In 2005 the world was introduced to a new video streaming platform: YouTube. Today, the company is owned by arguably the biggest tech company in the world, Google, and has over one billion unique users visit per month.

  This success has not only been for YouTube themselves, but for the creators on the site too. According to an International Business Times article from 2015, the highest earning creator, Pewdiepie, makes an estimated $12 million per year.

  Pewdiepie has 49,128,979 subscribers currently, which also makes him the most subscribed YouTuber ever. Pewdiepie makes let’s play videos and vlogs and started his climb in popularity when he started reacting to horror games.

  Creators are able to make this kind of money through programs like Google AdSense which let the creator monetize on their videos by letting ads appear in them. But this accounts for only a small amount of what they make. The majority of it comes from brand deals and deals with YouTube itself.

  These deals are normally only available for people who have surpassed the magic one million subscriber mark, meaning that everyone that is aspiring to reach that isn’t getting the payout that they need to run their channel full time. This results in creators getting stuck, and I think that it is unfair for those who truly love video making and have come to YouTube to pursue it.

  According to the New York Times, creators only make around $2,000 per one million views, and that’s before taxes and YouTube’s cut of 45% are deducted. This leaves creators with very little, and that amount continues to drop as the amount of views decreases.

  This leaves small, aspiring creators with very few options; one of them not being their goal of full time YouTube.

  This is why I ask: Why not make a program for smaller creators who are pursuing their dreams to help them get started?

  It wouldn’t be that hard for YouTube to do, they can simply make something like their YouTube Creators Program. It would simply help small creators boost their spotlight time so they can gain more subscribers, therefore increasing their possibilities. This program should also come with monetary benefits along the way so the creators can afford to support themselves, but also upgrade their equipment and setups to get to the level of some of the larger creators.

  This whole thing can also boost the satisfaction of the content consumer as it will diversify the YouTube space even further as new creators become known through this program. Simply, with more creators comes a larger selection of videos for consumers to watch, therefore increasing everyone’s satisfaction with the platform.