It is no longer news that there is money to be made via YouTube. Every month, South African content creators on YouTube make thousands of rand to the tune of R15, 000 from uploading content ranging from fashion, make-up, hair and movie reviews, song covers, travel vlogs, DIY, commentaries, documentaries, food reviews, life hacks, celebrity gossip, news, different sorts of compilations, workout videos, gaming, product unwrapping, and so much more. Once a creator can carve out a desirable niche and gather enough subscribers with sustainable viewership, AdSense revenue every month, with affiliate marketing income is a sure bet.
But despite this seemingly lucrative venture waiting to be tapped, there is a lot of work South African content creators have to do behind the scenes before they begin to earn. Apart from having great content that meets people’s need to learn or be entertained, editing skills are high on the requirement for creators. This can however be outsourced though. Also, investing in the right equipment like high-grade video cameras, a good microphone, tripods, lenses, and studio lighting, will greatly ease the journey to making money on YouTube.
Can You Make Money On YouTube In South Africa?
YES, you can make money on YouTube in South Africa. In fact, a lot of South Africans are cashing out massively from the video-sharing platform. Big South African YouTube earners like Trevor Noah, Caspar Lee, Die Antwoord, Nadav Ossendryver, Peter Carvell, Cobus Potgieter, Daniel Maritz, Michael Philips, Theodora Lee, and Dan Mace are currently making a fortune on the platform. These heavy YouTube content creators have amassed millions in dollars and views, and they are joined by other South African YouTubers like Fash Ngobese aka Yes Fash, Siyabulela Deli aka TaFire, Pap Culture (by Nwabisa Mda, Thembe Mahlaba, and Bongeka Masango), Sibu Mpanza, Mark Fitzgibbon, Broke Niggaz, The Microwave Boys, Lasizwe Dambuza, Snikiwe Mhlongo, Okay Wasabi to mention but a few, who have carved out a niche for themselves on the platform with an avid following.
Let’s get down to the figures; Dan Mace 29, with 700,000 subscribers makes up to about R720 a video. Snikiwe Mhlongo whose videos have amassed more than 2.2 million views makes up to R11,000 a month off YouTube advertising, making about R2,000 per haircare video. Apart from making money from Google AdSense, Sibu Mpanza (and his girlfriend Buhle Lupindo) have worked closely with brands like Netflix, Wesbank, Suzuki, and Spree, as a result of their influence emanating from the content they create on YouTube, with one of the collaborations paying them in six digits.
Follow These Steps to Make Money From YouTube in South Africa
There are various ways to earn money on YouTube in South Africa, the basic one being via Google AdSense. In this case, you have to monetize your YouTube channel after meeting the following criteria;
- 1,000 subscribers on your YouTube channel
- 4,000 Watch Time hours over the last 12 months
- Compliance with all of YouTube’s policies and guidelines
- An AdSense account
AdSense allows content creators on YouTube to get paid for monetizing their videos. That means YouTube can place adverts on your videos and you will be paid when viewers watch those adverts. While some adverts are CPM (cost per thousand views), some are CPC (cost per click). For the CPM ads to count, a viewer must watch them for at least 30 seconds (or half the ad for a very short video). So for every 1000 ad views, you get paid a certain amount. For the CPC ad, you need a viewer to click on the ad for it to count.
Other ways to make money off YouTube include; creating as a YouTube Partner, affiliate marketing and working with companies to create sponsored content, licensing your content to other companies and sponsors, selling merchandise (Merch) related to your videos, recruiting direct payments from fans, and followers using features like Super Chat and apps like Patreon, setting up a crowdfunding campaign, etc.
How Does YouTube Pay Content Creators/YouTubers in South Africa?
It is important to note that creators’ income is not determined by the number of subscribers they have but rather by the number of views they get per month. However, having a large subscription base means you are likely to have more video views. Earnings per view are determined by factors such as video genre, geographical region of views, length of the video, watch hours, number of adverts per video, and audience interaction.
Moreover, AdSense pays in terms of RPM revenue per mille (mille meaning thousand in Latin) and it varies across countries. In South Africa, the RPM for YouTubers in the country ranges between R10 to R20 for 1000 views. Therefore, earnings per hour, per day, or per month depends on how many views you can get within that period, assuming those views are all ad views. For a million views, YouTube Pays around $1000, which is about R15,000.
How to Receive Your YouTube Earnings in South Africa Easily
There are various payment options available for YouTubers to get access to their funds, for example, there are Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), EFT via Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), wire transfer, etc. A wire transfer allows you to receive funds directly into your bank account and to receive payments, you will need to link your AdSense account to the dollar account you registered for the particular YouTube channel. To link your AdSense account to your dollar account, you are required to follow these steps;
- Sign in to your AdSense account
- On the left navigation panel, click ‘Settings’
- Click on ‘Payments’
- On this page, click ‘Manage payment options’
- Click ‘Add payment method’
- Choose the radio button for “Wire transfer to bank account” and click Continue.
- Next, enter your bank account information as follows;
- Name on the account/account holder’s name
- Bank account number
- Bank name
- Bank SWIFT code
- After inputting your bank account information, click Confirm and continue.
Depending on where you are based, additional information may be required such as Intermediary bank details, Intermediary SWIFT-BIC, etc.
Although AdSense pays on a monthly basis, your AdSense account must reach the threshold of $100 before your money can be successfully wired to you. When this threshold is met, it will take a 21-day payment processing period before your money gets into your personal account. For example, if your current threshold is $100 within January and you followed the steps above, then your payment of $100 will get to you by the end of February.
If however, your current balance hasn’t yet reached the payment threshold of $100, your finalized earnings will roll over to the next month and your balance will accrue until the threshold is met.
