Ads will not appear on YouTube Shorts found on the Shorts shelf or through the Shorts video player. They also won’t generate YouTube premium subscription revenue.
On the other hand, you can make money with YouTube Shorts from these traffic sources, YouTube search, external, suggested videos, channel pages.
In the video below, I show how YouTube Shorts traffic works and how to make money with YouTube Shorts.
Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel
How YouTube Shorts Traffic Works
When I first upload a YouTube Shorts video, the initial traffic source is browse features. This is where the viewers will see a YouTube Shorts video on the home screen at youtube.com or on the YouTube app below the video that’s playing. Initial traffic will also come from notifications, which shows subscribers being notified of a new video.
As you can see from the analytics from this YouTube Shorts video, most of my views come from Shorts, which is the Shorts traffic on the Shorts shelf. After a few days, I’ve noticed that the Shorts shelf traffic is no longer the dominant traffic source. As you can see in the analytics for this YouTube Shorts, the dominant traffic source is YouTube search, suggested videos, end screens, and external.
In the first 24 hours, this Shorts video only got 181 views. In the last seven days since it was published, I received 928 views. Most of that traffic came from the Shorts shelf. I also received four hours of watch time and a couple of new subscribers.
What does this mean?
It means you can make money from YouTube Shorts from other traffic sources besides YouTube Shorts shelf, which doesn’t allow ads to be displayed.
Here’s how to monetize YouTube Shorts
- You have to be a member of the YouTube partner program.
This means you have to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past 12 months. - Enable monetization for YouTube Shorts video.
– Select the YouTube Shorts video that you wish to monetize from the content tab.
– Hover over the video,
– Pick the monetization icon.
– From the monetization dropdown box, click On,
– Click Next.
– Make sure that your content doesn’t violate any of YouTube’s policies.
– Select none of the above.
– Click Submit.
– Select the type of ads that you wish to display on your video.
– I’m going to select skippable video ads, which is the ad that plays before the video starts playing.
– I’m going to select before the video, which is a pre-roll ad. Viewers can skip it after five seconds.
– Also check after video, which wis a post-roll ad.
– Click Save.
– Now, if you go back to the content tab, select my video, I can see that the green symbol is on, which means that this video is now being monetized.
You can see from this Shorts video the top traffic sources, YouTube search, suggested videos, external, and end screens, that means I can generate revenue from my YouTube Shorts video appearing in these traffic sources. I can also gain watch time and I can also gain subscribers.
Another way to make money from YouTube Short videos is by gaining subscribers. Subscribers are viewers that are interested in receiving more of your content on a regular basis.
Therefore, they’ll check out more of your content on regular videos, which are all monetized. Most viewers will know how to subscribe to YouTube channel, but to make it easy, you can add a subscribe graphic to YouTube Shorts video. I recommend adding it at the end as you finished the video. Keep in mind that we do tap on a video on the Shorts shelf, a subscribed button already appears on the video.
Another thing you can do to get viewers to watch your videos that are related to the video that I’ve just watched is to add an end screen to the end of your YouTube Shorts video. Keep in mind, you can only add an end screen in the last 20 seconds of a Shorts video. If your Shorts video is 20 seconds long, it may not be worth it to add an end screen. However, if your Shorts video is 60 seconds long, you can easily add an end screen in the last 20 seconds.
Another option is to tell viewers to click the link description to related video or to related playlist. Keep in mind that viewers that have view in your Shorts video on the Shorts shelf, probably not going to click the link in the description. If most of your traffic sources are from browse features, suggested and search, that will be worthwhile to place that link in the description. I also recommend adding that related video link to the top of your description and also pinning it to the top of your comments. When people go to comment on your video, they’ll be able to see the link and watch more of your videos.
Here are a couple of tips to boost the number of views you get from YouTube Shorts.
1. If you want YouTube Shorts videos to be discovered on YouTube search, suggested videos, and browse features, create a title that contains the keyword phrase people are searching for.
2. Add a custom thumbnail.
If most of your long-term traffic sources are going to be YouTube search, suggested videos, and browse features, that would make sense to upload a custom thumbnail that stands out from your competitors.
3. Add a short section to YouTube channel homepage.
If you do this, it’ll make it easier for your Shorts videos to appear on the Shorts shelf on the YouTube app.
4. Create an engaging Shorts video.
To do this, make sure you grab the attention of your viewers in the first couple of seconds of your video. You can do this by adding motion and resetting the attention of the viewers multiple times throughout your video. Aim for higher retention of 70% to 100% because YouTube loves it when viewers watch the whole video. If your audience retention is 100% or over 100%, that means viewers are rewatching parts of your video.
When will YouTube Shorts Be Available in The USA?
According to YouTube, the YouTube Shorts feature on the YouTube app is going to be rolled out to the USA very soon. They also say, as we continue to experiment and improve the Shorts experience, there may be opportunities to monetize Shorts in the future.
If you want to know how to upload YouTube Shorts from your PC, watch this video on the screen right now. You’ll learn how to find YouTube Shorts, how to promote YouTube Shorts, and how to track its performance.
Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel
Speak Your Mind