A new report has outlined the statistical unlikelihood of making a living from YouTube.
Bloomberg reports that a report by Mathias Bärtl from Germany’s University of Applied Sciences in Offenburg found that 96.5 per cent of YouTubers do not make enough money from the platform to pass the US poverty line for a couple - $16,800 (£12,027) a year.
To make this, creators must break into the top three per cent of the most viewed channels. In 2006 this three per cent accounted for 63 per cent of total YouTube views. In 2016 they accounted for 90 per cent.
To earn the big bucks you really have to hit the top one per cent, as this is the bracket where creators start to earn additional revenue through sponsorships and marketing partnerships.
Interestingly, gaming YouTubers have a 14x better chance of making it big than traditional vloggers who upload to the People & Blogs category.
The Dream
In general, Bärtl found, YouTubers can expect an income of just $1 per thousand views, although this varies both up and down. YouTube says that the number of channels earning six figures was up 40 per cent year-on-year in 2017.
Furthermore, one in three British children between the ages of six and 17 last year claimed that they aspired to become a full-time YouTuber – three times as many as wanted to be a doctor or a nurse.
There has apparently also been a rise in YouTuber Boot camps, which can cost $600+. The typical cost of the hardware setup used by professional YouTubers stands at about $3,800.
