How Much Does A Small Crafting YouTube Channel Make?

Are you thinking about turning your crafting hobby into a YouTube channel?

Are you worried that you can’t make money at this and that you need to be Joe Rogan to make it work?

Stop worrying. We can tell you that a small crafting YouTube channel can earn a decent living.

You just need to know how!

How Can You Make Money On YouTube Crafting?

Before you can look at how much money you can make, you need to know how you can make money. 

There are five main ways to make money on YouTube (as a crafter or any other kind of presenter) and you can use any or any combination of them or all of them to help make you a living. 

YouTube Monetization

It used to be that you earned ad revenue on YouTube for every view that you got. Now, it’s not quite that simple.

First, you need to opt into their monetization program and second, you need at least 1,000 subscribers AND 4,000 hours (total) viewing on your channel before you can monetize.

The good news is that this isn’t as hard as it might seem at first, but it does mean that you can’t rely on ad revenue for income to start with.

Affiliates

Affiliate income is where you make money from referring your audience to products and services related to your channel.

You get paid a commission on each sale made. This is a very easy way to make money in this niche and you can recommend everything from a craft supplier to an interior designer. 

Make sure you declare that you are promoting an affiliate offer in the video, though, otherwise you could get banned from YouTube.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is an awesome form of income where a company (or companies) literally pays you to make content and mention their products or services as part of that content.

Again, like affiliates, it’s important to declare sponsorship on your crafting channel.

Selling Your Products

Every crafter must have their own online storefront (Etsy is a great place to get started with this). 

If you show people how to make something on your channel, you could sell kits for the materials and tools or the finished items (or both) on Etsy. 

You can point the way in your videos to your Etsy store and in the text below. 

Other Opportunities

Finally, successful YouTubers can also pick up other gigs consulting, designing, speaking, etc. due to their presence on YouTube. It pays to have a nice public face. 

How Much Does A Small YouTube Channel Make From These Activities?

So, let’s take a look at how much this is likely to pay when it comes to running a small channel. 

YouTube Monetization

YouTube ad revenue is complicated. You will get paid roughly $18 for every 1,000 ad views, but not everyone has ads or watches them.

That means you will probably make $3-5 for every 1,000 views.

Assuming you have around 2,000 subscribers and make 3 videos a week. That would mean $120+ (some video will reach many, many more people than your subscribers) from YouTube ad revenue. 

Affiliates

Affiliate sales can be very good. If you choose the right products you might see 1-5 sales per thousand views.

Affiliate commission varies but if your product pays, say, $30 per sale. You could earn $30-$150 per 1,000 views in commissions. 

If we use our 2,000 viewers, 3 times a week model, that could be up to $1,800 a month in affiliate revenue or more if a video goes viral!

Sponsorship

Some say that you need to be a big business to get sponsors. They’re wrong. Even the smallest YouTube channels can find a sponsor. 

Sponsors might pay in cash and they might pay in products and support. Just make sure  you don’t give up too much in the early days of your channel. 

Sponsorship tends to be worth about $90 per 1,000 views. That’s about $1,080 a month for our 2,000 viewers and 3 times a week model. 

Selling Your Products

Your own products can sell as well as affiliate products and you don’t have to settle for a small slice of the pie when it comes to these.

If you could manage $50 of profit on each sale, you could be doing $3,000 a month on 2,000 viewers, 3 times a week!

Other Opportunities

And the sky is literally the limit for “other opportunities” but even a small channel ought to realize a thousand dollars or so each month in this category.

So, How Much Does A Small Crafting YouTube Channel Earn?

Well, it varies from channel to channel and the monetization strategies they use but as you can see. 

You could make up to $7,000 a month from a crafting YouTube channel with a small audience where you create just 3 videos a week! Not bad, right?

Final Thoughts On Crafting YouTube Channel Profitability

If you’ve been thinking about starting a crafting YouTube channel, now’s the time to do it. With a potential income of $7,000 a month at stake, there’s no reason not to. 

If you enjoyed this we think you might also enjoy our Quick Guide To Starting A Side Business as well as our favorite Crafters Who Are Nailing It On Instagram and the Top Craftiest Podcasts For Makers.