Should small YouTubers put ads on their videos?

[Joey McGowan]

Honestly i say go for it. I have hardly any Viewers and i am. What happens if something you made goes viral and you didnt have adds on it. poof. lost all that revenue son! xD

 

[Amber lynx]

What do you mean until you reach $100 meaning views? And how do you know if you reach this $100

Congratulations- most of the people in this thread are giving money to Google, lowering how much ads pay overall, and possibly losing fans in the process.

YouTube doesn't pay you until you reach $100. If you're not going to reach that within a few months, there is no reason to put ads on your videos.

At the beginning, every view counts. Why risk losing any because of an ad?

I would, however, recommend going through all of the steps needed in order to monetize your videos (join and link AdSense, etc)... doing everything needed except actually clicking the monetize button. This way, if any of your videos happen to take off unexpectedly, you could quickly turn it on.

 

[Shakycow]

What do you mean until you reach $100 meaning views? And how do you know if you reach this $100

Actual earnings.
Youtube only makes payments if they exceed $100. If someone is only earning a few cents or even a few dollars a month, there's a good chance they'll never actually receive a payment.

Check youtube.com/analytics to see 'estimated' earnings.

Note, $100 in earnings typically requires between 100k-200k views, but, for those starting out or depending on where in the world a video is being watched, it could require a much, much higher number.

I typically recommend people to go through the process needed to start monetizing videos, but to not actually start monetizing them until they exceed 50k views a month. Before then, their only goal should be to bring more viewers in, not risk pushing them away.

 

[TigerXtrm]

And it's that mentality combined with the widespread use of adblockers that has helped bring CPM down to its current low levels.

You clearly don't see the harm in enabling ads, but it is there.

The more often people see ads, the more likely they're going to use an adblocker. The more videos that are out there showing ads, the lower ad prices will go.

This is even more ridiculous on channels that will likely never reach the $100 threshold since they're, in essence, annoying their few viewers and handing any income over to Google.

I miss the old days where you had to reach a certain mark before monetization was allowed. Now, it seems, everyone is running to YouTube trying to make a quick buck instead of doing it because they actually enjoy it.

/rant

What you're basically saying is that people shouldn't put ads on their videos so the people who do put ads on their videos can get more money. And that's simply not how it works. Ad publishers pay for a certain number of views. Where those views come from doesn't matter, as long as the ad is viewed. Ad blockers are barely a factor in this sense since those users are simply not counted as views to begin with. The only real consequence, maybe, is that campaigns run longer before they're through their budget or set views and that the content creators get their money a little more spread out. But ad blockers have nothing to do with the price of ads. Especially not on a huge site as YouTube.

 

[Shakycow]

What you're basically saying is that people shouldn't put ads on their videos so the people who do put ads on their videos can get more money. And that's simply not how it works. Ad publishers pay for a certain number of views. Where those views come from doesn't matter, as long as the ad is viewed. Ad blockers are barely a factor in this sense since those users are simply not counted as views to begin with. The only real consequence, maybe, is that campaigns run longer before they're through their budget or set views and that the content creators get their money a little more spread out. But ad blockers have nothing to do with the price of ads. Especially not on a huge site as YouTube.

Since the 2014, Adblock usage has gone from 54 million users to currently over 200 million and, while it's still only used by 15% of those in USA, it would be foolish to think that those numbers don't have advertisers worried... especially those in the tech savvy industries where there audience is far more likely to not see their ads.

Yes, publishers pay for a certain number of views. My argument is that those views should be restricted to the channels who will actually earn over $100.

 

[BoozeandBS]

And it's that mentality combined with the widespread use of adblockers that has helped bring CPM down to its current low levels.

You clearly don't see the harm in enabling ads, but it is there.

The more often people see ads, the more likely they're going to use an adblocker. The more videos that are out there showing ads, the lower ad prices will go.

This is even more ridiculous on channels that will likely never reach the $100 threshold since they're, in essence, annoying their few viewers and handing any income over to Google.

I miss the old days where you had to reach a certain mark before monetization was allowed. Now, it seems, everyone is running to YouTube trying to make a quick buck instead of doing it because they actually enjoy it.

/rant

I understand the points you are bringing up. But I do have to say I disagree.

As another poster said, adblock has nothing to do with CPM. It just makes it so their view isn't monitized.

I say the reason that any youtuber should monitize their videos is because it provides motivation. When you have a video suddenly go big, knowing you're going to make a lot of money compared to your other videos is a great feeling. That rush, helps inspire you to do a better job each time. I've made 9 videos so far and already have one that has over 7000 views. Seeing the numbers just keep coming in for it was exciting.

I've been gaining subscribers and I don't see how monitizing them has held me back in anyway.

Just that little amount of money is more rewarding than anything I've been handed. I used to work for an NBC affiliate, I'd have my videos in front of hundreds of thousands of people every day. Didn't matter what they were paying me, was no where near as rewarding as the videos that I've done by myself, where I wrote, performed and edited them. And to have people enjoy them and share them on twitter. Hell I even had someone I'm a fan of who has 400,000 subscribers share my video because he liked it.

That little amount of money is great to motivate someone to get more views, to get more money, to just grow as a channel.

Don't think I'm doing this just for the money, but it is nice to see how your hard work pays off. Those few dollars a month are great to push me to make better content that more people like. The more people like it, the more money I get, and when it comes down to it I really want to entertain people. I want to make people laugh, I want to make them think and I also want to promote discussion.

 

[TylersMagic]

If you don't have ads for a while and grow a fan base used to not seeing ads they may be turned off when you start running ads and unsubscribe. Ads are just a part of watching YouTube to me it takes a few seconds to click it away; as long as you have good content I'll watch your video whether you have ads or not.