YouTube’s main source of revenue is advertising. Additionally, we earn money from our monthly subscription businesses such as YouTube Premium. We’ve also developed tools to help eligible Creators earn money in a variety of other ways such as Super Chat, channel memberships, and merchandise. In most cases, Creators and YouTube share revenue generated from these channels.
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How does YouTube share advertising and subscription revenue with Creators?
YouTube’s main source of revenue is advertising, which enables businesses to find relevant audiences and grow their businesses and brands.
Creators who are part of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) are eligible to share in advertising revenue.
We also earn money from our monthly subscription businesses such as YouTube Premium. With YouTube Premium, members can enjoy any video on YouTube without ads while still supporting Creators. Currently, revenue from YouTube Premium membership fees is distributed to Creators based on how much of their content members watch.
How does YouTube ensure Creator success while ensuring that ads run only on quality content?
Over the last few years, we’ve taken steps to strengthen our requirements for monetization via ads to reward only the most trusted Creators making original content.
However, advertising is not the only way for Creators to earn money on YouTube. We’re always trying to help Creators share their stories, deepen relationships with their fans, and earn additional money. Over the last few years we’ve developed and released several tools to help eligible Creators who are a part of YPP find additional ways to make money such as Super Chat, channel memberships, merchandise, and YouTube BrandConnect. As with advertising, Creators and YouTube share revenue from these products.
Isn’t YouTube incentivized to promote controversial content to increase watchtime and earn revenue?
Responsibility – not engagement – is our number one focus and everything we do is seen through that lens. Advertisers typically do not want to be associated with controversial or sensitive content on YouTube – as defined in our Advertiser-Friendly Content Guidelines. This content, while sometimes appropriate to remain on YouTube per our Community Guidelines, is not always appropriate for our advertisers. The downsides both from a user and a brand perspective drastically outweigh all other considerations.