BUSINESS NEWS
HOW MUCH $$ ARE URBEX YOUTUBERS REALLY EARNING?
It's rough out there! The tyrants at YouTube love to take down videos that show so-called dangerous or illegal activities. Eventually, they may demonitize your entire channel. Getting completely deplatformed is not beyond the realm of possibility either. Even worse, if you've had runin's with the law, the courts of your home country may order that if you post one more video involving 'illegal activity', they will haul you off to jail. Hopefully, you're not in that predicament.
But, if you're merely demonetized, fundraiser subscribers via Patreon, GiveSendGo, and Subscribestar can literally save the day.
So, in this thought experiment, let's imagine that YouTube has flat out banned you from monetization, or maybe you just don't want to disrupt your awesome videos with annoying ads. How much can you earn through just Patreon subscribers alone? (NOTE: Don't limit yourself to just Patreon, as they are known to deplatform users. Be sure to also offer links to donate via GiveSendGo, Subscribestar, and bitcoin)
The amount of donations coming in is going to vary by content type, the amount and frequency of content being released, and audience demographics. Urbexers tend to attract younger people who inherently have less money. So, expect Urbex YouTuber income to be on the lower end of the spectrum.
So, how much can an Urban Explorer with one million YouTube subscribers earn from fundraiser memberships alone?
You can get a rough idea how much YouTubers earn when they alow their Patreon subscriber count to be visible to the public. One such YouTuber (who will remain nameless) had about 250,000 subscribers at the time of a particular video release in which Patreon members of just one tier were credited. This amounted to $2,268 per month. One has to imagine that the other tiers were bringing that revenue up to at least $3,000 per month. Now, multiply that times four to get an idea how much someone with 1 million subscribers would be earning. That would be $12,000 per month, or $144,000 per year. Not bad!
STRATEGIES FOR MORE INCOME
The Right Fundraiser Tiers: Some YouTuber's offer fundraiser subscriber memberships for as low as $1.00 per month. This is too low. Don't even bother. One would do better starting at about $3. Then add tiers of $6, $12, $25, $50, and $100. Be sure to offer these higher $25, $50, and $100 memberships for the big spenders out there. There are a lot of mega-wealthy people who love to throw money around. It's nothing to them. These donors alone can significantly increase your earnings.
Diversify/Expand Beyond Patreon: If you only offer Patreon memberships, you are putting yourself at risk of being canceled. Patreon's terms of use states that they don't allow such things as 'illegal creations or benefits' or 'creations or benefits that are abusive towards other people'. So, be sure to also offer Subscribestar, GiveSendGo, and AlignPay. Also, accept bitcoin donations.
Expand Beyond YouTube: Set up mirror channels on other platforms: Rumble, Odysee, BitChute, Vimeo (free up to 1 GB of storage), UgeTube, Brighteon, etc. Rumble pays! On average, Rumble creators can expect to earn between $0.01 to $0.05 per view. While Rumble has a smaller audience, they do not shadow ban indie content creators. If you're starting out, a Rumble channel will actually grow a little bit faster than a mirror YouTube channel.
Sponsorships / Brand Deals: Get paid to mention a product that you use. A tent? A water filter? A camera? A backpack? Clothing?
Merchandise Sales: If you have a cool logo or slogan, sell T-shirts. Use a company, such as redbubble, that prints and ships them for you. You don't want to be bothered with anything other than uploading your design. Don't cut corners on quality of clothing.
Affiliate Marketing: Post Amazon links for people to buy the same gear that you use. You will have to set up an account with Amazon Associates, then post links so that you earn a commission if and when someone buys something after following one of your links.
Video Licensing: Various networks and TV shows are always looking for video content. Specifically, Tru TV has a lot of reality video-based shows. Don't be surpised if they find you! They are always searching YouTube for contend to license. The cost of paying for licensing 3rd party videos is much cheaper than filming content themselves. So, get paid accordingly! For example, if they are planning on making a lengthy segment dedicated to your video, then don't accept $500 ~ $1,000 or whatever they are offering. Otherwise, you will probably want to just accept whatever they are offering to pay.
Talent Gigs, Appearances: Be an MC or guest DJ at a nightclub? Movie role?