Press Gazette asked some Youtube video experts (as well as Youtube itself) to share their tips on how publishers can grow both audience and revenue on the platform.
We’ve taken a closer look at the platform as 52% of digital newsroom leaders said they will be putting more effort into Youtube in 2025 (according to a Reuters Institute survey).
The Alphabet-owned video player keeps 45% of the money it makes from selling advertising with the rest going to the owner of the channel (provided they are signed up as a Youtube partner). The split is reversed for vertical Youtube Shorts videos.
Publishers can see exactly how much money they have made on the platform in any given month via their own Youtube data dashboard.
Any publisher with more than 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewing in the last 12 months is eligible to join the Youtube Partner Programme and start taking a share of advertising revenue.
Youtube ad-share revenue is modest (unless you are huge)
Press Gazette understands that Youtube publisher revenue share in the UK varies from £2 to £5 per 1,000 video views. A video has to be watched for at least 30 seconds to count as a view. Lighter entertainment or lifestyle content is considered more brand safe so will attract a higher revenue per 1,000 views (RPM) than hard news content.
Going on these figures, publishers will need to hit extremely high numbers to make a living from Youtube ad revenue alone (so a video which is viewed one million times might make £5,000 for a publisher at the upper end of the scale). Even Youtube native publisher TLDR only makes 40% of its revenue from Youtube advertising, the rest comes from direct-sold sponsorship and other revenue sources.
Find your niche and then double down
Chris Stone, currently executive producer of audio and video at the New Statesman, has built the title’s Youtube channel up to 150,000 subscribers and around one million views per month. The News Statesman is owned by the same publisher as Press Gazette.
The New Statesman’s Youtube content is largely a byproduct of its popular podcasts, a strategy that keeps production costs down. Each podcast episode is videoed at the same time and then repurposed for use on Youtube.
Stone said that ad revenue shared by podcast platform Acast and by Youtube is enough to cover production costs for the title’s audio and visual team. Profit comes from sponsorship directly sold by the NS in-house sales team (which could include presenter-read ads or sponsored episodes for which publishers keep all the revenue).
Stone, who previously held the same role at the Evening Standard, said: “What has worked here at the New Statesman is to find a niche and double down on that. At the Evening Standard we focused on breaking news videos optimised for SEO – most traffic was coming through the Youtube breaking news banner.
“It worked and delivered similar results to what we have seen at the New Statesman with a very different strategy.
“The breaking news approach did not work for us because we did not have news authority with Youtube. What has worked for us is building a loyal and returning audience. We continually look at what is doing well and then super-serve the audience with more of that sort of content.
“UK politics is the content which does most well for us with most traffic coming through the Youtube algorithm which is suggesting content to users.”
He said that within the UK politics niche, content which is staunchly critical of right-wing politicians from a left-wing standpoint does particularly well.
Having a big-name contributor in the form of New Statesman political editor Andrew Marr also helps, Stone said. But celebrities aren’t everything: the New Statesman’s most successful Youtube video (with more than one million views) is a video feature by business editor Will Dunn about the UK housing market.
Youtube tips from Youtube: Consistency helps
Youtube head of communications Sara Colin-Rowley shared the following content tips for publishers with Press Gazette:
“Programme for discovery: As Youtube is the second largest search engine, it’s important to understand how discovery works so that you can analyse traffic sources and create best practices for packaging your content. The Youtube Creators channel has a range of videos on the topic.
“Plan for consistency: Consistency in uploads can be important to audiences on Youtube. They’ll know when to come back and watch more. Consistency doesn’t just apply to when you upload, keeping consistent with the structure of your content can also help your audience know what to expect.
“Evolve through continual experimentation: Youtube Analytics is a powerful tool allowing you to discover what your fans do and don’t enjoy. Testing and iterating on your content based on these insights will help you refine your strategy and grow your audience.”
Engage with your audience to drive growth
Lauren Phillipou is a senior account director at media agency Axicom and provides advice to publishers and brands on how to grow their Youtube audience and revenue.
She said: “Engagement is key to driving growth. Publishers should respond to comments, foster discussions and build a loyal community around their channel, which signals to Youtube that their content is valuable and encourages the algorithm to promote it.
“Optimising Youtube’s search engine power by integrating relevant keywords into titles, descriptions and tags maximises discoverability. Most news publishers will already have an engaged audience on their owned and social channels, so promoting their videos across these platforms will help further drive traffic.
“By regularly analysing Youtube Analytics, news publishers can understand their audience behaviour – including how this marries up with their traditional reportage – and content performance. This can help them refine their strategy and optimise for growth.”
Remember Youtube is also the world’s second-largest search engine
Lewis Godliman is a senior manager at social and content agency eight&four. He said: “Diversify your content to cater to Youtube’s evolving preferences. While traditional 16:9 videos remain essential, Youtube Shorts offer an excellent way to deliver quick, digestible content.
“Keep your Community section updated with polls, static images, and GIFs to maintain engagement.
“Keep in mind that Youtube is also the world’s second-largest search engine. So, by leveraging its SEO capabilities you will maximise visibility. Optimise video titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords that align with audience search trends.”
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