How YouTube stars become millionaires

Sponsorship

On a similar note, social media stars are often approached by sponsors, who pay them to promote their company’s products. This may be in the form of a direct fee or they may choose to sponsor one of the influencer’s events.

With any form of third-party promotion, it’s wise for the YouTuber to carefully choose who they work with and how that company aligns with their values. If they were to snap up every promotional opportunity, the fan base they’ve spent so long crafting could feel they’re simply being seen as cash cows. Transparency, honesty and consistency are vital.

As a platform for video, YouTubers create numerous clips for their channel. Whilst it may be tempting to simply fill their time with adverts for their sponsors, if they don’t post an equal amount of content their fans typically enjoy and expect, their audience could shrink—which, in turn, would reduce the number of sponsorship/paid opportunities available to them. It’s a vicious circle, and it takes a lot of hard work to keep a large following once accumulated.

Tips

Platforms such as Patreon allow YouTubers to directly ask their followers for donations or tips, in appreciation of the content they provide. YouTube doesn’t yet have a direct donation facility.

Products

Whilst promoting other people’s/companies’ products can bring in revenue, there’s much more profit to be earned by popular YouTubers if they flog their own. Fans race to purchase T-shirts with their hero’s image, logo or strapline. The merchandise a YouTuber can shift via their channel and at meet-and-greets/in-person events could equal significant revenue.

To older generations, aspiring to be a YouTube star may not appear to be a good career choice, certainly not a stable career. Because it’s so difficult for social media influencers/personalities to remain relevant, there is likely only a short window of time that a top YouTuber can make serious money from posting content. However, if handled well, the income they receive can be invested and/or used to launch other businesses/brands within the media industry that make use of the talents these stars certainly hone.

Because social media as a whole is still relatively young, it’s hard to know how long PewDiePie’s influencer career may last, for example. He has been a household name for at least a decade—who’s to say his star won’t stay lit for the next few decades?