- 8 minutes ago
A video with around 900,000 views may look like a big payday—but how much did YouTube actually pay Lloyd and Mandy for their first “viral” upload? They break down the earnings from the video, filmed in July 2022, and share a behind-the-scenes look at what a high-view-count YouTube video can mean financially.
For creators curious about YouTube monetization, viral video revenue, ad earnings, and how much YouTube pays per view, this candid creator-economy discussion offers a real-world example. Explore the money behind a popular YouTube video and get a clearer sense of what 900,000 views can—and can’t—tell you about creator income.
For creators curious about YouTube monetization, viral video revenue, ad earnings, and how much YouTube pays per view, this candid creator-economy discussion offers a real-world example. Explore the money behind a popular YouTube video and get a clearer sense of what 900,000 views can—and can’t—tell you about creator income.
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TravelTranscript
00:00When times are getting crazy
00:02And everything seems hazy
00:05Is there some place for safety I could go?
00:10Run away, run away, run away
00:13Into your escape
00:16Run away, run away, run away
00:19You're never too far to run
00:21Run away, run away, run away
00:24Into your escape
00:27Run away, run away, run away
00:30Run away, run away, run away
00:34Okay, so despite what the title of this video is called
00:44This is not a video to brag in any way about how much money we make online or on YouTube
00:49In fact, I'd almost say it's the opposite
00:52It's a common misconception that YouTubers make a lot of money
00:56And I think sometimes people assume that maybe we make a lot more money than we do
01:01And honestly, we didn't get into this business to make a lot of money
01:05We actually got into this more to build a lifestyle that we wanted to live
01:09And that's what we've done
01:10But one thing we get asked all the time by people
01:13Either through Instagram or in our comments
01:15Is how much money can you make on YouTube?
01:18Or can you make a full-time living just off YouTube?
01:21And the simple answer to that is yes
01:23But it depends on a lot of different factors actually
01:27So today we want to share with you how much we made from our first viral video on YouTube
01:33That has almost 900,000 views today
01:36And we're going to use this video as an example of how much you can make possibly on YouTube
01:40And we're also going to show you some examples of videos that didn't perform so well
01:45And how much money they made
01:46So I guess technically for a video to be considered viral
01:50It has to have around a million views
01:52So this one technically maybe isn't viral
01:54But it is our best performing video to date
01:57And the video we're talking about is 10 things we wish we knew before traveling to Vietnam
02:01And if I mean completely honest
02:03When we made this video we were not really in the best frame of mind
02:07We had been in Vietnam for 30 days
02:09And been to around 10 different cities
02:11We were filming every single day
02:13And releasing a video every second day
02:15Which meant editing while we were traveling
02:18And pretty much working non-stop
02:19We also weren't really taking care of our health too much
02:23Or sleeping enough as we should
02:24We weren't eating the right food
02:27And if I'm being completely honest
02:28We were probably drinking too much as well
02:30And I think most of that was to cope with the workload
02:33I'm pretty sure me and Mandy would have had an argument
02:36While we were filming this video
02:37Because that's what generally happened then
02:39We did
02:41But having said all that
02:43I'm really happy we made this video
02:45Because it's actually performed super well for us
02:48Over the last
02:50Year and a half
02:51But that's what makes this YouTube thing so unpredictable
02:55A video like that that we filmed
02:57When we weren't in the best frame of mind
02:59And to be honest probably didn't even want to film at the time
03:01Has ended up being our most successful video to date
03:04So as you can see this video
03:06Has gained us over 4,000 subscribers alone
03:09Which is amazing
03:10And over 70% of the views have come from search
03:14So in other words that means people are looking up information
03:17On traveling to Vietnam
03:18And they're finding our video
03:19And they're obviously finding it helpful
03:21Because it has a really high like to dislike ratio
03:25But anyway let's get into the money side of things
03:27So if you're somebody that's doing YouTube
03:29Or looking to get started in YouTube
03:31This would be really helpful for you
03:33Or if you're somebody like my mum
03:35Who has no idea how we make money
03:38By posting videos on YouTube
03:39This is for you as well
03:40So mum watch this
03:41We should also mention that
03:43If you want to be a creator like us
03:44You're going to need yourself a website
03:46It's a great way for brands to discover you
03:48You can put your recent collaborations on there
03:50And you can also use it for things like blogging
03:52And don't worry because if you've never created a website before
03:55We've got you covered
03:56We recommend using Hostinger
03:58Because they're great for beginners and advanced users
04:00To create websites efficiently without coding them from scratch
04:04So I'm literally going to sit down and show you guys
04:06How you can create a website in under two minutes
04:09Using their AI technology
04:10Okay so the first thing you're going to want to do
04:12Is head over to hostinger.com
04:14Using our link below
04:15Which is going to give you a 75% discount already
04:18Once you're at Hostinger
04:20Go ahead and add to cart
04:21As you can see it's already super cheap
04:24And includes your free domain
04:26Website
04:27Free email
04:28As well as all these features you see here
04:31But if you use our code
04:33Lloydamandy
04:33You're going to get an even further discount
04:35So we'll put that in
04:37Look how cheap that is now
04:39It also comes with a 30 day money back guarantee
04:42So there's no worries there
04:43So we're going to click create website
04:47I'm creating for myself or my business
04:51Is this our first time creating a website
04:53We'll click yes
04:55What type of website do we want to build
04:58I think today we're going to go with a blog style website
05:04Click blog
05:06Click next
05:08And we're going to use hosting as website builder
05:11Because that's going to give you all the AI technology
05:14And it's pretty much going to create this website for us
05:16And then it's going to ask you for all the personal details
05:20Like your address
05:21So you're going to put all that in
05:23And then just wait
05:24And it's going to redirect us to the website builder
05:27Okay now it's just going to ask us
05:28A couple of questions about our website
05:31It's the brand name
05:32And then a brief description
05:34So we're going to do full time travelers
05:36That quit our jobs
05:37To live life on our own terms
05:40Let's see what comes up
05:41Now remember this is all AI generated
05:44I'm not doing any of this
05:45Boom
05:46We have a website
05:48That's just built us a custom website
05:51And if you scroll down here
05:52You can see it's got AI generated blogs already
05:55Which obviously we'll go in and edit
05:56And put our own blogs in
05:57You can also change everything pretty much
06:00From the background color to the pictures
06:02But this is all
06:03This is a fully functioning website
06:06If you want to edit this website
06:07All you have to do is click edit
06:08And go over to this sidebar
06:10And it's going to bring up all these options
06:12And all these things you can change
06:13Including elements
06:15Pages
06:15Website style
06:17AI tools
06:18Which is really cool
06:19All these different AI tools you can use
06:21Okay so that's pretty much it
06:22If we have a look at this website
06:24This even looks good on mobile
06:26If you can see here
06:27That picture is in Sri Lanka
06:29We actually went to this exact location
06:31And took our own shots there
06:33That's pretty crazy
06:34That that showed up on our website
06:35So look guys
06:36If you're starting a YouTube channel
06:37Or even if you already have one
06:39It's super important to have your own website
06:41So the brands can check out
06:43Your previous collaborations
06:44You can add blog posts
06:46Sell your own products
06:47And showcase any other social media channels
06:50You might want to promote
06:51And we honestly think Hostinger
06:53Is the easiest way to get started
06:55Especially if you're a newbie
06:57And you've never made a website before
06:59So if you're interested in using Hostinger
07:01Make sure to use our unique link
07:03In the description below
07:04For a 75% discount
07:05And don't forget to use code
07:07Lloyd and Mandy at checkout
07:09So in order to be paid by YouTube
07:11You have to be part of what's called
07:12The Partner Program
07:13Which essentially means
07:15You're partnering with YouTube
07:16In a business
07:18To join the program
07:19You need 500 subscribers
07:20And 3,000 hours of watch time
07:22In a 12 month period
07:24Actually when we started
07:25It was double that
07:26It was 1,000 subscribers
07:27And 4,000 watch time hours
07:29But we were sort of a little bit lucky
07:32Because we started travelling
07:33During the end of COVID
07:35When not many people were travelling
07:36So we think we got to that mark
07:39Quicker than most people
07:40Because we were quite a rare channel
07:42At the time
07:43It only took us around 6 weeks
07:45To join the Partner Program
07:46We've met people
07:47Who have taken a lot longer
07:49To reach that milestone
07:51And we've also met people
07:52That could do it in like a week
07:53So there's no one size fits all
07:55It depends
07:56And if anybody asks us
07:57How long does it take
07:59To join the Partner Program
08:00There's no one answer to that
08:01So as you've probably noticed by now
08:04YouTube places ads at the beginning
08:06And during each video
08:08YouTube actually places these ads automatically
08:11Using AI
08:12Which is pretty incredible
08:13Because it places them in spots
08:15Where they think it's not going to interrupt
08:17The flow of the video too much
08:18And you can place extra ads
08:21Into each video if you want
08:22But we don't generally do that
08:24To be completely honest
08:25We would love to put out videos
08:27Without having any ads in it at all
08:29But we're really not at the stage yet
08:31Where we can afford to do that
08:32So what actually determines
08:34How much money you make
08:35On every video
08:36Is not just about how many views it gets
08:39It's more about who's watching
08:41This is called CPM
08:43Or cost per 1000 views
08:44And it basically determines
08:46How much YouTube will pay you
08:47For every 1000 views you get
08:50And don't forget this is a partner program
08:52So for every dollar you earn
08:54YouTube earns a dollar as well
08:56Which means if a video is performing well
08:58They're going to keep showing it
08:59Because it's in YouTube's best interest
09:01And they're making money off it as well
09:03So probably the most important factor
09:05For determining the CPM
09:06Is the location
09:08There is also things like age
09:10And the topic of the video
09:13But because all of our videos
09:15Pretty much are travel
09:16We don't see much variation in that
09:18For instance if most of the people
09:19Watching our videos
09:20Are from somewhere like India
09:22Which has a population
09:24Of over a billion people
09:26We're not going to have a very high CPM
09:28And therefore we're not going to make
09:29Much money off that video
09:30Even if it gets millions of views
09:32But if most of our audience
09:33Is from either the United States
09:35Australia Canada
09:37Or UK for instance
09:38Then we'll literally make
09:4010 times as much for that video
09:42This is where I think
09:44We've been a little bit lucky
09:46But we've also been strategic
09:48In how we've planned our content
09:50Because remember this
09:51Is a business lifestyle for us
09:53So we're trying to get
09:54The best lifestyle possible for us
09:56But we're also looking at it
09:58From a business standpoint as well
09:59Surprisingly most of our audience
10:01Is from the United States
10:03We have around 30% generally speaking
10:05Is from America
10:07And that all started
10:08When we did our Vietnam trip
10:10For some reason
10:10You guys just love seeing Vietnam content
10:13After that we travelled to Mexico
10:15Which is definitely a favourite spot
10:17For Canadians and Americans
10:18We then did an RV trip
10:20Through Canada and the United States
10:21And that whole series
10:23Has around 70% US audience
10:25Which is huge
10:26And I think if we didn't go down this route
10:29And we just stayed in a country
10:30Like Indonesia, Philippines or India for example
10:34Where they have high populations
10:35Of people watching YouTube
10:37We probably would have
10:39Around half a million subscribers by now
10:41And we'd have a lot of videos
10:42With over a million views
10:44But that's not necessarily
10:46The audience we've been trying to build
10:48But that's not to say
10:49That we don't want people
10:50From these other countries
10:52Watching our content
10:53Not at all
10:53The problem is
10:54Most of those people
10:55They like seeing you travel
10:57In their home country
10:58Because they find it interesting
11:00But they're not necessarily
11:01Looking for travel content
11:02To other places
11:03So they're not going to follow you
11:05When you go to the next destination
11:07Which means
11:08Ending up with a lot of subscribers
11:10And some videos that have a lot of views
11:12But you're not really building
11:13An authentic audience
11:15The last thing you really want
11:16As a content creator
11:17Is a channel with a huge amount of subscribers
11:20But they're not actually interested
11:22In your content
11:22But we feel like now
11:24After two years
11:24We've built a genuine audience
11:26Who's actually interested in our travels
11:29And our content that we put out
11:30Even though it might be a smaller audience
11:32Than what we could have had
11:33Okay now that we've covered all of that
11:35Let's get down to how much we made on this video
11:37So this video has since been published
11:39In July of 2022
11:41So almost
11:42Just over 18 months ago
11:44Has made us 6,600 US dollars
11:47Or if you're in Australia
11:48That's about 10,000 dollars
11:50Not bad for a video we filmed
11:52In a hotel room
11:53When we were burnt out
11:54And sick from travel
11:55So this is obviously great money
11:57For a 14 minute video
11:58And the biggest reason for that
12:00Is because most of the audience
12:02Is from either the United States
12:03Australia or Europe
12:05The CPM for this video
12:06Is just over 17 dollars
12:08Which is really high for YouTube
12:10But what really makes the money
12:12On this video
12:13Is that it keeps going
12:14Because it's an informational video
12:16People will keep watching it
12:18As long as they want to know
12:19About Vietnam
12:20Now let's compare this to another video
12:22That got a similar amount of views
12:24This video which we filmed in Bali
12:26Has almost 700,000 views
12:29But it's only made us 980 US dollars
12:32And it was published before the Vietnam video
12:35And even though 10% of the audience
12:37Was from Australia
12:38Which means around 70,000 Australians
12:40Did see the video
12:4270% of that audience were Indonesian
12:45Which means the CPM was really low on that video
12:48However we did gain 6,000 subscribers from it
12:51But potentially that's 6,000 subscribers
12:54That aren't too interested in seeing us
12:56Going to Mexico
12:57Or in our RV
12:59Or traveling anywhere else in the world
13:00So as you can see just by comparing
13:03These two videos to each other
13:04No two videos are equal
13:06It really depends on who's watching them
13:09There are obviously a lot of people
13:10Who can make a full-time living on YouTube
13:13And then there's a lot of people
13:14Who can't potentially
13:16And it actually has nothing to do
13:18With the amount of subscribers you have
13:20Or even the amount of views each video gets
13:23It's about who's watching and why
13:25We are fortunate enough now
13:27After two years that we can make a full-time living
13:30Just off of YouTube
13:31But it took a lot of what I like to call front-end work
13:34That means we were putting in around 40 hours a week each
13:37For about six months for absolutely no money
13:40And honestly I think that's a realistic time frame
13:44For anyone who's wanting to build a passive income stream
13:46Unless you have a ton of money to invest into something
13:49Which we didn't
13:51You're going to be working on your project for free
13:53For probably around six months
13:55And you've got to be willing to do that
13:56And that could go for a YouTube channel
13:59A blog
13:59An e-commerce website
14:01Or anything else that involves a lot of front-end work
14:04You're going to have to put in a lot of work at the beginning
14:06But the payoff is worth it
14:08As long as you have a belief in what you're building
14:11Is going to be successful
14:12Then it will
14:13And as long as you don't give up
14:14And don't get us wrong
14:15We're not making crazy money from YouTube
14:17And it's enough for us to live the lifestyle
14:20That we want to live every day
14:21We get to wake up and choose what we want to work on every single day
14:25And that's worth a lot more to us than money
14:27In fact I don't know if we're ever going to stop doing YouTube
14:30We're probably going to keep finding different ways to make content
14:34Our channel's probably going to evolve into a different thing eventually
14:38And some of you are going to stick around for that
14:40And some of you aren't
14:41But that's okay
14:42But as long as we feel inspired to keep making videos
14:46We're going to keep doing it
14:47And it's all possible because of people like you who watch these videos
14:51So thank you
14:52If you are a YouTuber or you're somebody who's looking to start a channel
14:55Let us know down below in the comments if you found this helpful
14:58Also give it a like and subscribe
15:00We're actually getting pretty close to 100,000 subscribers
15:03Which was one of our main goals when we started this channel
15:06And I can't believe we're almost there
15:07So thank you guys
15:09Thanks for watching
15:10And we'll see you in the next one
15:11Bye
15:17Run away, run away, run away
15:20You're never too far to run
15:22Run away, run away, run away
15:25Run away, run away, run away
15:25Run away, run away, run away
15:25Run away, run away, run away
15:25Run away, run away, run away