This article will be the first in a series that covers my journey towards YouTube monetization. As a new pet content creator, I think it’s important for me to follow my progress and see what works and what doesn’t. This may also help you too if you’re thinking about starting a YouTube channel for your pet. So let’s dive in!
About my channel: pet content + speech button training for cats
First let me introduce my cats: Zoom and Oreo! They’re both 4 year-old females. They were both living in the street when I found them in 2020, and they’ve been my companions ever since.
Why and When I Started Making Cat Videos
I first started uploading videos in September 2023. My very first video was a YouTube Short. I followed up with two more that same month. Then, I got too busy and couldn’t post anything until June 2024. As for why I started, I remember the first reason was that my phone storage was full of cute videos of my cats, and I wanted to share them with the world.
Later, I was also hoping to make friends from all over the world, just like I see on other pet influencers’ channels. And I did have goals of one day making money through my pet content but I didn’t really have enough information so I just started posting and decided to learn along the way.
My Journey to YouTube Monetization as a new pet content creator:
Well, obviously with less than 200 subscribers at the time of making this video, my channel isn’t monetized yet, and it feels so far away. But like I said at the beginning of this video, this is just for the sake of documenting my progress. As of now, my videos have a total of almost 52,000 views.
If you check my YouTube channel, you can see my best performing video is around 12k views. Other than that I have a few videos near 1k and multiple shorts between 1k and around 6k views. I’m not really sure what made that first video reach the highest number. I even tried to create similar videos but they didn’t get picked up.
Challenges & surprising progress
The hardest part for me since I started was about 2 things:
- 1 is related to content: maintaining a posting routine, even the scheduling feature available. And the fact that I cannot predict how any of my videos will perform and that’s honestly draining, especially when I spend hours editing. So far, editing is my least favorite part even though it’s easy for me to do but it’s time consuming.
- 2 is related to YouTube requirements of monetization and I don’t mean the 1000 subscribers needed but the total of 4000 watch hours! You can see I’m nowhere near that right now.
On the other hand, some surprisingly easy thing I found was that you can gain subscribers on youtube really fast unlike Instagram where it’s much harder to gain followers organically. It’s also easy for a video to be recommended to more viewers when someone comments on it then typically more comments will follow which means more views.
How Many Videos I Post Per Week?
For longer videos I don’t have a strict posting schedule, but as a minimum, I try to upload every week. As for Shorts I post 1 video every single day. If I have more time I’d post 2 but I haven’t really noticed any difference in video performance when I do one or the other. My first goal was to post three times daily, but right now it’s not really easy for me, maybe in the future.
Best time to upload?
If you’re wondering about the best time to post; I noticed the videos that I share early in the morning would perform better. But this doesn’t apply to every day of the week. Sometimes a video uploaded on a Friday morning, for example, would perform better than a video I uploaded on a Monday morning. Also Shorts generally get more daily views than videos.
Now since I feel too far away from monetization, I decided to focus on 1 goal. That is to reach 500 subscribers, and I’m getting closer every day. While that number would still not be enough to be eligible for monetization, it allows the channel to activate memberships. So that’s an alternative you can use, until you reach the eligibility conditions for YouTube to pay you.
Tips for Aspiring Pet Content Creators
So do I recommend you start your own pet channel? Yes! Even though I’m making $0 from YouTube right now, I think this can be a great way to bond with your pet. You get to spend time with them every day and you’ll have a chance to notice what’s unique about them. And it’s a fun and creative way to spend your free time. Here are some tips that I learned since I’ve started:
1) Editing pet content takes time!
Well, actually all editing takes time. So be ready to set aside some time each day to do it; it takes more time to edit a video than filming it!
If you ever face creative blocks meaning you run out of ideas for videos, one great solution is to follow the latest trending sounds on YouTube and Instagram. These trends can automatically give you an idea for your next video.
2) Quality over quantity (long-term)
Provide good quality in your videos: quality as in footage quality and content quality. One of main reasons why I waited years to start sharing videos is because I lived in apartments where it’s always dark so the video wouldn’t be even recommended if I had posted them back then.
I actually notice this with pet channels where I can barely see their cat or dog. And then they would just film their pets sitting there or maybe eating or doing something that’s not really capturing. As far as I know, these channels will not succeed with that low quality. So make sure to make your video interesting and with good enough quality to watch. This might be more of a long-term goal though. As you will really need to post multiple videos when you start. The main goal of your first few videos is to give YouTube an idea about your channel so that it recommends it to your target audience.
3) Keep realistic expectations
Don’t expect too much engagement or thousands of views in the beginning—just make pet content for fun. And most importantly, don’t let low numbers make you resent your pet or pets. They’re your companions, and they deserve all your love, whether or not anyone is watching. They’re here to make your life better and enhance your well-being.
4) Follow your channel’s analytics
This last tip is optional. The analytics of your channel may help you to see what works and what doesn’t. You can also learn a lot more about your audience and what they prefer to see. But honestly if you’re just starting out, don’t worry about this. I would suggest you focus on posting daily shorts or at least a long form video once a week, depending on your availability.
That’s all I have for this video, remember that a lot of patience and persistence is required to stay motivated when growth is slow. Thank you so much for watching! I’ll be updating this video in a few weeks or so, depending on progress.
If you’re on a similar journey, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. See you next time!