A couple of months ago, I met the YouTube ad monetization threshold. I was immediately approved to join the YouTube Partner Program and can now earn passive ad revenue. It didn’t come easily, but it was mostly due to my laziness. Even during this writing, I have yet to hit 60 long-form videos (I have 7 YT shorts).

Somehow, with sporadic uploads for 18 months, I hit 4,000 watch hours—getting to 1,000 subs was the most challenging part for me. I’ll explain why later in this post. My channel (revealed at the end of this post) is mostly about unboxing and reviewing gadgets at pocket-friendly prices.

I’ll dive into how much money I’m making and then breeze through:

• How I qualified and the requirements (which you probably already know).
• How I make most of my money from the channel through affiliate marketing.
• The most critical stat that determines your income.
• The lessons I’ve learned and how I intend to improve the channel and potentially make more money.

How Much I Earn from YouTube Ads with 1,200 Subscribers

Niches vary; that’s why I’ve explicitly mentioned the type of channel I run and even revealed it to you. Before I delve into the numbers, please note that my traffic is from tier 3 countries (Nigeria, Kenya, and India).

For this reason, my ad revenue will be a fraction of what you can earn in the same niche from tier 1 countries (USA, UK, Canada, etc.). Take note of that; if you copy my approach and target these countries, you should do much better.

Also, don’t miss my report on affiliate income coming up in this post.

Here’s a table showing how much I made each month between June and September 2024—my first four months on YPP. I’ve converted the currency to dollars for universal understanding:

Month	Views	Ad Income (USD)
June 2024	12,250	13
July 2024	13,858	11
August 2024	14, 554	10
September 2024	15,792	20
Total	56,454	54

There was some income in the last few days of May since I hit the 1,000 subscriber mark and some this October, but the month isn’t over yet. So, I’ll leave those two out. My point is just to show what a small YouTube channel makes.

These are not encouraging numbers, but you have to remember one thing: I barely post new videos, and I’m very inconsistent, plus the location of viewers. My primary monetization method is affiliate marketing, which I’ll discuss briefly in the next section regarding this channel.

But before that, I’ll take you through how I met the monetization threshold and how long it took for YouTube to start paying.

YouTube Monetization Requirements: How I Qualified

I qualified for the YouTube Partner Programme in May after meeting the following requirements:

• 1,000 subscribers in the last year
• 4,000 watch hours in the last year (I reached this three months earlier)
• 3 video uploads in the last 90 days

Getting to 1,000 subs was quite a challenge; people weren’t subscribing. I was even losing subs on some days. Initially, I wasn’t talking in my videos—I only unboxed items with no copyrighted music in the background.

Viewer and subscriber retention increased as soon as I started using my voice. However, I’m still struggling with just about two subs per day. But it isn’t as bad as earlier, where I could get stuck on 78 subscribers for a couple of weeks.

How long did it take to get my account approved? It was almost instant. I’d already been monetized for Super Chats after meeting the 500 subscriber and 3,000 watch threshold, so I was already in. I also have an active Adsense account, so I could start tracking my income immediately.

I had done just over 40 videos over more than one year. This should tell you how much potential the channel has, and I’m only getting dismal figures because I have few videos. Due to other commitments, I’ve yet to start churning out as many videos as possible, but I hope to try it soon.

With my numbers, I think anyone who posts consistently for at least six months should be able to push their channel in the right direction regardless of the topic. The ad income is encouraging enough for me to start thinking about scaling my content.

How Affiliate Marketing Adds to My YouTube Income

As I mentioned in the intro, affiliate marketing (commissions/referrals) is my primary source of income on the channel. I earn commissions mainly from one company whose products make many of my videos. I can only imagine how much more I could make if I diversify the brands I promote.

Here’s a breakdown of my affiliate program income during the same period of June – September. Also, please note that I started earning affiliate income about a year ago. The conversions are relatively high, especially considering I barely get 500 video views daily.

Month	Views	Affiliate Income (USD)
June 2024	12,250	90
July 2024	13,858	134
August 2024	14, 554	130
September 2024	15,792	180
Total	56,454	534

This is little money, but to me, it isn’t because:

• In my country, this monthly affiliate income is enough to pay my rent
• $9.5 for every 1,000 views isn’t bad if I scale it
• It is primarily passive income

So Why Am I Not Doubling Down on Creating Videos?

An unboxing channel needs money to get new products for each video, and I cannot afford to buy one every few days or weeks. However, that’s no excuse; I’ll have to dig deeper into my pockets to sort this out.

Also, I’m close to breaking even if I look at the money I’ve made against what I’ve spent on the products I’ve reviewed. I usually squeeze two or even three videos from each gadget I buy.

The Most Important Metric for More Revenue on YouTube

I won’t delve into detail today, but subscriber count doesn’t matter, so don’t think about buying subscribers. Don’t buy views, too, because it’s also useless. The most important metric on YouTube is watch time/hours.

The longer your viewers stay on a video, the more ads they are likely to see and ultimately earn you more passive income. Real viewers also matter since you need people to see your promotion and earn affiliate commissions.

So don’t fret over your subscriber count not growing—focus on keeping your viewers engaged for as long as possible. You can start by making longer videos—I’m talking about 8 minutes and above.

Lessons Learned: Can You Make a Living with a Small YouTube Channel?

Yes, you can, although it is easier said than done. Waiting for your first few viewers and subscribers isn’t for the faint of heart. Here are other lessons I’ve learned so far with my recently monetized YouTube channel:

• Quantity matters even though every YouTube ‘guru’ preaches quality over quantity.
• Quantity plus consistency will propel your channel to great heights.
• You can start earning money earlier with affiliate income.
• Affiliate income is more lucrative than ad revenue.
• Your phone and a ring light are enough to start and grow a channel.

My Future Plans for Growing Income from My Unboxing Channel

Here’s the YouTube channel we’ve been dissecting. It’s bare bones, and I run the channel on my phone. Besides my phone, other equipment includes a $15 ring light and a $5 lavelier mic.

I plan to start doing multiple videos per week. I can achieve this by diversifying my content with app reviews and talking head videos about other tech topics. This should help me avoid investing money I don’t yet have in gadget reviews.