Youtube Starting my journey to create a monetized YouTube Shorts commentary channel (Day 1, is it already a win?)

ForumChell

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I discovered these huge YouTube Shorts channels that just add commentary over other people’s content, and they’re monetized by YouTube, making good money. It’s kind of like the copyright claim method, but YouTube allows it! You’re basically taking the video and adding your own commentary instead of using a song. They’re super easy to make and can be posted every day, so I decided to try it out. If you’re not sure what I mean, it’s Shorts like this:


Anyway, by chance, I still had an old inactive channel from years ago with around 4K subscribers, but I wasn’t sure if it would help with my Shorts. Even though I know it’s better to have an older channel than a brand-new one, I decided to give it a shot.

I uploaded my first Shorts commentary video, and within the first hour, it got 2K views, 30 likes, and 4 real comments. For a channel that hadn’t been active in over 2 years and had no videos, I was surprised by how quickly it took off. After a day, it’s already at 3K views.

image 1.webp
I uploaded another Shorts video today to see if my first video was just a fluke. To my surprise, it’s doing just as well as the first one.

image 2.webp

It’s really uplifting to see results so quickly. I just hope my videos and channel get noticed by the algorithm. I’m feeling pretty positive because my first video has over 90% viewer retention, which tells me I’m on the right track with this type of content. When it’s so easy for people to scroll to the next video, getting them to watch all the way through is a big win.


I want to keep updating this thread to stay motivated and hopefully inspire some of you. Right now, my goal is to get my channel monetized. I already hit the subscriber goal, so now I just need 3 million views in the last 90 days. I’m planning to post two Shorts a day to give myself more chances for one to get picked up by the algorithm.


I’ll also answer a few questions that some of you might have

  • Are you using an AI speech generator?
    No, I’m using my own voice. I didn’t realize how lucky I am to have a native English accent until I checked out some of the threads in this section.
  • What is your niche?
    It’s the kind of content that could get your videos age-restricted if you're not careful, but it’s also the kind that keeps people engaged and wanting to talk about it in the comments.
  • Will you use any blackhat methods?
    Nope. I know that would probably end up hurting my channel in the long run. I want this to last, and blackhat channels usually don’t stick around for too long.
  • What do you use to make these videos?
    I use my phone to record audio, CapCut to edit and add subtitles, and ChatGPT to create a script that I tweak to make it sound more natural.
 
Great job, buddy! Best of luck on your journey. I’m also thinking about making some shorts with ElevenLabs.
 
Update:
I posted my third video yesterday, and it got barely any views at first. But after 19 hours, it shot up in views and did just as well as my first two videos.

image 1.webp

I think YouTube has a specific time when they start showing new shorts to people. I uploaded another video today, and it’s not getting many views so far. Hopefully, it will get more attention soon.

image 2.webp

Also, my second video has hit more than 9,500 views now. Not bad for just being up for 3 days. I hope it keeps gaining more views!

image 3.webp
 
Update:
I posted my third video yesterday, and it got barely any views at first. But after 19 hours, it shot up in views and did just as well as my first two videos.

View attachment 38723

I think YouTube has a specific time when they start showing new shorts to people. I uploaded another video today, and it’s not getting many views so far. Hopefully, it will get more attention soon.

View attachment 38724

Also, my second video has hit more than 9,500 views now. Not bad for just being up for 3 days. I hope it keeps gaining more views!

View attachment 38725

Your videos will get pushed, dude. You’re doing awesome because I tried uploading tons of shorts, and all of them barely got any views.
 
Good luck!


Just don’t quit when your videos start getting few views.


It’s just a test to see if you can stay consistent.

What’s your click-through rate and average view duration?
Hey, what's going on? Any updates?
 
What’s your click-through rate and average view duration?
Right now, the average view duration for all my videos.
image 1.webp

My click-through rate is around 6%, even though most of my views come from the Shorts feed.

image 2.webp

Here’s another measurement.
image 3.webp

I'm still getting the hang of Shorts and creating this type of content, but I think my numbers are looking pretty good so far.
 
Right now, the average view duration for all my videos.
View attachment 38741

My click-through rate is around 6%, even though most of my views come from the Shorts feed.

View attachment 38742

Here’s another measurement.
View attachment 38743

I'm still getting the hang of Shorts and creating this type of content, but I think my numbers are looking pretty good so far.

I think it's about 'how many people decide to watch' that helps YouTube choose your video.
 
Views at the moment

image 1.webp

As you can see, one of my videos isn’t getting the same views as my others. It's only at 78 views after 2 days. I’m not sure why because it fits my niche, but I guess YouTube can decide not to promote a video for any reason. Three of my videos have over 9,000 views now. It’s great that my older videos are still getting views.

I want to upload at least twice a day, but with the holidays, I’ve been super busy, so I’m only managing one video a day. I think once I start posting more often, my views should really take off. Looks like I got lucky with the algorithm since it seems to like my content.
 
Shorts get a lot of “free traffic” from YouTube, maybe to try and compete with TikTok? It’s pretty easy to get views on Shorts, but the rules for making money are tough. I knew someone who made Shorts about a popular game for a month or two. She got several videos with over 1 million views and gained around 6,500 subscribers. But then she realized that to qualify for monetization with Shorts, she’d have to keep doing it for at least a year or two, so she gave up.
 
My last 3 uploads have all gotten over 10k views within the first day!
image 1.webp
I think my videos are getting more attention from the algorithm as I upload more. Right now, my most viewed video is stuck at 15.7k views, and that's my current highest.

I believe YouTube has a limit on how many views your shorts can get until they decide if your videos are good enough to keep showing in the algorithm/shorts feed. I'm not sure exactly what they look at, but I think AVD, comments, and likes are probably really important.
 
To fully monetize, you need 11 million views within 3 months.
I can’t believe I didn’t realize that the 3M views was just partial monetization, haha. 10M views is insane, but my goal from the start was to build a big shorts commentary channel that gets more than 10M views every month.

Shorts payouts for 1 million views can vary a lot. I’ve seen someone make just $2, while others have earned around $90 from 1 million views. For this to be worth it, I need to keep getting a ton of views. My goal is to make $1K a month from my shorts channel, which means I probably need over 10M views each month
 
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