For many aspiring YouTubers, hitting that coveted 1,000 subscriber mark is a major milestone. While having a thousand subscribers certainly doesn’t allow you to quit your day job just yet, it does open up some money-making opportunities on YouTube.
In this article, we’ll break down how much money you can realistically expect to earn on YouTube with 1,000 subscribers. We’ll look at revenue from YouTube ads, sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and more. We’ll also provide tips on how to maximize your YouTube earnings at this subscriber level.
YouTube Ad Revenue
The most direct way for YouTubers to earn money is through YouTube’s Partner Program, which allows creators to monetize their videos by placing ads on them. However, you need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months to be eligible.
So assuming your channel meets these requirements, how much can you earn from YouTube ads? Here are a few key factors that determine your YouTube ad earnings:
- CPM (cost per thousand views): This is how much advertisers pay YouTube to show their ads. The average CPM is around $2-$5.
- RPM (revenue per thousand views): After YouTube takes its cut, creators typically earn $1-$3 per 1,000 views.
- Number of views: More views equals more revenue.
Let’s say your channel gets around 2,000 views per day, which equals 60,000 views per month. With an RPM of $2, you would earn around $120 per month from YouTube ads.
Of course, your exact earnings depend on your specific RPM and monthly views. Many factors impact RPM, including your niche, viewer demographics, ad inventory, and seasonality. But in general, most channels with 1,000 subscribers earn between $100-$200 per month from YouTube ads.
Channel Memberships
Another way YouTubers can earn money is by offering channel memberships. This allows fans to pay a monthly fee (typically $4.99) to get special perks like custom badges, exclusive videos, merch discount codes, and more.
To enable channel memberships, you need at least 30,000 subscribers. However, many creators well below this threshold have been getting approved lately, especially those with very engaged viewers.
So let’s optimistically estimate you’re able to turn 5% of your subscribers into paying members. With 50 members paying $4.99 per month, you would earn $249.50 per month from memberships.
The more loyal and invested your audience is, the higher percentage you can convert. Top YouTubers with millions of subscribers often have 2-5% of their sub count as members.
Super Chats & Super Stickers
If you do live streams on YouTube, you can also earn money through Super Chats and Super Stickers. Viewers purchase these to highlight their comments and support the creator.
Super Chats are paid comments that stand out in the chatbox. Super Stickers are animated stickers that viewers can buy during live streams.
YouTube takes 30% of Super Chat and Super Sticker revenue, while the channel owner gets the remaining 70%. The minimum purchase is $1.
With 1,000 subscribers, you likely won’t see massive Super Chat or Super Sticker revenue. But you could expect to earn anywhere from a few bucks to $100 or more per month, depending on how many live streams you do and how engaged your viewers are.
YouTube Premium Revenue Share
If viewers watch your content through a YouTube Premium subscription, creators get a cut of that revenue based on watch time. However, Premium revenue is relatively small compared to YouTube ads.
On average, YouTubers earn around $1 per 1,000 views from Premium. So for a channel with 60,000 monthly views, that’s about $60 of extra revenue.
Overall, Premium revenue represents a nice bonus, but likely not a significant money maker, especially at the 1,000 subscriber level.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is when you promote a company’s product, and earn a commission if someone makes a purchase. As a YouTuber, you can leverage your audience to generate affiliate revenue in a couple ways:
- Put affiliate links in your video descriptions
- Promote affiliate products verbally in your videos
- Post affiliate links on a website/blog and promote that website to your viewers
Some popular affiliate programs used by YouTubers include:
- Amazon Associates
- CJ Affiliate
- Rakuten
- ShareASale
- Impact
The average affiliate commission is around 5-10%, but can reach up to 75% for digital products like ebooks.
Let’s say you promote a $100 product with a 10% commission. For every 10 sales you drive, you earn $100. While it takes work to drive consistent affiliate sales, it’s possible to earn at least a few extra hundred dollars per month this way once your channel takes off.
Selling Your Own Products
Another option is to create your own products like ebooks, courses, merch, and services. Having your own products means keeping 100% of the profits versus just a small commission.
Information products like online courses tend to work well, especially if you create YouTube videos around the same topics. You can organically promote your paid offerings in your free content.
Merchandise like T-shirts related to your brand is another option. Video creators can promote merch in their videos or offer exclusive designs to paying channel members.
The potential earnings from selling your own products depends on factors like your prices and number of sales. But even selling to a small percentage of your audience can drive meaningful revenue.
Fan Funding Websites
Some creators directly monetize their audience’s appreciation by using fan funding websites like Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee. Fans pay recurring subscriptions, one-time tips, or make purchases to support the creator.
With 1,000 subscribers on YouTube, converting even 1-5% of your audience into paying fans on a fan funding site could generate an extra $100-$500+ per month. The more loyal and engaged your community is, the higher your potential earnings.
Just keep in mind that directly asking your audience for financial support may not make sense for all channels and niches. You want your monetization strategies to align with your content and brand identity.
YouTube Shorts Monetization
YouTube Shorts is a popular way to make short, vertical videos under 60 seconds. Shorts has its own monetization system based on a creator fund.
YouTube pays creators between $0.01 and $0.1 per view on Shorts. The exact rate depends on engagement and viewership of your Shorts.
While Shorts ad revenue tends to be minimal for most creators, they can be a way to grow your subscribers and potentially boost earnings from other monetization methods.
Live Streaming
Live streaming on YouTube via Super Chat brings in revenue, as we covered earlier. But you can also earn additional income by live streaming on other platforms:
- Twitch – Get paid subscriptions from fans and viewer tips called Bits.
- Facebook – Earn from Stars sent by live viewers and monthly fan subscriptions.
- YouNow – Viewers buy and send virtual bars that translate into earnings.
The more entertaining and engaging you are as a live stream host, the more potential revenue. By leveraging multiple platforms, it’s possible to earn hundreds of extra dollars per month from live streaming with 1,000 subscribers.
Tip Jar
Some creators add a tip jar to their YouTube channel for direct viewer support. This allows fans to easily send one-time donations if they want to show appreciation and monetarily contribute.
Popular third party tipping platforms used by YouTubers include:
- PayPal
- Buy Me a Coffee
- Patreon
- Streamlabs
- Stream Elements
A tip jar isn’t the most lucrative revenue source, but every little bit counts when you’re just getting started. Some creators earn a few hundred extra dollars per month this way.
Licensing Your Content
There may be opportunities to license your YouTube videos to third parties. Companies, publishers, or media organizations may pay to reuse your content.
The revenue earned from licensing depends on factors like exclusivity and how the company intends to use the video. Short clips tend to bring in less than longer videos they can repurpose.
For smaller channels, this won’t be a huge money maker. But it can provide some supplemental income from content you’re already creating.
YouTube Analytics Review
One final way to maximize income as a small YouTuber is to analyze your YouTube Analytics data. Look closely at metrics like:
- Traffic sources – See where your views are coming from.
- Top videos – Identify your most popular content.
- Audience retention – Find the parts where people click away.
- Demographics – Appeal to your target audience.
- Engagement – Figure out when fans are most active.
Optimizing your content and strategy around these insights can help boost your views, subscribers, and ultimately revenue. So get familiar with what the YouTube Analytics dashboard offers.
Total YouTube Earnings Estimate
Adding up the various income streams covered in this article, here’s a rough estimate of how much a YouTuber with 1,000 subscribers can expect to earn:
| YouTube ad revenue | $100-$200 |
| Channel memberships | $200-$300 |
| Super Chats & Stickers | $1-$100 |
| Affiliate marketing | $50-$200 |
| Selling own products | $0-$500 |
| Fan funding sites | $100-$500 |
| Shorts revenue share | $1-$20 |
| Live streaming | $50-$300 |
| Tip jar | $1-$100 |
| Licensing | $1-$50 |
| Total Estimate | $500-$2,000 |
So in summary, a YouTuber with 1,000 subscribers has the potential to earn around $500-$2,000 per month by leveraging all their various income options. But much depends on the consistency of content, viewer engagement, and overall marketing strategy.
Tips to Maximize Earnings
Here are some tips to help you maximize your YouTube earnings, even as a smaller channel:
- Focus on watch time – This will increase your Adsense revenue.
- Join the YouTube Partner Program – Get access to monetization features.
- Upload consistently – The YouTube algorithm rewards consistent posting.
- Engage with viewers – Build loyalty and increase chances of financial support.
- Offer channel memberships – Even at a lower sub count, some viewers will purchase.
- Do live streams – Super Chats bring in revenue.
- Collaborate with others – Gain exposure and each other’s audiences.
- Promote affiliate links – Share links to products you actually like and use.
- Sell merch – T-shirts, mugs, and other goods with your brand.
- Make Shorts – Potential to gain more subscribers and views.
It does take time and effort to build up your earnings. But by diversifying income streams and providing value to your audience, you can generate real revenue on YouTube, even when first starting out.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do YouTubers with 100 subscribers make?
YouTubers with only 100 subscribers have very limited monetization options. Ad revenue won’t be possible yet, and there isn’t a large enough audience to sell products or memberships to. Earnings will be small, likely just a few dollars a month from affiliate links or fan donations. The focus at this stage should be on building your audience and improving video quality.
How much do YouTubers with 10,000 subscribers make?
A channel with 10,000 subscribers has more monetization potential. Estimated earnings from ads, memberships, sponsorships, etc. could be around $1,000-$5,000 per month. But it still takes a lot of views and engagement to earn significant income at that level.
Can YouTubers with 1000 subscribers make money?
Yes, YouTubers with 1000 subscribers can make money from their channels by monetizing through ads, affiliate links, fan donations, and other methods. However, earnings are still relatively small, with most channels at this size making less than $2,000 per month. Building the audience to 5,000+ subscribers greatly increases money making potential on YouTube.
How many subscribers do you need to make money from YouTube?
You technically need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the last year to be eligible for YouTube’s Partner Program, which allows you to monetize your channel through ads. However, most channels don’t start seeing significant earnings until they pass 5,000 to 10,000 subscribers and get more views.
Can you earn money from YouTube with no subscribers?
It is not possible to earn any direct revenue from YouTube without subscribers and watch time. However, even channels with no subscribers can potentially earn small amounts indirectly from affiliate links or fan funding sites by promoting their channel elsewhere and driving views.
The Road to Full-Time YouTube Earnings
While $500-$2,000 per month is decent supplementary income, it likely isn’t enough to quit your regular job and do YouTube full-time.
Here are some subscriber milestones that top creators report earning enough income to support themselves full-time:
- 100,000 subscribers
- 250,000 subscribers
- 500,000 subscribers
- 1 million subscribers
The road to full-time YouTuber status takes a lot of hard work. But by providing value, building an audience, and diversifying revenue streams, it’s an achievable goal over time.
Conclusion
While YouTube ad revenue, channel memberships, and other income sources are small when you only have around 1,000 subscribers, they provide a solid starting point.
The key is to continue focusing on creating great content, building your subscribers and views, and utilizing other monetization methods beyond just AdSense. Over time, your earnings will ramp up.
Some top earners make well into six figures a year on YouTube. But it takes years to build up to that level through consistently creating content, engaging with your community, and leveraging your channel as a business.
Patience and persistence are critical. If you stay committed long-term, you can eventually turn YouTube into a very viable income source, even with humble beginnings.
