We’ve all come across motovloggers out on the road. Motorcycle riders with action cameras mounted to their helmets or motorcycles, filming their rides, sharing them on YouTube, and sometimes getting paid to do so. I’m one of them, and I’ll share with you exactly how much YouTube paid my motovlog channel in 2021.

Motovloggers can earn money from YouTube every time someone is watching one of their videos and an advertise is displayed. Last year the YouMotorcycle motovlog channel earned on average $4.54 for every 1,000 views.

There are also other ways motovloggers can earn additional income from their channel including sponsored deals, affiliate commissions, member’s groups, and swag. In this article we will focus on how much money motovloggers make from YouTube only. I’m Adrian from YouMotorcycle, and I’ve made over 100 videos aimed at helping motorcyclists. Today we’re going to be looking at how much money the YouTube channel made last year, and breaking that down into dollars per hour.

Hesitations about making this video

I was on the fence about making this video because talking about your income is kind of taboo. To help me decide I created a pole on YouTube so my subscribers could decide whether or not I made on the video. After 9 days, 55% of voters voted in favor of making this video.

55% is pretty close! I was hoping for a much more decisive majority one way or the other. What drove me over the edge to pulling the trigger was one of the comments a subscriber left. The subscriber suggested that it may be “showboating” to share this information. It made me realize that people’s perceptions of what YouTubers are being paid could be very far from reality, so maybe making this video could help to clear things out. It’s only showboating if you think we’re profitable!

About my motovlog channel at the start of 2021

YouMotorcycle’s motovlog channel started the year 2021 with around 2,300 subscribers. The number of subscribers more than doubled to 5,000 subscribers by the end of the year.

Traditionally, January is the slowest month of the year, and things heat up quickly in the spring, and begin to die down by summer.

On average it takes me about 5 hours to make a video, including time for research, writing an outline or script, filming, editing, and publishing. This does not count the time spent on the text-based write-up like the one you’re currently reading.

I get a lot of comments throughout the day saying thank you for my videos from motorcyclists who they helped out. These mean a lot to me and always give me an awesome feeling. It really inspires me to keep trying to help riders out. However, I also have bills to pay, so in an ideal world I would like to make a reasonable living making content that helps motorcyclists.

How much money do motovloggers get paid in 2021?

All currency below is expressed in United States Dollars (USD).

January and February

In January YouMotorcycle’s videos received 27,000 views and made only $96. Not even enough to pay my electricity bill. I made four videos, meaning 20 hours of work. That worked out to $4.81 cents per hour, which is obviously much less than I want to be making. Luckily, January is  usually the worst month of the year. Things will improve from here.

February’s performance was fairly similar. $105 made on four new videos meant $5.24 per hour. Not exactly record breaking numbers here but luckily spring is just around the corner and spring is always really good to my motovlog channel.

March and April

March saw a big jump in views and new subscribers. The channel growth was very encouraging. YouTube paid me $190, which was about the same as the two previous months combined. I averaged $9.54 per hour.

April brought a big jump in views and a huge jump in subscribers. At this pint I thought, “Wow, things are really going to take off from here. Over 300 news subscribers in a month. This is it!” I was completely wrong. $200 over 4 videos worked out to $10 per hour.

May through August

May was a disappointment after all of the build up to April. I made $210, or about $10.50 per hour, but saw less channel growth than I hoped.

June taught me that there is a spring rush and then things kind of settle down in the summer. The channel made $213, averaging $10.65 per hour.

July was very similar to June. YouTube paid me $195, and since I only made 3 videos this month, I averaged $12.95 an hour. It was nice to see consistent income despite not as much time on making content.

August was very similar and once again I only made three videos. YouTube paid the motovlog channel $185, averaging $12.33 an hour.

September through December

Septembers views and channel growth was on par with August. I published five motovlogs, making $195, or $7.8 per hour.

October was very similar. The motovlog channel earned $188, an average of $9.50 an hour.

November was a sudden nose dive as views and new subscribers dipped dramatically. The channel made $188 from YouTube. Because I put out 5 new motovlogs I averaged $7.50 an hour.

December was more of the same. YouMotorcycle’s motovlog channel made $169, but I only made two new videos, so I averaged $16.90 per hour. I finished the year with just over 5,000 subscribers, a significant increase over the 2,300 subscribers that I started with.

How much did my motovlog channel make in total for 2021?

In total my motovlog channel made $2,137 in 2021, but it doesn’t tell the full story. I’ve spent probably about as much on a GoPro Hero 9, a Panasonic Lumix G7, a couple different camera lenses, microphones, memory cards, spare batteries, lighting, mounts, tripods, and other accessories.

If you see a motovlog channel on YouTube with 2,000 to 5,000 subscribers, they probably aren’t making very much if anything at all compared to the amount of time they spend on their channel. They are probably making motovlogs because they really enjoy sharing their passion for motorcycles with others.

Helping out motorcyclists from all over the world doesn’t pay too much, but getting comments every day thanking you for your efforts is a great feeling.

Don’t forget that revenue from YouTube’s Partner Program isn’t the only way to make money from your YouTube channel. You can earn thousands of dollars in commissions and from businesses looking to partner with up and coming influencers in brand deals.

How much do bigger motovloggers make?

There is a big “snowball effect” on what you can make as an influencer in the motorcycle space. More established motovloggers will make much more money as they are able to profit from a wider range of revenue streams including Patreon memberships, selling merchandise, and even creating their own courses.

Amanda Zito, alias As The Magpie Flies, has made 200 videos and grown her channel to 26,000 subscribers. At present she gets about 200,000 views per month. Assuming her advertising RPM from YouTube is at least as good as mine, YouTube could be paying her about $900 per month.

Derek de Reuck, alias Delboy, has made over 1,400 videos and grown his channel to 187,000 subscribers. He gets about 400,000 views per month. YouTube could be paying him about $1,800 per month, assuming his advertising RPM from YouTube is at least as high as mine.

Eric Barros, alias Yammie Noob, has made over 1,500 videos and grown his channel to 1.18 million subscribers. He gets about 4.8 million views per month. If he gets paid the same rate as I do, YouTube could be paying him at least $21,600 per month.

Finally, Noraly Schoenmaker is a dutch woman we first featured back in 2018 when she started the channel Itchy Boots to document her travels around the world by motorcycle. In just 400 videos she has grown her channel to 992,000 subscribers. She gets about 7.5 million views per month. Assuming YouTube pays her at least the same RPM as it does my motorcycle channel, Noraly is making $34,000 per month.

The reality is that these motovloggers make far more income than this via paid members communities, merchandise sales, sponsored content, affiliate commissions, and other initiatives.

Conclusions

Motovlogging on YouTube is a labour of love. While it’s possible to make $1,000 per day doing it, these examples are few and far between. If you’re looking for a fun way of sharing your passion for motorcycling, motovlogging can be a great creative outlet. If you’re looking for a way to get rich quickly, this isn’t it.

Update: Want to see what happened next year? Check out how much my YouTube channel made between 5,000 and 10,000 subscribers the following year.