In 2024, it's easier than ever to create content online, especially video. With high resolution smartphone cameras in each of our pockets and 5G internet, it truly has never been better time to start creating video. And that's not even mentioning the rise of AI tools like OpusClip to help lighten the editing work. While many consider video to be more difficult to create than other types of content, like text or art, there are seemingly endless ways for video creators to make money today. There are an estimated 400 million creators in the world and at least 40 million of those have found a way to monetize their work. And while creator income levels certainly vary, one Linktree report revealed that creators can earn over $50k annually depending on how much effort they put into it.

With so many opportunities to monetize your content, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with all the options available. Where do you start? Which methods are worth exploring? In this blog post we're breaking down our top 5 most promising ways for video creators to monetize in 2024, based on the millions of creators we've seen on OpusClip.

Here Are Our Top 5 Ways for Video Creators to Monetize in 2024:

1. Launch your own membership

Creating a membership allows you to sell access to your content through a private online community. There are many types of memberships that allow you to connect with your superfans. You can share a variety of things such as resources, advice, expertise, members-only content, and more. Your membership also allows members to connect with like-minded individuals, giving them an added benefit for joining. 

Memberships are a great choice for creators who want to gain, grow, and maintain loyal followers that want to pay for content you produce regularly. Once you have a well-established following, a membership site can become a steady source of income for you.

Pros:

• Produce a steady income. Subscribers pay you a monthly or annual fee for access to your content. This can provide steadier income than most other forms of monetization. And not only that, a membership can be a great way to diversify your income.
• Build authority. Most people who join your community are looking for content that answers their most pressing questions, helps them grow as individuals, or provides them with actionable insights. Offering a membership will build your status and reputation in your niche over the long term.
• Help others in your niche or community. Of course, you can make money running a membership site, but it's also very personally rewarding to offer your expertise or knowledge to help others in your community. 

Cons:

• Time commitment. Running a membership can be very time-consuming. Those who join will expect new content regularly, because after all, they're paying for it. Your content production must be continual so your members feel like their investments were worthwhile.
• Establishing authority. To grow a successful membership, you’ll need to establish some authority in your subject matter ahead of time. Users are not likely to sign up for content from a person or website that is unfamiliar or untrustworthy. It can be challenging to establish trust in a community or niche, and this shouldn't be overlooked.‍
• Slow growth. New membership sites can struggle to grow, especially in the early stages. It requires perseverance.

Our recommended tools for launching a membership:

We recommend our friends at Fourthwall because they offer the support needed to power your shops and memberships. Fourthwall is designed specifically for content creators, and helps thousands of video content creators grow their brand and earn a recurring income. 

There are other tools you can check out as well, like Kajabi, Patreon, or Shopify - But many users prefer Fourthwall for their ease of use and creator-first features.

2. Join Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs allow you to promote products and get a cut of revenue from referrals. This method is good for creators who are in a position to grow their business and have a small audience, but aren't ready to launch their own products.

Pros:

• Warm audience for selling. Affiliate marketing is effective for creators because you already are reaching people with similar needs to you - You can simply recommend products you would use yourself, and it's likely your followers will be interested in buying them as well.‍
• Low cost. The costs to get started with affiliate marketing are almost zero, because you can always just share affiliate links with your audience for free through organic channels like social media. Because of that, if you find early success, your return on investment can be high.

Cons:

• Finding the right products to promote. It can be time consuming to find the right products to promote to your audience, that will both resonate with their needs and provide you with a fair cut of the sales.‍
• Disclosure of relationship. As a creator, you are usually required to disclose your participation in affiliate programs when promoting your affiliate links, per guidelines by the Federal Trade Commission

Interested in affiliate programs? You should join ours at OpusClip!

You can become an OpusClip affiliate and join over 1,000 creators in promoting OpusClip, many of whom are earning thousands of dollars per month.

Check out our OpusClip affiliate program!

Other good places to find affiliate programs to join include:

• Amazon Associates
• Rakuten Advertising
• ShareASale
• Refersion

3. Ad Revenue Share and Creator Programs

Many social platforms like Youtube give you a share of advertiser revenue based on the number of views your videos get on their platform.

The YouTube partner program, for example, lets you earn money from ads on long-form videos and in between short-form videos. You can also make revenue when YouTube Premium subscribers watch your content. 

YouTube isn't the only one. Creators can also make money through the Facebook Bonus Program, where bonuses are offered for creators based on content performance. And if you have at least 50,000 subscribers on Snapchat, their creator program offers monetary rewards per view. X (formerly Twitter) is the newest to the party, offering an ads revenue program  for creators who are eligible.

‍Pro Tip: With tools like OpusClip, you can produce higher volumes of videos, making monetization easier. To get started, check out our guide for making money on YouTube Shorts.

Pros:

• Low upfront costs. There is little to no financial costs to begin with! Just keep posting video content onto the right platforms, and have patience.
• Infrastructure established. You’ll be working with a pre-built platform, so you don’t have to build everything from scratch. Focus on your content, and platforms handle the rest.‍
• Access to expertise. When you join a platform's creator program, you often get access to things like private resources and insights, which can help you grow your content and audience even more.

Cons:

• Reduced profit margins. Many consider the revenue sharing between social platforms and creators to be unfair towards creators. This is something everyone needs to weigh for themselves.
• Limited control. Sharing revenue may mean you have less control. Their algorithms may also support your competitors, and it's hard to predict when the algorithm will favor your content or ignore it.

Recommended platforms to start with:

• YouTube
• X (Twitter)
• Snapchat
• Meta
• TikTok

4. Sell Merch or Physical Goods

Selling merch and physical goods online can be a real gamechanger. As a video creator, you have the opportunity to sell to your viewers. This is a good option for creators who have a fanatical following or who operate in already creative niches (for example, art or music).

Pros:

• Fan Support. Selling merch as a video creator gives your fans a way to support you and feel more connected to you as a creator.
• Extra Income Stream. Fan merch is easier than ever to create thanks to modern print on demand advances, making this a relatively easy way to increase your income. ‍
• You are in control. You set your prices. Merch is a great way to retain control over your own revenue streams.

Cons:

• Active promotion. When you sell merch using your video content, you need to promote your products aggressively. If not done carefully, this can be off putting to some of your followers. ‍
• Distract viewers. Promoting your merch or products can be distracting to some viewers.

If you're interested in selling merch or other physical products to you audience, we once again recommend Fourthwall. Creators of all sizes trust Fourthwall for running their merch businesses, for reasons including Fourthwall's ready-to-go products, customization options, easy website builder, and creator friendly customer support.

5. Brand Deals or Sponsorships

Do you have a medium to large sized audience, or a smaller but fast-growing audience? If so, there are tons of brands who would probably be interested in sponsoring your content on a one-off or recurring basis. Brand sponsorships can be the lowest-effort (but also must lucrative) forms of monetization for video creators.

Pros:

• Increased cash flow. Brand deals and sponsorships, especially when stacked up, can lead to significant and stead income for video creators.
• Artistic freedom. More and more, brands are more likely to give almost full creative freedom to the content creator when promoting their products. If you want to maintain control over how you make content, there has never been a better time to pursue brand sponsorships.‍
• New opportunities. Sponsorships and brand partnerships can create bonds between content creators and brands that lead to a long-lasting relationship (and possible employment!)

Cons:

• Time-consuming. Producing sponsored content can take more effort and time than just running ads.
• Legal considerations. You may need to adhere to specific standards for some sponsored material. Failing to do so could have legal repercussions.
• Audience alienation. If mishandled, sponsored content can push users away resulting in declining engagement and audience trust.

How to find brands to sponsor you:

Keep your DM's open! As you grow, you will start to notice more and more brands reaching out to you to discuss sponsorships. And it goes both ways - If you run into a brand that aligns with your audience and values, you can also reach out to gauge their interest. For faster introductions, consider trying a platform like Billo to become a UGC creator.

Final Thoughts

We've simplified the process for you and provided these top 5 ways to monetize your video content. You can explore these options and take a look at the tools we suggested to find the perfect combination that fits your content and your audience. Choosing the right monetization platform and tools are essential for unlocking the full potential of your content!