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What are the best alternatives to YouTube?
Now that you have a good idea of how to get your business off YouTube and increase your earning potential, let's take a look at seven of the best video monetization platforms and YouTube alternatives to start sharing your video content.
1. Uscreen.
Uscreen is an all-in-one platform for monetizing video on demand.
It allows content creators to use their knowledge and convert it into high-quality video content to share with the world.
Easy to use, it allows you to start uploading videos, organizing them, and customizing the look and feel of your storefront.
And when it comes to monetizing videos, you can sell them how you want (think of one-time payments or subscriptions), stream them live on any device (including OTT platforms), track subscriber growth and churn, and have contact information for your audience (which isn't possible with YouTube).
Mini case study: How a YouTuber increased revenue 10x in 12 weeks
In 2017, Francis Long launched his YouTube channel. It was born out of a love for memory books. Francis has identified a market of people interested in learning how to make their own souvenir books and sees the opportunity. But YouTube wasn't lucrative. Despite over 17,000 subscribers, 600,000 views, and nearly 100 videos, a good month for Francis brought in only $380.
She knew she had a winning idea, but she realized that YouTube might not be the best place to monetize it. She needed the best YouTube alternative to help her make her dream come true. In 2019, Francis decided to try Uscreen.
And that's when things got interesting. She no longer had a channel fighting for attention, but an entire standalone platform to sell her videos online to fans for a premium subscription. In just seven days, his site was online and in her first four months, she earned $13,000.
Stories like that of Francis are not uncommon at Uscreen.
Uscreen has hundreds of creators and businesses in various niches that monetize their video content on this platform. They are able to create standalone brands and predictable, scalable revenue streams.
Uscreen also offers integrated marketing and community tools. Together, they reduce churn and increase revenue. You can issue gift cards and coupons, take advantage of email marketing, engage directly with your audience through the comment section on the videos, and organize a live chat.
The platform also offers over 1000 integrations with your favorite online tools, in-depth analytics, and over 10 ready-to-use website themes and video categories that you can easily customize to fit your brand image.
Pricing starts at just $79/month.
And if you want even more amazing features, we also make it easy to create your own application without development knowledge.
Because more and more people like to watch high-quality videos as well as content on smartphones, iOS, and Android, you can meet them with new videos on any device they use.
Benefit from a free 14-day trial with Uscreen
2. Thinkific.
Thinkific Is a platform for creating online courses.
It allows creators to sell online courses that can be delivered through video lessons.
To date, the platform has enabled course creators to earn $500 million. It's one of the most popular YouTube alternatives for course creators.
Thinkific is one of several course platforms that have developed to meet the growing online education market.
And it's relatively easy to use. Sure, you'll need to plan the course content, which will require careful attention to detail, but once yours is online, it can generate revenue with little effort on your part.
Thinkific charges a monthly subscription for access to its platform, you can create an unlimited number of courses, and you keep all the money you earn. Ease of use aside, one of the biggest criticisms of Thinkific is that while you can create a landing page for your course, it doesn't offer a sales funnel builder like other platforms in the industry. You'll need to invest in third-party applications to build your funnel.
Thinkific doesn't offer live streaming either. Sure, it's a course platform, so it might not be a feature you think of, but live video sites are growing rapidly.
Incorporating this feature would allow creators to engage directly with students through live events, and capture important analytics and information to improve course and marketing content.
Pricing starts at $39/month and you can test this platform with the free plan.
Start with Thinkific.
3. Patreon.
Patreon has changed the way creators make a living from their content and build a completely independent career.
This is a site where fans can pay you a monthly membership to get access to exclusive content.
Their video sharing site is free to use, but they take between 5% and 12% of your revenue, depending on which plan you sign up for. The platform is also great for some creatives, but not for all.
You see, if you're trying to build a brand that can stand on its own, Patreon doesn't offer features like a customizable website for create your own website to add your brand and make it really clean.
Nor can you quickly and easily deploy your own application the way you can with Uscreen.
If you're already using Patreon or considering it, take a look at the Uscreen article that explains why Uscreen is a powerful alternative to Patreon.
Rates
Patreon's pricing starts at 5% of the monthly revenue creators earn on the platform.
That means the platform only gets paid when its creators get paid.
4. Facebook.
It's hard to imagine a world without facebook.
It redefined social media, and with the rapid growth of video, creators can also take advantage of a large audience. Like YouTube, Facebook allows anyone with an account to broadcast content to the whole world.
For the possibility of using the Facebook user interface as a video platform, they take 45% of the money generated by ads. Facebook also limits access to audience information, you can diversify your brand to earn more by using one of the monetization strategies above.
Facebook has a huge reach, and with the right promotion strategy, you can draw more users into sales and marketing funnels and Turn them into paying customers. On the other hand, you'll need to produce a lot of content to stand out on Facebook and build an audience.
People tend to scroll through feeds quickly, and if you don't get attention, your videos will be drowned out by everything else. You're competing with short videos, TV shows, documentaries, funny videos, trending music videos, video games, GIFs, and other popular videos.
Facebook also recommends a host of other videos in a playlist, and often, these come from competing creators. So you have to fight to get the attention of users on their video sharing platform.
So while it's not the absolute best alternative to Youtube, it's another option for ad monetization.
READ MORE: Best YouTube ad blockers for Android, IOS, and Web
5. IGTV.
instagram is a Facebook company, which makes the business model for photo and online video applications largely similar to that of Facebook.
You can receive a commission of 55% on ads placed on your videos.
Unfortunately, the same limitations on public contact information exist on Instagram, but you can explore other ways to monetise your videos in a variety of ways.
6. Twitch.
For many, Twitch is synonymous with online gaming videos and video streaming sites. Registration is free and offers affiliates and partners a variety of ways to monetize their content. As an affiliate, you can accept donations, sell merchandise, and receive monthly subscriptions.
Twitch also has a partner program that offers those who qualify a share of the revenue generated by ads. Partners get a share of every bit that streamers use to encourage video players. Unfortunately, the platform does not specify how much you will earn by participating in its program.
While Twitch has revolutionized the world of online gaming, creating a channel on this platform has some disadvantages.
For starters, Twitch has tons of players and account holders, all of whom stream shows to raise awareness and generate revenue.
There are various channels on all types of topics, ranging from games to music videos, blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
To keep up with the times, you have to spend tons of hours on their live streaming platform, a lifestyle that's hard to maintain. For the gaming community, Twitch may be one of the best free YouTube alternatives to try out.
7. Vimeo.
Vimeo is a video sharing site and a great alternative to Youtube that offers creators the opportunity to develop their own channels where they can sell videos. It offers OTT apps as part of growth and business plans (starting at $500/month per app, with a minimum of two apps), so fans can watch content through the platforms of their choice.
While the livestream is a Vimeo feature, it's only available on their most expensive plan (Enterprise) and you'll need to contact them for pricing.
While Vimeo is a step in the right direction, there are a few areas where the platform could be improved.
For starters, when it comes to video hosting and uploading, you only have a small number of themes to work with, and they offer limited customization capabilities. Marketing tools, which are a major part of running strong, revenue-generating campaigns, are also not as comprehensive, which can make expanding your brand more difficult.
Finally, integrations are an important part of running an online business, and integrations with Vimeo are in short supply. Even if you don't need every application to work with your video platform, not having the ones you rely on to grow your business can be disabling.
Vimeo's pricing starts at just $7 per month (annual payment) and includes features like video creation and unlimited screen and webcam recording.
Why you want a YouTube alternative to monetize your videos
YouTube is an amazing platform. It's filled with tons of content creators and artists on just about every subject imaginable. That's what makes it so appealing to Internet users and creators. But making a living on YouTube isn't for everyone.
Un A sobering Bloomberg article shows that the top 3% of YouTubers earn less than $17,000 per year, while the remaining 96.5% earn between 0 and 12,140 dollars.
Why?
Well, there are a number of reasons.
1. Videos need to be suitable for advertising
First, videos are monetized if they are related to a product or service that an advertiser is promoting and if your audience matches the advertiser's ideal customer profile. Understanding your user base is critical to making sure you're giving them the best videos possible.
This means that when you upload videos, they need to be tailored for ads to make money. And for the odds to work in your favor, you'll also need to choose sectors that prove lucrative or spend a lot of money on YouTube ads.
Video hosting on Since YouTube is owned by Google, you need to ensure that your video uploads can be tagged without ads.
2. Revenue sharing takes some of what's done.
Revenue sharing isn't a hidden concept on YouTube, but one that very few YouTubers understand.
When advertisers run ads on your channel, YouTube takes 45 percent of what advertisers pay, leaving the remaining 55 percent with you.
And that happens for every commercial shown to your audience.
That means when your channel grows, you only gain a 55% share.
In a way, it limits your growth. Unless your audience continues to grow exponentially and you continue to produce videos that outperform the competition, it will be difficult to increase your revenue.
3. YouTube is very competitive
Competition is also fierce. Sure, there are the two billion users who return to the YouTube homepage every month, but there are also tons of creators fighting for their attention when they upload their videos. According to Tubics, YouTube saw an increase of 40% of new channels in 2019.
Competing on YouTube means fighting for better rankings and visibility.
With billions of videos archived on the Internet, you need to understand how the latest iteration of theYouTube algorithm to optimize videos and get more clicks than your competitors on YouTube if you really want to make money. And if you've been online for a while, you know that keeping up with YouTube algorithm changes is no easy task.
4. Policy changes affect revenue
Over the past two years, YouTube policy updates have attracted attention, and not in a good way.
These include minimum video viewing time requirements and the number of subscribers you have.
Take the example below. Under the new YouTube eligibility requirements, a channel is no longer eligible for monetization if it does not reach 4000 viewing hours in the last 12 months and the minimum requirement of 1000 subscribers.
In short, you won't make any money if your channel doesn't measure up.
The sad thing is that it takes a long time to build a loyal subscriber and fan base. And if your channel meets these minimum requirements, earning money on YouTube isn't guaranteed.
That doesn't make the user experience exciting.
And then there's COPPA or Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998. It was created to prevent deceptive marketing techniques that target children in exchange for their personal information.
In short, COPPA prevents YouTubers from creating and sharing content attractive to children.
The problem with COPPA is that the law is broad and leaves very little room for honest YouTubers to make a living. Failure to comply with the law may also result in a $42,000 fine for each video that breaks the law. All the more reason to find a solid alternative to Youtube.
Beyond YouTube
YouTube aside, let's take a look at how you can generate more predictive revenue. And yes, it is possible. Our experience at Uscreen allowed us to see YouTubers go from a tiny salary thanks to the YouTube advertising model to thousands of dollars per month (more on that later).
Switching to a YouTube alternative means exploring new ways to generate revenue, and there are a few that you should know about that have been proven to work.
Video monetization models
To monetize your videos, it's not always necessary to run ads. Here's a collection of seven ways you can turn your videos into a revenue stream.
VOD or video on demand
Video on demand consists of offering videos to an audience. These can be videos with restricted access or free for the public. But as we're looking at ways to make money with videos, let's take a look at the three types of VOD models you can use.
Video on demand by subscription (SVoD)
Subscriptions allow access to content for a regular fee. The most popular versions of this model include video platforms like Netflix, Hulu, AppleTV, DisneyPlus, and Amazon Prime. For a monthly fee, you can watch as much content as you want. You get access to TV series, movies, and many end up watching videos in ultra HD content.
Locations
Rentals allow users to enjoy video streaming for a fixed period of time and for a single amount.
Lifetime access or transactional video on demand (TVOD)
Lifetime access allows users to access content in perpetuity, for a one-time fee.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is often misperceived. It's not because affiliate products are bad, but rather because of how they're presented. The truth is that affiliate marketing is easy and can be lucrative. To take advantage of this monetization model, simply recommend products and services to Internet users and receive a percentage of all sales.
Sponsorships
Sponsorship is a bit more complex than product recommendations. To get paid for sponsorship contracts, you need to have a large enough audience that brands want to reach. Once you've developed a significant audience, you'll be able to structure deals and create creative content that will help sponsors generate results for their brands.
Sale of goods
Selling physical products is one of the easiest fruits to gather. By creating your own product and promoting it in your videos, you can generate revenue from sales. Of course, it takes a bit of time and capital to design and produce physical products on a large scale, but if you have a sufficient number of viewers and a solid promotion strategy, you'll be able to convert more viewers into paying customers.
Selling information products
Information products are the most popular type of product you can sell. They are inexpensive to create, easy to distribute, and offer high profit margins. Creating information products with a high conversion rate is about distilling valuable information. Your products can take the form of an e-book, a guide, a video course, or a membership site.
Livestream
Live streaming is not a new idea, but it has grown significantly with the increase in the number of platforms that offer it. It's possible to monetize live streams by making them chargeable (this is called pay-per-view live streaming). For this to work, you need a platform that allows you to host live streams, receive them, and accept payments (more on that later).
As you can see, there are a multitude of ways to monetize your video content, without having to rely on YouTube ad revenue. The most interesting? You can use several of these ways to diversify your business and your sources of income.
Conclusion
Video monetization platforms There is no shortage of video platforms, but not all video platforms are created equal.
If you're looking for ways to generate stable and significant revenue streams, you need to expand your reach beyond YouTube and consider diversifying what you offer viewers.
Try these monetization methods and see which of these YouTube alternatives works for you.
