YouTubers Prove There’s More Than One Way to Sell a Video

YouTube’s creator economy is huge, but the savviest creators no longer regard ads as their safety net. Reports commissioned by YouTube from Oxford Economics say that the platform’s ecosystem, which includes advertisers and other parties, adds tens of billions to U.S. GDP and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs. But the biggest channels are in fact building businesses that don’t rely on pre-rolls, looking to products, subscriptions, licensing and even telecom and fintech ventures to counteract algorithm shocks and ad-market swings.

Why Ad Money Feels Less Certain for Creators Today

Advertising revenue goes in cycles, with it being more of a seasonal business and dependent on the policy climate. CPMs can swing drastically with macro downturns, brand-safety updates or shifts in how YouTube prioritizes content formats. Monetizing shorts is, for example, better than it was but still makes less money per view than traditional long-form content. Throw in demonetization scares, advertiser pullbacks and growing ad-block usage, and creators come away with unpredictable earnings from one month to the next. Alphabet’s filing makes it clear that YouTube ad sales are substantial — but not guaranteed for any given channel.

From YouTube Channels to Scalable Consumer Brands

Most of the biggest YouTubers today function as product-first companies that also have media arms. The most prominent example is Jimmy Donaldson, who became famous as MrBeast. His Feastables snack line took off with a million chocolate bars sold in days and, by creator-provided numbers, brought in around $250 million in 2024 sales with upwards of $20 million profit — besting his content business, which he’s said can operate at a loss to build brand awareness. He’s piled on toys (MrBeast Lab), delivery-only dining (MrBeast Burger), analytics (Viewstats) and kicked the tires around telecom with an MVNO idea as well as fintech services through trademark filings.

Here’s the playbook: Use outsized reach for zero- or low-CPA customer acquisition, and then build recurring, retail-distributed or wholesale-backed revenue that doesn’t crater if a video underperforms. And the content is a marketing engine to fuel higher-margin commerce.

Coffee, Cans and Aisle Endcaps in Retail Expansion

Emma Chamberlain turned a lifestyle channel into a beverage venture. Chamberlain Coffee launched on its website in 2019 and has grown from beans to ready-to-drink lattes; Forbes estimated 2023 revenue near $20 million, and Business Insider reported projections of over $30 million in the next few years as the brand opened its first physical cafe and grew sales at major chains. Other creators have followed the caffeine trail: Jacksepticeye’s Top of the Mornin’ and Philip DeFranco’s Wake & Make are enhanced by loyal audiences and direct-to-consumer margins.

Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime energy drink is an example of the upside, but also the dangers. After viral sellouts and more than $1 billion in sales in 2023, per company claims reported by multiple outlets, the brand has weathered regulatory scrutiny over caffeine levels, legal disputes, and a sales cooldown in some regions. Consumer packaged goods can scale rapidly — but they also need supply chain rigor and compliance muscle that many first-time founders underestimate.

Licensing, IP and Retail Lines for Creator Channels

For family and kids’ channels, licensing can far outstrip ad checks. Ryan’s World built a toy and apparel empire that filled the shelves of big-box retailers, reaping hundreds of millions in retail sales at its peak, according to third-party estimates. Baking and food personalities have also successfully converted on-screen authority into tangible products: Rosanna Pansino spun out Nerdy Nummies into best-selling cookbooks and a line of bakeware; Andrew Rea (Babish) made a foray into cookware; the comedy duo Rhett & Link released a cereal product with their brand.

Beauty is yet another beaten track from tutorial to titan. Michelle Phan co-founded Ipsy before relaunching EM Cosmetics, and Huda Kattan turned Huda Beauty into a global brand while managing the private equity calculus to maintain founder-led pace. The lesson: Categories with high frequency and strong margins reward creators who can create repeat purchase behavior.

Equity, Software, and Memberships Beyond Advertising

Diversification isn’t just CPG. Some of the creators are investors or software operators. Jake Paul is a co-founder of the Anti Fund, which has announced early investments in frontier tech startups, and he operates consumer ventures including a grooming brand and a betting app. Others create SaaS tools for other creators, spin up education products through platforms like Kajabi, or grow paid communities on Patreon and YouTube channel memberships. Subscriptions generally provide more stable MRR and a tighter relationship with the audience, even at very small scales, than ads.

The New Creator Playbook for Building Durable Brands

This new approach begins with understanding your audience, not betting on viral possibilities or influencers. Makers beta-test demand with limited drops and preorders, optimize for the margin profile and repeat purchasing behavior, and multi-thread distribution across DTC, marketplaces, and retail. They decouple media P&L from product P&L, hire operators early, and hedge platform risk by building email and SMS lists. On the content side, they repurpose across short-form, long-form and podcast feeds to decrease volatility while transforming videos into enduring top-of-funnel.

YouTube still provides discovery and trust at unmatched scale, but the money story has evolved. The winners treat ad dollars as gravy and build businesses that can withstand an algorithm tweak, an ad recession or a policy rewrite. That is to say, they’re not only creators anymore — they’re CEOs.