Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has been honored with the YouTube Gold Creator Award, just hours after launching his channel. He achieved this accolade by surpassing the 1 million subscriber milestone.
“Here’s a gift for my family. Thank you to all the SIUUU subscribers,” Ronaldo posted on his official X page. In a video, he is seen receiving the award with his children cheering him on.
The 39-year-old launched his channel on Wednesday and quickly amassed 1.69 million subscribers within hours of posting his first video. “The wait is over. My @YouTube channel is finally here! SIUUUbscribe and join me on this new journey,” he wrote.
YouTube offers four types of creator awards based on subscriber count: Silver for 100,000 subscribers, Gold for 1 million, Diamond for 10 million, and Red Diamond for 100 million, which is the highest award. To qualify for these awards, a channel must be free of community guidelines violations for the past year, adhere to YouTube’s terms of service, and maintain original content. Channels with deceptive, spammy, or scam content, or those suspended from the YouTube Partner Program, are ineligible.
YouTube’s policy specifies that creator awards are for personal use only and cannot be sold or distributed outside the channel team. Violating this policy may result in disciplinary actions, including the forfeiture of the award, disqualification from future awards, and possible termination of the YouTube or Google account.
A present for my family ❤️ Thank you to all the SIUUUbscribers! ➡️ https://t.co/d6RaDnAgEW pic.twitter.com/keWtHU64d7
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) August 21, 2024
Reaching 1 million subscribers is a significant milestone on YouTube, often enabling creators to earn a full-time income from the platform. Creators generate revenue in various ways, with advertising income being a major component.
For instance, Nate O’Brien, who has over 1 million subscribers, earned $440,000 (approximately Sh58 million) from YouTube in one year. His monthly earnings ranged from $14,600 (about Sh1.9 million) to $54,600 (around Sh7.2 million).
To start earning money on YouTube, creators must apply for the Partner Program and meet specific criteria: having 500 subscribers, three public uploads in the past 90 days, and either 3,000 watch hours in the past year or 3 million YouTube Shorts views in the last 90 days. Once accepted, they can earn through channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks, and YouTube Shopping for product promotions.
For AdSense revenue, creators need to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past year. Key metrics for YouTube earnings include CPM (cost per 1,000 ad views) and RPM (revenue per 1,000 video views after YouTube’s share).
