Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Can I depend on my youtube earnings?

The simple answer is a big fat NO.

Income on youtube is incredibly volatile. My income has increased 70 fold one day, only to drop to near zero another. Publishing actual earning amounts violates youtube policy, but I can safely say that on some days I make enough money to support a family (if the income were to continue for a year), while on others I don't make enough to buy breakfast.

Why the volatility? There are a huge number of factors that influence how many people view your videos. Breaking news stories related to a video can see a huge spike initially followed by a steady decline. Youtube referral algorithms may suddenly find your video worthy of being placed alongside hundreds of other youtube videos, only to days later forget your video entirely (this has seemed to happen more sharply to my videos over the past couple months, indicating a possible change in how the algorithms are run).

To sum up: never depend on youtube income. Don't bank on having the same number of views tomorrow that you have today. They could jump or drop, spike or plummet.