How to Earn Money on YouTube: AdSense and the YouTube Partner Program (YPP)

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

How do you earn money as a YouTube vlogger (video blogger)? One way is through the YouTube Partner Program or YPP which uses Google AdSense. Some time ago, one reader asked me about how they can get their Google AdSense account approved. While I’ve already written a guide about that, this particular reader wanted AdSense for their YouTube channel. The process for that is very different from setting up AdSense on a WordPress blog.

Nevertheless, I still decided to help them set it up so I learned a bit more about YPP in the process. Another detail with that particular reader is that they aren’t well-versed in English so the Tagalog version of this article will be very helpful for Filipinos like her who want to become vloggers.

In any case, if you want to earn money as a vlogger and you plan to use YouTube’s partner program, here’s a short guide on what you need to do!

How to Earn Money on YouTube

Ok, first of all, there are several ways to earn money on YouTube like becoming a well-known vlogger and getting sponsorships, channel memberships, merchandise, super chat, YouTube premium revenue, and more. For this article, we’ll talk about earning money through AdSense on YouTube.

What You Need:

1. A Google account. If you have Gmail or a PlayStore account for your Android phone, you can use that. You can use this to register for…
2. A Google AdSense account. Just login to your Google account, go to the Google AdSense page and sign up for free (it’s the getting approved part that’s difficult). You or your legal guardian also need to be at least 18 years old to handle the AdSense payments.
3. A YouTube account. You can use your Google account to create an account or channel on YouTube.

One Little Tip: Choose a nice name for the channel you want to use as a vlogger. It’s best to avoid using gross or unprofessional-sounding names (e.g. hairydude6969, cutiebabygurl1234) that look like they were made by a 12-year old. Your channel, after all, is your “brand” and identity, so you might want to make it sound nice.

By the way, if you already have a YouTube account and you don’t like your current account or channel’s name, you can always create new “Brand Accounts” on the same Google/YouTube account. You can switch between them any time.

The YouTube Partner Program (YPP):

Now, if you want to be a vlogger on YouTube and earn money, you can put ads on your videos using YPP and AdSense. Be warned though as the requirements are rather difficult especially if you’re just starting out.

YouTube Partner Program minimum eligibility requirements:

• Your channel/content must follow all the YouTube Partner Program policies. If you don’t, they can punish you by removing ads from your videos or suspend your account.
• You must live in a country or region where the program is available (if you’re reading this article’s Tagalog version, then yes, the Philippines is included).
• You need to have more than 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months.
• You need to have more than 1,000 subscribers on your channel.
• You also need to link it to your Google AdSense account.

While I personally believe that the 4,000+ watch hours and 1,000+ subscriber requirements are rather difficult, you will still be able to achieve it especially if you’re passionate about what you do and you make high quality content. Just don’t expect success to come instantly, unless you’re really good and you know what you’re doing. Of course, I can’t comment much on that since I haven’t tried it myself and I don’t intend to try it anytime soon.

Basic YPP Rules and Policies:

If you’ve read the YPP requirements, you know that you need to follow YouTube’s Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, Google AdSense program policies, and Advertiser-friendly content guidelines. You can check those out at the YPP requirements link above. I’ll list the basics here, but you should really read the full rules and regulations when you can:

• No nudity, sexual, or pornographic content.
• No promotion or sale of illegal drugs and illegal substances. This can include sales of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, weapons and firearms, counterfeit goods, etc.
• No dangerous or harmful content. Examples are dangerous acts that kids might imitate or things that can get people hurt.
• No sexist, racist, or other hateful content.
• No violent or graphic content (unless they’re part of a documentary or educational video).
• No harassment, cyberbullying, or threatening content, and do not post content that violates other people’s privacy (e.g. posting someone’s full name, address, contact information, etc. without their consent). They can file a complaint against you.
• No spam and scams.
• No copyright infringement. If you plan on uploading a viral video someone else made or uploading episodes of someone else’s show (e.g. Game of Thrones episodes, full movies, copyrighted music, etc.), you might get punished.
• No impersonation of other people/channels.
• No child safety violations (e.g. violent or sexual content involving minors).
• Other policies: Avoid foul language or else your video might become age-restricted. No inactive accounts. Do not encourage other people to violate the terms of service in your videos. You must also be old enough to own your own Google Account (13+ to 16+, depending on country).

Aside from YouTube’s policies, you should also follow AdSense’s program policies. Here’s our article about the basics of Google AdSense (click this link), and these are some of what you should NOT do (aside from what we’ve written above):

• First, do NOT click on your own videos’ ads.
• Do NOT encourage or tell others to click your ads.
• Do not put Google’s ads on your website or videos in spam-like or annoying ways like through pop-ups, pop-unders, etc.
• Do not use illegal traffic or view count generators.
• Do not steal other people’s personal information (e.g. phishing or hacking).
• Do not put malware like viruses and trojans or other similar programs in your website.
• Do not violate the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This is relatively unknown in certain countries, but it’s worth checking out especially if you plan to create content meant for minors.

How to Setup YPP and Monetize your YouTube Account:

1. Login to your Google Account where you use AdSense and your YouTube account that you plan to monetize for YPP.
2. Go to YouTube.com.
3. Click your portrait at the top-right corner and go to “Settings”.
4. On your “Account” section, click on “View additional features”.
5. Under “Channel”, click on “Monetisation”.
6. Read and accept the terms, link your AdSense account, and set your preferences.
7. Your content will get reviewed for approval once you’ve done the minimum 4,000+ watch hours in the last 12 months and 1,000+ subscribers requirement (you will see those stats in the “Monetisation” page).

Once you get approved and you earn enough for the withdrawal threshold (minimum $100), you can collect your earnings on AdSense. Read our guide on how to claim your Google AdSense payment through Western Union here!

Well, that’s it for the basics of how to earn money on YouTube using YPP. Is there anything else you need to know? Feel free to ask us in the comments section below!