YouTube has come a long way since it first launched as a home-video sharing website.
The first video ever posted was a simple 0:19 second clip titled, “Me at the zoo”, and since then the site has ballooned into its own industry.
YouTubers are now celebrities in their own right, making a fortune from sharing snippets of their lives online to millions of followers.
They’ve gone on to become influential figures with huge platforms - YouTuber Logan Paul even recently sat down with Donald Trump for his podcast, Impaulsive, which is broadcasted on the website.
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But exactly how much money a channel can make from their videos is still a mystery.
Most YouTubers tend to be cagey about their earnings and it’s left many to speculate just how lucrative it is.
One man has lifted the lid on his own income so we can now finally understand how cash is made through the site.
YouTuber Erik-Oskar Karlsson uploaded a video last week to spill the beans on how much he made after a guitar solo cover he posted hit 1.1 million views.
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The cover was of Just The Two of US by Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr. which Karlsson uploaded just over five years ago.
Looking through his analytics, Karlsson revealed that the video made him a total of $892.71.
Not exactly the cash cow many would assume, he went on to share that he made just $0.76 for every 1000 views.
In the video, Karlsson said: “That’s because the video is so short, if it had been like over eight minutes and I had a pretty good duration, I would have made maybe between three and $5 [per 1000 views].
“So, there you go, if you want to start a YouTube channel and do small, short videos, don’t expect to earn a lot. Maybe if you have like multiple clips that have over one million views.”
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It’s certainly not enough to give away the thousands of dollars MrBeast shells out on one video.
The internet star became the most subscribed YouTuber earlier this month after taking over T-Series, and is known for giving away huge sums of money up to half a million dollars.
It makes many wonder just how much he makes on the platform to be able to afford it.
Unlike Karlsson, the biggest content creators on the site are keeping quiet about their earnings.