How to Make Money on YouTube in Kenya

Of all the streaming platforms available for creatives in the digital space, YouTube has cut the widest groove, and it provides the best niche for digital content creators. Hence, this presents an opportunity to make money on YouTube in Kenya.

A random poll in the street will show that a majority of the population uses YouTube to access music videos, tutorials, TED Talks, live television, and non-audio podcasts.

YouTube, being an entity under the wider Google company umbrella, adds to its allure and increases its streaming base. The proven mass dependency on YouTube makes it a key stream of revenue and income for video producers and digital creators.

Due to this prominence, different creators are making a living through the platform by utilizing various opportunities available. To some, it has become a career.

To a normal eye, YouTube is all about entertainment. However, to others, it is a money-making platform. With hundreds of million users using the platform regularly, the market is ready. That’s why there are thousands of adverts on the platform.

YouTube in Kenya

As a developing country, Kenya is among the top internet-consuming countries in the African continent. This is evident through the millions of Kenyans with access to the internet and smartphones.

This huge number of users makes it attractive for marketers and content creators to make money on the platform. Currently, thousands of Kenyans are making some income from the platform in various ways.

Hence, this article will focus to highlight some of the different ways you can make money on YouTube in Kenya.

1.  Joining the YouTube Partner Program (YPP)

The YouTube Partner Program is an initiative by the company that enables revenue sharing from advertisements on your content. This makes revenue from ads one of the best ways to earn from the platform.

By allowing ads to post on your content, you get a share of the revenue that advertisers pay for the advertisement. The amount of revenue from this approach depends on several factors such as content views and geographical location.

Whereas getting paid for ads on your content is lucrative, it requires effort and time to become sustainable. There are set criteria and requirements to enable YPP eligibility.

Some of the key requirements to join this program include;

• Comply with the set YouTube community guidelines regarding your content.
• Have a minimum of 4,000 hours of cumulative watch time.
• Have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers on your channel.

Upon meeting these requirements, you should apply for monetization of your content account. You are not ready to start earning until YouTube reviews and approves the request.

The amount of income depends on the number of views you get. Hence, you should strive to produce regularly and of high quality.

As with any trade, you become better at content creation over time. The journey to success with YPP takes time. However, consistency and patience are key requirements for success in this industry.

With a majority of viewers being getting increasingly accustomed to skipping ads, it will be better if you (as a content creator) encourage your audience to not skip ads as a way of maxing out on ad revenue income.

2.  YouTube Premium

This is an advanced program that allows users to consume and enjoy content on the platform without nagging by advertisements. It works more like a membership group where viewers subscribe to the premium service.

Creators with fans on the premium membership service earn some income. The amount of income is dependent on the quantity of content the premium members are consuming. Hence, the more the members the more income you make.

The premium package is considered secondary to the partner program as the former bring more income. It is also easier for a starter to make more money from the partner program than from premium membership.

However, as the account grows and you get more fans, the premium membership income continues to increase. Sometimes, the platform limits advertisements if the content does not comply with the set standards.

These limitations may arise if the content contains sexual content or sexually suggestive content (sexual humor and or partial nudity), violence, controversial topics such as extremist religion and war, promotion and or use of drugs, and inappropriate language.

3.  Marketing Brands as an Influencer

Influencer marketing and sponsorships with pseudo-famous content creators are becoming common in the country.

This requires marketing a brand product or service on your channel at a fee. Influencing requires having a huge subscription and viewership base. This is what makes marketers interested in partnering with you.

Influencing works well with content creators with experience because there is a high chance they have more followers. However, you also have to market yourself to potential marketers.

The marketing proposal should include some key factors such as pricing and experience. The price should be determined by factors such as the number of subscribers and the product/service you are marketing.

Influencing payments also vary depending on the partnership. These include free products and merchandise, money, and sometimes exposure. This depends on how you negotiate with the marketers.

There is always an option to hire a professional agent to assist in getting customers and negotiations. This ensures you are free to concentrate on content creation.

4.  Selling Merchandise

Upon getting a significant number of fans and subscribers, you can leverage them to sell your products and merchandise. A common saying in the business sphere is that one can never go wrong with selling merchandise.

Merchandise is a broad term that could entail items such as branded t-shirts, general clothes outfits, home, and kitchen appliances. This is an open niche as long as you understand your fans.

Normally, the type of merchandise to sell depends on the account content. As an example, a sports content creator would do better selling sports merchandise such as t-shirts.

Selling products gives you an advantage by widening exposure and allows the creation of a better relationship with the fans. As a merchandise selling content creator, your audience doubles up as content consumers and product customers.

It is also important to note that using your page to sell merchandise reduces the marketing costs, which inadvertently maximizes your profits margins.

5.  Licensing Your Content to Mainstream Media

You can always sell quality content to the mainstream media companies in the market. Getting to this level requires hard work and experience.

Depending on your need, having your content on the mainstream media could have both monetary benefits and exposure. As a beginner, exposure is more important than monetary benefits. However, as the channel grows, the amount of income also grows.

Getting acceptance from mainstream media also needs marketing. Hence, you require a good marketing plan with a well-detailed proposal.

6.  Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the performance-based marketing strategy where a business or brand pays the affiliate a commission or an agreed-upon amount for every new client the business gets from the affiliate’s marketing efforts.

This type of marketing works better if you have a wide fan base. The marketing partner gives you an affiliate link that identifies your account and tracks the number of sales. Top affiliate marketing platforms in kenya.

Hence, the more subscribers and viewers you have, the higher the chances of selling more which means more income.

Some tricks work for affiliate marketers such as having a customized affiliate link. Affiliate partners pay different amounts. However, the best affiliate programs are those offering customers purchase discounts.

Because income in this category is based on performance, you have to ensure consistency in content creation. With time, the income grows substantially as the channels grow.

7.  Fan Funding

The key goal of creating content on YouTube is to have consumers. These consumers later become a market that you can use to derive income.

Among the many ways to make money on the platform is through fan funding.  This entails setting up a donation account where your fans can make donations.

Fans are more likely to donate if they like the content and there are available donation channels.

While donations from fans may vary depending on the generosity and ability, they cannot be relied upon for steady incomes as it may stop if the fans feel disappointed in your content. This is commonly known as tipping.

Conclusion on How to Make Money on YouTube in Kenya

Although there are enormous opportunities in the platform to make money, you should also understand the consequences of not following the guidelines.

In extreme cases, your account could get a flag limiting your ability to earn. Hence, you should always have a plan B such as having more than one account and diversifying on other platforms as well.

Some threats are beyond your control such as geopolitics and business closure. If this happens and you can’t access the platform on your location, you will not manage to make the money.

However, there are many ways how to make money on YouTube in Kenya. If you have the passion and interest, you should get going today.