Make a million bucks with YouTube! Seriously.

It’s not surprising that more and more people are getting famous from YouTube, but it certainly is something to take note of when some of them turn into a six or seven figure earner from it.

Who knew back in 2005 when YouTube started that it would get to this. Back in 2007 when I started on YouTube, it was only getting a total of about 70 million views per day, which now is almost double double that. These millions of viewers gave rise to a new kind of celebrity – which of course is what this blog is all about. They gave emerging entertainment personalities a reason not to give up on fame, and have to struggle against all odds for the “Hollywood” dream, while letting them earn big paychecks— even millions of bucks.

And as they say, the numbers don’t lie. Based on data released by web research analytics group TubeMogul, top independent video-makers on YouTube earn approximately $100,000 a month from ad revenues alone.   And the San Francisco Chronicle wrote today that their sources confirm that a handful of YouTubers make annual revenue in the millions. So guess what, you and I have a way better chance of achieving that kind of success on YouTube than being the next big movie star in Hollywood, and the process to getting there is a lot more fun too!

There are a few ways to make money with your YouTube videos. The most popular of the three, the YouTube Partner Program, is what we’ll deal with first, and what I have on one of my channels so far (while pending review on another). The YouTube Partner Program allows YouTubers to share the revenues coming from ads running beside and on top of their videos.  Being a YouTube Partner slso entitles you to have a branded channel with banners that link to other stuff like your blog, twitter, facebook, etc.  Becoming a partner, however, ties you to YouTube policies and compels you to adhere to them like uploading only original video content.

YouTube also has a program that’s similar to the partner program, but without the channel branding, and just on a case by case basis when a video gets a good amount of views in a relatively short amount of time, which is called the Individual Video Partnership (IVP). This is what’s been happening on my Top Trending Topics channel, and almost half of my videos there have been accepted for IVP.  Unlike the regular YouTube Partner Program, IVP isn’t something you can apply for on your own – you have to be invited by YouTube to submit each video that they deem to be qualified in terms of viewership.

YouTube is also rolling out a video rental program for content creators. Hunter Walk, YouTube’s management product head, said that YouTube engineers are working on a “self-service method” that will allow video uploaders to have their streaming content rented by fellow YouTubers and YouTube members.  So that will be another way to potentially make some moolah on the site.  Albeit, you’d have to be pretty well known already and be offering something pretty special to get someone to pay for your content.

Most most of the 10,000 or so YouTube Partners in the program, that alone doesn’t provide enough dough to actually make a living off it, so many of them also sell their own merchandise such as mugs and T-shirts. This is another great way to make money on your brand, and have people promoting your videos by basically advertising it for you! Musicians also make some money by selling their songs in YouTube videos on iTunes. And some YouTubers even post their P.O. boxes on their channels allowing fans and companies to send them free gadgets and stuff and other tokens of appreciation.

Some YouTubers, myself included, get one off sponsors who pay them for product placement in their videos.  This can be anything from mentioning their product, to using it as a prop, to having the entire video revolve around it.  These are typically paid a certain amount per thousand of views that the video gets.

And then those who get big enough can land full on sponsorship deals for their original videos like Vietnamese YouTuber Michelle Phan for Lancome Paris (and I’ve heard it’s a million-dollar contract). Rhett & Link, two comedians whose variety show was canceled by CW three years ago, are now YouTube stars, having received sponsorship deals from Alka Seltzer, McDonald’s, the Food Network, Cadillac and tons of other brands.

So there are actually lots of ways you can make money with YouTube! To get there you just need to consistently be creating good content, promote your stuff, and build a following.

Remember that uploading videos on a regular basis is really important and so is using social networking sites as much as you can to spread the word about your work (ie. Facebook & Twitter). It takes a while to get there, but most big YouTubers will tell you that a big key to their success was just sticking it out during the tough times and believing that it’d pay off eventually, which it obviously did!

What do you think? Have you had success making money online with YouTube or other social media?  What do you think about these different ways to potentially make money with online video?

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You Tube Comment of the Day:

SnillJegJa has made a comment on Comfortable Stick (Comfort Wipe spoof): Why the fudge do you have a dildo ? o.o