21:43Jade Beason · Tutorial
The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Engagement
A five-section system for rebuilding Instagram engagement in 2026 — from audience clarity and topical content to DM automation and two ready-to-run tactical playbooks.
June 14thThe argument in one line.
YouTube now has two monetization tiers, but most aspiring creators are blocked not by the subscriber count but by avoidable mistakes — watch hours on private videos, rejected ad slots, and blocked ad categories they never knew existed.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- A creator who has been posting consistently but has not yet hit the 1,000 subscriber or 4,000 watch hour mark for Tier 2.
- Someone who recently joined the Partner Program and wants to understand why their ad revenue is lower than expected.
- A new creator who wants a clear map of every income stream YouTube offers before they start.
- Anyone who has accumulated watch hours over several years and wonders why they still cannot monetize.
SKIP IF…
- You are already monetized and earning steadily — the eligibility sections will cover ground you know.
- You are looking for brand deal negotiation or external sponsorship strategy; this focuses entirely on YouTube native income streams.
The full version, fast.
YouTube Partner Program 2026 has two tiers: Tier 1 (500 subs, 3K watch hours or 3M Shorts views in 12 months) unlocks fan-funding tools; Tier 2 (1K subs, 4K watch hours in 12 months) unlocks ad revenue, which is where most creator income lives. Watch hours only count if the videos are public, earned within the last 12 months, and not flagged as AI-generated spam. Once monetized, ad revenue is split 55% YouTube / 45% creator, and RPM varies wildly by topic. Practical strategies covered: going deep on high-demand topics, using timestamps to capture partial viewers, sharing playlist links instead of video links, and using YouTube Studio analytics AI to identify which video types drive the most subscribers.
Free for members
Chat with this breakdown — free.
Sign in and you get 23 free chat messages on us — ask for the hook, quote a framework, find the exact transcript moment, generate a markdown action plan. Bring your own key when you want unlimited.
Create a free account →Where the time goes.
00:00 – 00:34
01 · Hook — $70B + personal credential
Stat-first cold open. Host has personally earned multiple 6 figures from YouTube alone. Sets credibility before any explanation.
00:34 – 03:18
02 · Section 1 — What Is the YouTube Partner Programme?
Two-tier structure explained. Tier 1: 500 subs, 3K watch hours or 3M Shorts views in 12 months — unlocks fan-funding. Tier 2: 1K subs, 4K watch hours — full ad revenue monetization.
03:18 – 04:52
03 · Section 2 — Eligibility landmines
Watch hours must be public and within last 12 months. AI slop gets rejected. Country eligibility, no active strikes, two-step verification required, advertiser-friendly content.
04:52 – 06:23
04 · Section 3 — How to Apply Step by Step
Notification in YouTube Studio, agree T&C, link Google AdSense, submit for review (1-2 week turnaround). Can reapply within 30 days if rejected.
06:23 – 10:53
05 · Section 4 — Ad revenue deep-dive
Ad revenue is the biggest earner. Long-form earns more than Shorts. Ad slots on 8+ minute videos, every 3-6 minutes. Check for rejected slots post-upload. Unblock ad categories. RPM vs CPM explained.
10:53 – 11:52
06 · New Feature — YouTube Media Kit
YouTube Creator Partnerships ecosystem. Set up a media kit inside YouTube Studio Earn > Partnerships. YouTube AI matches your channel to brand partners.
11:52 – 13:24
07 · Sponsor — Storyblocks
Human-made stock media, millions of assets, no AI-generated content, unlimited downloads. 15% off annual plans via link.
13:24 – 17:10
08 · Strategies — Hit Watch Hours threshold
Go deep on high-interest topics. Mine most-replayed data on competitors' videos. Use timestamps/chapters. Share playlist links. Live streams count toward watch hours.
17:10 – 19:53
09 · Strategies — Grow Subscribers + outro
Articulate unique subscription value. Reply to every comment (push notifications). Use YouTube Studio AI to find top subscriber-driving videos and double down.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- Watch hours only count toward monetization if the videos are public and were earned within the last 12 months — years of accumulated hours outside that window are worthless.
- YouTube keeps 55% of ad revenue; creators receive 45%, and that 45% is what RPM measures.
- RPM for finance-topic videos can be 3-5x higher than lifestyle videos because advertisers pay more to reach audiences likely to spend on high-ticket products.
- Ad slots placed at natural breaks can still be rejected by YouTube — creators need to manually check and resubmit rejected slots after every upload.
- Unblocking sensitive ad categories (alcohol, gambling, etc.) in YouTube Studio can materially increase ad inventory without changing any content.
- Tier 1 YouTube Partner Program (fan-funding: memberships, super chats, shopping) is available at 500 subscribers — most creators skip straight to chasing Tier 2 without capturing this revenue.
- Sharing a playlist link instead of a video link on social media increases the chance of a viewer bingeing multiple videos, compounding watch hours.
- Timestamps and chapters do not hurt watch hours — they convert people who would have watched zero minutes into people who watch ten minutes.
- YouTube Studio now has a built-in AI assistant (Arc Studio) that can tell you which of your videos drove the most subscribers in the last 90 days in seconds.
- Live streams count toward watch hours — ramping up live streaming frequency is a valid accelerant toward the 4,000 watch hour threshold.
- The most-replayed sections on other creators' videos are a research signal: they reveal what audiences want more of, which can be turned into a longer deep-dive video.
- AI-generated spam detection is now an explicit reason YouTube can reject a Partner Program application — authenticity is not just a brand value, it is a gatekeeping criterion.
Five decisions that determine your YouTube income.
WHAT TO LEARN
Getting monetized and staying monetized are two different problems — and most creators stumble on the mechanical details, not the content quality.
- Watch hours only count toward the 4,000-hour threshold if the videos were public and earned within the last 12 months — years of archived private content provide zero credit.
- Ad slots placed at natural breaks can still be rejected by YouTube after upload; checking and resubmitting them is a recurring maintenance task, not a one-time setup.
- RPM (what you actually receive) is 45% of CPM because YouTube retains 55% — and RPM varies dramatically by topic, with finance and business content typically commanding several times more than lifestyle or entertainment.
- Unblocking sensitive ad categories in YouTube Studio (alcohol, gambling, etc.) expands available ad inventory without requiring any change to your content.
- Sharing a playlist link instead of a video link when promoting on social media chains viewers into a sequence, increasing total watch time generated per social post.
- Timestamps and chapters do not reduce watch hours — they convert viewers who would have watched nothing into viewers who watch the one section relevant to them.
- The most-replayed segments on other creators' videos are a reliable demand signal: they reveal what audiences actively want more of, and a dedicated deep-dive on that topic has a built-in audience before it is published.
- Replying to every early comment generates a push notification to the commenter, reminding them of your content and creating another decision point for them to subscribe.
Terms worth knowing.
- RPM
- Revenue Per Mille — the amount a creator actually earns per 1,000 views, after YouTube's 55% cut. RPM is the number creators should track, not CPM.
- CPM
- Cost Per Mille — the total amount advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions on a video. YouTube keeps 55% of CPM, passing 45% to the creator as RPM.
- Tier 1 / Tier 2
- YouTube Partner Program's two access levels. Tier 1 (500 subs) unlocks fan-funding tools. Tier 2 (1,000 subs + 4,000 watch hours) unlocks ad revenue sharing.
- Watch Page Ads
- Ads that appear on long-form YouTube videos (pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll). Distinct from Shorts Feed Ads, which are automated. Watch page ads are the primary revenue driver for most monetized channels.
- Media Kit
- A YouTube Studio feature that auto-generates a channel overview (stats, audience demographics) used by YouTube's AI to match creators with potential brand partners inside the Creator Partnerships ecosystem.
- Arc Studio
- A built-in AI chatbot inside YouTube Studio that can answer questions about your channel data, such as identifying which videos drove the most subscribers in a given period.
Things they pointed at.
18:48toolArc Studio (YouTube Studio AI)
Lines you could clip.
00:00
“YouTube has paid out over $70,000,000,000 to creators.”
09:17
“For every brand that pays to advertise in your content, YouTube keeps 55% of that money and gives 45% of it to you.”
15:07
“If YouTube had a feature like chapters causing people to watch less of your content, they would discontinue it because YouTube's goal is quite aligned with yours.”
Word for word.
Read-along
Don't just watch it. Burn it in.
See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.
metaphoranalogystory
00:00YouTube has paid out over $70,000,000,000 to creators. I personally have earned multiple 6 figures just from posting on YouTube alone.
00:07We're not talking about brand partnerships. We're not talking about selling products. I'm talking about the money I've earned by simply sharing videos on this platform.
00:13You could be earning an income from YouTube too. But in order for you to do that, you need to truly understand how YouTube's partner program works, and that is exactly what I'm gonna break down in this video. YouTube actually hired me to film a video for their channel about this topic a few years ago.
00:27I'm here to share an updated video so you have all the information you need to start earning some money. By the way, this video is sponsored by Storyblocks. More on them later.
00:34So Mojo has joined me to help me explain what YouTube's partner program is and how it works. Let's see how long this lasts before she starts to get on my nerves. The YouTube partner program is a monetization vehicle, which allows creators to earn an income from their channel.
00:47Now a lot of people don't realize that there are now two tiers to YouTube's partner program. There's previously only one, there are now two, and one of them is significantly easier to be accepted to. Tier one is the early access model.
00:58Again, this was only launched a couple years ago. To be accepted into tier one of YouTube's partner program, you need 500 subscribers, three valid public uploads within the last ninety days, which basically means you need three pieces of content that are public and live that you've shared within the last three months.
01:14Plus, three thousand watch hours or 3,000,000 shorts views, and these need to be gained within the last twelve months. Now, that part's super important because if you've had an on and off YouTube journey and you look at your stats and you're like, I've got those stats. I have those watch hours.
01:27I have those views. But they're spread out over the last few years. They won't actually help you get monetized.
01:33You needed to have gained these watch hours or these views within the last twelve months for them to be valid. Now if you reach those numbers Yeah. Well done, that means that you are actually legible to join tier one.
01:42And if you join tier one, you unlock a few different benefits, including memberships, super chats, and super thanks, which are basically features which allow your audience to, like, tip you or pay to get like a badge next to their comment, etcetera. YouTube normally refers to this as like fan funding because your audience are paying you rather than like YouTube paying you.
01:59And YouTube shopping, which is their affiliate tool. So it basically allows you to link different products and have them on like a shopping shelf on your YouTube channel. So, if people buy those products through those links, you earn a commission or a kickback.
02:10Also, I realized I didn't explain memberships. Memberships are basically when you're able to share exclusive content to a select group of people who are paying you for that right.
02:19So, I have a membership called Behind the Business where I share like vlogs from behind the scenes and people pay, I think it's like £2 a month or something to get access to that content. Like, that's an example of a membership. So, all of those really sit under the fan funding model, which is why it's available to you at tier one of the partner program.
02:34Now, as good as that all is, what people normally refer to when they talk about earning money on YouTube is actually being part of tier two of the partner program. This is the full monetization tier, and in my opinion, this is the tier you should be aiming for.
02:46Later on in this video, I will be sharing specific strategies to help you get into this tier. Because as I said, I really think this is the tier where most of the money is made. So to get into tier two, you need to have 1,000 subscribers, so double the amount of tier one, and either 4,000 watch hours accumulated over the last twelve months or 10,000,000 shorts views within the last ninety days.
03:04I always thought that wasn't the most balanced thing in the world. Like, I and maybe this is just a reflection of me because I much prefer long form content. I think getting 4,000 watch hours in twelve months is way easier than getting 10,000,000 shorts views in ninety days.
03:16Is that just me? Can you let me know in the comments? Anyway, now there are some watch outs that people rarely talk about.
03:21Yes. It's great if you reach those numbers and you're like, my god, I can now join tier two of YouTube's partner program. But if you don't have these following things in mind, you still might not be accepted into the partner program.
03:31First of all, if you're aiming to get the watch hours rather than the shorts views, you need to make sure that these videos which are gaining the watch hours are public. It's not gonna count if they're private or unlisted. Also, YouTube are cracking down on AI generated spam content, also known as AI slop.
03:45So if you are creating something that is heavily reliant on AI and actually not good quality in any way, inauthentic, or very repetitive, it may be flagged as AI spam, and you won't be able to join the partner program.
03:56Other things to keep in mind, you can only join the partner program if you live in a country where the partner program is available. I'll put a link below so you can double check the list. You can't have any active community guidelines strikes on your channel.
04:06Be careful because this can sometimes include copyright strikes. You need to have turned on two step verification for your YouTube channel.
04:12You also need a Google AdSense account. I worry I'll talk about that a bit later. And your content must be advertiser friendly, which I think all creators should have in the back of their mind.
04:19If you wanna earn money as a creator, your content in general needs to be advertiser friendly whether you wanna join the YouTube Partner Program or not. And if you don't know what that means, I'm willing to bet you could probably guess. It's avoiding using, like, excessive swear words.
04:30Obviously, you can swear, but if, like, every other word is a swear word, then advertisers are obviously gonna be like, maybe not. It's also talking about controversial topics without duty and care. So talking about something that needs a lot of research and you just kind of saying flippant comments, like, that's gonna get you in trouble as well.
04:45It's kind of common sense. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm pretty sure most people watching this video will know if they're ever crossing the line when it comes to being advertiser friendly.
04:52Now, how do you join the YouTube Partner Program? Well, you should actually receive a little notification on your YouTube Studio when you are eligible. If you're not sure if you're eligible yet, you wanna go into your YouTube studio, click on the earn tab, and it will actually show you some graphs.
05:05On the screen, you're seeing a dormant YouTube channel I haven't uploaded for a couple of years, but you can see how it actually shows you how far off you are from joining the partner program. When you're ready to join, a notification will appear and you'll be able to click on it and follow the steps in order to apply. So here are some of the steps for your reference just so you can mentally prepare yourself.
05:21Right? First is that you'll need to agree to the terms and conditions. You'll then need to link your AdSense account.
05:25Now, I mentioned this earlier. Google AdSense is essentially the tool that you'll be using in order to get paid. So, every single month when you start to earn from your YouTube channel, the payment will come from Google AdSense, which is why it's going to encourage you to set up an account with Google AdSense.
05:38You just need to select the same email that you use for your YouTube channel, create a password, then you've set it up. Your AdSense account is also where you'll be able to check how much exactly you're gonna earn. You'll be able to see the monthly estimates in your YouTube studio, but your AdSense account will be like the exact number.
05:52Sometimes it's different by a few pounds. And then you just need to submit your channel for review. This is when YouTube will take your application and make sure that you've not broken any of those guidelines that I previously mentioned.
06:02And once they're happy and satisfied, which can take between one to two weeks, they will accept your application and your earn tab on your YouTube studio will look a bit like this. It's worth noting that if you're rejected from YouTube's partner program, you can actually reapply within thirty days. Just make sure that you've gone through that checklist that I previously shared and fixed any area of your YouTube channel, which may have led to your application being rejected.
06:23Alright. So now you're accepted into the Partner Program. Yay.
06:26What do you do now? Well, you'll notice that you've got quite a lot of choice in terms of how you can earn money from your YouTube channel. Let me break down the main monetization streams that I recommend you look into.
06:35The first is gonna be your ad revenue. This is when you can place ads in and around your video. This is often the biggest revenue driver for most creators.
06:42It definitely is for me. There are a bunch of different ads that you can add to your video like pre roll ads, mid roll ads, yada yada. I'm just gonna focus on the stuff that you actually need to So you can add adverts to your shorts and also to your long form videos, but you'll often find that you will earn more money from your long form videos.
06:57This is for a bunch of different reasons. One, you can add way more ads to your long form videos because they're simply longer. And two, advertisers pay more to appear in your long form videos or at least right now they currently do.
07:08To add adverts to your videos, you just need to add a step to your upload process. So you want to click on the video you want to add an advert to, click on monetization, and then click on manage ad slots.
07:18In this section, you'll be able to manually add ad slots throughout your video. Keep in mind that if YouTube doesn't like where you've put an ad, it won't play it. This is like a fairly new thing that they've introduced.
07:27So you can see on this video here that I've added four ad slots, One at the very beginning, one at the end, two in the middle. Right? We've tried to find natural breaks in the video to add the ad slot because that's what YouTube usually likes.
07:38But even though we've done that, it still rejected these two ad slots. Can you see? So I'm actually not gonna earn money from those two ad slots.
07:44People need to know this because when they introduced this, my overall ad revenue definitely did dip because suddenly all of my videos that I've uploaded for the last few years, like all the ads weren't playing anymore, and it takes a really long time to go back and fix that. Keep in mind that you can only add ads to videos that are eight minutes or longer.
07:59Right? So keep that in mind. Now, here are a few steps that I want you to follow to make the most out of watch page ads.
08:04It's worth noting that your shorts ads are just added automatically. So we're really focusing on like your long form watch page ads. Right?
08:10First, I want you to go back through every video you've uploaded that's longer than eight minutes and add some ad slots in between. General rule of thumb is that you wanna be adding an ad slot three to six minutes throughout the video. But also remember to try and find parts of the video where there's a natural break, otherwise YouTube will reject it.
08:26The second tip I have for you is every time you upload a new video, go back to the video you just uploaded and check those ad slots. Because I'm willing to bet just like I'm looking at right now, at least one or two of those ad slots would have been rejected. But by you going back and checking on it, it gives you a chance to fix it and hopefully get it right next time.
08:42Also, and this is like a super secret tip that YouTube actually directly told me about. There are some ad categories that YouTube might automatically block for you. So like alcohol and stuff like that.
08:53If you don't mind alcohol brands or other categories advertising in your content, you wanna make sure you unblock these categories. So So in order for you to do that, you wanna go to earn, watch page ads, add categories, and then you wanna click on sensitive categories and just double check if any is blocked.
09:08Obviously, you don't have to do that. Like, you wanna keep them blocked, you can keep them blocked. Now the final key thing you need to be aware of when it comes to your watch page ads, which again are gonna be your biggest earner, is something called your RPM.
09:17Your RPM stands for revenue per milli, which is basically revenue per thousand. I know it's complicated, just stick with me. So your RPM is the amount of money that you are being paid per 1,000 views.
09:28You might also hear or see the acronym CPM when you're looking for your YouTube studio. Your CPM is how much your ads on your videos are earning overall, but your RPM is how much you are specifically getting paid. Because for every brand that pays to advertise in your content, YouTube keeps 55% of that money and gives 45% of it to you and to us.
09:49That 45% is what that RPM is. Now, as you can see on the screen, the RPMs for your videos will differ greatly depending on the video. Right?
09:57Sometimes my RPM might be eight pounds, other times it might be 20. The reason why it's different is because brands who are advertising in your content are willing to pay different amounts depending on the audience that your video is attracting. If I'm uploading a video which is all about finance, then my audience are attracting people who are likely to spend a lot of money on finance tools.
10:15Because they're gonna spend a lot of money, the brand is willing to spend even more money to advertise on my platform. Right? In comparison, if I upload a video that was all about makeup and therefore all of my audience were willing to spend maybe 10 to £20 on a new makeup item, that brand won't want to spend as much money to advertise in my content because the money that they're likely going to earn from my audience is less.
10:36Right? So that's why every video earns a different amount, and that's also why every channel earns a different amount. So be careful when watching videos which are like, this is how much YouTube pays you for a thousand views because actually the amount that YouTube will pay you for a thousand views will massively differ depending on your video content and your audience.
10:52Okay. Before I move on to tell you my best tips and tricks for actually getting enough watch hours and subscribers to join the partner program, we need to talk about a new feature on YouTube, which is the media kit feature. Now, YouTube has this entire ecosystem called YouTube creator partnerships.
11:06It's somewhat new. They've rebranded it recently and they're really, really trying to push it on creators. And the reason why is because they want to be facilitating brand partnerships inside the YouTube app, which is something they've never really nailed before.
11:17I'm not gonna dive into the ins and outs of this too much. What you need to know is that there are a few steps that you can follow inside YouTube Studio once you've joined the partner program, which will make it easier for brands to find you, discover you, and hopefully earn money through brand partnerships on your channel too.
11:31So what you wanna do is go to YouTube Studio, click on the earn tab, and then click on the partnerships tab. Inside here, you'll be able to set up your media kit, which will look something like this. It's essentially a full overview of your channel, key metrics, and your audience.
11:43YouTube will then use AI to match your media kit and your channel with relevant brand partners. It literally takes a few seconds for you to set up, and it could be your key to landing your first brand deal. Alright.
11:52Before we continue with this video, let's talk about a tool that you can use that's gonna help you create better YouTube content, join YouTube's partner program faster, and then earn more money from the YouTube partner program. If you're wondering what tool this would be, the tool is Storyblocks. Now Storyblocks is a human made stock media library built for creators.
12:09It contains millions of assets from photos to videos to special effects, templates to sound effects to music, and we've got the list genuinely goes on. I utilize all of these assets in all of my content to help bring my content to life, tell a better story, and just generally make a more well rounded video. This allows me to create content that people want to watch for longer, and that allows me to earn more money from my YouTube channel.
12:31Every single asset inside of Storyblocks library has been created by a filmmaker, an artist, or a musician. They do not accept AI generated content. Very important.
12:40So if you wanna tell human stories, which we all do, this is the best place to go for your stock media assets. It's designed to save you time with access to unlimited downloads. It also includes thousands of customized templates, which you can access inside Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, and Apple Motion, which will just help you speed up your editing.
12:57More More than a 150,000 creators and business owners utilize Storyblocks to enhance their workflows. And every single download directly supports a real working artist. So to get access to the human made stock media library, is essential to my workflow, head to storyblocks.com/jbson or click the link in my description.
13:15Also, they're currently running a limited time offer where you can get 15% off of annual plans. You can only get this from the link in my description. Thank me later.
13:23Alright. Let's move on to my tips and tricks for actually getting enough watch hours and subscribers to join the partner program. Let's talk about watch hours first.
13:30Now, key to watch hours is sharing some popular long form content. You really only need a couple of long form videos that are at least fifteen minutes long that are really performing well for your channel in order to hit that 4,000 watch hour mark. To help you do this, I recommend stealing these strategies.
13:45The first is to find a topic that you know your audience are very interested in and go super deep in it. Like, so deep that the video ends up being fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes long. Don't drag it out.
13:55Make sure the pacing is good and the whole video is actually entertaining and valuable to watch. But try and go so deep that you can actually make the video longer than maybe your average video. In order for you to find that topic, you actually need to dig deep into your audience.
14:08Right? So there's a few ways you can do this. One way is by looking at other creators within your space and looking at what people are commenting under their videos.
14:15Are people asking for more information about a specific thing that they spoke about? Do people wanna see more behind the scenes of a specific part of their life? Is there a trend going around that people wanna see potentially you do?
14:26To take this one step further, and I love sharing this tip. When you're watching other people's YouTube channels, you can sometimes see which parts of the videos were most replayed. Have you ever seen this before?
14:35I'll put an example on the screen. If you have the ability to do that because it doesn't always appear on everyone's video, pay close attention to the parts of the video that were most replayed and ask yourself, what was that creator doing or saying in that part of that video and can you create a deep dive video that reflects whatever it is they were doing.
14:51Right? Maybe it's a version of what they were saying, but your take on it, your experience with it, etcetera. Make it your own.
14:58But that's a great way for you to figure out what people are actually interested in, what people are willing to watch, and then creating a deep dive video on it. Another tip for getting watch hours, and this one might surprise you, is to use timestamps and chapters. Guys, I use these in all my videos and sometimes even I am tempted to not use them because I'm like, am I just encouraging people just to skip through my video?
15:16The short answer is yes, but only the people who are never really gonna watch your whole video in the first place. I'm laughing because I'm pretty sure I'm speaking to quite a few people right now. It's alright.
15:24It's okay. I don't take it to heart. The thing is, chapters allow people who were never gonna watch your whole video to find the part of the video that they're most interested in and consume that.
15:33That is better than them not watching your video at all because at least they watch ten minutes versus zero minutes. Right? Anything that's gonna help people navigate through your content is going to lead to more watch hours.
15:42A general rule to keep in mind is that if YouTube had a feature like chapters causing people to watch less of your content, they would discontinue it because . They're trying to get people to watch your content for as long as possible. Another strategy is to find creative ways for you to share links to playlists.
15:58Now, if you don't have playlists set up already, set them up, create a playlist that contains a bunch of videos that are all related to each other. A great rule of thumb for this is to create playlist based on like a topic or a theme. If you go on my YouTube channel, you'll find that there are playlist for YouTube tips, for Instagram tips, for TikTok tips, etcetera.
16:16That means that if I share my YouTube tips playlist with someone and they like a few of my videos, they're probably gonna like the rest of the videos because clearly they're interested in YouTube tips. You want to create similar playlists for your audience, and you want to get creative in the way that you share it. For example, when you talk about a brand new video that you've got live over on your Instagram stories, instead of just sharing a link to the video, you share a link to the playlist.
16:38Right? Because that allows people to watch that video that you're talking about and then naturally YouTube will suggest the next video in the playlist to them. This will increase the chances of them ending up binging your content and watching it for a few hours, which is perfect for your watch hours.
16:52Last but not least, if you are a live streamer, fantastic. Because your live streams actually do count towards your watch hours. So if you are prone to wanting to go live, why not ramp that up when you're in the process of trying to get monetized?
17:03And instead of going live once every two weeks, you go live once a week. Alright. Let's move on and talk about some strategies you can use to get more subscribers.
17:10Because if you want to join the tier two YouTube Partner Program, which is where a lot of the money is, you need to have 1,000 subscribers. First things first, you need to figure out why someone should subscribe to you. This is harder than it sounds.
17:20Right? Because you're thinking, oh, because I'm great and I'm sure you are, but I need you to articulate it in a way that will actually sound appealing to someone who doesn't know you or care about you yet. Is it that you upload a vlog showing your life living in Switzerland once a week?
17:34Is it that you share educational content like me that's gonna help someone achieve a goal and you share that every week? What is it that you do that is actually of value to your audience and should make them want to subscribe? Part of the reason why I say this is harder than it used to be is because YouTube's algorithm is so good that nowadays, people don't even need to subscribe to you in order to see your content.
17:53Like, really all they need to do is watch a few of your videos and then more of your videos will just start appearing everywhere. Right? Because that's just how the algorithm works.
18:01So you really have to nail down why someone should actually subscribe. And really, in order to do this properly, you need to make people feel like they don't wanna miss your next video. Because whilst the algorithm will show your future videos all over the platform if they like them, in order for them to really avoid missing out, they need to subscribe.
18:17And one step further, they need to turn on the notification bell so they actually get notification when you upload. Next thing you wanna do is reply to every single comment that you get, especially in the early days of your channel. You might be thinking, but Jade, isn't that better for engagement?
18:29It's great for engagement. What it's also great for is sending notifications to people's phones when you respond to them. Reminding people that you uploaded a piece of content that they loved.
18:38This is often powerful because this could be the difference between someone subscribing and someone not. Last but not least, use your analytics to figure out which videos are driving the most subscribers and double down on those videos.
18:50Luckily for us, we now have AI that helps us do this. Back in the day, I would fuss about with spreadsheets for hours, but now all you need to do is click on Arc Studio, which is this little icon at the top of the screen, and then just ask the chatbot to tell you which videos have got you the most subscribers in the last ninety days.
19:05As you can see, it straight away shows me that my Substack video, how to start a social media marketing agency. Oh, I wasn't expecting that.
19:12And you're going to become a content creator in 2026. So using that information, if I wanted to do a big subscriber push, I'd probably create different versions of that video. Okay.
19:20And that is everything you need to know to join YouTube's partner program and start earning money from your YouTube content. If you feel like hanging around, recommend watching this video. It's all about the fact that YouTube has changed and is now one of the biggest TV streaming platforms in the world and what that means for us as creators.
19:34Don't forget that if you want to get access to the human made stock media library built for creators and essential to my workflow, head to storyblocks.com/jbson. They're offering 15 off any annual plans for a limited time only, and that discount is only available through my link. Thanks so much for watching as always.
19:51I can't wait to see you in the next one.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Seventy billion dollars. That number is the opening salvo — and it lands harder because the follow-up is personal: not theory, but six figures earned by the person on camera. This video earns its runtime in the first five seconds.
Named ideas worth stealing.
00:34model
Tier 1 vs Tier 2 Partner Program
- Tier 1: 500 subs + 3K watch hours or 3M Shorts views (12 months) => fan funding
- Tier 2: 1K subs + 4K watch hours (12 months) => ad revenue + all Tier 1 features
Two-rung access ladder to YouTube monetization. Most creator income lives at Tier 2.
Steal forAny video explaining a tiered access or membership structure
09:17concept
RPM vs CPM
CPM = what advertisers pay overall. RPM = what YOU get paid (45% of CPM). RPM varies by topic: finance content earns significantly more than lifestyle.
Steal forAny monetization explanation or creator economics content
13:24list
Watch Hour Accelerators
- Go deep on a high-demand topic (15-30 min video)
- Mine most-replayed data on competitors' videos
- Use timestamps/chapters to capture partial viewers
- Share playlist links, not individual video links
- Ramp up live streaming
Five tactics for hitting 4,000 watch hours faster.
Steal forYouTube growth tutorials, any creator educational content
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
18:48next-video
“If you feel like hanging around, recommend watching this video. It's all about the fact that YouTube has changed and is now one of the biggest TV streaming platforms in the world.”
Clean handoff to a related video. Low pressure. Earns the watch rather than demanding it.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
AFFILIATECommission earned if you click.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
- jadebeason.com ↗
- Double your income as a creator with this FREE guide ↗
- Find your next brand partnership with this FREE guide ↗
- Ready for someone to create content for you? Hire my agency ↗
- Join my creator community ↗
- Fast track your journey with my social media growth channels ↗
- Instagram ↗
- TikTok ↗
- LinkedIn ↗
- Level up your YouTube SEO with Tube Buddy ↗
Visual structure at a glance.
