How to Get Monetized on Youtube Gaming

You might have been making videos or doing live streams on YouTube with your YouTube gaming channel for a while and your community is still growing. Maybe even big enough to become a YouTube partner, but you’re not completely there yet, so here are the requirements you have to hit to become a YouTube partner and some tips to get monetized for your work and gaming content.

Requirements for YouTube Monetization

You can get monetized through YouTube itself, which means you can earn money by uploading videos on your YouTube gaming channel. However, you can’t start making videos and immediately get monetized for it. You will have to hit some requirements in the past year before you can actually start to earn money from the videos on your channel. These are the following:

1. You will have to hit 1000 subscribers

   To get to this goal you will have to make content people will want to come back to but use your platform on other platforms to promote your YouTube channel too. The more subscribers you have the easier the following requirement will be to achieve.

2. You have to get a total of 4000 watch hours

   You can earn watch hours (also referred to as watch time) through all the videos you put on public, this can be both live streams and videos that went through an editing process first. You can’t earn watch hours from private videos, unlisted videos, deleted videos, ad campaigns, videos played that are in the ‘stories and short videos’ list, and live streams you have made but are unlisted, deleted, or aren’t converted to a VOD (video on demand).

3. 2 factor authentication

   2 Factor Authentication or also known as 2FA is asked to make your YouTube account more secure, but also makes sure that other people can’t just access your YouTube channel if they get ahold of your log-in information. You also need this to get access to YouTube Studio. 2 Factor Authentification is nothing more than using a second form of verification besides your password to get into your YouTube account.

4. 0 community Guidelines violations

   Of course, all creators need to follow the community guidelines, this means no excessive amounts of inappropriate language, sexually explicit content, content that can influence viewers in a bad way, or going into detail about controversial issues. For example graphic depictions of abuse or bullying.

5. Have a linked AdSense account

   To make sure you actually get the ad revenue you receive on your videos, you will have to sign up in Adsense and then link your AdSense account to your YouTube channel. You can do this before or after applying to get the YouTube monetization, you just have to make sure it is ready before you get the approval. If you have multiple YouTube channels you are the owner of, then you can link them all to your Adsense account.

   When you have hit all of the above requirements you can then sign up for the YouTube Partner Program and get paid for your videos. You will then be put under review to see if you are fit for the YouTube partner program. If so congratulations, you have now reached the moment, you can make money from the revenue from ads that are on your videos.

6 Tips to Get Monetized on YouTube Gaming

To actually get monetization you will have to grow your own channel, to do this you will have to do more than just upload videos. There are some strategies to grow more, so here are the strategies you can use to actually grow bigger to get to that monetization goal.

1. Make content for a specific audience

   Even if you’re a great content creator, you won’t be able to satisfy everyone and you also shouldn’t want to do this. Instead focus on one specific interest, that you enjoy doing and also showing to your audience. By putting your focus on one topic, you will get a community of people that share that interest with you. As you build your audience and you upload more videos, YouTube will eventually figure out that this type of person watches your video content and will then recommend your videos to other viewers, which will give you more views.

2. Have a consistent schedule

   People like consistency, they know what to expect from YouTubers and when they are able to watch more of your content. Being consistent in your content also shows that you take care of your channel and of your audience, you don’t have to post every day to grow your community. Make sure that the video content you post is of value for your viewers but also doesn’t make you feel overworked.

3. Make quality content

   This is a direct tie-in with the tip above, it’s better to make 1 video a week that is quality content and users are willing to watch than make a video every day of the week that is just uploaded for the quantity. Of course, your first videos will not be a cinematic masterpiece but showing you put the effort in it, can also help with gaining more views and a bigger audience. Also, practice makes perfect, the more videos you make down the road, the better the quality will be.

4. Use thumbnails to catch attention

   To get viewer clicks you will first have to make sure that your videos catch the attention of your audience. You can do this in two ways, have a catching title or with the use of thumbnails, if your thumbnail looks bland fewer users will click on your video, which means fewer viewers and less watch time. There are various free editing programs and websites that can help you make a thumbnail without having to know a lot about editing yourself.

5. Use End screen cards

   Another way to get more watch time is to have your viewers stay on your YouTube channel and watch more of your video content. A way to achieve this is to make an end card for your videos, which you can use to link your other videos of similar content. When viewers get to the end of your video, they are more likely to click through to other videos, so if you use an end card to suggest other videos, you will get more viewer clicks.

6. Use playlists

   Using playlists is a great way to get more viewers on your channel, but also to stay on your gaming channel. Playlists also show up in search results, which means that users will end up on your Youtube gaming channel. Your channel will look more organized, so when people see your channel they know what to expect, which will eventually mean more subscribers. Lastly, when your audience starts a playlist, it will automatically start the next video, when the previous one is finished, which will automatically mean more watch time.

Best Ways to Make Money on YouTube

With YouTube monetization, you can make money in various ways, but there are also other options to get paid for your content. The payment will all go through your AdSense account, which will not all be done through YouTube Gaming, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it or make a profit out of it.

Youtube Monetization

There are 6 ways for creators to monetize their content and start earning money. 5 of these are a given when you hit the YouTube monetization program requirements. One of them you will have to be qualified for and serves more as a bonus.

1. Ads

   When you are sure your content is advertiser-friendly than you can turn on ads on your YouTube video, your income will come directly from the revenue made by any display, overlay and video ads.

2. Channel memberships

   Members of your community are able to make monthly recurring payments in exchange for special perks that you offer in your channel memberships.

3. Merch

   When you hit 10,000 subscribers your subscribers can buy official branded merchandise that you can showcase on your videos.

4. Super chats & super stickers

   During your live streams, members can buy a super chat and super stickers to highlight their messages with their money. Super chats and Super stickers are a great way to build your own personal branding around your community.

5. YouTube premium

   If a member has a YouTube premium subscription YouTube won’t run ads for them. There is good news, however, YouTube made it so that you get a part of their prime subscription fee, when they watch your gaming videos.

6. YouTube Shorts Fund

   To reward YouTubers for their dedication to making creative shorts, YouTube has set up a special shorts fund. Each month they will contact thousands of creators to tell them they qualify for a shorts bonus from the fund.

Other ways

There are also other ways to make money with your YouTube gaming channel even when you’re not in the YouTube partner program yet. These are handy for new creators that aren’t that big yet, but big enough to start making money.

1. Patreon

   Many YouTubers also own a Patreon next to their channel, Patreon is a platform where people can subscribe to you in exchange for exclusive content. For example behind the scenes content or a thank you card from the creators.

2. Donations

   There are now various websites that you can use to keep track of donations that members give you. Most of them use either credit cards or a Paypal account, people can donate as much money as they would like to their favorite creators.

3. Sponsors

   Another way of making money with your video is by getting sponsorships, often you will be asked to promote a companies product, such as games, food, hygiene products or any other type of product that exists on your channel and in your video to get paid. You will often also receive a link that you can put in your video description so viewers can also buy it.

4. Affiliate program

   The last way to monetize your channel is by becoming a part of an affiliate program with brands, for example, game brands or computer brands, such as Razer. You will receive an affiliate link that you can put in your video description and when your audience uses your link to buy a product you will be making money from that.

Conclusion

Even if your channel is not big enough yet to get money through the ads on YouTube, there are still various ways to monetize your content and make money by uploading a video of your favourite game on YouTube.