How to Make Money with Videos Online with 11 Sites

Introduction

Ever since the inception of YouTube a decade ago, video making and sharing have been a viable source of income. While some of the most popular platforms are YouTube and twitch there are several other unexpected platforms that offer the same opportunity for a curious content creator. This business opportunity is formed on the idea that you as a content creator will come up with insightful, creative, and unique video content that is monetized through ad platforms like Google AdSense. Most people often resort to vlogging their daily lives, but there are several Niches that are just as lucrative.

Below are some of the most popular platforms through which you can make money sharing videos.

Youtube

YouTube provides content creators with the channel through which they can create a user base and monetize it. Before launching a YouTube channel one should decide whether they’re creating an outlet to promote personal products or services or to generate ad revenue.

Ad revenue

This is how the business model works. You have probably watched one or two YouTube videos. Have you noticed the advertisements that come before, in the middle, or after the video? When you view these advertisements or perform any action the YouTube creator is paid. This helps them generate revenue through advertisements. Most content creators use Google AdSense for ad revenue and are typically paid between $0.5 to $5 per 1000 views depending on the name and location of the viewers. This is a more consistent way of making money because you’re paid based on your efforts.

Brand Sponsorships

You may also have come across videos where the content creator is reviewing products. Such platforms are monetized through sponsorships that pay the Creator a commission once people purchase products through their channel. In most cases, bigger YouTube channels often get paid fees just to advertise the product. However smaller YouTubers are often given coupon codes and links which are tracked for any action from their viewers.

Affiliate marketing

While this model sounds similar to the one mentioned above, they are fundamentally different. Have you ever come across YouTube channels that provide content through listicles? For instance, channels where top 10 lists are reviewed? Most of these channels use this method to earn revenue. They create a list of the top 10 products in any niche or category and provide affiliate links to these products. The most popular affiliate network used for this type of business is Amazon associates. Each time you as a viewer buy a product from one of these links they created are paid a fee.

Product or service promotion

Let’s say you have a business that offers a particular product or service. Ordinarily, you are looking for traffic that converts. In the age of social media, this can be done through building a community. In this model, content creators provide content specific to their niche that helps build a community which is then directed to the primary website.

Daily Motion      

Dailymotion is a video sharing platform similar to YouTube. However, in this platform, the genre and niches are limited to a few categories. It’s quite rare to find personal vloggers general DIY videos for instance. However, the remaining array of niches provides opportunities that can be monetized through in-stream ads. The site pays ad revenue after every 60 days through PayPal or Payoneer. The minimum amount needed to get paid is $100 with a profit share ratio of 70% for the content creator and 30$ for daily motion. The site also allows its content creators to make money by renting their videos. This monetization scheme is created on a simple and structured concept where you create a pricing list for your videos or the channel and offer content through the scheme. The best part about this site is that you are allowed to brand your videos that can prevent them from being used by other individuals.

Twitch Tv

Twitch is a streaming platform for gamers. This video sharing platform allows gamers to stream videos of themselves playing games. In most cases, users sign up and follow channels that provide gaming content relevant to their interests. The gamer provides audio commentary and a visual depiction through webcam videos. The potential to make money on this platform is massive but there are few prerequisites required to begin. You need to be interested in gaming or have prior knowledge of games, own a webcam or camera, gaming console or other gaming equipment, computer, and a microphone headset. This platform pays content creators primarily through advertisement revenue. Other ways through which you can make money include donations from your followers, brand partnerships, merchandise, monthly subscriptions, virtual cheers, game sales, and through twitch affiliate programs. If you are passionate about gaming why not make a passive income on the side. To begin, find a niche where you Excel in, create unique content, build an audience by sharing your content on other social media platforms, and monetize your account once you reach the minimum requirements.

Bright cove

Brightcove is a video sharing platform that pays content creators when users rent or purchase their videos. This is a different video sharing platform from YouTube because it allows content creators to retain 70% of their earnings from sales and rentals. This platform is quite lucrative because it is not as popular as other video sharing platforms hence you will have less competition to worry about. However, you need to make sure that the videos you create are unique and of value to viewers.

Vimeo on Demand

This video sharing platform does not have a minimum monthly balance to get paid and has one of the highest profit-sharing ratios at 90% for the content creator and 10% to the host. With the Vimeo on Demand platform, content creators can sell their videos directly to their fans by allowing them to either buy, rent, or subscribe to their channel at affordable costs. This site allows the content creators to decide whether they want to sell their videos to a specific audience located in a geographical location or globally. Traffic to your videos can be generated through social media promotion. The site also allows for the content creators to customize these videos to meet the needs of their audience including the creation of captions in the videos. The site also allows content creators to present their videos through impressive posters that can help generate more traffic. The earnings are paid through PayPal with the site supporting multiple currencies. There are some eligibility requirements that you must meet including joining Vimeo Pro that comes with an annual subscription cost of $17 and owning the full copyrights of your video.

Twitter Amplify

Twitter Amplify is a monetization program launched by Twitter that helps content creators generate money from their videos. This program was launched to help advertisers reach massive audiences while simultaneously helping content creators generate passive and regular income from their videos. So how can you make money from twitter videos? The program inserts pre-roll ads in your video which are uploaded on video.twitter.com. Advertisers can then select the type of content that is aligned with their goods, services, and target audience. The program does not come with a profit share but comes with a minimum $100 payment threshold. There are other eligibility requirements for premium publishers (twitter monetization eligibility) including:

• Being 18+ years
• Being verified
• Publishing brand-safe content according to Safe For Ads content guidelines
• Being an active Twitter video publisher
• Accepting the Amplify Publisher Program Terms & Conditions

This program is very flexible as you are allowed to opt-in and out. Additionally, you are allowed to pre-set monetization for all tweets/videos. Once accepted into the program, you will get access to a monetization tab and media studio where you can check the performance of your videos. Payments are sent two months after the publication via direct deposit/ ACH or PayPal.

Facebook 

Facebook provides a structured way of earning money from videos. This is done through the placement of in-stream advertisements which range from short videos to image ads. This is a profit-sharing opportunity where content creators get a percentage of the revenue from the ads. The eligibility requirements for this program include:

• Be 18+ years
• Publishing videos from pages. You must own a page to publish videos from and not individual profiles.
• You must meet the Partner monetization policies
• You must have 30,000+ 1-minute views that help Facebook determine how successful you will be able to monetize your content with instream advertisements.
• Your page must have a minimum of 10,000 followers
• You must be in a country or language that is supported by Facebook. A list of countries and languages supported by this program can be found here.
• Your videos must be at least one minute long, with longer contents having natural breaks.

BridTV

This is a White label enterprise-level video player and monetization solution that enables content creators to monetize their video material intuitively and reliably. The platform comes with a state-of-the-art HTML5 player and integrated video platform that supports the latest Video advertisement technology. This enables content creators to maximize their earnings and sponsorships. The platform comes with a monthly subscription cost grouped according to views with the lowest being the Free subscription for video plays of 100,000 and 50,000 impressions, the Essential plan that goes at $24.99/month for video plays of 150,000, 50,000 impressions, 300 minutes encoding, and 300 GB video streaming capacity; Business plan for $89.99/month for 500,000 video plays, 200,000 impressions, unlimited encoding capabilities, and 1.5TB streaming capabilities; and Premium that comes with custom pricing for unlimited video plays, custom impressions, unlimited encoding, and custom video streaming. Some of the features of this platform include:

• support for pre-, mid-, and post-roll, including the latest VAST & VPAID advertising tags
• advertisement water falling
• Artificial intelligent banner fallback
• Advertisement header bidding
• Google IMA SDK integration
• advertisement pods
• video carousel
• in-depth video and ad analytics
• extensive macro support

Amazon Video Direct

This platform is provided by retail giant Amazon and enables content creators to list their videos on Amazon Prime. The site has a minimum payment threshold of $100 and comes with a variety of royalty-sharing programs. Some of its main features include

• Flexibility in earnings where the content creator can decide to either make money through hours streamed by Prime members, revenue share from rentals, purchases, monthly channels, or advertising impressions—or any combination of these options.
• Bigger Reach as the content can be made available through Prime Video in the U.S. and other locations where it is available—on all supported devices—Fire TV, phones, tablets, game consoles, Smart TVs, and from the Web.
• Optimization Capabilities that enable content creators to improve performance by using performance metrics such as minutes streamed, number of subscribers, projected revenue, and payment history.

Patreon    

Patreon is a subscription-based platform that enables content creators to generate regular and passive income from their content. This is like an ongoing Kickstarter that is founded on the traditional model of crowdfunding where affluent people would support their artists through regular donations. This platform is quickly becoming a favorite amongst content creators as it provides for higher content creator engagement with the audience, and the opportunity to make more money by attracting more contributing members. Whether you are a writer or a crocheter, Patron is the site for you because it supports both audio-visual releases and written content. The platform also comes with reward levels where higher-paying contributors get access to exclusive content from the creator. The payments are made through Stripe or PayPal depending on your location with a profit share structure where the creator keeps 95% of all earnings.

Onlyfans

This list would not be complete without including only fans. In the past few months, this platform has risen to become one of the most lucrative ways of making money through R-Rated video content. However, contrary to this predominant opinion that onlyfans is just for R-rated content; this platform caters to other video genres. Content creators make money through tips or pay-per-view monetization models. Payments are made through Visa Direct, Direct Transfer (OCT) and International Bank Transfer (SWIFT).

Conclusion

Video creation is a lucrative way of generating recurring and passive income. Most people are familiar with YouTube but not with other sites that pay for video content. If you want to make more money, you can register for most of these platforms and use them to generate traffic for subscription based platforms like Patreon that provide monthly payments. Always remember that in video creation, quality is better than quantity! Nobody wants to see a production that looks like it was shot with low-grade equipment. Nowadays, phone cameras have evolved to become some of the best content-capturing devices. Use them to your advantage and upgrade to better equipment once you begin to make more money.