Professional Filmmaking Made Easy with Right Lenses

A Vlogger’s Guide To Camera Lenses

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Average Profit per Stream Watcher on YouTube

How Much Money Do YouTubers Make Per View

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

Can you make a living on YouTube? Everyone knows that big YouTubers get paid through the ads that play ahead of their videos. More and more YouTubers keep showing how much money they are making from YouTube via the lifestyles they lead. It begs the question - how much money do YouTubers make?

One of the main questions is “how many views do you need to start making money on YouTube?” The answer to this question is complicated. You need 4,000 hours of annual viewing time and 1,000 subscribers on your channel to sign up for monetization, but just being able to monetize your videos doesn’t mean you’re going to make money.

The reason is that YouTubers are not paid per view, they are paid per ad impression.

• Types of YouTube Ads - What is an Ad Impression?
• CPI Rates Explained
• How Much Do Big YouTubers Make?
• Why No Longer 10,000 Views?

Want a fast answer about how much money a YouTuber makes? Check out these calculators .

Types of YouTube Ads – What is an Ad Impression?

If you ask YouTubers about how much they make per thousand views, you’ll probably get a different answer depending on the person on who you ask. You may have already heard things like $5 per thousand views or $1,000 per 1 million views, but neither of these is for sure.

Google’s AdSense service, through which YouTubers make money, pays YouTubers for ad impressions. For most types of ads – including short pre-roll ads, the ads which appear at the bottoms of videos while they play, and the ads which appear as banners to the side of YouTube’s player – an ad impression means someone clicking on the ad and choosing to visit the advertiser’s site. One exception is skippable video ads, for which an impression is created when a viewer watches the ad for 30 seconds.

YouTubers do not make money on the views of their videos, because not all viewers click on ads. Many viewers bypass ads completely using ad-blockers. The amount of money YouTubers earn from a single ad impression is called their CPI or “cost per impression.”

CPI Rates Explained

YouTube advertising is currently managed inside the AdSense platform. In case you’re not familiar with AdSense, you can have 2 different kinds of ads - the cost per click (CPC) or the cost per view (CPV).

Cost Per Click ads

The advertiser pays based on how many clicks he was able to get with that particular ad. These kinds of ads usually appear on the right side of your YouTube channel or they can also appear at the bottom of the screen, during the video.

Cost Per View ads

the advertiser will pay based on the views he had of the ad and not based on the clicks he was able to generate. One of the things that many people aren’t aware of is the fact that the viewer needs to spend at least 30 seconds watching the ad or half the ad, whichever comes first. This means that a single viewer can continue clicking on the ad multiple times that the advertiser won’t be billed for all those clicks because he is only paying for views.

Never Click on the CPC ads of Your Own YouTube Videos

If any of your friends ever suggest that they are going to do so to help you out tell them not to. AdSense has a rate of ad-clicks that it considers normal and if you get significantly more clicks than that it will think you’re artificially pushing that number up by either clicking yourself or having someone do it for you. If this happens they will ban you from AdSense and, although there is an appeals process, it is unlikely you will ever get your account back and be able to monetize videos again.

How much you make from an ad on YouTube depends on your CPI, cost per impression. Simply put, this is the rate that YouTube will pay you for every 1,000 views or clicks of the ads that are attached to your videos. Even though it would be a lot simpler if YouTube had their current CPI rates available, they don’t. These rates vary depending on the ad, the types of videos you make, and how popular your channel is. It is actually against YouTube’s rules for YouTubers to share their personal CPI rates publicly.

Most people tend to assume that CPI rates are between $0.05 and $10. This huge difference is justified by YouTube by saying that they use a very complicated algorithm to determine your CPI rate. According to them, it includes evaluating factors like the ads, the type of audience who views your video, audience engagement, audience retention, and the price of the ads.

How Much Do Big YouTubers Make?

Many people are aspiring to make money as famous YouTubers, but it is not an easy task. You have a long way to go before you start making any money at all.

In general, it’s reasonable to expect to start earning some money when you get to 1 million subscribers. This is the point at which you can start treating YouTube as your job, but the truth is that you will still not be making amazing money. At 1 million subscribers you will only be starting to be seen as someone important in your industry. You won’t even necessarily be “YouTube famous” yet – there are a lot of channels with 1 million subs.

Even though most people think that YouTube channels with 1 million subscribers are already making a good amount of money and that they are already at the top, the truth is that they’ve just started climbing. They aren’t even near the top. Just to give you a better idea, there are more than 2,400 YouTube channels with more than 1 million subscribers.

According to Google, when an advertiser pays $100 to Google, Google pays $68 to the publisher (in this case, the publisher is a YouTube creator).

This graphic won’t apply to every situation because every situation is unique. It’s just an example using assumed numbers.

How much money for 1,000 YouTube views?

15% of 1,000 is 150

150x CPI ($0.18) = $27*

51% of $27 = $13

Using these rates, 1000 views are worth $13!

*CPI vary

Assuming that the average rate is about $0.18 per impression, you still need to factor in that most people don’t click on ads or watch skippable video ads for 30 seconds. Only about 15% of viewers tend to watch the complete ad (or, at least half of it). So, considering that you have 1,000 views on your video, only 150 viewers watched your complete ad. So, at $0.18 per view, Google will charge $27 to the advertiser and the YouTube channel will get 51% of that, meaning the creator will earn $13 per 1,000 views.

Want to know how much YouTube pays for 1 million views ?

It will take you a long time to start earning enough money to support yourself through AdSense. That’s why AdSense isn’t the primary way that huge YouTube stars make money. In addition to AdSense revenue you can (and should) also consider other opportunities such as product placement, endorsements, and brand sponsorships. Many YouTubers also make some money from selling their merchandise.

Some YouTubers earn millions of dollars every year. Although the exact numbers have never been disclosed, many different websites have made educated guesses.

Forbes publishes an annual list of the highest-paid YouTubers, which includes revenue from things like book deals and makeup lines. It is useful to look at this list gain have some perspective about how big YouTubers make their money, and how big they had to get to make it.

As of 2017, YouTube gamer Daniel Middleton (DanTDM) is the highest-paid YouTuber earning 16 million dollars. He is followed by gamer Evan Fong (Vanoss Gaming) with $15.5 million, Dude Perfect with $14 million, and Mark Fischbach (Markiplier) and Logan Paul with $12.5 million. However, as we already mentioned, even though a substantial part of the income of these YouTube stars comes from YouTube/AdSense, the bulk of it comes from things like merchandise and sponsorships.

Instead of relying on YouTube to pay them, YouTubers need to seek out other ways of leveraging the YouTube platform to earn money .

We all agree that being a YouTube star isn’t an easy path. However, if you honestly love what you do, then you will be willing to put effort into making great videos regularly. Part of that is also being willing to take the time to promote them and yourself, as well as putting time and effort into forging a good relationship with your audience.

Why No Longer 10,000 Views?

YouTube used to let anybody monetize their videos, but that has now changed. Then for a while, you’ll qualify for monetization after reaching 10,000-lifetime views on your channel. But as of 2018, the rules to YouTube monetization has gotten more challenging.

To monetize you must have:

- 4,000 of annual watch time

- 1,000 subscribers

The reason for this is that YouTube was having trouble with channels that were trying to monetize stolen or inappropriate content, besides, YouTubers are gaming the system by using automated programs to gain more views. By making creators get more watch time and subscribers before they apply for monetization, YouTube has been able to create a review process in which they can prove that the channel has a legitimate audience and stop content thieves and criminals from making money. Naturally, this new rule also makes it very difficult for new YouTubers to make money.

Are you finding it difficult to earn money on YouTube? Subscribe to the Filmora.io YouTube channel for more tips on channel monetization.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

Can you make a living on YouTube? Everyone knows that big YouTubers get paid through the ads that play ahead of their videos. More and more YouTubers keep showing how much money they are making from YouTube via the lifestyles they lead. It begs the question - how much money do YouTubers make?

One of the main questions is “how many views do you need to start making money on YouTube?” The answer to this question is complicated. You need 4,000 hours of annual viewing time and 1,000 subscribers on your channel to sign up for monetization, but just being able to monetize your videos doesn’t mean you’re going to make money.

The reason is that YouTubers are not paid per view, they are paid per ad impression.

• Types of YouTube Ads - What is an Ad Impression?
• CPI Rates Explained
• How Much Do Big YouTubers Make?
• Why No Longer 10,000 Views?

Want a fast answer about how much money a YouTuber makes? Check out these calculators .

Types of YouTube Ads – What is an Ad Impression?

If you ask YouTubers about how much they make per thousand views, you’ll probably get a different answer depending on the person on who you ask. You may have already heard things like $5 per thousand views or $1,000 per 1 million views, but neither of these is for sure.

Google’s AdSense service, through which YouTubers make money, pays YouTubers for ad impressions. For most types of ads – including short pre-roll ads, the ads which appear at the bottoms of videos while they play, and the ads which appear as banners to the side of YouTube’s player – an ad impression means someone clicking on the ad and choosing to visit the advertiser’s site. One exception is skippable video ads, for which an impression is created when a viewer watches the ad for 30 seconds.

YouTubers do not make money on the views of their videos, because not all viewers click on ads. Many viewers bypass ads completely using ad-blockers. The amount of money YouTubers earn from a single ad impression is called their CPI or “cost per impression.”

CPI Rates Explained

YouTube advertising is currently managed inside the AdSense platform. In case you’re not familiar with AdSense, you can have 2 different kinds of ads - the cost per click (CPC) or the cost per view (CPV).

Cost Per Click ads

The advertiser pays based on how many clicks he was able to get with that particular ad. These kinds of ads usually appear on the right side of your YouTube channel or they can also appear at the bottom of the screen, during the video.

Cost Per View ads

the advertiser will pay based on the views he had of the ad and not based on the clicks he was able to generate. One of the things that many people aren’t aware of is the fact that the viewer needs to spend at least 30 seconds watching the ad or half the ad, whichever comes first. This means that a single viewer can continue clicking on the ad multiple times that the advertiser won’t be billed for all those clicks because he is only paying for views.

Never Click on the CPC ads of Your Own YouTube Videos

If any of your friends ever suggest that they are going to do so to help you out tell them not to. AdSense has a rate of ad-clicks that it considers normal and if you get significantly more clicks than that it will think you’re artificially pushing that number up by either clicking yourself or having someone do it for you. If this happens they will ban you from AdSense and, although there is an appeals process, it is unlikely you will ever get your account back and be able to monetize videos again.

How much you make from an ad on YouTube depends on your CPI, cost per impression. Simply put, this is the rate that YouTube will pay you for every 1,000 views or clicks of the ads that are attached to your videos. Even though it would be a lot simpler if YouTube had their current CPI rates available, they don’t. These rates vary depending on the ad, the types of videos you make, and how popular your channel is. It is actually against YouTube’s rules for YouTubers to share their personal CPI rates publicly.

Most people tend to assume that CPI rates are between $0.05 and $10. This huge difference is justified by YouTube by saying that they use a very complicated algorithm to determine your CPI rate. According to them, it includes evaluating factors like the ads, the type of audience who views your video, audience engagement, audience retention, and the price of the ads.

How Much Do Big YouTubers Make?

Many people are aspiring to make money as famous YouTubers, but it is not an easy task. You have a long way to go before you start making any money at all.

In general, it’s reasonable to expect to start earning some money when you get to 1 million subscribers. This is the point at which you can start treating YouTube as your job, but the truth is that you will still not be making amazing money. At 1 million subscribers you will only be starting to be seen as someone important in your industry. You won’t even necessarily be “YouTube famous” yet – there are a lot of channels with 1 million subs.

Even though most people think that YouTube channels with 1 million subscribers are already making a good amount of money and that they are already at the top, the truth is that they’ve just started climbing. They aren’t even near the top. Just to give you a better idea, there are more than 2,400 YouTube channels with more than 1 million subscribers.

According to Google, when an advertiser pays $100 to Google, Google pays $68 to the publisher (in this case, the publisher is a YouTube creator).

This graphic won’t apply to every situation because every situation is unique. It’s just an example using assumed numbers.

How much money for 1,000 YouTube views?

15% of 1,000 is 150

150x CPI ($0.18) = $27*

51% of $27 = $13

Using these rates, 1000 views are worth $13!

*CPI vary

Assuming that the average rate is about $0.18 per impression, you still need to factor in that most people don’t click on ads or watch skippable video ads for 30 seconds. Only about 15% of viewers tend to watch the complete ad (or, at least half of it). So, considering that you have 1,000 views on your video, only 150 viewers watched your complete ad. So, at $0.18 per view, Google will charge $27 to the advertiser and the YouTube channel will get 51% of that, meaning the creator will earn $13 per 1,000 views.

Want to know how much YouTube pays for 1 million views ?

It will take you a long time to start earning enough money to support yourself through AdSense. That’s why AdSense isn’t the primary way that huge YouTube stars make money. In addition to AdSense revenue you can (and should) also consider other opportunities such as product placement, endorsements, and brand sponsorships. Many YouTubers also make some money from selling their merchandise.

Some YouTubers earn millions of dollars every year. Although the exact numbers have never been disclosed, many different websites have made educated guesses.

Forbes publishes an annual list of the highest-paid YouTubers, which includes revenue from things like book deals and makeup lines. It is useful to look at this list gain have some perspective about how big YouTubers make their money, and how big they had to get to make it.

As of 2017, YouTube gamer Daniel Middleton (DanTDM) is the highest-paid YouTuber earning 16 million dollars. He is followed by gamer Evan Fong (Vanoss Gaming) with $15.5 million, Dude Perfect with $14 million, and Mark Fischbach (Markiplier) and Logan Paul with $12.5 million. However, as we already mentioned, even though a substantial part of the income of these YouTube stars comes from YouTube/AdSense, the bulk of it comes from things like merchandise and sponsorships.

Instead of relying on YouTube to pay them, YouTubers need to seek out other ways of leveraging the YouTube platform to earn money .

We all agree that being a YouTube star isn’t an easy path. However, if you honestly love what you do, then you will be willing to put effort into making great videos regularly. Part of that is also being willing to take the time to promote them and yourself, as well as putting time and effort into forging a good relationship with your audience.

Why No Longer 10,000 Views?

YouTube used to let anybody monetize their videos, but that has now changed. Then for a while, you’ll qualify for monetization after reaching 10,000-lifetime views on your channel. But as of 2018, the rules to YouTube monetization has gotten more challenging.

To monetize you must have:

- 4,000 of annual watch time

- 1,000 subscribers

The reason for this is that YouTube was having trouble with channels that were trying to monetize stolen or inappropriate content, besides, YouTubers are gaming the system by using automated programs to gain more views. By making creators get more watch time and subscribers before they apply for monetization, YouTube has been able to create a review process in which they can prove that the channel has a legitimate audience and stop content thieves and criminals from making money. Naturally, this new rule also makes it very difficult for new YouTubers to make money.

Are you finding it difficult to earn money on YouTube? Subscribe to the Filmora.io YouTube channel for more tips on channel monetization.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

Can you make a living on YouTube? Everyone knows that big YouTubers get paid through the ads that play ahead of their videos. More and more YouTubers keep showing how much money they are making from YouTube via the lifestyles they lead. It begs the question - how much money do YouTubers make?

One of the main questions is “how many views do you need to start making money on YouTube?” The answer to this question is complicated. You need 4,000 hours of annual viewing time and 1,000 subscribers on your channel to sign up for monetization, but just being able to monetize your videos doesn’t mean you’re going to make money.

The reason is that YouTubers are not paid per view, they are paid per ad impression.

• Types of YouTube Ads - What is an Ad Impression?
• CPI Rates Explained
• How Much Do Big YouTubers Make?
• Why No Longer 10,000 Views?

Want a fast answer about how much money a YouTuber makes? Check out these calculators .

Types of YouTube Ads – What is an Ad Impression?

If you ask YouTubers about how much they make per thousand views, you’ll probably get a different answer depending on the person on who you ask. You may have already heard things like $5 per thousand views or $1,000 per 1 million views, but neither of these is for sure.

Google’s AdSense service, through which YouTubers make money, pays YouTubers for ad impressions. For most types of ads – including short pre-roll ads, the ads which appear at the bottoms of videos while they play, and the ads which appear as banners to the side of YouTube’s player – an ad impression means someone clicking on the ad and choosing to visit the advertiser’s site. One exception is skippable video ads, for which an impression is created when a viewer watches the ad for 30 seconds.

YouTubers do not make money on the views of their videos, because not all viewers click on ads. Many viewers bypass ads completely using ad-blockers. The amount of money YouTubers earn from a single ad impression is called their CPI or “cost per impression.”

CPI Rates Explained

YouTube advertising is currently managed inside the AdSense platform. In case you’re not familiar with AdSense, you can have 2 different kinds of ads - the cost per click (CPC) or the cost per view (CPV).

Cost Per Click ads

The advertiser pays based on how many clicks he was able to get with that particular ad. These kinds of ads usually appear on the right side of your YouTube channel or they can also appear at the bottom of the screen, during the video.

Cost Per View ads

the advertiser will pay based on the views he had of the ad and not based on the clicks he was able to generate. One of the things that many people aren’t aware of is the fact that the viewer needs to spend at least 30 seconds watching the ad or half the ad, whichever comes first. This means that a single viewer can continue clicking on the ad multiple times that the advertiser won’t be billed for all those clicks because he is only paying for views.

Never Click on the CPC ads of Your Own YouTube Videos

If any of your friends ever suggest that they are going to do so to help you out tell them not to. AdSense has a rate of ad-clicks that it considers normal and if you get significantly more clicks than that it will think you’re artificially pushing that number up by either clicking yourself or having someone do it for you. If this happens they will ban you from AdSense and, although there is an appeals process, it is unlikely you will ever get your account back and be able to monetize videos again.

How much you make from an ad on YouTube depends on your CPI, cost per impression. Simply put, this is the rate that YouTube will pay you for every 1,000 views or clicks of the ads that are attached to your videos. Even though it would be a lot simpler if YouTube had their current CPI rates available, they don’t. These rates vary depending on the ad, the types of videos you make, and how popular your channel is. It is actually against YouTube’s rules for YouTubers to share their personal CPI rates publicly.

Most people tend to assume that CPI rates are between $0.05 and $10. This huge difference is justified by YouTube by saying that they use a very complicated algorithm to determine your CPI rate. According to them, it includes evaluating factors like the ads, the type of audience who views your video, audience engagement, audience retention, and the price of the ads.

How Much Do Big YouTubers Make?

Many people are aspiring to make money as famous YouTubers, but it is not an easy task. You have a long way to go before you start making any money at all.

In general, it’s reasonable to expect to start earning some money when you get to 1 million subscribers. This is the point at which you can start treating YouTube as your job, but the truth is that you will still not be making amazing money. At 1 million subscribers you will only be starting to be seen as someone important in your industry. You won’t even necessarily be “YouTube famous” yet – there are a lot of channels with 1 million subs.

Even though most people think that YouTube channels with 1 million subscribers are already making a good amount of money and that they are already at the top, the truth is that they’ve just started climbing. They aren’t even near the top. Just to give you a better idea, there are more than 2,400 YouTube channels with more than 1 million subscribers.

According to Google, when an advertiser pays $100 to Google, Google pays $68 to the publisher (in this case, the publisher is a YouTube creator).

This graphic won’t apply to every situation because every situation is unique. It’s just an example using assumed numbers.

How much money for 1,000 YouTube views?

15% of 1,000 is 150

150x CPI ($0.18) = $27*

51% of $27 = $13

Using these rates, 1000 views are worth $13!

*CPI vary

Assuming that the average rate is about $0.18 per impression, you still need to factor in that most people don’t click on ads or watch skippable video ads for 30 seconds. Only about 15% of viewers tend to watch the complete ad (or, at least half of it). So, considering that you have 1,000 views on your video, only 150 viewers watched your complete ad. So, at $0.18 per view, Google will charge $27 to the advertiser and the YouTube channel will get 51% of that, meaning the creator will earn $13 per 1,000 views.

Want to know how much YouTube pays for 1 million views ?

It will take you a long time to start earning enough money to support yourself through AdSense. That’s why AdSense isn’t the primary way that huge YouTube stars make money. In addition to AdSense revenue you can (and should) also consider other opportunities such as product placement, endorsements, and brand sponsorships. Many YouTubers also make some money from selling their merchandise.

Some YouTubers earn millions of dollars every year. Although the exact numbers have never been disclosed, many different websites have made educated guesses.

Forbes publishes an annual list of the highest-paid YouTubers, which includes revenue from things like book deals and makeup lines. It is useful to look at this list gain have some perspective about how big YouTubers make their money, and how big they had to get to make it.

As of 2017, YouTube gamer Daniel Middleton (DanTDM) is the highest-paid YouTuber earning 16 million dollars. He is followed by gamer Evan Fong (Vanoss Gaming) with $15.5 million, Dude Perfect with $14 million, and Mark Fischbach (Markiplier) and Logan Paul with $12.5 million. However, as we already mentioned, even though a substantial part of the income of these YouTube stars comes from YouTube/AdSense, the bulk of it comes from things like merchandise and sponsorships.

Instead of relying on YouTube to pay them, YouTubers need to seek out other ways of leveraging the YouTube platform to earn money .

We all agree that being a YouTube star isn’t an easy path. However, if you honestly love what you do, then you will be willing to put effort into making great videos regularly. Part of that is also being willing to take the time to promote them and yourself, as well as putting time and effort into forging a good relationship with your audience.

Why No Longer 10,000 Views?

YouTube used to let anybody monetize their videos, but that has now changed. Then for a while, you’ll qualify for monetization after reaching 10,000-lifetime views on your channel. But as of 2018, the rules to YouTube monetization has gotten more challenging.

To monetize you must have:

- 4,000 of annual watch time

- 1,000 subscribers

The reason for this is that YouTube was having trouble with channels that were trying to monetize stolen or inappropriate content, besides, YouTubers are gaming the system by using automated programs to gain more views. By making creators get more watch time and subscribers before they apply for monetization, YouTube has been able to create a review process in which they can prove that the channel has a legitimate audience and stop content thieves and criminals from making money. Naturally, this new rule also makes it very difficult for new YouTubers to make money.

Are you finding it difficult to earn money on YouTube? Subscribe to the Filmora.io YouTube channel for more tips on channel monetization.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

Can you make a living on YouTube? Everyone knows that big YouTubers get paid through the ads that play ahead of their videos. More and more YouTubers keep showing how much money they are making from YouTube via the lifestyles they lead. It begs the question - how much money do YouTubers make?

One of the main questions is “how many views do you need to start making money on YouTube?” The answer to this question is complicated. You need 4,000 hours of annual viewing time and 1,000 subscribers on your channel to sign up for monetization, but just being able to monetize your videos doesn’t mean you’re going to make money.

The reason is that YouTubers are not paid per view, they are paid per ad impression.

• Types of YouTube Ads - What is an Ad Impression?
• CPI Rates Explained
• How Much Do Big YouTubers Make?
• Why No Longer 10,000 Views?

Want a fast answer about how much money a YouTuber makes? Check out these calculators .

Types of YouTube Ads – What is an Ad Impression?

If you ask YouTubers about how much they make per thousand views, you’ll probably get a different answer depending on the person on who you ask. You may have already heard things like $5 per thousand views or $1,000 per 1 million views, but neither of these is for sure.

Google’s AdSense service, through which YouTubers make money, pays YouTubers for ad impressions. For most types of ads – including short pre-roll ads, the ads which appear at the bottoms of videos while they play, and the ads which appear as banners to the side of YouTube’s player – an ad impression means someone clicking on the ad and choosing to visit the advertiser’s site. One exception is skippable video ads, for which an impression is created when a viewer watches the ad for 30 seconds.

YouTubers do not make money on the views of their videos, because not all viewers click on ads. Many viewers bypass ads completely using ad-blockers. The amount of money YouTubers earn from a single ad impression is called their CPI or “cost per impression.”

CPI Rates Explained

YouTube advertising is currently managed inside the AdSense platform. In case you’re not familiar with AdSense, you can have 2 different kinds of ads - the cost per click (CPC) or the cost per view (CPV).

Cost Per Click ads

The advertiser pays based on how many clicks he was able to get with that particular ad. These kinds of ads usually appear on the right side of your YouTube channel or they can also appear at the bottom of the screen, during the video.

Cost Per View ads

the advertiser will pay based on the views he had of the ad and not based on the clicks he was able to generate. One of the things that many people aren’t aware of is the fact that the viewer needs to spend at least 30 seconds watching the ad or half the ad, whichever comes first. This means that a single viewer can continue clicking on the ad multiple times that the advertiser won’t be billed for all those clicks because he is only paying for views.

Never Click on the CPC ads of Your Own YouTube Videos

If any of your friends ever suggest that they are going to do so to help you out tell them not to. AdSense has a rate of ad-clicks that it considers normal and if you get significantly more clicks than that it will think you’re artificially pushing that number up by either clicking yourself or having someone do it for you. If this happens they will ban you from AdSense and, although there is an appeals process, it is unlikely you will ever get your account back and be able to monetize videos again.

How much you make from an ad on YouTube depends on your CPI, cost per impression. Simply put, this is the rate that YouTube will pay you for every 1,000 views or clicks of the ads that are attached to your videos. Even though it would be a lot simpler if YouTube had their current CPI rates available, they don’t. These rates vary depending on the ad, the types of videos you make, and how popular your channel is. It is actually against YouTube’s rules for YouTubers to share their personal CPI rates publicly.

Most people tend to assume that CPI rates are between $0.05 and $10. This huge difference is justified by YouTube by saying that they use a very complicated algorithm to determine your CPI rate. According to them, it includes evaluating factors like the ads, the type of audience who views your video, audience engagement, audience retention, and the price of the ads.

How Much Do Big YouTubers Make?

Many people are aspiring to make money as famous YouTubers, but it is not an easy task. You have a long way to go before you start making any money at all.

In general, it’s reasonable to expect to start earning some money when you get to 1 million subscribers. This is the point at which you can start treating YouTube as your job, but the truth is that you will still not be making amazing money. At 1 million subscribers you will only be starting to be seen as someone important in your industry. You won’t even necessarily be “YouTube famous” yet – there are a lot of channels with 1 million subs.

Even though most people think that YouTube channels with 1 million subscribers are already making a good amount of money and that they are already at the top, the truth is that they’ve just started climbing. They aren’t even near the top. Just to give you a better idea, there are more than 2,400 YouTube channels with more than 1 million subscribers.

According to Google, when an advertiser pays $100 to Google, Google pays $68 to the publisher (in this case, the publisher is a YouTube creator).

This graphic won’t apply to every situation because every situation is unique. It’s just an example using assumed numbers.

How much money for 1,000 YouTube views?

15% of 1,000 is 150

150x CPI ($0.18) = $27*

51% of $27 = $13

Using these rates, 1000 views are worth $13!

*CPI vary

Assuming that the average rate is about $0.18 per impression, you still need to factor in that most people don’t click on ads or watch skippable video ads for 30 seconds. Only about 15% of viewers tend to watch the complete ad (or, at least half of it). So, considering that you have 1,000 views on your video, only 150 viewers watched your complete ad. So, at $0.18 per view, Google will charge $27 to the advertiser and the YouTube channel will get 51% of that, meaning the creator will earn $13 per 1,000 views.

Want to know how much YouTube pays for 1 million views ?

It will take you a long time to start earning enough money to support yourself through AdSense. That’s why AdSense isn’t the primary way that huge YouTube stars make money. In addition to AdSense revenue you can (and should) also consider other opportunities such as product placement, endorsements, and brand sponsorships. Many YouTubers also make some money from selling their merchandise.

Some YouTubers earn millions of dollars every year. Although the exact numbers have never been disclosed, many different websites have made educated guesses.

Forbes publishes an annual list of the highest-paid YouTubers, which includes revenue from things like book deals and makeup lines. It is useful to look at this list gain have some perspective about how big YouTubers make their money, and how big they had to get to make it.

As of 2017, YouTube gamer Daniel Middleton (DanTDM) is the highest-paid YouTuber earning 16 million dollars. He is followed by gamer Evan Fong (Vanoss Gaming) with $15.5 million, Dude Perfect with $14 million, and Mark Fischbach (Markiplier) and Logan Paul with $12.5 million. However, as we already mentioned, even though a substantial part of the income of these YouTube stars comes from YouTube/AdSense, the bulk of it comes from things like merchandise and sponsorships.

Instead of relying on YouTube to pay them, YouTubers need to seek out other ways of leveraging the YouTube platform to earn money .

We all agree that being a YouTube star isn’t an easy path. However, if you honestly love what you do, then you will be willing to put effort into making great videos regularly. Part of that is also being willing to take the time to promote them and yourself, as well as putting time and effort into forging a good relationship with your audience.

Why No Longer 10,000 Views?

YouTube used to let anybody monetize their videos, but that has now changed. Then for a while, you’ll qualify for monetization after reaching 10,000-lifetime views on your channel. But as of 2018, the rules to YouTube monetization has gotten more challenging.

To monetize you must have:

- 4,000 of annual watch time

- 1,000 subscribers

The reason for this is that YouTube was having trouble with channels that were trying to monetize stolen or inappropriate content, besides, YouTubers are gaming the system by using automated programs to gain more views. By making creators get more watch time and subscribers before they apply for monetization, YouTube has been able to create a review process in which they can prove that the channel has a legitimate audience and stop content thieves and criminals from making money. Naturally, this new rule also makes it very difficult for new YouTubers to make money.

Are you finding it difficult to earn money on YouTube? Subscribe to the Filmora.io YouTube channel for more tips on channel monetization.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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