7 Ways to Make Money on YouTube in Kenya [2024 Ideas]

YouTube is one of the most popular video platforms in Kenya. It is also one of the most legit ways to make money online passively.

In fact, according to Forbes, the number of people making millions from YouTube is increasing. This means that making money from YouTube in Kenya is easier than ever.

Apart from the YouTube Partner Program, which content creators mainly use to monetize their videos, there are other methods you can use to make money from YouTube in Kenya.

In this guide, we’ll reveal some ways to help you diversify your income.

How To Make Money on YouTube in Kenya

Join the YouTube Partner Program
Use Patreon
Sell Your Own Products or Services
Use Affiliate Marketing
Become an Influencer
License your Content to the Media
Start Crowdfunding on YouTube

1. Joint the YouTube Partner Program

The YouTube Partner Program allows content creators to monetize their videos by showing adverts on their channels and getting paid for them.

Creators get 55% of the revenue generated by ads, depending on how many views their videos have.

To qualify for the Partner Program: You must have at least 1,000 subscribers with at least 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.

Here is how to join the YouTube Partner Program in Kenya:

In the top right, click your profile picture on YouTube Studio.

In the left menu, click Monetization.

If you’re under the threshold, click Notify me when I’m eligible to get an email. You’ll receive an email when you’ve reached 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the past 12 months. If you meet the threshold, click Start on the “Review Partner Program terms” card.

Once you’ve signed the term, we’ll mark this step with a green “Done” sign on the “Review Partner Program terms” card.

Pros:

Creates a passive income stream for you.
You get paid via PayPal.

Cons:

You have to get past 1000 subscribers before you are allowed to monetize your videos and after that, it might take some time before you start seeing any good money.

Note: If you don’t want to go through all the hassles of uploading videos on YouTube and then waiting for them to get enough views before they can monetize, there are other methods you can use to make money.

2. Use Patreon

Patreon works with creators to offer different “pledges” and rewards like stickers, posters, access to exclusive content or even personalized videos. You can use Patreon as a donation tool just like PayPal and your patrons can set a monthly donation amount.

However, unlike PayPal which offers one-time donations, Patreon’s unique structure lets you build ongoing stability for your projects as it builds on the concept of “subscription patronage.”

Pros:

It has a low entry barrier compared to the YouTube Partner Program and other methods that require you to get a minimum number of views before monetizing your videos.
You get a more regular source of income as compared to YouTube Partner Program and other methods that are based on luck or chance (although Patronage is not random)

Cons:

It’s an ongoing process. If you stop creating content, the money stops flowing.

Note: Some people (mainly traditional artists) prefer Patreon to earn money from their art because, unlike the YouTube Partner Program, it allows them to establish brand loyalty and trust before they start asking for money. This makes the creators more likely to get patrons willing to pay for their services.

3. Sell Your Own Products or Services

You can use YouTube as a platform to sell your own products and services, such as access to premium content on your channel. You can do this by putting up an “advert” at the beginning of your videos or in between them.

You can also create videos advertising your products and then link to your own website where people can buy them. This method is not very popular among YouTube Kenyan creators, but it’s an option if you have a strong marketing game.

Pros:

It’s an easy way to monetize your videos without waiting for YouTube to notice you.
Helps to promote your brand

Cons:

You have to be good at marketing and convincing others to buy products or services they don’t need.
This might turn off your viewers if you become too salesy

4. Use Affiliate Marketing

This is another popular way for YouTube content creators in Kenya to get paid by marketing products and earning commissions when they refer sales. Affiliate marketing is mainly done by adding affiliate links to your content. If someone clicks on that link and takes a desired action (like buying a product or subscribing to premium content), you will get a certain commission of the total sale.

If you are promoting things that people actually want to buy, this can be an easy way for you to make money because usually, when people click on an affiliate link after watching a video, they are interested in the product and might buy it even without your added links.

For instance, if you are reviewing the best laptops in Kenya, you can include affiliate links on your YouTube descriptions directing people where to buy those products.

Pros:

It’s a great way of monetizing your content without having to put ads on it or sell your own products/services. All you have to do is share links and recommend affiliate products in your videos.
You don’t have to own your own products or services to run affiliate marketing campaigns.

Cons:

You have to be smart at recommending the right products in your videos (or people will ignore you)

There are some people who think that affiliate marketing is spammy and annoying.

5. Become an Influencer

You can earn money from advertising by being an “influencer” who has influence over potential buyers.

You do this by working with brands to promote products or services based on your niche. Your audience will be more likely to trust you and engage with the ad if they know you are endorsing it because you’ve built trust with them.

In order to be an influencer, you need to have a huge social media following and a lot of subscribers on your YouTube channel. Otherwise, this may not work very well for you.

Pros:

You can monetize your content without ever having to put an advert on it as long as you are good at marketing
Unlike affiliate marketing, you can get paid even if people don’t buy the products or services your are endorsing.
It’s easy to make money since your fans already love and trust you

Cons:

It’s very competitive. Brands and big companies will only use influencers they already know and who have established a brand that people trust. So you need to have an established following on YouTube and other social media sites before you can start selling your influence.
Your viewers might be turned off if you promote products all the time

6. License your Content to the Media

This means you allow media outlets to use your content in their work for a fee. For example, if an online magazine produces a video about you or your content, it might pay to use the video on its website.

For instance, if there was a political rally somewhere that you happened to record, you can sell your videos to a TV station that didn’t have representatives there.

To be successful here, you need to create viral content (i.e. content that is interesting enough for other people to share).

Your content must also be high-quality and not copyrighted for this method to work.

Pros:

You can make money even if you don’t have that many views on your videos
You will be able to establish yourself as an authority when the media outlets you sell to credits the work to you

Cons:

You might not get paid much if the media outlet is small (read: doesn’t have a lot of money to pay for content).
Your content may not be suitable for use by media outlets. This can depend on the type of content you produce and the media outlet you are approaching. In some cases, unlicensed use of content is a violation of copyright law.
Rates are usually low, especially when many other people have the same videos

7. Start Crowdfunding on YouTube

Crowdfunding, or “crowdsourcing”, is when you ask the public to contribute money towards a project – usually for something that does not have enough funding.

You can do this by creating a video and using it on your YouTube channel to tell people about the project and what they need to do to contribute.

You project or cause will need to be credible so people can trust you and contribute.

Pros:

Great way to fund your projects
Works great if you have an established fan base.

Cons:

It’s very difficult to find the right balance between asking for money and giving value to the people who are watching your video.
Your viewers may not be able to contribute if they don’t have much money or it’s just not possible for them to spare any
Some of your viewers might be turned off if you ask for money all the time

How much money can you make on YouTube in Kenya?

There are a lot of factors that come into play when you’re trying to figure out how much money you can make on YouTube, and it’s not always easy.

These include:

Your audience size : the bigger and more engaged your audience, the more money you can make.

The type of content you create: if you’re creating viral videos that everyone wants to watch, then opportunities to monetize are going to arise much faster than if you just talk about boring topics no one cares about.

How many ads people skip when they watch your videos: if people skip ads, then advertisers won’t be willing to pay as much so you just won’t make that much money. Otherwise, if more people can stomach the ads, you can make more.

How many views/subscribers you have: the more views and subscribers you get, the more money you can make from ads. This is because re subsribers means more views and more views means more money.

How many ads your viewers watch: the more adverts you get, the more money you will make. YouTube splits advertising revenue with its content creators on a per-view basis, so it doesn’t matter how much an advert is worth if only one person watches it while the rest skip.

So all in all, there is no definite answer to this question. However, it’s safe to say that the more views and subscribers you have, the more money you can make from YouTube. The secret is to create viral content that people are eager to watch and share on social media.

Bottomline

YouTube is all about making great content that people actually want to watch. If you can create the right videos (i.e. ones that are really interesting), and post them on your YouTube channel regularly, then you will find it a lot easier to monetize your channel.

Once this happens, you’ll be able to make money from YouTube in Kenya.

Do you think these are legit ways to make money from YouTube?

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Otherwise, if you have any questions about YouTube, or how to make money from it, I’d love to hear from you. Simply leave a comment below (or via Facebook / Twitter ), and I’ll be sure to get back to you as soon as possible.

7 Ways to Make Money on YouTube in Kenya [2024 Ideas]