How does YouTube Shorts earn money when ads copy displayed on YouTube Shorts that appear
on the short shelf?
This YouTube Shorts earned over $10 from around 8,000 views.
This YouTube Shorts earned over $3 from around 3,000 views.
How on earth did these YouTube Shorts make money?
In this video, you'll learn how I make money from YouTube Shorts, what YouTube currently
says about YouTube Shorts monetization, the requirements you need for monetization, and
tips and tricks to make more money from YouTube Shorts.
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Speaker 1: Stepping it upfront right now, Shorts aren't going to be supported by ad
serving, and they're not going to generate YouTube Premium subscription revenue.
What does that mean for your analytics?
Well, as you see views rise from the Shorts that you create, you may see your RPM dip.
That's because of the fact that they're not generating any revenue yet.
Herman: Wait, if YouTube Shorts is not supported by YouTube ad revenue and can't generate YouTube
Premium subscriptions, how on earth can you make money from YouTube Shorts?
YouTube recently announced a $100 million Shorts Fund that's available to anybody that
creates a YouTube Shorts video that wows the YouTube community between 2021 and 2022.
Will you be one of those Shorts creators that participates in the Shorts Fund?
Let me know in the comments below.
I'd love to read them and I'm sure others would too.
Here's what YouTube says.
Each month, we'll reach out to thousands of creators whose Shorts received the most engagement
and views to reward them for their contributions.
We'll also ask these creators to share their feedback with us so we can continue to improve
the product experience.
Here are some exciting new features you can try when creating your YouTube Shorts.
You can now record short videos on your phone up to 60 seconds on length using the Shorts
camera app.
You can add clips from your phone's gallery to add to your recordings that are made with
the Shorts camera app.
You can add filters to color correct your Shorts.
You can automatically add captions to your Shorts.
You can also add music from YouTube audio library.
Recently, YouTube announced you can sample audio from other people's short and long-form
content.
Here's what YouTube says about it.
Speaker 1: We're happy to announce that over the coming weeks, we'll be rolling out slowly
in India and the United States, the ability to sample audio from any video on YouTube.
This means that audio from any long-form eligible video on YouTube can be used to create a short.
Any time this happens, the short will attribute and link back to the creator's original video.
Herman: YouTube also recently added a Shorts icon to the bottom of the YouTube app so you
can watch trending Shorts videos.
If you don't currently see it on the app, make sure that you're updated to the latest
version.
The chances of your Shorts video receiving revenue from the $100 million Shorts Fund
is pretty slim.
I want to show you some other ways that I'm making money from my Shorts videos.
As I mentioned earlier, YouTube will not display ads for Shorts that appear on the short shelf,
but it will display ads for other traffic sources.
For example, for this Shorts video, my top traffic source is external, which is primarily
Google Search.
As you can see, this Shorts video currently ranks number one on Google Search for the
term, how to make YouTube Shorts on mobile.
It also currently ranks number one on YouTube search for the same search term.
37.6% of my traffic comes from external traffic source, which is primarily Google Search.
25.1% comes from YouTube search, 16.6% comes from the Short shelf, 5.8% comes from suggested
videos, 3.8% comes from browse features, and 11.1% comes from other traffic sources.
As you can see, I'm consistently getting traffic from the Short video since I published it
in December of 2020.
It hasn't generated much revenue, but I'll show you later how to generate more revenue
from YouTube Shorts.
Let me show you another example of a YouTube Shorts video that's currently getting a lot
of traffic from other traffic sources besides the YouTube short shelf, as well as generating
revenue.
The top traffic source for this Shorts video is YouTube search.
As you can see, it currently ranks number one in YouTube search.
If I click on the reach tab, it says my top traffic source is YouTube search, 48.8%.
The short shelf receives 11.3%, external traffic source, 10.4%, suggested videos, 10.2%, end
screens, 5.9%, and others, 13.4%.
As you can see, the Shorts video currently gets a ton of traffic from other traffic sources
besides the short shelf.
It's only generated $10.72 since I published it in November 2020.
All this revenue is generated from other traffic sources besides the short shelf, which doesn't
allow ads to be displayed.
What are requirements to monetize your videos on YouTube so you can generate ad revenue
from short or long-form content?
According to YouTube, you need to have 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers in the past
12 months.
After you've met that threshold, YouTube will review your channel to see if you didn't violate
any community guidelines or any YouTube policies, and you've met all the requirements.
After your channel has been approved for monetization, make sure you enable monetization for your
channel.
You can also enable monetization for individual videos.
For example, when you upload a video from your computer or from the YouTube app, you
have a choice to turn on monetization for that video.
I recommend turning on skippable video ads, these are ads that play right before your
video starts playing.
When your Shorts video is discovered via search, suggested, and browse, then that ad will play
before your video starts playing.
You'll then be able to generate revenue from your Shorts video.
Here are a couple of other ways to make money from YouTube Shorts.
Number one, link to a popular video on your YouTube channel.
Identify the top 10 videos that drive the most traffic to your YouTube channel.
You can find these top 10 videos by clicking on the analytics tab in YouTube Studio.
Next, make a Shorts video on a couple of points extracted from that popular video.
When making a Shorts video, use a strong hook in the first couple of seconds of that Shorts
video.
This could be a question or a bold statement to grab the viewer's attention right at the
beginning of your Shorts video.
You can also tell a short story that leads up to a climax.
End your Shorts video by redirecting your viewers to your popular Shorts video.
Use the end screen or end card.
You'll have to create that end screen or card using your computer because you can't do it
using the Shorts camera on the short shelf.
The beauty of this strategy is that you're getting new traffic from viewers that are
browsing the short shelf using their mobile phones.
You don't receive this type of traffic when you upload a regular YouTube video.
If you monetized your popular video, you'll see an increase in revenue because you're
sending more traffic from the short shelf of your YouTube Shorts video.
The second way you can generate more money from YouTube Shorts is to attract more subscribers.
As you can see from this Shorts video, I generated an extra 31 subscribers.
This Shorts video generated an additional nine subscribers.
Now, this may not be much, but if you make a lot of Shorts videos, the amount of subscribers
will accumulate.
More subscribers mean you generate more revenue because your subscribers will also watch your
regular videos, which have been monetized.
I also have long-form videos that promote affiliate products, my own products, and courses.
Even though you can't make money from YouTube Shorts that appear on the short shelf, you
can generate a lot of money from other traffic sources.
Another thing to keep in mind is that YouTube Shorts don't accumulate watch hours when viewed
from the short shelf, but they do accumulate watch hours when viewed from other traffic
sources such as search, suggested, and browse.
This means if you haven't met the requirements for monetization of 4,000 watch hours and
1,000 subscribers, you can still use YouTube Shorts to meet those requirements.
How can you monetize YouTube videos if you don't have 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers?
No worries, just watch the video on the screen right now on how to monetize YouTube videos
without 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers.