Streamer and YouTuber Ludwig released a video showing how incredibly little money he earns from 12 million views on YouTube Shorts. However, his concerns aren’t about himself, but about his staff.
What happened?
- Ludwig uploaded a video on his second channel on YouTube. In this, he addresses the miserable pay on YouTube when it comes to TikTok-like “Shorts.”
- Shorts are short clips that manage without ads.
- In his most successful Short clip, Ludwig reached over 12 million viewers. However, he earned less with it than with his highlight clips that are much shorter.
Ludwig earns almost nothing from Shorts: Here’s how much 12 million views bring him
This is what his video shows: In the video “How much do you earn with 10,000,000 views on YouTube,” Ludwig asks the viewer at the beginning for their estimation. To you, dear MeinMMO readers out there: What do you think 10 million views bring in, $10,000 or $1,000?
As the YouTube streamer answers in his video, it’s even much less. With 12 million views, Ludwig earned just around $85. YouTube Shorts is not only similar in structure to TikTok, but the earnings are equally low:
The payouts from TikTok and YouTube Shorts are more like a friendly gesture. Like: Hey, your video has a lot of views, here’s a bit of money for that.
Ludwig via YouTube.com
In the video, Ludwig further explains that the poor earnings are also due to the lack of long ad clips played in the middle of a video or at the beginning. To be precise, there are no ads at all in Shorts. YouTube places small Shorts here and there, which are actually hidden ads. Only YouTube itself makes good money from the Shorts, according to Ludwig. The creators of the Shorts, who spread the content, see hardly a cent of the money.
Personally, he wouldn’t care, but Ludwig only worries about his cutter, who creates the Shorts. He shares the payouts 50/50 with him. Watching and creating clips is, according to him, more expensive than what he earns back.
Ludwig is not the first YouTuber to expose this problem. Two weeks ago, YouTuber MoistCritical already uploaded a similar video on the subject. This video is slightly more informative than Ludwig’s (via YouTube.com).
This is how much Ludwig earns from 30-second highlights
To contrast his earnings, Ludwig also reveals the earnings from one of his highlight clips. He discusses a video that has around 2.2 million views, is 30 seconds long, does not contain any ads, just like his Short, but was not uploaded as Shorts.
The only type of advertising that can be played in the clip are pop-up text boxes or a five-second ad. Nevertheless, Ludwig earned around $1,800 with this video.
That’s why Ludwig still finds Shorts good: At the end of the video, Ludwig explains why he keeps his content on Shorts and uploads less as clips. Yes, he would earn more money with the clips, but above all, for Ludwig, it’s about reach. Shorts simply reach more viewers, and they share the short videos even more often than clips.
