9 YouTube Monetization Alternatives for Your Online Biz

If you came here to find out the best YouTube monetization alternatives, I assume you have already tried the giant platform for years and decided there’s life after YouTube.

Don’t get me wrong. YouTube is still a powerful platform with its 2 billion active users. It remains the best introduction for beginner video content creators to dip their toes into this online business.

But there are valid reasons why people are looking to get out of YouTube. These include:

• Policy changes in Partner Program – YouTube has always kept their policies updated, but sometimes, the video content creators get the bad news the most.
• Competitive environment – In the past, it was easy to find success on YouTube. These days, aside from the millions of people you compete against for views, the environment can also be a bit competitive because the YouTube algorithm is designed to promote the popular channels than the up-and-coming ones.
• Revenue-sharing can mean a big chunk of revenue loss – When you enable ads on your YouTube videos, you agree to Google’s ad revenue share for YouTube. The 45/55 split where Google keeps 45% and you get the bigger 55% cut of all YouTube advertising on your videos is acceptable as a beginner because you can’t find any other better deal. However, for advanced content creators with enough clout, this big chunk may not be the best program for you.
• Big brand-names pull out their ads – Some advertisers began to pull out of YouTube starting in 2017 and 2018 due to lack of moderation. For example, Verizon’s ads were placed on videos from the Egyptian cleric Wagdi Ghoneim, who was banned from the U.S. over extremism. To protect their respective brands, AT&T, Hasbro, Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi, Walmart, or pharma company GSK all pulled their ads to avoid getting involved with offensive content.
• Unfair treatment of content creators – Because content creators earn differently, YouTube sometimes tends to favor bigger-earners than small-time or beginner ones who were no longer allowed to earn until they reach a minimum amount of views and subscriptions. This change happened in 2018.

Of course, the most common reason for people checking out YouTube’s competition is that they were forced out of the platform. Video content creators who were suspended were unable to get back to their accounts. Sometimes, it is due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take-down system, other times for no reason at all.

Beyond YouTube Ads: Other Ways to Make Money with Videos

Before we discuss all the possible YouTube monetization alternatives you can switch to, let’s first take a closer look at the other ways to make money aside from YouTube’s ad revenue-sharing program.

• Affiliate marketing – Many video content creators have already been doing this even with YouTube. YouTubers list a link on the video description to a product or service and if other people purchase from this link, the YouTuber will earn a commission from the sale.
• Selling products – Through videos, you can sell physical products (either your own product or other people’s products), or information products (like ebooks, courses, etc). This may not always work, especially if you don’t have followers yet, but there is always affiliate marketing for beginners.
• Sponsorships – When brands see that a particular video content creator influences a niche that aligns with the company’s market, sponsorships happen so the video creators could reach the target customer on the brand’s behalf.
• Video on demand (VOD) – You sell access to your own videos. If you have a very specific skill and people want to learn from you, video-in-demand can be very lucrative. Some are even super-successful with this method that they offer subscription plans.
• Livestreaming – If you’re comfortable airing your videos unfiltered, then live streaming could be a potentially rewarding experience. You can earn from pay-per-view, donations, or sponsorships, depending on the platform you choose.

These are just the more popular money-making methods for video creators. I bet there are more I haven’t mentioned here, so feel free to sound off below if you know more.

9 Sites to Check Out as YouTube Monetization Alternatives

Now let’s dig into the other YouTube monetization alternatives that you can check out:

1. Twitch

Acquired by Amazon in 2014 for $970 million, this public streaming website already a whopping 550,000 online viewers, and 2 million content creators. Today, Twitch has 55 million active users.

Twitch is home to many live-stream gamers, but it isn’t exclusive to them. There are also musicians, singers, teachers, and so on. There are no prerecorded videos here, so if you’re not OK with live streaming, check out other options.

2. Patreon

Patreon accompanies YouTube, Twitch, and other content-creating sites because it provides any user a way to monetize his/her content. Consider Patreon as a subscription-based donation, where people commit to becoming patrons of their favorite creators like game streamers, comic book artists, singers, and so on.

The subscription model of Patreon is pro-creator with a commission of 5% for the Lite plan, 8% for Pro, and 12% for Premium. It also supports credit card and PayPal payments. The only downside to using this as monetization is you won’t find anything like it if Patreon decides to close shop.

3. Vimeo

It is one of YouTube’s direct competitions. Vimeo is a video streaming site, but with higher quality content than YouTube. The upside is that there is basically no learning curve when switching to Vimeo since the user interface is similar to YouTube. The quality of the videos is also unmatched.

The downside is that free users can only upload 500 MB worth of videos a week. After this, you’d have to go premium for more space. Also, Vimeo has a higher pricing model than YouTube.

4. Dailymotion

Dailymotion is also similar to Vimeo and YouTube. It has been around for years as well and could serve as a stable platform for creating and sharing your video content. Plus, the quality of videos uploaded is also pro-level and much better than what YouTube puts out.

Like YouTube, you can enable monetization and get a cut from those in-stream advertisements (ads that appear before, during, or after) your videos. Payment is automatically sent to your Paypal once it reaches $100.

5. IGTV

IGTV is Instagram’s streaming service. Unlike the short video snippets Instagram is known for, IGTV allows users to submit longer and vertical videos up to 15 minutes long via phone (and up to 60 minutes via desktop). Money-wise, you can make 55% off the ads placed on your videos.

6. Wistia

Ideal for business video hosting, Wistia allows brands to control CTA, social sharing, and monetization of their high-quality videos. It has one of the most comprehensive video analytics in the market and the videos they host are protected by high-end encryption. However, this does come at a price, which is why it may not be ideal for smaller video creators.

7. Uscreen

This all-in-one video-on-demand monetization platform allows several ways to earn, from live streaming to selling subscriptions. One major upside to Uscreen is that content creators get to keep the contact info of their audience. Uscreen also has built-in marketing and community tools with about 1000+ integration of online tools to make your online space as inclusive as possible.

8. Facebook

Facebook has expanded its foothold in the online-gaming-streaming market gradually in recent years and it continues to grow to this day.

Like other YouTube monetization alternatives on this list, Facebook gives video creators a platform to broadcast their gaming (or other content) live. The biggest thing about Facebook is that it will let you target the market you want to target as accurately as possible. 

9. TikTok

TikTok is a force to be reckoned with, especially with its 800 million active users. It allows video creators to make short and catchy videos from their phones. People Are Getting Rich From TikTok. Here’s How.

More noteworthy YouTube Monetization Alternatives include:

• Thinkific – online video course creation and management platform.
• Brid.TV – cross-device online video player platform with cool video analytics for optimization and monetization. Bird partners need at least 5,000 daily video views to start earning with publishers earning 70% and Brid.TV getting the lower 30% cut of ad-revenue sharing.
• Veoh – Very niche-specific video-sharing platform. As video creators, you can add followers, DM strangers, create groups, and share content all at the same time.
• Alugha – If you want to offer your video content to users in different languages, this unique platform allows you to do so by embedding subtitles in 2 or more languages.
• Metacafe – short-form videos. This site is older than YouTube and offers unlimited upload.
• Brightcove – Features a full-featured content management system, marketing automation, and several monetization options.
• Maker Studios – Acquired by Disney, this digital platform for short-form videos gives about 60% revenue to low-traffic channels and up to 90% cut for popular channels.

Which is the Best YouTube Monetization Alternatives?

There is no single best YouTube monetization alternative for everyone because different video creators cater to different followers.

My take is to use as much of these platforms as you possibly can (without breaking any of their policies of course) because it is always better to diversify your income. Putting your eggs in just one basket is never a good idea – I’ve seen people get destroyed when their YouTube accounts they worked on for years suddenly get banned.

Also, work on quality video content. No matter your niche or industry, make sure you put out quality content. This is how you attract and keep your audience, who you’ll need regardless of what monetization route you take.