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How Much Does a Small Crafting YouTube Channel Make?

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You may be wondering how much does a small crafting YouTube channel make. I’m sharing what I’ve actually earned (and learned) in the six months since I got officially monetized.

When I became officially monetized on YouTube six months ago I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Was I going to suddenly be a millionaire? When would I get my first paycheck? How often would I be paid? Would I wake up to paparazzi sitting outside my front door?

While YouTube’s Creator Studio is a wealth of information, it can be hard to navigate through the plethora of articles and videos. And sometimes it’s just fun to be nosey.

In this post I’m going to share my own experience, how much I’ve made and a few surprising things that happened along the way.

Free YouTube Resource Guide

Crafting on YouTube

I am a true believer that there are lots of opportunities for crafters on YouTube.

People are hungry to learn how to crochet, knit, sew, paint, and bedazzle. And who doesn’t want to learn how to bedazzle?

In my previous post on this subject, I shared the process for getting monetized on YouTube and how long it took me to reach that goal.

You can find that post here: How I Got Monetized on YouTube as a Crafter

Check Out My Latest YouTube Video

YouTube Growth

We cannot talk about how much I make with my YouTube channel without first talking about growth.

I won’t babble on too long, but my channel has experienced steady but slow growth from the beginning.

I have never had a viral video (but I do have a few that are doing pretty well). I’ve never had a celebrity shoutout. I didn’t have a massive following elsewhere to help grow my channel.

“My path on YouTube is more like an Aesop Fable, than a rags to riches tale.”

I’m the tortoise that keeps on keepin on. One step at a time. Nothing too exciting, just hard work and a stubborn nature that won’t let me quit.

Making money on YouTube as a crafting channel

Crocheting & Knitting YouTube Channel

I know in most circles it’s tacky to talk about real money. But I have found this level of honesty to be hard to find in the YouTube community from smaller channels.

This is exactly the kind of concrete information that I would have found helpful when I was getting started.

I found lots of videos from channels that shared their hefty income reports. They were making thousands of dollars every month, but what about us little guys?

That’s why I’m making this available, to help you know what to expect. Of course every creator and channel is unique and you may experience different levels of income, but I think it’s helpful to know another crafter’s experience.

How much money does a small youtube channel make?

Biggest Surprise

After I became monetized on YouTube at the end of April 2020, I was surprised to see that my channel started to grow more quickly.

It really shouldn’t have come as such a shock.

If you stop and think about it, YouTube likely pushes out channels that are monetized because it makes money for them.

I have no evidence for this, it’s just my own observation and consequent hypothesis. And it makes total sense to me, so there.

The Six Months Before/After

From November 1, 2019 – April 30, 2020 is the six month period prior to becoming monetized. You can see that my channel only earned a whopping $4.58.

That’s not the interesting part. Obviously.

I became monetized at the end of April so that makes sense that I hadn’t earned too much in just a couple of days.

What’s interesting is the next bit of data.

I definitely earned a lot more, but that’s because I was fully monetized during that time. But that’s still not the interesting part.

If you look at the info at the top of the screenshots you can see that my channel got 58,809 views from November 2019 – April 2020, but it got almost three times that amount from May 2020 – October 2020.

Yes, part of that is because I created more content, but I also believe it shows that my channel was being shared more by Youtube than it had before monetization.

Now that could be misleading, there are a lot of variables that could have influenced that increase in views and new subscribers during that time, like quality of videos and more interesting topics. I’m sure that played a part as well.

But there’s no denying that my views went up by a lot after I was accepted into the YouTube Partner Program.

How Much Does a Small YouTube Crafting Channel Make?

You may be looking at this and thinking…….“You’ve only earned a few hundred dollars on YouTube for all that work!”

Yup.

I don’t even want to figure out how much that equals per hour of work, because that’s not the point and it’s too depressing.

A traditional job would pay a lot more than I’m currently making on YouTube, but guess what? I’m the master of my own time.

As some of you know, I have an adult child with serious health issues and doing YouTube is a way for me to do something I love, get paid for it, but still be available any time for my family.

Here are my total earnings to date:

$446.71 may not seem exciting, but I’m going to explain why it actually is.

Evergreen Content

Every single day that total increases. I earn money on videos that I created months ago. I make money on videos I created over a year ago.

Those little videos keep on working long after I actually uploaded them to YouTube.

This is why YouTube is worth it for me and why you might want to start a channel yourself. Or if you already have one, don’t give up.

This post contains affiliate links and at no cost to you I may earn a teeny tiny commission if you choose to purchase them. Please know that I only recommend products I use and love! Thank you for supporting Le Petit Saint Crochet!

Want to Start Your Own YouTube Channel?

If you are interested in starting your own YouTube channel please check out this course from Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone.

Her course walks students through the first technical steps from creating a Youtube channel, to how to monetize and everything in between.

I’m so glad I invested in myself and took the video course instead of wasting precious time trying to google everything on my own.

CPM & RPM

Since my crystal ball is on the fritz, it’s impossible to predict how much money your channel will make on YouTube. It all depends on what advertisers are willing to pay to advertise on your channel.

And this is the point where I start quoting experts. Getting paid on YouTube starts to get a little confusing when you start learning about CPM & RPM. Who am I kidding, it’s a lot confusing.

Cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) is a metric that represents how much money advertisers are spending to show ads on YouTube. You’ll see a few different CPM metrics in YouTube Analytics:

CPM: The cost an advertiser pays for 1,000 ad impressions. An ad impression is counted anytime an ad is displayed.

Playback-based CPM: The cost an advertiser pays for 1,000 video playbacks where an ad is displayed. 

YouTube Help Center

Every creator has a different CPM & RPM, so while you may have the exact same views as another channel, you will likely earn a different amount of money.

There are channels my size making way more than mine is and there are likely ones making less. It all comes down to CPM & RPM.

If you’re interested in understanding this a little more because I am not smart enough to understand it fully myself, check out this video from Business Film Booth.

When Do You Get Paid

It will feel like forever before you get your first payment from YouTube. Google AdSense works on a sixty day cycle and you must be in compliance with YouTube’s policies to be able to get paid.

Finalized earnings are not transferred to AdSense until about halfway through the following month (i.e. earnings accrued in June will be transferred to AdSense in mid-July).

Finalized YouTube earnings for the previous month are added to your AdSense account balance between the 10th and 14th of the month and paid out that month if your total balance has reached the payment threshold and if you have no payment holds.

For example, if you’re located in the United States and your balance exceeds $100 at the end of June, we’ll send you a payment in July.

Google AdSense

You Can Do This!

I know it may seem that YouTube is full of young people talking about things that make no sense to us of a certain age.

But trust me, there’s a place for you. Don’t think for one minute that your ideas don’t matter. Don’t let your age or inexperience stop you from starting a YouTube channel if you think you might be interested.

Although my channel isn’t making enough money to feed my family, it is making enough to supply my yarn habit and that’s just fine by me.

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8 Comments

    1. I’m so glad you liked it. I had no idea what to expect either. I think we only really ever hear about celebrity YouTubers who make gobs of money, but there are a thousands of little channels like mine making just enough to pay for our crafting supplies!! 🧶😂🧶😂

  1. Thank you for sharing! I initially found your video about your monetization in YouTube then found it again on Google. I am SO close to being eligible for monetization and only have some watch hours to get there. I was searching, trying to figure out some kind of average CPM that crafters make, when I found your video. Again thank you for sharing, it was very informational!

  2. I found this article after doing a Google search on how to start a crafting YouTube channel. Thank you for the information!