Creators on YouTube often have no idea how much money they will earn off a single video after they upload it to the platform.
While creators with 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours are eligible to have their videos monetized with ads by joining YouTube's Partner Program, the amount they get paid per thousand views (CPM) can vary wildly. Why is that? The ads that play in their videos are filtered by Google, and how much money a creator earns depends on the video's watch time, length, video type, and viewer demographics, among other factors.
YouTube star Shelby Church (1.4 million subscribers) told Business Insider that extending her videos to over 10 minutes long helped her channel earn more money because she could place more ads and boost her rate. And some topics, like finance, get a higher rate because the audiences they attract are valuable to advertisers.
Many creators also try to avoid swearing or copyrighted music in their content because those factors can increase a video's chance of getting flagged by YouTube and demonetized.
So if a creator does everything right in the eyes of YouTube, how much can they expect to make?
Business Insider spoke to eight creators with very different channels and they shared the most amount of money YouTube has paid them for a single video.