The secret of success
There are two things about live streaming in 2021 everyone should understand. The first is that live streaming is not only for gamers anymore. The second, and maybe even more important, is that it can be a real stream of revenue. So much so some live streamers now call it their day job.
how to MONETIZE
HOW TO MAKE MONEY LIVE STREAMING
Don’t quit your day job just yet. It’s true that some people know how to make money streaming, and there’s no reason why you might not learn how to do it, too. You might even be able to learn a thing or two from doing it – that’s how widespread live streaming has become.
Most live-streaming platforms and websites allow you to make money streaming by letting viewers send you donations or tips. They usually have integrated services viewers can use for the transaction.
YouTube’s main tipping service is Super Chat. Viewers can use tips to pin messages in your channel’s chat window, making them more noticeable. YouTube also lets users buy chat animations called Super Stickers, and you get a cut of each purchase. Now Youtube Memberships if huge where your viewers can subscribe to monthly plans for members only content and special emoji’s.
What’s better than getting an occasional tip from your viewers? Getting a monthly payment, of course. These monthly payments usually net you a couple of bucks each, but if you can get enough of them, they sure can add up. You usually need to meet certain requirements for enabling this kind of support, as platforms keep it for members of their content creator programs. The platforms that don’t have it yet will probably role out this feature in the future, as it’s proving to be a popular way to make money live streaming.
YouTube has a channel membership program that allows users to join channels with monthly payments. To open your channel to this opportunity, you need to be in the YouTube Partner Program and meet additional eligibility requirements.
You might not want all your streaming revenue to go through the platform. What is you’re not super interested in joining the partnership programs, for example. You might also be afraid of what happens if you lose your status and your standing with the platform. Maybe you just want to keep things separate to make it easier to move from one platform to another, or operate on several platforms at the same time.
Patreon for regular donations/subscriptions. With its ability to let patrons set monthly pledges, Patreon is about the closest thing you can get to the subscription system platforms are increasingly adopting.
Why not use ads to fund your live streaming? Advertising dollars are already used to power half the internet, including Google and Facebook. If you join the right streaming platform or social network, you can start earning the advertising money, too.
Before you can may money with ads you will literally need to join the right streaming platform. Not all platforms offer ads. In fact, some are decidedly anti-ads, such as DLive. Others, such as Mixer, for example, have not yet included a third-party advertising service.
If ads are what you want to make money from, these are the platforms to join:
YouTube offers pre-roll and mid-roll ads, as well as display and overlay ads.
Facebook Live offers mid-roll ads if you meet the viewership number criteria.
Twitch offers in-stream ads, as well as display and native ad opportunities.
Advertising in live streaming is a hot topic and a regular cause of controversy. You might want to exercise as much control as you can over the advertisements displayed during your streams or on your channel. Also, remember that viewers can use ad-blocking software to prevent some ads from showing. It’s not the best idea to have ads as the sole monetization option for your live streaming.
Brand deals and sponsorships are another way you can engage with businesses in a mutually beneficial arrangement. If you have a large following on streaming platforms and you’ve made a name for yourself, brands will reach out to you with offers. If they don’t, you’ll have to do the reaching out.
Your audience is what will get the brands’ attention. You should be able to pull decent audiences and have a clear understanding of who they are, what are their interests, what types of problems they need solving. The deal you strike is how you make money streaming. Just be careful not to do deals that will make you appear as a sellout. Your audiences might not like that, and if you lose them, you lose the sponsors.
A membership in an affiliate program will allow you to get a commission every time a shopper clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase. You don’t even have to post a link, as sometimes everything you need is a promo or coupon code they can use when they shop at the place you’re promoting.
Place the link or the code somewhere in your stream description The way this usually works is that you place the link or the code somewhere in your stream description. You might even mention the coupon code once or twice during the stream. The link or the code are provided to you once you join the affiliate program.
The important thing to remember is that, unless it has a deal with the partnership program, the platform isn’t profiting from your affiliate sales. So, make sure to keep your content to the point, and the products or services you recommend relevant to the content. Don’t make content only for the sake of making sales – how you make money streaming should be second to creating good content.