the TAX MAN, shall we?
Taking into count that he’s based in New Jersey,
he will have to pay federal income tax, state income tax and Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax,
he’ll have to pay between 803 thousand - 1.052 million dollars IN TAXES.
So how much does Marques Brownlee make in total per year
after Google, after Tax and after business expenses?
Well
He started off with a total yearly revenue of 2.9 - 3.4 million USD
He spent an average of 300K on business expenses
Google took 843K
And the Tax Man took 803 - 1.05 million dollars.
Leaving him with a total profit between 960 - 1.22 million dollars.
Wondering what he spends his money on?
Well, Marques actually pays himself a small amount of this and chooses to reinvest a lot of it back into the business
to keep improving the videos he makes for us.
What’s are some of the things he buys with all the money?
Say hello to MIA
his camera robot that costs an astonishing 150 thousand dollars.
This is actually not a lot taking into count
that Marques Brownlee is one of the biggest, most reputable and influential tech reviewers in the world
who’s been perfecting his craft for 11 consecutive years
regardless of having started with 3 years of slow growth
and being rejected 3 times by YouTube to join the partnership program.
It’s time for the long awaited secret reveal for those who stayed until the end of the video
On September 16th, 2015
Marques Brownlee filed to register the „MKBHD“ trademark
to be used on cell phone cases, namely, cell phone covers.
Given his huge audience,
when he starts this business,
you can be sure that his youtube ads will be a much smaller share of his total earnings.
Thank you watching!
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