"That’s the actual screenshot from my account" - Sykkuno reveals his earnings on YouTube Shorts

During a recent stream, YouTube Gaming star Thomas "Sykkuno" provided details on how much money he earned through YouTube Shorts and showcased a screenshot of one of his highest-performing short video clips.

The clip received over 206,000 views, and the streamer gained 155 subscribers because of it. However, despite receiving hundreds of thousands of views, Sykkuno only earned $2.81 from the video. The streamer stated:

"This is the best performing one I have. 200,000 views. That's a lot of views, and I got $2.81. So that's the actual screenshot, just from my account."

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Sykkuno reveals how much he earned on YouTube Shorts, talks about how much he pays his editor

At the 13-minute mark of his November 17 broadcast, Sykkuno decided to reveal some stats about his highest-performing YouTube Short and how much money he made from it:

'Guys, let me tell you how much I've made from my YouTube Shorts. I think my highest-performing YouTube Shorts... hold on, let me check... got 200,000 views! 'The most innocent Among Us player.' 200,000 views! That's pretty good, right? 200,000 views. That's a lot of money. You guys want to know how much money I got from that?"

The Las Vegas native was initially concerned that disclosing his earnings would land him in hot water. He then mentioned that fellow YouTube Gaming streamer Ludwig had done the same thing and stated that showing the money earned was likely permitted.

Sykkuno shared a screenshot of the video analytics, which revealed that his most popular YouTube Short had earned $2.81.

The former Twitch streamer continued the conversation by stating that he had an editor who handled YouTube Shorts and mentioned how much he paid them per video:

"Here's the best part, right. I don't make my Shorts. I have an editor. So I have to pay the editor. So guess how much I make after paying someone. So basically, here's how it went. I'm just going to say the numbers because I don't know what the going rate is. But when I talked to the editor, he was like, 'Hey, I'll charge $20 for a Short.' And I was like, 'Well, that doesn't sound like a lot.' So I just told them I'll pay him double because I wanted to make sure he got paid well."

Timestamp: 00:12:46

Sykkuno stated that he loses about $37 per YouTube Short, assuming it gets over 200,000 views:

"So I paid him double what he asked for, which is $40 per Short. Which means I lose about $37 every Short, assuming I get 200,000 views every time. And some of them don't get that much. So I lose about $37 per Short, if... on my best performing Short."

The 31-year-old estimated that if the short-form video received more than one million views, he would only lose $25:

"But let's say I got a million views per Shorts. That's a lot of views, right? A million views, multiply that out, and I'll probably lose about $25 per Short if I got a million views per Shorts."

Sykkuno concluded the conversation by stating that YouTube Shorts did not pay well and that he would lose $1,000 per month if he decided to make one Short every day:

"Long story short, yeah, not really paying out too well. But I do it anyway. I obviously pay the editor well. I pay him double what he asked for. But yeah, long story short, I'm probably losing a lot of money per Short. Let's say I made one every day, I'd lose over a thousand dollars a month."

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Fans react to Sykkuno's revelation

The YouTube comments section featured a handful of fan reactions. Here's a snippet of some relevant ones:

Fans in the YouTube comments section react to Sykkuno showcasing his YouTube Shorts earnings (Image via Streamer Moments/YouTube)

One viewer, Maxtor, claimed that YouTube Shorts was basically a marketing tool that content creators primarily use to expand their reach. Another community member mentioned the prominent podcast Trash Taste getting one million views and earning $100 at most.