In terms of microstock earnings my results for April 2025 are the worst since March 2023. So I feel its just in time that Ive achieved monetizing something other than microstock with my YouTube channel getting monetized on 14 April 2025.
Its just a drone channel capturing aerial views of primarily local major construction projects and road works. Funny these seem to be most popular drone videos on YouTube and watched typically by people who likely have no interest at all in drones. But it brings in the views.
I dont know exactly what my final earnings for April will be on YouTube as I hear that what ends up in AdSense can be different and sometimes lower or higher than what is displayed in YouTube Analytics. But currently the estimated revenue on YouTube is $130.14 USD which started accruing on 14 April. By comparison on Shutterstock I earned $118.06 for the month of April and a dismal $16.54 on Pond5. Both ports have over 3000 videos and both SS and P5 use to sell videos quite well.
Anyway I started the YouTube channel in June 2021 and had 26 videos published along with 354 subscribers at the time I went back to publish a new video in January 2025. I had only posted two videos on the channel in the past two years prior - one video on 1 January 2024 and one video on 3 January 2023. So it had been effectively inactive over those two years with little views or watch hours.
Figured that during the slow period in Dec / Jan on microstock I would publish a fresh video and see how it goes. So did a drone shoot of the Western Sydney International Airport construction site (due to open late 2026) and to my surprise it got over 40,000 views. Did another video of the associated road works then another of the Airport and it achieved over 67,000 views (its now at 70,000 views). These two are the highest viewing videos to date.
I just about reached my 4000 hours of public watch time from these videos alone so figured it would be a wasted opportunity to let this pass me by. Accordingly I continued publishing videos until I reached my 1000 subscribers which I achieved in April. Applied for the YouTube Partner Program and was accepted. All up I had published an additional 16 videos from 2 January 2025 to reach 4000 public watch hours and 1000 subscribers (the requirements for joining the YouTube Partner Program and monetization via AdSense).
Having said all this theres some things I dont like about YouTube and other things I do like. But at this stage its what I do like that overrides what I dont like especially with microstock in the state that it is now.
I dont like that most videos published on YouTube see a huge drop off of views quickly after being published, usually within a few days. Then its like Shutterstock subs from there. Im speaking about my contents in particular because what I create probably has much less shelf-life than channels that publish more evergreen content. So it does feel like more work to keep seeing results on YouTube compared to microstock. With microstock, you upload your contents, set and forget, and even if youre not active for weeks or months, you can still make good money. With YouTube, the fall off in revenue happens much quicker (though as I said thats with my contents). Having said that, with Microstock now I can spend all year uploading over 1000 videos and my earnings continue to decline so the points I raise here about what I dont like with YouTube seems not so bad given my recent past year or so of microstock experience.
I guess another concern is what happens when the major construction projects that serve as popular subjects for drone videos today are completed. Can only hope other construction projects will start and then these will be new popular videos to shoot. This also takes into account proximity as theres no use travelling at distance if you cant readily return to those locations to film updates on those projects. The furthest I am travelling now is a 2 to 2.5 hour drive to major road upgrades up near Newcastle which attract quite a good audience and views. I do know another local drone channel here in Sydney with over 10,000 subscribers who does travel much further so I suppose it is worth it when you have built a bigger subscriber following.
Anyway what I do like about publishing on YouTube as a monetized channel is a sense of confidence. Theres a lot more money behind Google than there is any microstock agency. And YouTube pays pretty well, with 55% cost per mille (CPM) paid to creators. That payment to creators is known as revenue per mille (RPM) which is how much the creator earns per 1000 valid views. YouTube also provides creators with some pretty decent analytics.
The other thing I like about YouTube is that as soon as you hit publish on your video it goes live. Theres no waiting for reviews, getting rejections or waiting for sales. So you can know your video is making money right at the outset.
I also like the feeling of being much more in control. The more you publish the more you will almost certainly earn. Unlike microstock, at least for me, now its like the more I upload the less I earn.
Looking forward I will continue to focus more on YouTube than microstock, at least for the time being. I repurpose what I shoot for YouTube and upload a few of those to the stock sites but thats about it. I just think at this time in the current environment its important now we diversify income streams where we can. If something improves in microstock I will shift my focus accordingly. At the very least it has given me opportunities with developing new skills, learning new and different ways of monetizing content and providing an alternative additional platform for generating income online. If you want to see the channel the link to it is here
https://www.youtube.com/@dronecinematic8980
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