Here's How Much YouTubers Actually Make By Taking Sponsorships And Brand Deals

YouTube stars don't typically blow up over night. Their virality takes time — often years — before it peaks and before they start making ample money from the video platform. This transformation lets them hone their brands and digital identities, and it allows them to become comfortable with the monetary processes of the digital space. After all, there are multiple ways to make money on YouTube. For example, most YouTube videos have ads that play before and during them, and these ads help pay content creators. So, when you fall down YouTube rabbit holes, you're actually helping support creators! In our opinion, this justifies a good video binge.

In addition to ad revenue, YouTube creators can use their platforms to promote their other ventures, such as Patreon accounts, or brands. The latter is known as a brand deal, and it's when a company pays a creator to promote their product or brand in a video. This sponsorship puts money directly in creators' hands, and it only takes up a small portion of their video. However, with so many YouTube stars growing very wealthy, it begs the question of how much money creators make from these brand deals.

The truth surrounding brand deals is that creators can make varying amounts of money from them. Also called influencer marketing, brand deals on YouTube are typically more expensive than ones on Instagram because of the level of attention that can be given to them (via DigitalMarketing.org). For example, DigitalMarketing.org explained that one rule of thumb is that companies often pay creators $2,000 for every 100,000 subscribers they have on their channel. However, this varies. On average, they noted, creators with 50,000 to 100,000 subscribers receive $500 to $1,000 per video, while creators with 100,000 to 500,000 subscribers receive between $1,000 and $3,000. Creators with 500,000+ subscribers receive between $3,000 and $5,000+ per video.

Views also matter, though. Your average views per video can be even more important than your subscriber count. If subscribers aren't watching your videos, why would brands pay you more? According to My Work From Home Money, the typical range of money for a brand deal is $100 to $4,000, which, yes, is a large gap, but it's based on view count. The higher your average view count, the likelier you are to receive several thousand dollars for a sponsorship. They also added that the range for an affiliate sponsorship — wherein you receive a baseline payment, but also commission if viewers purchase through your affiliate link — is $200 to $750.

With numbers like these, it's easy to see how your wealth could stack up rather easily. Of course, you have to secure sponsorships first, but they're lucrative these days and it's worth a shot if you want to create a sustaining channel.