YouTube affiliate – how to connect and how much you can earn
You can make money on YouTube through an affiliate program. It’s also called monetization. We tell you how much money you can get and how to do it in general.
How affiliate program works on YouTube
The YouTube affiliate program is an opportunity for authors to make money from their content. Video hosting embeds ads in your videos on a wide variety of channels and takes money from advertisers for this. And it pays you a portion of the earnings, because it’s thanks to content creators that advertisers have a place to promote their products and services.
Naturally, YouTube does not give away all of the money it receives for placing ads. The exact percentage of royalties is unknown – according to various sources, the authors receive 50-75% of the sums paid by advertisers. But it doesn’t change the essence of earnings: the more often your videos are viewed, the more you can earn. Lowcostsmm cheap price service. Here you can easily see that.
The mechanics of affiliate links is simple:
- The advertiser comes to YouTube to promote products and services. He sets up campaigns with certain characteristics – for example, specifying that ads will be seen by men over 18 who are interested in travel.
- The advertiser sets the price per click or 1,000 impressions. It participates in an auction, and the one who paid more, or the one with the higher clickability of the ads, wins. Let’s say a particular advertiser wins.
- YouTube’s algorithms automatically select “sites” for placement – channels or clips that are watched by men over 18. For example, it’s your video.
- The advertiser’s video is embedded in the video. His account is deducted for the display or when someone clicks on the link. YouTube automatically deducts a portion of the earnings to you.
The auction happens all the time, so different ads appear in the same video all the time. It all depends on who is watching the content: different audience segments will see different advertisers.
There are many formats for advertising in the YouTube affiliate program. These can be short clips of up to 5 seconds in length that you can’t miss, and long clips of up to 30 seconds that you can skip. They can be embedded at the beginning of the video, in the middle or at the end. Also, a banner can appear below the clips. All this happens automatically: you just connect to YouTube affiliate, keep working with the content as usual and get money for it.
How much does YouTube affiliate pay?
We’ve already said that ads are shown based on an auction. Therefore, the cost of 1,000 views may vary. It depends on:
- the country of the user – views from the USA and the UK are valued higher than those of users from Russia and the CIS countries;
- Age – advertisers are willing to pay more for a solvent audience aged 18-25 and above;
- interests: clicks or impressions on business-related topics will cost more than impressions on teenagers’ topics.
- The price of 1,000 views may even vary from video to video, because content can be viewed by different audiences.
There are no average numbers, and YouTube itself doesn’t disclose them in the affiliate program description. According to content creators, the cost can range from $1 to $10 per 1,000 views. Amounts can be less or more.
The higher the quality of your audience and the more often they watch your videos, the more you can earn. Let’s calculate the minimum average rate of $ 1. If your video gets 1 million views, you’ll get $1,000 for it alone.
You won’t know how much you’ll earn until you enable monetization. Income information is only shown in the YouTube Creative Studio.
In general, the more solvent the audience and the more often it clicks on the links, the higher the earnings.
How to connect an affiliate on YouTube: conditions for participation
The conditions for applying to join the YouTube affiliate program are simple. The video hosting itself admits those who gained at least 1,000 subscribers and at least 4,000 hours of video views during the last 12 months. You can see a counter for these metrics in the “Creative Studio” section of the “Monetization” section.
There is an additional condition – the channel must comply with the monetization rules. These include AdSense rules and YouTube community rules. Thus, you won’t be able to get into affiliate if the channel contains:
- demonstration of dangerous actions, causing harm;
- actions that violate the safety of children;
- Sexual content and erotica;
- discrimination, insults, threats, and anything else that might harm other users.
YouTube and AdSense monetization rules are periodically updated and changed. It’s worth studying them, even if you’ve already connected an affiliate. You can be disconnected from monetization for non-compliance.
How to connect a YouTube affiliate program
First, you need to reach the required indicators – 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of content viewing in the public domain. And after that, you need to submit an application to verify your channel. Here’s how to do it:
- Enable two-step authentication on a separate page. You don’t have to do it, but requests from those who don’t enable it may take longer to be processed. And it helps protect your channel from hacks.
- Go to the monetization tab, read the terms and conditions for joining the YouTube affiliate program, and click “Accept”.
- Link your channel to your AdSense account. That’s where you will receive all of your payouts. You can create a new AdSense account or link your channel to an existing one, for example, if you are posting ads on a website.
- Wait for the result of verification. It usually takes 30 days, but the process may take longer. When you pass the test, you can fill out a questionnaire about advertising preferences. But it’s not necessary – advertising will be embedded in the ads automatically, if you enable this feature.
- You can enable monetization for both new and old clips that have been on the channel for a year or two. To do this, turn it on in Creative Studio.
Your application to connect to YouTube affiliate may be rejected if you have violated any rules. There is nothing wrong with this: it is enough to eliminate violations, and you can reapply. However, it will be possible to do it not earlier than 30 days after the previous one was sent.
From that point on you will be working with the AdSense Affiliate Program. Get the first payment you can, when the amount in the balance exceeds $ 100. And further – every month or after the sum will exceed 100$ again. The method of withdrawal depends on the country. For example, in Russia you can receive money by bank transfer, check or via “Rapida” system.
There is a nuance – before receiving funds you will have to confirm your address. To do this, go to “Payments”, then to “Settings” and specify the real address. Specify it must be in English, with transcription. Do not fill the second line of the address – it is not necessary.
After you save the address, request a PIN-code to be sent. It is usually sent in a standard letter, and should arrive within two to four weeks. When you receive the PIN-code, confirm your address: enter it in the special window. After those payments will be available and you will be able to add the withdrawal method you prefer.
Sometimes the letter does not come. Then request the PIN code to be sent again. You will need to contact AdSense support directly to pass the verification procedure.
What are other YouTube affiliate platforms
There are other platforms that also position themselves as YouTube affiliate programs. These are third-party services that provide slightly more features, but reduce the earnings from monetization. You’ll be giving them 10-50% of your AdSense income, depending on the terms.
In return, third-party affiliates offer channel development help and ad management tools, which AdSense doesn’t do. But YouTube itself has recently begun to fight against such sites and can even block channels if they are connected to such services.
What problems can arise with YouTube affiliate services
You’ll have to enable monetization on every video you upload. And all new content will be tested by automatic algorithms before ads are embedded in it. Because of this, problems can arise.
Automated algorithms may mistakenly produce a “yellow badge” – a monetization restriction. For example, online gaming channels have received such restrictions for commercials that have used the word “explosion” in their title, which is related to the story. The artificial intelligence mistakenly considers this a violation of the rules and blocks monetization.
Errors can be corrected by requesting a manual verification of the video. To do this, click on the yellow icon in the “Creative Studio” and send a request for reconsideration of the conditions. But be careful: if there are a lot of complaints about your content or your videos get “yellow badges” too often, you could be disconnected from monetization.
Conclusion
Joining YouTube’s affiliate program is easier than it seems. You can get the necessary indicators for a couple of months of active work on your channel, and further monetization will allow you to develop faster. Make quality videos, attract your audience and earn money on YouTube!
