Part 1 of 5:Live streaming video is expected to account for as much as 84% of all internet traffic in 2020, and the total value of the live streaming industry is estimated to top $124 billion by 2025. That's a lot of traffic - and a lot of potential ad dollars.
YouTube claims that successful creators earn five to six figures per year on their platform, and that the number of creators earning that much grew by 40% from 2018 to 2019. They are, however, less forthcoming when it comes to disclosing how many fall into that category. But the fact remains: there is significant money to be made with YouTube ads in live streaming.
So, for those who are earning well, how does YouTube monetization work? Content creators who stream on YouTube Live can access monetization options through the platform's Partner Program (as long as they meet the minimum criteria of at least 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watched video). Those options include selling ads, subscriptions, merchandise, and more. Let's take a closer look.
How to Make Money on YouTube Live with AdvertisingYouTube creators in the Partner Program connect their AdSense accounts and YouTube places ads within their streaming content. Advertisers bid on ad inventory based on reach as well as on geographic, demographic, and interest targeting, and YouTube serves the winning ad. Creators are paid based on cost-per-click or cost-per-view - the advertiser chooses which they want - and the creator earns 55% of the revenue generated. A typical charge is 18 cents per view, but a view only counts if the ad plays until at least halfway through.
Serving ads through the YouTube Live Partner Program is relatively easy but there are drawbacks. As a content creator, you have very little control over which ads will appear. You can block ad categories or even ads from specific advertisers, but you can't be selective about which advertisers will be associated with your content. Whoever wins the auction will have their ad displayed.
And there are additional limitations to consider. For example:
You're limited to just one pre-roll, one mid-roll, and one display or overlay ad per stream. That may be fine for shorter content but if your streams are longer, the only workaround is the highly manual process of splitting your content into multiple, short feeds, each with its own ads.
Mid-roll ads must be manually inserted.
Spot length is limited to 7 and 15 second only and all ads, regardless of length, are skippable, which means hitting that critical halfway point can be difficult.
All ads are disabled in players embedded on external sites with auto-start turned on, so those viewers will never see your ads.
Only pre-roll ads are viewable on mobile. Mid-roll, display, and overlay ads reach desktop viewers only.
Other Ways to Earn Money on YouTube LiveYouTube Live has also added additional monetization options in an effort to mitigate the uncertainty of ad placement - uncertainty caused by their own limitations.
Super Chat and Super Stickers:
Viewers can pay to pin comments or stickers on live streams. At VidCon 2019, YouTube boasted that Super Chat is used by more than 90,000 channels, with some streams earning upwards of $400 per minute. (You might need a grain of salt with that.)
Merchandise Sales:
Content creators, in partnership with a merchandise supplier, can embed a box below their videos where viewers can browse and purchase products for sale.
Paid Subscriptions:
Creators with more than 30,000 subscribers can offer paid memberships with up to five subscription levels. The higher the level, the higher the price point and the better the perks.
The Bigger the Audience, The Bigger the ChallengeYouTube Live monetization options are extremely difficult to scale for producers with significant viewership. Every one of the limitations listed above is an obstacle to maximizing revenue. Content creators want more control over ad pricing as well as over which YouTube ads they will accept, and from which advertisers. On the buy-side, advertisers also want more control over which inventory their ads support.
Fortunately, YouTube Live monetization options are not the only game in town.
Coming Up Next:Check back soon for Part 2 of this series, where we'll offer a guide to monetizing streaming media, both directly through YouTube Live as well as through third-party alternatives.
Contact us to learn more about how WO Digital Ad Solution can help you monetize streaming video content.
For press inquiries, contact media@wideorbit.com.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Part 1 of 5:Live streaming video is expected to account for as much as 84% of all internet traffic in 2020, and the total value of the live streaming industry is estimated to top $124 billion by 2025. That's a lot of traffic - and a lot of potential ad dollars.
