Hydraulic Press Channel, one of the most popular technology-focused Youtube channel with nearly 1.5 million subscribers, has begun to accept Bitcoin donations through ChangeTip.
Since the introduction of Youtube’s new policy and community guidelines, operators of channels, even major channels with millions of subscribers, began to struggle in monetizing their content. Various popular Youtube channels launched GoFundme campaigns after failing to obtain sufficient funds to support its content.
The average CPM rate of Youtube videos is estimated at US$2, which enables creators to earn around $2 per thousand views. That means, a Youtube video with over a million views will earn around US$2,000 on average.
Hank Green of Crashcourse explains:
“Sometime in the last year, my YouTube videos received their billionth view. At the average YouTube ad rate of $2 per thousand views (a $2 CPM), that’s around $2 million in revenue from advertising over the last eight years.”
Bitcoin could significantly change YouTube content monetization mechanism
While there are some channels that distribute daily content generating millions of views per day, some popular channels release one or two videos per week, which leaves creators with around $2,000 to $4,000 to cover various costs involved in creating a viral video. Thus, popular Youtube channels that generate millions of views per video may make as low as US$8,000 to US$10,000 per month.
For some channels that opt for serious content and high quality videos, the budget is nowhere enough. Let’s take popular daily vlogger Casey Neistat for instance. Neistat operates around 12 to 20 devices to shoot each vlog from different angles for the highest quality possible. From drones to microphones, Youtube content creators deal with a long list of expenses that average viewers may fail to recognize. To support this financially, Youtube income may not be enough.
Bitcoin, however, could significantly change the entire monetization mechanism utilized by content creators today. Unlike Paypal or any other traditional forms of payments, Bitcoin offers substantially low transaction fees. Therefore, content creators could accept Bitcoin donations on top of their Youtube payouts to support their channels financially, without any major issues.
Micropayment channels like ChangeTip enables small-sized channels to major Youtube channels to accept Bitcoin payments with ease, without integrating specific software or platforms.
The acceptance of Bitcoin by popular Youtube channels like Hydraulic Press sets a positive precedent for other content creators on Youtube, as well as other global video sharing platforms.