How to Become A Youtuber In South Africa

A YouTuber is an individual who produces videos for the video sharing platform YouTube, specifically whose main or only platforms are one or multiple YouTube channels, personalized subpages of the platform.

How does a YouTuber make money?

The bulk of YouTubers’ income comes from payments they receive for ads on their channels. Payment for ads is based on the number of clicks on these ads. While this relates to views (the more people who view ads on your channel, the more people are likely to click on them), it has no direct connection to likes.

What a Youtuber should not do?

7 Mistakes New YouTubers Make

Diverse content. A huge mistake is to create videos about everything. .

Unrealistic niche. When you’ve decided on a theme for your channel, think if this is what you really can do for a long time.

Focus on numbers.

Underestimate the importance of thumbnails.

Perfectionism.

What should I not show on YouTube?

We do not allow content that includes, but isn’t limited to, any of the following:

Sexualization of minors.

Harmful or dangerous acts involving minors.

Infliction of emotional distress on minors.

Misleading family content.

Cyberbullying and harassment involving minors

How to Become A Youtuber In South Africa

How to Make Money with YouTube in South Africa:

YouTube is the world’s biggest digital sharing video platform with more than a billion viewers a month and 400 hours of videos uploaded every minute. It is also a valuable advertising platform for its parent company Google. But how easy or difficult is it to make money with Youtube?

The huge global trend in Youtube has encouraged people to publish videos regularly, gathering a following in their niche. The result of this is that some YouTubers have millions of subscribers and make a good living from their channels.

South Africa is not left out of this trend and boasts popular YouTube stars with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

Every day more video content creators are gearing up to make a living from YouTube. But can you really make enough money to live from YouTube in South Africa? Let’s find out!

YouTube Partner Program

First of all, in order for someone to qualify for the YouTube Partner Program, their channel has to have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch-hours in the last year.

Secondly, the videos need to meet YouTube’s terms of service and its community and advertiser-friendly content guidelines. Those rules bar nudity, hate speech and harassment, violence, spam, and invasions of privacy.

Let’s think about the content 

YouTubers have to think very carefully about the kind of content they are going to create. Those who are able to make a living off YouTube, manage to reach international audiences.

Content creators that succeed on YouTube approach it as a business. They take their job seriously. They find a topic they’re passionate about, that resonates with a specific target market and they create a community around that passion. 

Then they spend time and effort researching and refining their content, their video techniques and tactics on how to best engage their audiences.

Keep up the hard work

Starting out, YouTubers often find themselves in a situation where they’re not making a cent in the first year and hardly anyone is watching their content. 

The challenge is to keep posting videos regularly, even when no one is watching. The key element to success is consistency. YouTubers need to consistently upload videos to their channel in order to build up a slow and steady subscriber base.

The secret is to produce timeless evergreen content, in order for the videos to continue gaining views years after they are uploaded. 

How do they actually earn money 

The way people make money from YouTube has very little to do with the advertising, especially in South Africa. Since each individual advert is a relatively small sum of money, for someone to make a genuine living from YouTube, they need to be delivering millions and millions of views.

YouTubers, especially in the SA have a huge list of followers so they make millions simply off their viewership. This is the reason why most of the content generators start with creating ecosystems around their content that eventually enables them to monetize what they do. 

In South Africa, the case isn’t the same though. The bulk of the YouTubers income usually doesn’t come purely from Google. Google only shares money with content providers if an advert is viewed to its conclusion or if it is viewed for more than 30 seconds.

The case is this because Google only charges advertisers for the same reason. At the end of the day, the content creator gets a cut from that particular advertisement. 

Collaborate with Brands 

Most of the money YouTubers earn comes from collaborating with brands. When creators partner with brands they get the opportunity to earn revenue of the time and effort they put into their channels. 

Brands run their own YouTube channels which show content of resonance and relevance to their audience. Most of them also invest in advertising on YouTube either through running advertising on channels or through partnering creators to develop sponsored content. 

Mobile data and Technology

Africa right now hasn’t reached the levels of America and Europe, mostly because there aren’t many people that are watching or are able to access YouTube channels. 

YouTubers in South Africa are becoming better known and start earning money, although a lot of people can’t watch because the internet is not accessible to everybody. Data costs are very high compared to other markets, making it more difficult for locals to stream YouTube on mass. 

Creators that produce content for a largely local audience are restricted by reach and those that are trying to compete internationally are restricted by speed. 

Tips on how you can become successful

Invest in equipment

Spend time and energy on the community you create – understand what is important to them

Be consistent in posting 

Collaborate with other YouTubers – share the fun!

Take it seriously

How to be a YouTube star in South Africa

YouTube has established itself as the premier video sharing platform on the Internet.

This has encouraged people to publish videos regularly, gathering a following in their niche. Some of these YouTubers have millions of subscribers and make a good living from their channels.

South Africa is not left out of this trend, and boasts popular YouTube stars with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

These YouTubers have made it online despite not being from Europe or the United States – showing that you can garner a global following from anywhere in the world thanks to the Internet.

To learn more about what it takes to make it big online, MyBroadband spoke to vlogger Caspar Lee, and Rob Vamplew of the Rob The Ranger channel about being popular South African YouTubers.

Hard work and hustle

Vamplew said that one of the key elements to his success was that he had consistently been uploading videos to his channel for over 10 years, building up a slow and steady subscriber base.

He added that due to the timeless content he produces, focusing on wildlife, his videos continue to gain views years after they were uploaded.

Caspar also highlighted how he developed his following over 7 years of content creation.

Key to his success, he said, was that he started at the right time and found the right audience for his videos.

Vamplew said it is possible to make a living as a South African YouTube star, but “not without some major hustle.”

While YouTube offers you money from the ads it runs on your channel, Vamplew said that only channels with incredibly high views can make a living from this income.

Fortunately, there are other ways to make money from YouTube.

“One very common way is having sponsored videos where a company pays to have a product advertised by you in your video,” said Vamplew.

Another means of monetisation is through crowdfunding platforms such as Patreon, which “allow viewers to donate to you in return for various rewards”.

Don’t do it for the money

Vamplew said that if you go into YouTube content creation for the money, however, you’re doing it wrong.

“My advice to others is this: Do what makes you happy, make what you enjoy making, expect nothing in return, put the ‘You’ back in YouTube and with time and consistency your channel will grow,” he said.

He added that a good idea is to seek out other YouTube creators so that you can grow together.

Caspar echoed this suggestion, and said that one of the keys to him achieving his success was his collaborations with other YouTubers.

He added that his biggest piece of advice to aspiring YouTube stars is to collaborate with other creators.

Obstacles in South Africa

Caspar believes that the most difficult part of being a YouTuber from South Africa is finding a South African audience.

“Data costs are very high compared to other markets, making it more difficult for locals to stream YouTube on mass,” he said.

Vamplew agreed, and said that “those producing content for a largely local audience are restricted by reach and those that are trying to compete internationally are restricted by speed”.

Vamplew added that the rise of Indian YouTubers, for example, is down to their cheap, accessible high-speed Internet access – something we “seemingly won’t have for another couple of years”.

South Africa’s most popular YouTubers

Caspar Lee is the most popular South African YouTuber, while Vamplew is the 9th most popular, according to SocialBlade.

Other famous YouTubers from South Africa include rap duo Die Antwoord, fitness buff Peter Carvell, and foodie Liezl Strydom.

Top YouTubers in South Africa
PositionYouTuberSubscribers
1Caspar Lee7,481,623
2Die Antwoord2,697,555
3Peter Carvell1,441,703
4Seether822,138
5Dan Mace720,079
6Liezl Jayne Strydom706,362
7Michael Jamison659,967
8Pastor Alph Lukau565,948
9Rob the Ranger493,930
10Caitlin De Ville440,922

How much does a YouTuber get paid in South Africa?

The precise amount YouTubers may earn per 1,000 views in South Africa varies depending on criteria such as interaction and video genre. However, the average YouTuber earns around $18 every 1,000 ad views. Additional revenue streams, such as affiliate marketing and goods, allow you to make more.

How many subscribers do you need to get paid on YouTube in South Africa?

1,000 subscribers

To start earning money directly from YouTube, creators must have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past year. Once they reach that threshold, they can apply for YouTube’s Partner Program, which allows creators to start monetizing their channels through ads, subscriptions, and channel memberships.

How do you become a YouTuber for beginners?

We’ve compiled 10 tips on how to start a YouTube channel for beginners to help you get started:

Know your channel’s purpose.

Create your YouTube channel.

Verify your account.

Create a banner.

Know your niche.

Just start recording.

Don’t forget SEO.

Get to know YouTube analytics.

How many subscribers do you need to get paid on YouTube?

1,000

How many subscribers do you need to make money? Based on the YouTube Partner Program, you need 1,000 or more subscribers to be able to monetize your channel. You also need at least 4,000 watch hours within the last 12 months and have an active Google AdSense account.

Who has the most subscribers on YouTube in South Africa?

1: Caspar Lee

It just shows you how far behind the rest of South Africa’s YouTubers are. Subscribers: 7 510 622 on his main channel, 1 989 182 on his second channel.

How much does a YouTuber make with 100K subscribers?

Money YouTubers make with 100K Subscribers

So the average YouTuber with 100k subscribers can make R 184054.78or more per sponsored video. Factors like engagement, type of content, and other revenue streams may also impact your income.

How long does it take to get 100k subscribers on YouTube?

It takes between 2 to 3 months to get 100 subscribers on YouTube. This is true if you start a brand new channel with 0 subscriber, have no audience coming from another platform, or are not already a famous person.