Meet Steve, a 30-year-old male living in the US who regularly watches my YouTube videos as a subscriber of my channel.

How do I know who viewed my YouTube videos?

By the end of the video below, you’ll know who views your YouTube videos, their age, their gender, which country they come from, when they are on YouTube, other channels have watched and other videos they have watched.

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On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel

If you don’t know who you’re creating your content for, you’re just guessing, and your channel won’t grow. The more about your ideal viewer, the easier it is to create content for them.

Here’s how to use the data from YouTube Analytics to know who viewed your YouTube videos.
– Click on the Audience tab in YouTube Analytics.
– Scroll down to the bottom of the page,
– under the age and gender, you’ll see that 70% of my audience is male, and 29.9% is female.

The largest percentage of viewers that watch my videos is between 18 to 24 years old. The next largest age group is between 25 to 34 years old, which is 25.4%.

As you can see, most of the viewers that watch my videos are between 18 to 54 years old. If I click on, “see more”, you can see that most of my views come from males between 18 to 44 years old. Most of my views from females are also between 18 to 44 years old.

Which age group spends the most time watching my videos?
Out of 70% of males that have watched my YouTube videos, most of them that watch the videos the longest are between 18 and 44 years old. The same is true for the females.

Which countries do most of my viewers come from?
On the top geographies, most of my viewers come from the United States, followed by India, Philippines, United Kingdom, and Canada. If I click on see more, I can now see all the other top countries where my viewers are coming from, such as Australia, Pakistan, Malaysia, South Africa, et cetera.

If you want to get a more detailed picture of where my views are coming from within the United States, I’ll click on United States. I can see most of them come from California, and then Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, et cetera. It also shows me the average view duration, and the watch time. If you want to choose a longer period, just go to the last 28 days, click the drop-down, and choose, last 90 days. The graph shows where most of the viewers are coming from such as California, Texas, Florida, and New York.

What are the top languages of my viewers?
If I go to Top subtitles/CC languages, I can see that English is the most spoken language of my viewers. After that, it’s Hindi and Italian. If I click see more, I can see that Dutch is also one of the languages spoken by my viewers. If I take a longer periods such as 90 days, then I can see I’ve got Indonesian, French, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Italian, Russian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Portuguese.

If a large proportion of the audience speaks another language besides English, you might consider translating your videos into a different language. This will help you to get more views on YouTube videos.

Click here to watch my video on how to translate YouTube videos to English or another language.

What are the other channels that my audience watches?
Look under the title, it says, other channels your audience watches. Click the drop down. Choose last 90 days.

As you can see, the other channels that my audience watches are vidIQ, Channel Makers, Think Media, Nick Nimmin, Smart Money Tactics, and Film Booth. If I want to get a better idea of what kind of content my audience watches, I can watch videos from those particular channels.

What are the other videos that my audience has watched?
If you look under the title, other videos your audience watched, I can see the videos that my audience watched in the last 90 days. If I get stuck for ideas on what to make my next video about, I might approach one of these topics from a different angle, because I know it’s getting a ton of views.

What’s the best time to upload YouTube videos so most of the viewers will watch them?
If you look under the title, when your viewers are on YouTube, and hover over the graph, the light purple says, many of your viewers are on YouTube. The dark purple color says very many of you viewers are on YouTube. If I upload on Monday, I would choose between nine o’clock and twelve o’clock. This will be when most of my viewers are on YouTube. If you have TubeBuddy installed, it’ll recommend the best upload times, and live stream times.

Click here to get the TubeBuddy Chrome Extension

If I hover over, weekly, it says “based on our analysis, if you were to upload or live stream once per week, this would be the ideal day and time in order to maximize exposure to your audience.”

Nine o’clock would be the best time to maximize exposure to my audience. If I hover over, daily, it says, based on our analysis, the following hours would be the ideal time to post for each day of the week in order to maximize exposure to your audience.

The best time to upload my videos will be 10 o’clock on Sunday and nine o’clock on the weekdays. If you want to get a clearer idea who is actually viewing YouTube videos, their age, gender, country, language, when they’re on YouTube, other channels they’ve watched, and other videos they’ve watched, go to the audience tab in YouTube Analytics. This will make it easier for you to come up with the right content for the right viewer and keep your viewers engaged and grow your channel fast.

How can you find out who viewed your YouTube videos using the YouTube Studio app from your phone?
Download the YouTube Studio app on your phone. After you’ve installed the app, tap on the YouTube studio app. On the analytics, tap, view more, tap audience.

Now, you can see when your viewers on YouTube, the gender, age, top geographies, top languages, watch time from subscribers, other Videos your audience watched, and other channels your audience watches.

What if you want to see the stats for who watched a specific video?
Tap the dashboard icon, scroll down where it says videos. Tap, few more, and you’ll be able to see all the videos on your channel. Select the video that you wish to see the stats for. I’m going to choose this one, YouTube search results not showing. Tap on the video. Tap, go to video analytics, tap audience tab.

Now, you can see the gender, the age, top geographies, top languages, and watch time from subscribers. You can also see know who watches your YouTube videos by studying YouTube Analytics from your computer, or from your phone.

There are 3 other most important stats you need to know to understand your target audience, so you can make the right content for them. Watch this video on why your YouTube channel is not growing and how to fix it.

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On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel

Have you ever been stuck staring at a blank computer screen
trying to come up with new video ideas and topics?

In the video below, I’ll give you 10 ways to easily come up with YouTube video ideas and topics, so you can get more views and grow your channel fast.

Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions
On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel

1. Look at the top 10 videos that are getting the most traffic on the YouTube channel.
   Just click on Analytics in YouTube Studio and look at the top 10 videos that got the most traffic in the last 28 days. Make a similar video on the same topic but create a different title.
   
2. View the popular keyword phrases that people are entering into the search engines for one of your popular videos. Click on the Reach tab in YouTube Analytics for one of your top videos. Then look at the keyword phrases on the YouTube search.
   
3. You’ll also find specific keyword phrases under suggested videos. Make a similar video using one of those keyword phrases in your title. Make sure you link to your popular video in the end screen of the video that you’re creating, so people will watch more than one video.
   
4. Survey your audience.
   If you have an email list, survey your list. If you have a Facebook group, you can poll your group. For example, I have a Facebook group called Tube Video Boot Camp that consists of over 1,000 members. I often ask questions or poll the group to see what viewers are interested in.
   
   Let me ask you a question….
   How do you usually come up with new ideas and topics for your YouTube videos?
   Post your answer in the comments below. I’d love to read them, and I’m sure others would too
   
5. If you have access to Community tab, you can poll your audience. Recently, YouTube changed the eligibility requirements for community posts from 1,000 subscribers to only 500 subscribers, so make use of this feature. Usually, I post a poll once a week to see what topics my viewers are interested in. After viewing the results, I’ll know what video topic will most interest my viewers.
   
6. Read the comments.
   Look for recurring questions asked by your subscribers then answer them in a video. If you can’t find questions in your own comments or in the competitors’ videos comments, then pin a question to the top of your comment.
   
   You can also ask a question while viewers are watching your video and tell them to post the answer in the comments. You can also read the comments on the competitors’ videos and look for questions that viewers want the answers for.
   
7. Do keyword research.
   My secret weapon for doing keyword research is to use the keyword research tool TubeBuddy. I’ll simply enter a main keyword phrase into keyword explorer of TubeBuddy and look at the related searches.
   
   Ideally, you want to target a search term that has a high search volume and low competition. If I enter “YouTube search” into keyword explorer, one of the suggestions is YouTube search not working. If I click on that, the keyword score is 79 out of 100 which is very good. This means the keyword isn’t too competitive and has enough search volume to make it was worth targeting.
   
   Under the Score Analysis, The search volume is good. The competition is very good. The optimization strength is excellent, and the number of videos on search results is 58.2 million. I’ll check out the competition later to see if the search phrase is worth targeting. We also got other related searches here on the right. I’ll place a link to TubeBuddy in the description below this video.
   
   Click here to install TubeBuddy
   If you use the promo code HERMANSBUDDY, you’ll get 20% off.
   
   If I click on Results, I can check out the competition. The keyword phrases that are highlighted in yellow means that other creators are targeting that particular keyword phrase, so I’ll have to get creative with my titles.
   
8. Look at trending topics in Google Trends.
   You simply go to Google Trends and enter your main keyword phrase. For example, if I enter YouTube search into Google Trends then look under Web Search and then Related Queries, I’ll get a bunch of suggestions. For example, under Related Queries, I get YouTube search not working, so I can target that particular keyword phrase. If I click on it, I can see that it’s trending. If I click the drop-down next to Web Search and choose YouTube search then I can also see the interest over time. That’s probably a good topic that I can go for, for my next video.
   
9. Another great tool for coming up with content ideas and topics is AnswerThePublic. It cranks out the frequently asked questions that people are entering into the search engines.
   
   Did you know that there are 3 billion searches perform on Google every day, and 20% of those searches have never been seen before? AnswerThePublic is like getting a direct line to your customers’ thoughts.
   
10. Take a break.
    Recently, I took a few days off to go to the beach and enjoy the sun and the surf. When you try to force yourself to be creative, it’s very difficult to come up with new video ideas, so it’s better to take a break and do something different. When I’m at home, I usually go for a bike ride or a run that clears my mind and stimulates new ideas for my videos.
    
    Ali Nowak (one of my subscribers) says, “True, forced creativity is no good. I usually get ideas at the gym or doing something else like making dinner.”
    
    Now you know 10 ways to easily come up with new video ideas and topics, so you can get more views.
    
    How can you rank for highly competitive keywords when you’re a small channel?
    Watch this video to discover the secret to ranking your YouTube videos for popular searches

Related Videos
How To Get More Views From Search Results On YouTube (for small channels)
YouTube Search Results Not Showing (How To Fix)
YouTube Channel Not Showing Up In Search (HOW TO FIX)
How To Rank For Highly Competitive Keywords On YouTube (FOR SMALL CHANNELS)
How To Get High Views On YouTube Video (MY TOP 10 STRATEGIES)
How To Get More Views On YouTube Videos That Are No Longer Getting Views
Are YouTube Tags Important Anymore (TO RANK HIGHER IN SEARCH)
Best Time To Upload YouTube Videos
YouTube Search Not Working 2021-2022 (HOW

Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions
On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel

If you’re a YouTuber who lives outside the US, you may have taxes deducted from your US earnings later on this year. If you fail to provide your tax information, Google may be required to deduct 24% of your total earnings worldwide.

Stay tuned throughout the video to understand why YouTube is withholding US taxes from YouTube creators, how this affects creators’ earnings outside the US, how to submit your tax info to Google, and how this will affect your income on YouTube.

Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions
On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel

Why is Google doing this?

Google is required to collect taxes from creators that are participating in the YouTube Partner Program. If you remember the YouTube Partner Program, you can generate ad revenue from ads that are being displayed on your YouTube videos. You can also generate revenue from Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Channel Memberships.

If you are a creator that lives outside the US, Google will begin deducting taxes from the earnings you receive from viewers in the US. If you’re a creator that lives in the US, like myself, then you probably already submitted your tax info. Later on, I’ll show you the steps to submit your tax information to Google.

Keep in mind that if your tax information is not submitted to Google by May 31st, 2021, Google may deduct up to 24% of your total worldwide earnings. Man, that really sucks. How do you know if the US tax requirements apply to your country? Every YouTube creator regardless of their location in the world must submit their tax information to Google. If you’re a creator outside the US, withholding rates can be between 0 and 30% based on the earnings you receive from US viewers. It also depends if your country has a treaty relationship with the US. Click the link in the description to find out if your country has a treaty with the US.

For US creators, if you’ve provided valid tax information, Google won’t withhold taxes from your earnings. An important thing to keep in mind is that if you don’t submit any tax information, Google may withhold the maximum tax rate. This will depend on your AdSense account type and the country where you live.

Is there any difference in the tax rate between a business account or an individual account?

The default withholding rate for a business account is 30% of US earnings. If the person to be paid lives outside the US, they’ll be subject to a 24% withholding on their total worldwide earnings. If you have an individual account, 24% of your total earnings worldwide will be withheld. Keep in mind these withholding rates will be adjusted based upon the next payment cycle and after you’ve submitted your tax information.

How will this tax change affect your income?

If you’ve provided valid tax information, only a portion of the earnings you receive from viewers in the US will be withheld as tax. Here is a hypothetical example. If a creator from India earns $1,000 and $100 of that is from US viewers, and he withholds tax information, he has to pay up to 24% of his total earnings worldwide. That means he has to pay $240 out of the $1,000 that he earned. If his country has a treaty with the US and he submits his tax information, his final tax deduction will only be $15. This is because India and the US have a tax treaty relationship which reduces the tax rate to 15% of the earnings for viewers in the US.

The third scenario is where the country doesn’t have a treaty with the US but the person submits their tax information. The final tax deduction will be 30 USD because if a country doesn’t have a tax treaty with the US, the tax rate will be 30% of the earnings of viewers from the US.

How will this affect the income of non-US creators?

1. If you don’t submit your tax info and your country doesn’t have a treaty with the US, you’ll pay a higher tax rate.
2. You’ll pay a smaller tax rate if your country has a treaty with the US and you submit your tax information.
3. If your country doesn’t have a treaty with the US, submit your tax information anyway so you avoid paying a higher tax rate.

Here’s your action step…

Submit your tax information to Google now whether you have a treaty with the US or not so you avoid paying a high tax rate on your US earnings.

Here are the steps to submit your tax info to Google.

• Go to your Google AdSense account at google.com/adsense.
• Click on “Sign in”,
• Click on “Payments”
• Click on “Manage Settings”
• Scroll down to “Payment profile”
• Click the pencil icon that says “United States tax info”
• Click “Manage tax info”.
  I’ve already submitted my tax information, but you’ll find a guide that will help you to select the appropriate form for your tax situation.

Let me ask you a question….
Will you be submitting your tax information to Google if you live outside the US?
Post your answer in the comments below. I’d love to read them, and I’m sure others would too.

How can a small creator that’s not in the YouTube Partner Program make more money from YouTube now that YouTube is deducting more of their worldwide tax earnings?
Watch this video to learn how to monetize YouTube videos without 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers.

Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step
Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel

Are you struggling to meet the monetization requirements on YouTube of 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers in the past 12 months?

Watch the video below to discover 10 ways to easily get 4,000 watch hours on YouTube.

Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel.

What are some of the benefits of joining the YouTube partner program?

1. You can start making money by enabling monetization on your channel.
2. You can enable super chat and super chat stickers during your live streams.
3. You get live chat support from YouTube.

What are some of the other eligibility requirements to join the YouTube Partner Program, besides getting 4,000 watch hours?

1. You got to get 4,000 public watch hours in the past 12 months.
   This means that private videos, unlisted videos, and short videos don’t count towards watch hours. You must have at least 1,000 subscribers.
   
   Click the link on the description to find out how to get 1,000 subscribers fast on YouTube.
   
   You must live in a country or region where the YouTube partner program is available. If you live in the United States, you have nothing to worry about.
   
2. You must follow all of YouTube’s policies and community guidelines.
   If you violate any of these policies or community guidelines, then, you won’t be accepted into YouTube Partner Program.
   
3. You must link your AdSense account to a YouTube account.
   You have to sign up for an AdSense account and link it to your YouTube channel.
   
   After you’ve completed all these requirements, then, YouTube will review your channel to see if you can be accepted into the YouTube Partner Program.

Here’s how to check if you’re eligible for monetization.

All you have to do is go into YouTube studio and click on the monetization link. YouTube will show you how many watch hours and subscribers you currently have on your channel. If you divide 4,000 hours by 365 days, it comes to about 11 hours per day. As you’ll find out later, the more you upload, the more hours you accumulate.

Here are 10 ways to easily get 4,000 watch hours on YouTube.

1. Target low competition keywords.
   The purpose of targeting low competition keywords is that they’re easier to rank for. If your videos rank on the first page of YouTube, you’ll get a lot of traffic. If you get a lot of traffic, you’ll get a lot of watch hours.
   
   One of the best tools I use for finding low competition keywords is TubeBuddy. Use promo code hermansbuddy to get 20% off any paid option off TubeBuddy.
   
   You simply enter your keyword phrase in the keyword explorer tool of TubeBuddy and it’ll give you a bunch of suggestions. If you get a good, very good, or excellent score, then, it’s worth going after that particular keyword phrase. It’ll also show you suggested keyword phrases that you can go after that may not be so competitive.
   
   Create a list of those low competition keyword phrases, then, make videos about them, and get them ranked on the YouTube search engine.
   
   The more videos that you make and get ranked on the first page of YouTube, the more watch hours you’ll accumulate, and they’ll accumulate faster as you create more videos. You’ll then be able to get your channel monetized and start earning your passive income from your YouTube videos.
   
2. Create longer videos.
   If you create longer videos, you’ll quickly accumulate more watch time hours. For example, if you create a three-minute videos and people only watch 50% of it, you only are going to accumulate one and a half minutes. If you create a 10-minute video and people watch for 5 minutes, you’re going to accumulate 5 minutes of watch time.
   
   The key is to keep your viewers watching all the way through the video, some things you can do is adding a hook at the beginning, like a question or tease them at the beginning about what’s coming up later in the video. Reset the attention of your viewers throughout the video by adding graphics, B-roll, transitions, et cetera. This will help you keep your viewers watching.
   
3. Create a video series.
   The beauty of creating a series of videos is that people watch more than one video, which helps them to stay longer on the platform. YouTube rewards videos where you keep viewers watching more than one video. If they come to the end of a three-minute video, then, watch another video and another video, this means it extends the session watch time. Instead of watching 3 minutes, they might have watched 10 minutes of all different videos from your channel.
   
   The key is to create a video series that has all similar topics and put them on a playlist. At the end of your video, you can link to the playlist in a card or an end screen. You can add that playlist as a section on your YouTube channel homepage and also pin it to the top of your comment, as well put it in the description. This will remind viewers to check out your other videos and keep them watching.
   
4. Increase upload frequency.
   It just makes sense that if you upload videos on a more frequent basis, you’re going to get more watch time hours. For instance, if you’re only uploading one video per week, try uploading two or three videos per week. If you don’t have time to film and edit a regular video, try doing a live stream video.
   
5. Do a live stream.
   For example, if you get 10 people on a one-hour live stream, you’ll get 10 watch hours on that video. If you do multiple live streams in a month, then, you’ll quickly accumulate the necessary watch hours to join the YouTube Partner Program.
   
   Here’s a confession, it took me two months to summon up the courage to do my first live stream. However, after I did my first live stream, I actually enjoyed it and continued doing it. Now, I do live streams every Friday at 2 PM Eastern Standard Time. I invite you to join them so you can learn how to grow a YouTube channel.
   
6. Feature a video on your YouTube channel homepage.
   Find a video on your channel that’s currently attracting the most views and subscribers. Use that video as your channel trailer. All you have to do to add your channel trailer is go into YouTube studio, click on customization, and select the channel trailer.
   
   Now when viewers first visit your YouTube channel homepage, they’ll watch that high performing channel trailer. This will help you to quickly accumulate those watch time hours.
   
7. Feature a video on your YouTube channel homepage for returning subscribers.
   Keep in mind this video is not seen by your non-subcribers, those who first visit your YouTube channel homepage. This video is primarily for people who have already subscribed.
   
   Choose another high performing video and use that as a featured video for returning subscribers. All you have to do is hit the customization link and choose a featured video for returning subscribers.
   
8. Feature a playlist on your YouTube channel homepage.
   Now, I mentioned previously about creating a video series and put them in a playlist, with that playlist, you can now add that to your YouTube channel homepage.
   
   Add a section containing your highest performing playlist at the top of your YouTube channel homepage. These are videos that have been proven to perform on your YouTube channel.
   
   You can even create a special playlist like best of, like Best of Drost video. Now, when people visit your channel homepage, they’ll be more inclined to take a deep dive into your content by watching multiple videos, which means you’ll accumulate more watch hours.
   
   It’ll also motivate them to subscribe so if you haven’t got the 1,000 subscribers, then, you accumulate more subscribers.
   
9. Translate your videos.
   Click on the audience tab on YouTube analytics to find out the demographics of your audience. If a lot of your audience is watching your videos in a different language, consider translating your videos into that language.
   
   For example, if a lot of people are watching your videos in France, then, you might want to translate your videos into French. This will speed up the process of meeting the threshold of 4,000 watch hours.
   
   Watch this video to learn how to translate YouTube videos into another language.
   
10. Capitalize on the hot trends.
    If you discover a hot trend that can relate to your niche, create a video on that hot trend. You can find the hot trends by using Google Trends or you can even use TubeBuddy.
    
    For example, if you’re on a health trend, you could do a video on COVID-19. When the pandemic hit, many people started doing videos on how to use Zoom correctly. If you create a video early enough on a hot trend, you can get a ton of views in a very short time.

Bonus Tip
Double down on the top-performing videos on your channel.
Go into your dashboard in YouTube Analytics and look at the top 10 videos. If you click see more, you’ll be able to even get more detailed statistics like average view duration, watch time, average percentage viewed, clickthrough rate, et cetera.

Choose a video that’s currently attracting a lot of a traffic every single day, then, make more videos like that one. You’re going to approach the topic from a different angle or check the comments of that video to see if people have questions, then, answer those questions in that video. –

As I mentioned before, if you create enough videos around that particular topic, you can create a series of videos and put them on a playlist.

I’ve experienced it many times that when you double down on a high-performing video and make more videos like that, then, you get more traffic to those videos.

Here are some frequently asked questions.

1. When will my channel be reviewed.
If you meet the threshold of 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers in the past 12 months, then, you’ll be eligible for a review from YouTube. After asking for a review or you’ve been notified that they’ll review you channel, it typically takes about a month for them to get back to you.

What if your channel is not approved?
If your channel has met the YouTube polices and YouTube community guidelines, you can reapply after 30 days.

What happens if I drop below the monetization threshold?
YouTube won’t automatically remove your channel’s access to monetization if it drops below the threshold.

Keep in mind that if your channel’s inactive for six months and you’re not regularly uploading new videos, then, YouTube reserves the right to remove you from monetization. This is regardless of the number of watch hours and subscribers you’ve accumulated.

How do you get 1,000 subscribers after you’ve accumulated 4,000 watch hours? Watch this video on how to get 1,000 subscribers on YouTube, fast.

Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel.

You can now make more money from YouTube videos by adding MID-ROLL ads to videos that are only 8 minutes in length instead of the previous 10 minute length

I’m going to show you how to monetize your YouTube videos with the new mid-roll ads, so you can make more money from YouTube channel. You’ll learn how mid-roll ads work, how to enable them on your channel, and whether you should let YouTube add them automatically, or you add them manually yourself.

Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel.

Here’s a pre-roll ad that plays before your video (watch video above), which viewers can choose to skip. Here’s a mid-roll ad that YouTube automatically added at the 15 minute mark, and viewers can choose to skip it. Here’s a post-roll ad that plays after your video has ended, and viewers can choose to skip it also.

The latest update from YouTube says that videos now longer than 8 minutes are eligible for mid-roll ads. As a result of this change, mid-roll ads will be turned on automatically for all existing videos and future uploads. This includes those videos we have previously opted out of mid-roll ads.

Videos that are already enabled for mid-roll ads will not be impacted. If you don’t want YouTube to automatically place mid-roll ads in videos that are over 8 minutes long, make sure you adjust them manually. You can do this using the ad breaks tool, which I’ll show you later. If you select automatic placement, mid-roll ads will be replaced automatically at natural breaks throughout your video, according to the viewer experience or monetization potential.

After making these changes, you can still turn off mid-roll ads and adjust them manually. Just keep in mind YouTube tries to find the best ad placements based upon changing scenes, where the conversation ends, or there is a transition to a new topic.

In my experience, when I left YouTube to place the ad breaks automatically, it didn’t place them at the end of the sentence, changing of a scene, or during the transition. As you can see on my live stream video (watch video above), I’d added a bunch of ad breaks all the way through my video. From a viewers standpoint, this would probably upset me and I’d stop watching the video.

Therefore, I highly recommend placing the ad breaks manually so you have more control over where they are placed in your video.

YouTube recommends automatic placement, because it’s easy for you, it’s the best experience for viewers, and there’s a great likelihood that an ad will be placed in your video.

My preference is to have more control and select my own ad breaks so I don’t upset my viewers and cause them to leave my video. If most viewers leave your video while watching it, then YouTube won’t promote your videos in the search engines and the suggested videos. Therefore, keep an eye on your audience retention graph to see if viewers are dropping off during your ad placement.

How To Manually Place Mid-Roll Ads In Your YouTube Videos

Sign in to YouTube studio and click on the videos tab. Select the video that’s more than eight minutes long. I’m going to select this video. Click on monetization. If monetization’s turned off, turn it on. Click next. If the content doesn’t violate any of YouTube’s community policies or guidelines, then select none of the above. After that, click submit. Now you can select the type of ads that you wish to display on your videos. Display ads is automatically checked. I usually select overlay ads, skippable video ads. Under location of ads,

I select before the video, which is a pre-roll ad, during the video, which is a mid-roll ad because this video is over eight minutes long, and after the video, which is a post-roll ad.

If I click on manage mid-roll ads, I can select place automatically. It says change existing ad breaks. Existing ad breaks will be removed. One or more new ad breaks will be placed in natural gaps in your video. You can adjust where they’re they’re placed. I can also click ad break and do them manually. All I have to do is just adjust the timeline here, where I want to put the ad break. This will typically be at the end of a sentence, between scenes, or during a transition.

The best way to do this is to just scrub through your video and select the best place to place your mid-roll ad. You can also choose the time that you wish to start the ad and the video. You can discard the changes, or you can click continue. I’m going to click continue. You just click save changes.

That’s all there is to it.

Let me ask you a question. Do you typically turn on ads right after you upload a video, or do you wait a few hours?

Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to read them, and I’m sure others would too.

What are the minimum eligibility requirements to enable mid-roll ads or any other type of ads on your YouTube videos?

• Your channel must have 4,000 public watch hours and 1,000 subscribers in the past 12 months.
  
• You must live in a country or region where the YouTube partner program is available.
  
• You must follow all YouTube’s monetization guidelines and policies. For example, if you have multiple strikes on your YouTube videos, you won’t be able to monetize your channel.
  
• You also must link an AdSense account to your YouTube account. After you’ve met the requirements for the YouTube partner program, YouTube will confirm your channel monetization after one month review process.

Set Default Ads Formats Or Not?

If you select upload defaults in monetization settings, then YouTube will automatically place ads in your videos. If you want to do this, click on settings in YouTube studio, then click on upload defaults. Click the monetization tab, then select the types of ads that you want displayed on your videos. Under location of ads, you can check the box. It says during video, which has mid-roll ads. After you’ve selected your options, just click save.

Best Practises

1. Ads can be placed automatically or manually.
   Even though YouTube suggests automatic placement, I have discovered that the ad breaks are not necessarily put at the end of sentences or between scenes. Therefore, I highly recommend adding your own breaks, especially when it comes to mid-roll ads.
   
2. Place ads at natural breaks in your sentences instead of mid-sentence or mid-action.
   If you place an ad in the middle of a sentence, it’ll disrupt the flow of the content, and also it’ll distract the viewer from watching your video. Natural breaks can be added during transition scenes or when changing topics.
   
3. Check your audience retention graph to see if the ad breaks affect the audience retention of your videos.
   If you discover that mostly viewers are leaving right when the mid-roll ad starts, then I highly recommend eliminating the mid-roll ad altogether. Ideally, you want to keep viewers engaged throughout your videos so that YouTube will promote your video in the search engines and YouTube suggested videos.
   
4. Ads won’t always appear on your videos when you add mid-roll ads.
   This is because ads are not always available at the time of viewing. It also protects viewers on how often they see the ad.

How To Increase Ad Revenue

1. Place multiple ads in your videos.
   If you had monetization enabled for your channel, you can place a pre-roll ad at the beginning of your video, a post-roll ad at the end of your video, and if your video is over eight minutes long, you can add mid-roll ads. Just keep in mind you don’t want to distract your viewers by placing too many ads in your video.
   
2. Choose a niche or topic that is a high CPM.
   CPM refers to Cost Per Thousand views. If you choose a niche or topic with a high CPM, you’ll make more ad revenue. The countries with the highest CPM, according to my channel, is United States, Australia, France, United Kingdom, New Zealand, et cetera. If most of the ads come from countries for the low CPM, you’ll generate less revenue from your ads.
   
3. Double down on videos that generate the most revenue from your ads.
   If you go into YouTube studio and click on the revenue tab and YouTube analytics, you’ll see the top earning videos on your channel. If you want to increase more revenue from YouTube ads, then double down on the topics that generate the most revenue.
   
   You can approach the topic from different angles, showcase studies and comparisons. You can also see which ad types generate the most revenue on your channel. If it’s skippable video ads, definitely use those.
   
   Currently on my channel, skippable video ads account for 80% of the ad revenue. Non-skippable ads only account for 0.1% ad revenue. I definitely don’t want to use those.
   
   Just keep in mind that your ad revenue will fluctuate during the year. For instance, around Christmas time, ad revenue will increase because more advertisers are getting on board for Christmas.

How can you make money if you haven’t met the requirements of the YouTube partner program of 4,000 public watch hours and 1,000 subscribers in the past 12 months?

No worries. Just watch my next video on how you can make money from YouTube without AdSense ads.

Click here to get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel.