YouTube has long ceased to be just a platform for videos — today it is a full-fledged business tool with its own rules, risks, and opportunities. Yuliia Pryshchepa knows this from the inside: for 10 years, she has been creating content for an international audience and developing channels with millions of views.
Yuliia began her career with the words: ‘If you`re not on the internet, you`re not in business.’ Over the years, Yuliia Pryshchepa has become a leader in the niche of ducklings and fish, received several awards from YouTube, and the number of subscribers to her channel is rapidly approaching one million.
In a candid interview, Yuliia talks about why she chose YouTube, how much bloggers earn, and what helps her stay the course.
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Why did you choose YouTube specifically 10 years ago to develop your personal brand?
At that time, YouTube was the most popular platform where creators could actually earn money from their own creativity. No business could offer such high-margin profits.
A lot has changed since then. Can you say that even today YouTube remains such an attractive platform for earning?
Now it might seem like the competition is too fierce — TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook are actively competing for the audience`s attention. I personally have pages on various platforms where I constantly test my content and keep my finger on the pulse. But with full confidence, I can say that even today YouTube is unmatched! That`s my opinion.
How easy was it for you to become a YouTube blogger?
I can`t say it was easy. I often hear that you can just shoot little videos and make money from it — it sounds really appealing. It might seem simple. But unfortunately, that`s not how it works.
YouTube is a serious business, with analytics, statistics, algorithms, and other boring numbers that you have to take into account. Besides that, the process of filming and editing itself needs to be learned. Shooting and editing something so “tasty” that it becomes an interesting product in the end is no easy task.
How much time do you spend on your blogging activities?
It`s hard to say. Sometimes I take long vacations for myself. And then I might work without days off from morning till night for several months in a row. It`s not a standardized schedule. But I can afford vacations more often now because my YouTube channels are already steadily gaining views. At the beginning of my career, it required much more effort.
Do newcomers have a chance to carve out their niche on YouTube?
I think about this almost every day myself. And I continue launching new channels, projects, and testing new niches. Today it`s harder to break through, that`s true, because competition has grown. According to YouTube analysts, every minute creators upload 500 hours of video to the platform. That means it`s physically impossible to watch all the content. Nowadays, most channels on YouTube are dead.
However, the algorithms are set up in such a way that they support new content and give every video a chance. Also, it`s worth remembering that even famous and experienced bloggers drop out for various reasons.
Has there been anything similar in your personal experience, when you wanted to quit?
Yes. Besides blogging, there`s also personal life and life around you. I`m an ordinary person. I get sick, I get tired, I go through certain events. The popular word “burnout” is familiar to me too. To become a successful blogger, you have to put in a lot of effort. It`s exhausting. That`s the price of success.
But you managed to achieve success — you confirmed your professionalism several times with awards from YouTube. What personal qualities do you think helped you succeed?
The first thing that comes to mind is stubbornness. But understand, it`s not just one specific thing — it`s a cocktail of love for what I do, faith in success, persistent work, thirst for knowledge, curiosity about the world around me, and the desire to satisfy viewers. Remove even one of these “ingredients,” and the magic won`t work!
You need to listen to your inner calling and follow it. I believe that every person, from the moment of birth, already possesses certain qualities that can be developed. And this set is unique for each person.
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There are many creative people around, but not many achieve success. What do you think is the reason?
Stubbornness. They lack stubbornness. And seriously, many people approach their work, as they say, with their sleeves rolled down — they fantasize more, do less, don`t want to dive into the complexities of analytics. Numbers scare creative people. Don`t they?
Indeed, there`s an opinion that creative and analytical people are like sitting on different benches. Since we`ve already touched on numbers, how much do you earn per 1,000 views on YouTube?
It depends on many factors. There`s no fixed rate. It`s also important to note that they don`t pay for 1,000 actual views, but only for those where ads were shown. Such views are called monetized. The figures range from 10 cents to 40 dollars. The niche, audience, season, and trends — all of this matters.
How many views do you have?
One of my active channels, called Fish Surprise, currently has over 306 million views. Another channel, Funny Ducklings, has over 89 million views. My third channel, Plush Kittens, has over 24 million views.
You say they pay not for actual views, but only for those with ads. Is the difference significant?
Yes, unfortunately. Because if they paid for actual 1,000 views, it`s not hard to calculate how much I would have earned by now, even taking the minimum of 10 cents per 1,000 views. However, I can`t complain, because even the actual earnings from YouTube break records and can be compared to earnings in other business sectors.
For example, one of the channels has brought me over 400 thousand dollars in total. The second — over 145 thousand dollars. I`m lifting the veil a bit here just to show that YouTube is not just entertainment; it`s a fundamental earning tool that allows you to provide a comfortable life for yourself and your family.
And what about your personal life? Do you have time to live?
And why do you think my profession isn`t living? I adore my profession and live through the entire process of creating videos: from the birth of an idea in my head to its realization and getting the result. But as for personal matters, I`ll leave a bit of intrigue, because I plan to write a book where there will be many achievements as well as disappointments.
Text: Anna Bila
