Some YouTube creators keep publishing video after video, putting tons of effort into their thumbnails, titles, SEO optimized descriptions but can’t seem to get any closer to YouTube’s monetization threshold.
That got me wondering, how much do the biggest creators on YouTube make?
And what other ways do they use to monetize their channels?
We consume content from creators like Mr.Beast, WatchMojo, Logan Paul, Ali Abdaal, PewDiePie, Dream, and others daily.
But how much does YouTube pay to these creators for the amount of views that they get?
How long did it take them to break the ice and join YouTube’s monetization program?
Let’s find out.
How Much YouTubers Make
There are many different ways that YouTubers monetize their audiences like Google Adsense, Brand Connect, affiliate revenue, sponsorship deals, merchandise sales, digital and physical product sales, and more.
Here’s how much top content creators on this platform make:
1. How much Mr.Beast makes from YouTube?
A common estimation is that Mr.Beast makes around $3,000,000 per month on his main YouTube channel.
But this is probably on the low side.
On his main channel, Mr.Beast gets +32,153,630 views per day.
According to Social Blade Mr.Beast’s main channel revenue averages in the range of $10,000 – $159,900 per day.
But he has all of these channels too:
Mr.Beast also makes money from his other businesses other than YouTube, like the Beast Burger, merch & Feastables.
So the total amount he earns per month with the help of his YouTube audience could reach much more than 3 million dollars.
2. How much Ali Abdaal makes from YouTube?
Ali Abdaal made a video about how much he earns per year from his whole YouTube business.
The total amount was $4,790,000 which amounts to $400,000 per month.
Ali Abdaal’s YouTube channel gets +244,491 views per day on average.
However, Ali’s ad revenue makes up only a small portion of his overall income from his YouTube channel.
Most of Ali’s income comes from his side hustles, courses, newsletters, and more.
3. How much Logan Paul makes from YouTube?
Logan Paul no longer regularly uploads on YouTube but still gets +314,260 views per day on average.
This amount of views earns ~ $30,000 per month.
These days Logan has many other streams of income that earn him money.
However, in its lifetime, Logan’s channel got almost 6 billion views.
If we take that an average RPM for all his videos was $3 we could estimate that Logan has made over $17,000,000 from Adsense alone throughout his YouTube career.
I recommend checking out the YouTube income calculator to see how much you could earn with different amounts of views.
4. How much PewDiePie makes from YouTube?
PewDiePie is one of the OG’s of YouTube.
For the longest time, he was the most subscribed channel on YouTube.
Unlike most OG YouTubers PewDiePie still consistently uploads videos and builds his fan base.
PewDiePies channel gets +6,758,149 views per day on average.
The amount that PewDiePie earns from YouTube Adsense every month is estimated to be $20,000.
However, his YouTube channel has got 28 billion views in total.
If we take that the average RPM for all his videos was $3 we could estimate that PewDiePie has made over $84,000,000 from Adsense alone throughout his YouTube career.
5. How much James Charles makes from YouTube?
Jame’s channel gets +575,517 per day on average.
This means that his Adsense revenue is $1,725 per day on average.
This amounts to $51,750 per month.
James Charle’s YouTube channel got 3,7 billion views in its lifetime.
With an average RPM of $3, we could estimate that James Charles has made over $11,000,000 from Adsense alone throughout his YouTube career.
6. How much WatchMojo makes from YouTube?
WatchMojo is one of the OG YouTube automation channels that started in 2007.
The company has created more than 20,000 original videos on YouTube, and 5,000 additional videos from other platforms.
To this day WatchMojo uploads more than 7 videos per day on their YouTube channel.
WatchMojo has over 15 billion views on its main channel alone (they have 35 YouTube channels in total, some with over a million subscribers).
The main WatchMojo YouTube channel gets +1,926,875 views per day which amounts to $180,000 per month in ad revenue.
7. How much Biaheza makes from YouTube?
Biaheza is a channel covering various online money-making methods, investments, and entrepreneurial endeavors.
Since this YouTube niche has a higher CPM than normal, finance-related channels make a lot more money for the same amount of views as other channels.
Biaheza’s channel has gotten 107 million views in its lifetime and with an average RPM of $14, that amounts to $1,498,000.
Today Biaheza’s channel gets +122,195 views per day on average which earns him $51,321 per month.
8. How much MattDoesFitness makes from YouTube?
MattDoesFitness is a fitness channel and the creator, Matt makes yearly videos on how much he earns each year from YouTube Adsense.
In 2021 his YouTube channel has brought in over $250,000.
In 2022 Matt’s channel gets +85,676 views per day on average.
With an average RPM of $4, MattDoesFitness makes $10,281 from YouTube Adsense each month.
9. How much HowToBasic makes from YouTube?
With more than 17 million subscribers, the Australian YouTube comedy channel HowToBasic creates viral videos where he doesn’t speak or reveal his identity.
HowToBasic gets +429,039 views per day on average which nets him $38,613 per month if an average RPM is $3.
As of now, the HowToBasic channel has over 3,598,772,524 views on his channel in total which (with an average RPM of $3) comes down to $10,796,317 Adsense revenue in the lifetime of his channel.
10. How much Shroud makes from YouTube?
Whereas finance channels get a high CPM on YouTube, gaming channels usually have one of the lowest CPM on the platform.
However, with millions of views, you can make a lot of money from YouTube even with a low CPM.
Shroud is a professional gamer and streamer and his main channel gets +150,706 views per day on average.
With an average RPM of $1, his channel earns $150 per day.
However, Shroud has over 1 billion total views which amounts to $1,000,000 from Adsense revenue.
However, this number is very small compared to the platform deals and Twitch subscribers and donations which makes Shroud one of the top-earning creators in the world.
11. How much MKBHD makes from YouTube?
MKBHD is one of the OG tech YouTubers that still make content to this day on YouTube.
On a podcast with Colin and Samir MKBHD revealed that his playback-based CPM is $11.90.
With 3,2 billion total views on his channel, MKBHD has earned $38,739,227 from YouTube Adsense.
Of course, since YouTube takes a 45% cut from your revenue MKBHD made $21,306,575 from his YouTube channel.
Today MKBHD’s channel gets +1,627,740 views per day on average.
With this amount of daily views, Marques Brownlee makes $319,606 per month on average.
12. How much Dream makes from YouTube?
Dream is the most popular Minecraft YouTuber on the platform.
Dream’s channel gets +580,264 views per day on average which earns him $1160 per day (with an RPM of $2).
In total Dream’s channel has 2,7 billion views which amounts to $5,584,132 in the lifetime of his channel with a RPM of $2.
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How Many Videos to Get Monetized on YouTube?
There is no definitive answer to this question. It might take 5 or 150 videos.
Everyone has a unique set of skills that either fit what it takes to go viral on YouTube or not.
That’s why for some creators it may take 150 videos to get monetized and others can reach 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch ours with just a few videos.
It took my channel 323885 views, 315 days, and 103 videos to get monetized on YouTube.
You can read more about how my first year on YouTube went here.
How to Calculate YouTube Income?
1. Social Blade
In order to calculate how much income YouTubers make you can visit a website called Social Blade.
Social Blade tracks the YouTube platform in terms of views, revenue, subscribers, and more.
You can input any channel’s name on YouTube and Social Blade will give you a rough estimate of how much the channel is earning per day, per month,h and per year.
However, Social Blade is not always accurate and that’s why we can use the second method which is more precise:
2. YouTube income = total views / 1000 * RPM
Let’s use an example and try to calculate how much can you earn for 100k views on YouTube.
If your RPM is $3 (average across YouTube) then your YouTube income would equal 100,000/1,000 * 3 = $300.
With 100k views and an RPM of $3, you’re looking to earn $300 from YouTube Adsense.
You can calculate how much you could earn with different amounts of views by using my YouTube money calculator.
How to Monetize a YouTube Channel Faster?
1. Use the blue ocean strategy
The blue ocean strategy lets you make your competition irrelevant by differentiation.
The blue ocean strategy helps you stand out in a crowded YouTube market.
First, you learn how to do YouTube by uploading search-optimized videos and then once you get good, pivot into traffic from YouTube browse features.
There are millions of people trying to start YouTube channels and make this their full-time career but only the top 1% make it through the noise.
With this amount of competition, you can’t do the same as everyone else to get noticed.
You have to stand out.
One of the best ways to start ranking your videos for consistent search traffic is by using VidIQ.
VidIQ is a keyword research tool that lets you input a keyword and find out its competition and monthly search volume.
It also suggests other keywords that you could include in your video’s title and description in order for it to rank on YouTube search and get consistent viewership.
In fact, I wrote an entirely separate article reviewing VidIQ and how it stands up against the competition. Check it out here.
How To Go Viral on YouTube?
There are 3 things you need to get right to go viral on YouTube:
- The viewer clicks on your video.
- The viewer watches your video all the way through.
- The viewer is satisfied with the video.
It’s simple, yet even the most successful YouTubers like Mr.Beast are still trying to figure out and optimize this viral equation.
That’s why I’ll leave you with a few killer resources that will help you go viral on YouTube: