Can We Earn Money from YouTube Live? [Complete Guide]

YouTube live streaming has been around for nearly two decades. However, the popularity of live streaming has skyrocketed in recent years. Experts predict the live streaming market will be worth a whopping $124 billion by 2025. Streaming live events can increase your YouTube following and earn more income. Manage a channel strategy and implement it to garner views.

Table of Contents

Making Money on YouTube

The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) is the most popular platform for generating revenue from online videos. Gaining partner status is a big deal for your channel since it opens the door to monetization opportunities with every video you submit.

Learning how the YouTube and Google AdSense systems operate together takes some time to compensate content providers. Your video will produce income when a viewer clicks on an ad. You will receive 55% of the resulting revenue, and YouTube will retain 45%.

Conditions for Monetization on YouTube

You need to fulfill the following criteria before getting accepted into YouTube’s monetization program:

Should have 1,000 followers
4,000 total viewer hours (within 12 months)
Should commit to YouTube’s community guidelines, advertiser-friendly content restrictions, and terms of service

Joining YouTube’s Partner Program

The procedure is as follows:

Head on over to the YouTube Space.
Select Monetization on the list of available options on the left.
When you meet the requirements, a blue button will appear to encourage you to apply. Go ahead and tap that link.
Read over the YPP guidelines.
Start monetizing your channel by creating a Google AdSense account.

In the end, YouTube will make a call on your channel and notify you via email.

Earning Money with YouTube Live

Earning money with live streaming requires dedication, hard work, and interesting material. Only a tiny fraction of streamers are making a fortune through live streaming. The following are effective methods using which you can earn big bucks from YouTube live streaming:

1. Donations and Tips

You can make money streaming by allowing people to donate or tip you.

When you get your first donation or tip, you’ll know that what you’re doing live online is on the right track, whether it’s a pastime, side gig, or vocation. Having a stranger who values what you’re doing enough to send you money for it is incredibly humbling.

You can earn money from viewers by asking them to contribute or leave a tip on most live-streaming websites.

Super Chat is YouTube’s primary tipping platform. Tips allow viewers to highlight specific messages in the channel’s chat box. You can also earn a commission on sales of YouTube’s Super Stickers, a type of chat animation.
With Bits, Twitch’s virtual currency, viewers may cheer for their favorite streamers. Each Bit used in a viewer’s cheers is worth about $0.01 to a Twitch affiliate or partner. The audience can send a message as a Cheemote, combining text with emotes.
The Facebook tipping system is based on Stars, a virtual currency that your viewers can purchase and donate to you in exchange for a nominal fee of $0.01. You can only use these stars if you are enrolled in Facebook’s Level Up program.

Never forget to offer a shoutout to the source of a tip when you receive one. When receiving a tip during a live AMA (Ask Me Anything), answering it before any other queries is best.

2. Subscriptions

You should create content only available to your paying customers if the service you use enables it. It is vital to recognize subscribers when they first sign up and again on their anniversary.

Platforms save this kind of help for members of their content creator programs. You’ll have to complete some prerequisites to activate it.

Users can pay a monthly fee to subscribe to channels on YouTube as part of the site’s channel membership service. This feature requires membership in the YouTube Partner Program and meeting other criteria.
Affiliates and partners can participate in a paid subscription program that allows them to profit from such subscriptions. You can charge your viewers via PayPal, Amazon Payments, or credit card.
Fan Subscriptions, a feature of Facebook Gaming, are now available to Level Up game publishers. It would help if you had a certain number of viewers return each week to get the money. However, the feature is only available in specific countries.

3. Payouts through Third Parties

Although many people use streaming services today, not all are interested in participating in partnership programs. You can choose to maintain different income streams to facilitate the transition from one platform to another or simultaneous operation across multiple platforms.

Donation and subscription payment processing may necessitate a third-party service. Here are a few of the most often chosen alternatives:

Donations and tips can be made using StreamElements. This platform interfaces effortlessly with YouTube, Facebook Gaming, and Trovo and offers several payment methods.
Patreon is a subscription and donation platform. It is closest to a subscription system outside a streaming platform’s program, as supporters can establish monthly commitments.
Use a crowdfunding service like GoFundMe or Kickstarter to raise money for a special project. Create profiles and promote your idea via live broadcasts on these platforms if you need financial backing to see it through.

4. Ad Sales Revenue

Half of the internet runs on advertising revenue, including Google services and Facebook. If you sign up for the correct social network or streaming service, you can start making decent ad money.

Live video broadcasting on a particular website, like YouTube or Facebook, can qualify you for that site’s advertising incentives.

Pre-roll ads begin playing before the broadcast even loads for the viewer. Before people can watch your content, they must first watch the ad.
Mid-roll Ads air in the middle of your live broadcast. While the ad occupies most of the screen, your stream will continue in a reduced-size window.
Display or overlay ads appear as banners or little cards on your live stream.

YouTube supports many different types of advertising, including pre-roll, mid-roll, display, and overlay formats.

Live streaming advertising is a frequent source of debate and discussion. Having as much say as possible in the ads that appear during your streams and on your channel is essential.

Remember that some viewers may choose to hide advertisements by installing ad-blocking software. Therefore, relying solely on advertisements to monetize your live broadcasts might not be wise.

5. Live Chats

Host live chats by hosting live chats to encourage viewers to utilize the Super Chat and Super Stickers functions.

When you upgrade to YouTube Partner, your subscribers can pay to have their comments featured prominently in the live chat. Super Stickers, animated gifs used in chat, can also be bought by the user. A percentage of all purchases will be credited to you.

Super Chat is a way for visitors to leave comments by making monetary contributions. In return for their payment, their remarks will be pinned to the top of the live chat stream for a given time.

Super Chat is a one-of-a-kind function since it gives your most devoted viewers and followers a special method to interact with you, which is especially useful during crowded live streams with a flood of comments.

They will have to pay for a pinned comment for additional visibility and easier access to the host. However, for your supporters, it’s about more than just posting a comment with increased visibility; it’s about showing their love and enthusiasm for you.

Many subscribers are ready to make even little monetary contributions to the channels they enjoy. They may not be able to afford a more expensive product, but if they believe their content is valuable, they will pay $5 for a prominent comment.

6. Brand Collabs

Streamers can make money through brand collaborations and sponsorships, partnering with companies to create content that benefits both parties. Brands will make offers to streamers with a strong following. Even if they don’t, you can still try to contact them.

Dealing with brands requires a level of professionalism and attention to detail. Your revenue comes from the brands that choose to pay you.

Make sure you’re both on the same page with your commitment by discussing every detail of the agreement throughout negotiations.

You can make money in different ways, including:

In-stream advertising, where a company pays to have an entire stream’s worth of content promoted.
You can earn money from banner ads and other forms of advertising by displaying them on your channel and profile page while you broadcast.

The attention of a brand will depend on its audience. It would help if you had a sizable audience and an intimate familiarity with their demographics, hobbies, and pain points.

Avoid making concessions that will make you appear to be a sellout. Your audiences might get turned off. If you lose them, you lose the money from the advertisers.

7. Affiliate Marketing

When a customer purchases after clicking on your affiliate link, you receive a commission from the affiliate program.

Sometimes, a promotional or coupon code that your audience may use when they shop at the endorsed business might be an effective substitute for a link in an advertising campaign. You’ll receive the link or code once you sign up for the affiliate program.

Include it in your stream description either as a link or a code.
Put the link or code in your stream description. The discount code could be mentioned once or twice throughout the broadcast.

Remember that the streaming service does not benefit your affiliate sales unless the service has struck a contract with the affiliate program.

Therefore, ensure your information is concise and that the services or goods you suggest are appropriate for the subject matter. Never broadcast with the sole intention of generating revenue; instead, put your focus on making quality content.

8. Live Video Content

For many people who create live video content, selling merchandise is a significant source of income. Streaming services provide customers with a wealth of tips and resources designed to increase merchandise sales.

However, you’ll have to work out a lot on your own. In addition to creating and selling your goods, you must plan for their manufacture, storage, and distribution.

Create your web store. Take care of everything from making things to shipping them.
Maintain creative control while outsourcing manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution to a partner approved by the platform in exchange for a percentage of the profits.

Cooperating with retailers provides access to unique features on specific platforms.

There is a wide range in earning potential and effort between the various options. You can connect your merchandising enterprise to your live broadcasting in whatever way you see fit.

9. Premium Programming

It’s becoming common to host live events and sell tickets. Live viewers aren’t just for gaming videos anymore.

Live streaming has become a popular way for people to connect with others who share their interests and learn from one another. Getting these people to pay to watch your live stream can be done with the right content.

To begin, you must develop something desirable enough to warrant viewers’ financial investment. It needs to be unique or different from the free material readily available online.

The usage of a platform that facilitates the sale of tickets to live broadcasts is also required. Live broadcasts on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter can also be monetized. You can create successful pay-per-view programming with first-rate content and a ticketing system.

10. Expertise

Present your expertise in person through conferences, workshops, or lessons. If you find that too theoretical, perhaps you might enjoy a career as a mentor, coach, or educator.

If you have knowledge or abilities that others wish to acquire, you can make money by live streaming your lessons to the world.

There has been a recent shift in the business models of numerous streaming services, all of which are positive for this approach to making money.

More and more platforms are enabling co-streaming. The frustrating lag time experienced in online discussions is decreasing as platform quality improves.

Final Words

Choose one of the options mentioned in this article, or try them all if you want to make money through live streaming. Always make things that people want to see. The audience you’ve worked so hard to cultivate is yours, but only if you can keep them there. Your audience is your most valuable asset in making money through live streaming.