Four ways, basically :
1.
Ad revenue. When there's an ad on a video watch page, the creator of
that video shares the revenue from that ad with YouTube. YouTubers
aren't allowed to discuss ad rates, but it's generally acknowledged to
be between $1 per 1,000 views, up to a few dollars per 1,000 views. Many
YouTubers also make sponsored or branded content, in which they share
or discuss a product for a fee. This can be very lucrative, but there's
also the risk of clouding your authentic relationship with your
audience.
2. Merchandising. Many YouTube
creators sell shirts or mugs featuring logos or inside jokes. There are
companies designed for niche creators looking to make merch for their
audiences, (I co-own one, Don't Forget To Be Awesome).
For some YouTubers, this can be a bigger source of income than ads (it
is for my brother and me), but for most it's a relatively small
business.
3. Ancillary products. Many YouTubers
are able to use their existing audiences as activation energy for other
projects--from tours to music to makeup lines to books. Because many of
these projects have better established business models (like, people
generally expect to pay for books), this can also be a great business.
It's unlikely my novel The Fault in Our Stars would've been so
successful without the activation energy provided by the viewers of our
videos.
4. Subscription fees. This is an
emerging business model, but I think a very promising one. Voluntary
subscription platforms like Patreon: Support the creators you love
allow viewers to support the creators they love directly. This
decreases the influence of advertisers and makes creators directly
answerable to their audiences. It does, however, require that a
percentage of viewers choose to pay.
I suspect
most YouTubers make most of their money from ads, but I think
advertising is probably shrinking percentage-wise as a revenue source,
which I think is mostly good news. I think advertising is an important
part of funding our online experiences, but ultimately I'd argue the
Internet is healthiest when serving the needs of its human users rather
than the needs of its corporate sponsors.
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