There used to be a time when uploading videos on a new site called YouTube was just a hobby. No one was in it for the money, but having to work full time didn’t leave much time to make quality content. All this changed when YouTube began to support ads and started to pay YouTubers for ads that played on their videos. This made the prospect of doing YouTube full time and making it a career a reality for many.
The idea that you will be paid for the ads that played on your video was wonderful on so many different levels. Its earliest implementation meant that the money that you earn from a video was directly linked to the number of views your video got. This made it possible to get some return on your investment if you were to buy youtube views. But the whole system is drastically different now, and the things that can affect your earnings are much broader than just a view count.
Here are two of the major factors that can have a significant impact on your earnings from a video.
Watch time:
The way YouTube counts a view is still not revealed publicly, but all of the testing points to the fact that you don’t have to watch the full video for it to count as a view. That’s why there is a clear distinction between views and watch time. Unlike views, watch time is directly proportional to earnings in most cases, and it makes sense, as the longer someone watches, the bigger the chance of a midroll ad.
Type of content:
This is a big one, as two videos with identical views have entirely different earnings based on what the videos are about. This affects the earnings in two ways. First is the content that isn’t very advertiser-friendly. There used to be no such distinction, but nowadays, any content that is adult-oriented is heavily limited on the number of advertisers that will like their ad to play before or between said content.
Secondly, the algorithm tries to tie content with ads. This makes the ad relevant to the video and improves the click-through rate. So, basically, if you are talking about things like high-end cars, jewelry, branded clothing, etc., you are more likely to get a better rate per ad view as those advertisers pay more to YouTube.