How Much Did We Make From YouTube With Under 2,000 Subscribers?

Most people believe that to make decent money on YouTube, you have to have millions of subscribers. So, they start their channels and soon give up frustrated with how little return they get for their efforts. Creating videos takes a long time, and YouTube ad revenue pays very little. 

But luckily, there are other ways of making money from YouTube, and in today’s blog post, we’ll reveal how much revenue we generated from our YouTube channel when we had less than 2,000 subscribers. 

How Did We Make Money From YouTube (Income Streams)

#1: YouTube Ad Revenue 

It's no surprise that YouTube ad revenue is a common source of income for content creators. Currently, we're earning approximately $142 per month from ads with nearly 3,200 subscribers. However, let's rewind to when we had less than 2,000 subscribers.

Upon monetizing our channel in October, we made just $33 from YouTube ads. This modest figure underscores the limitations of relying solely on ad revenue to compensate for your efforts.

#2: Selling Online Courses 

Instead of depending solely on YouTube ad revenue, we diversified our income streams by selling online courses. At the time, we only had one flagship course, eLearning Simplified Academy.

From January to October 2023, before surpassing 2,000 subscribers, we sold 18 courses, generating approximately $5,200 in revenue. This translates to an average monthly income of $577, far surpassing our earnings from YouTube ads during the same period.

#3: Affiliate Marketing

Another significant source of revenue for us is affiliate marketing, particularly with eLearning software providers like Kajabi, LearnWorlds, TalentLMS, and TalentCards.

While exact figures from October are unavailable, our current earnings demonstrate the potential of affiliate marketing. For instance, we're earning $3,100 per month from promoting Kajabi alone. Assuming more conservative figures from 2023, we estimate earning around $1,000 monthly from Kajabi and an additional $156.95, $216, and $100 from LearnWorlds, TalentLMS, and TalentCards, respectively.

Our Total Income Before 2,000 Subscribers

Combining our earnings from online course sales and affiliate promotions, we amassed a total income of approximately $2,082.46 per month before reaching 2,000 YouTube subscribers. This demonstrates the viability of monetizing a channel with a relatively small subscriber count, provided you leverage alternative revenue streams effectively.

Related Read: The Power of YouTube in Selling Online Courses

Conclusion

Our journey illustrates the importance of diversifying revenue streams beyond YouTube ad revenue. By selling online courses and engaging in affiliate marketing, we were able to significantly boost our income even with fewer than 2,000 subscribers.

If you're looking to monetize your YouTube channel beyond ads, consider exploring online course creation and affiliate partnerships. And if you're ready to take the leap into online course creation, sign up for our free master class below. We'll guide you through the process of launching your course in 90 days or less, empowering you to maximize your earnings potential on YouTube.