YouTube is a website made specifically for video sharing. The website has allowed millions of people to register accounts through which they may upload movies for everyone to view. Over 35 hours of videos are posted to YouTube every minute of every day. Video files can be enormous and are frequently too large to send through email. By uploading a movie to YouTube, you can share it with others by simply providing them with the “address” of the corresponding website.
It was intended for individuals to post and share original video content when YouTube was founded in 2005. But since then, it has also developed into a repository for collecting favorite videos, songs, and jokes as well as a website for businesses to offer their goods. The phrase “viral video” is frequently used today. This is a reference to a video clip that fans loved so much that they sent its URL to millions of others around the world via email, thus spreading it like a virus. Companies have formed their own YouTube accounts to publish advertising and other marketing videos after realizing they may use this capability to reach potential customers.
People have been inspired to frequently submit films on Youtube as a result of the big global trend there, building an audience in their specialized field. This has led to some YouTubers having millions of subscribers and earning a comfortable livelihood from their channels. South Africa is not exempt from this trend and is home to several well-known YouTube stars who have millions of fans. More people who generate videos are preparing to monetize their work on YouTube every day. However, is it possible to survive off of YouTube in South Africa? Second, the videos must adhere to YouTube’s terms of service as well as its criteria for community and advertiser-friendly material. Nudity, hate speech, harassment, violence, spam, and breaches of privacy are prohibited by these guidelines.
How to Make Money on YouTube
Particularly in South Africa, the advertising on YouTube has very little to do with how people make money from it. Because the cost of each individual advertisement is so little, delivering millions and millions of views is necessary for someone to earn a true living from YouTube.YouTubers, particularly in the US, have large followings, thus they can generate millions of dollars just from viewership. This is the rationale behind why the majority of content producers start by building content ecosystems that eventually allow them to monetise what they do.
The situation is different in South Africa though. The majority of YouTubers’ income typically comes from sources other than Google. Google only pays content providers when an advertisement is watched through or for more than 30 seconds. Because Google only charges marketers for their services, this is the situation. The content producer ultimately receives a portion of the revenue from that specific advertisement.
Collaborate with Brands
Working with brands is where YouTubers make the majority of their income. Creators have the chance to profit from the time and effort they invest in their channels when they collaborate with brands. In order to present material that resonates with and is relevant to their audience, brands operate their own YouTube channels. The majority of them also make investments in YouTube advertising, either by sponsoring channels with ads or by working with producers to produce sponsored content.
Market your channel
You must first take into account the two necessities of your YouTube channel: the name and the content, before attempting to monetize it. These will serve as your online persona on the YouTube platform. Therefore, you must make this decision with complete self-assurance and, of course, resolve. But suppose you already have a name for yourself and your videos keep coming. What do these bring in for you? Your channel must first be made profitable.
To achieve this, you must garner at least:
A)1,000 email subscribers
On YouTube, subscribers are essential because they will likely make up the majority of your viewership. Because they liked your videos and are seeking for more, they subscribed to your channel. Be careful to express your gratitude to each of them. To occasionally express your gratitude to them, host prizes and raffles.
B) 4,000 Public Watch Hours in the previous 12 months
The number of clicks, plays, and views that your videos have received is measured in “watch hours.” Keep in mind to continue on course for the following 12 months to ensure you follow Youtube’s rules about this need.
C) Google Adwords Account
You can use this to your own advantage to keep an eye on your statistics and choose the placement of adverts in your films, choosing whether you want them to appear at the start, middle, or finish of your productions. The sums may seem large, but with a little assistance from friends and family, you can accomplish anything. Make sure to always provide quality content that your readers will undoubtedly love, and the numbers will rise quickly on their own.
How to Make the Most of YouTube Ad Revenue
When it’s possible, manually insert advertising; some YouTubers do this during suspenseful scenes. In other words, since the user really wants to hear the rest of the statement, you can begin a sentence and then start the advertisement in the middle of it. For instance, you might write, “An essential fact regarding affiliate marketing is… By placing advertising, you may compel users to watch your video. This tactic has been shown to keep viewers interested long enough to watch the entire advertisement instead of leaving the video.
Keep your channel advertiser-friendly by refraining from using profanity, cursing, or saying anything else that advertisers wouldn’t want to be connected with. Remember that you profit from marketers’ advertisements, so avoid stirring up controversy in your films if you don’t want to lose them.
Produce as many videos as you can. The most crucial aspect of success on YouTube, where numbers are king, is the quantity of views. Although it’s unpopular to say, it’s entirely true. You should upload a lot of videos to your YouTube channel if you want them to be successful, as views come from these videos. For most prominent YouTubers, earning money from advertising is the most passive source of income. But this is only the beginning in terms of monetizing YouTube.
Tips on how you can become successful
- Invest in equipment
- Spend time and energy on the community you create – understand what is important to them
- Be consistent in posting
- Collaborate with other YouTubers – share the fun!
- Take it seriously
Successful youtube content creators in South Africa
Trevor Noah
In South Africa and now the rest of the world, Trevor Noah is a household name. In South Africa, the comedian first gained notoriety performing stand-up comedy. Noah’s popularity on YouTube soared after he was hired to host The Daily Show on Comedy Central. With The Daily Show with Trevor Noah channel having 9.51 million followers, his YouTube account, which hosts the majority of his comedy tour show clips, has a total of 3.15 million subscribers. With a total of 12.66 million subscribers, Noah is the most well-known YouTuber in South Africa.
Caspar Lee
Caspar Lee, a British-South African YouTuber, made his debut on the platform at the age of 16, posting “comedy” skits and videos. He later worked with some of the most well-known YouTubers and included stars and actors like Tom Holland, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Kevin Hart, and others in his collaborations. 6.79 million people subscribe to his main channel, while 1.67 million do so for his second Morecaspar. The now-entrepreneur collaborates with some of the biggest brands in the world, like P&G, Alibaba, and others, while putting YouTube on hold. He co-founded Influencer.com and established two student residences called Proper Living in Observatory and Woodstock, Cape Town.
Peter Carvell
Peter Carvell is a home personal trainer who posts films on fitness and health for people to watch at their leisure. What originally started as a channel to encourage Carvell through his own fitness journey and weight loss has grown into one of the top YouTube channels in the nation with 1.45 million subscribers.
Cobus Potgieter
The artist Cobus Potgieter shares drum cover songs on his YouTube channel, which has 1 million subscribers. He explains the dos and don’ts of drumming along with his own music and renditions of well-known songs. Potgieter, who now resides in the US, was preparing an online drumming school in 2020. In a 10-minute video, the percussionist discusses the expenditures he made in 2020 to raise the caliber of his films and his channel. The drummer spent R27 000 on a new Sony Alpha camera, R1,500 on a motorized camera slider, and R2,400 on LED lighting kits that are often sold as studio or light kits.
Lasizwe Dambuza
Initially, Lasizwe Dambuza attracted South Africans’ attention with his viral comedy videos. The TV celebrity works as a comedian, presenter, social media influencer, and more thanks to Instagram. Dambuza has had rapid success: at the age of 23, the YouTuber with 738,000 subscribers was selected as one of the Black Voices Class of 2021, an accomplishment that highlights 20 well-known and dependable Black content creators from Africa. The platform has not yet been made available for the 2022 class. The YouTuber who debuted his eagerly awaited series “Drink or Tell the Truth,” which featured a brand-new episode every week, had a fantastic year in 2021. Dambuza’s popularity stems from his capacity to offer a sarcastic and nostalgic perspective on South African daily life and problems, particularly those of the youth.
ALSO READ:How much is Netflix in South Africa
