There are many ways to make money with Youtube Gaming Videos. Most people assume that they can simply enable ads on their videos and immediately start making money. This used to be the case, but now browser plugins like Adblock Plus have significantly reduced Youtube earnings from advertisements. In order to earn revenue off of an ad impression, the user actually has to see the advertisement. An estimated 25% of internet users utilize Adblock or some kind of Adblocking device and this has reduced your potential earnings as a Youtube content creator.
Luckily for you, there are many ways to make money off of Youtube gaming videos. Some of these methods are MUCH more lucrative than traditional advertising.
Here are the best ways to monetize gaming videos:
1. Advertisements using a Gaming Network
If you are uploading gaming related content, you can’t monetize your Youtube videos with Google Adsense, which is the advertising platform offered by Youtube (since Google owns Youtube). If you try to monetize your videos with adsense, you will notice that most of your videos are flagged for copyright infringement. In this case, you need to sign up with a third-party network, which will allow you to enable advertisements on gaming videos without getting content id matches for normal gaming videos.
The best third-party advertising network for gaming channels is Curse Gaming (Union for Gamers). Most networks will allow you to keep only 60% of your advertising revenue. They keep as much as 40% of your money! Curse Gaming, however, allows you to keep 90% of revenue you earn. There are also no minimum payment thresholds, so you receive a paycheck every month regardless of your earnings. Additionally, they offer exclusive access to amazing music that you can use in videos without getting a copyright notification.
Start monetizing with Curse Gaming (Union for Gamers) >
2. Become a G2A Affiliate
If you’ve watched any gaming videos you’ve probably seen an advertisement for cheap games from G2A.com. G2A pays excellent commission every time someone buys a game from their website using your special affiliate link. Once you sign up for their affiliate program, you can include your unique affiliate link in your videos and start earning money every time one of your viewers buys a game. You can sign up for the affiliate program here.
3. Promote Affiliate Products using Amazon
When I used to fly the Scout Helicopter in Battlefield 4 and upload content to my Youtube channel consistently, I would constantly get questions from viewers asking for my in-game settings and control setup. They wanted to know my gaming setup, what keyboard and mouse I used, and what I ate for breakfast that morning. I was one of the best pilots in the game at the time, so I realized that my viewers were trying to figure out how to get better. They tried to do this by imitating me.
Are you an expert at the game you play? If you are extremely good at what you do, it’s very easy to influence people to buy things. Most people don’t want to do their own research and they would rather be told what to buy. That’s why professional athletes are paid so much to promote products. If you are really good at a game, it’s easy to sell gaming gear that you currently use. Some viewers will want to become as good as you, so they will look to you for advice.
You can make money by referring your viewers to products on Amazon. You’ll earn between 6-12% commission if a viewer buys a product off of Amazon after clicking your affiliate link.
To start making money with Amazon, follow these steps:
- Sign up for Amazon Associates (Amazon’s affiliate program)
- Locate a product you want to promote and copy/paste the special affiliate link.
For instance, I use the Corsair Gaming K70 Mechanical Keyboard that currently retails at $170. If a viewer buys this product, I would immediately earn around $20!
4. Create branded products
You’ve probably seen Youtube channels or Twitch streamers promoting T-shirts, hats, or other items containing their own designs. You can do this too! It’s easy to create products on websites like Zazzle. Most of these websites allow to easily upload your digital designs and the t-shirts are created and shipped once one of your viewers makes a purchase.
5. Ask for Donations
You can always ask for donations from your viewers. If you have a good relationship with your audience, many viewers may request that you include a Paypal donation link or create a Patreon account to accept donations. I wouldn’t recommend using this method until you’ve cultivated a regular audience on your videos and have a good relationship with your viewerbase.
