How to Monetise Your Adventure Channel

You’ve grown your audience. You have consistent viewership and ongoing consistent growth. You’re in the happy spot where it’s very likely you’ll “make it”, albeit with some time.

Now it’s time to think about how you monetise.

If you haven’t already, read this article where I do a massive reframe of monetising your adventure channel.

Ad Revenue

As of when I write this article, you need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours within a 365-day period to get monetised on YouTube. Less than 10% of channels will ever be eligible to join the YouTube Partner Program.

But don’t be disheartened! In my not-so-humble opinion, aiming for monetisation on YouTube is the biggest BS way to monetise. Read this article to understand my reasoning.

I’ve been monetised twice. At the height of my first channel, I got 118,000 views per month and made $721usd a month. At the height of my current channel, I got 20,496 views and made $58.12usd a month.

Don’t get me wrong, its a nice little check I get every once in a while. But there is ZERO chance I will ever include it in the income I rely on.

Why?

Did you know sailing’s second biggest channel, Sailing SV Delos, was demonetised last year? They were able to fight it, but lost months of income. Sailing Catalpa was demonetised a few years ago on a previous channel. They didn’t get remonetised, and their current channel is actually a second channel they re-started on. And myself, I got completely demonetised on my old channel in January thanks to an angry ex. All he had to do was go through and report my videos for privacy concerns, and overnight I was demonetised. I’ve been appealing it for months, and even though I can prove my case, I can’t get any contact with someone to actually talk to.

I could give you numerous examples of accounts getting demonetised on not only YouTube, but any “algorithmic” platform – any platform where you don’t have ownership over your viewer “assets” and your posts are found via an algorithm. Having a list of emails would be a viewership asset that you own because no one can take those emails away from you and your emails go straight to their inbox.

Please, NEVER rely on an income from an algorithmic platform. FYI: another name for algorithmic platform is “discovery platform”. A newsletter email list would be called a “relationship platform”.

Patreon

Typically speaking, once a channel has become monetised on YouTube, they use that as a sign that they have enough viewership who would be willing to support them. By far the most common way to monetise a YouTube Adventure Channel is to create a membership on Patreon or a similar platform such as Creator’s Wheelhouse.

99% of channels will never be financially sustainable this way.

Why? Because they don’t have clarity around how they are adding value to their audience. They have no clear direction for where they are taking their audience. That lack of direction only works for the 1% who have the entire “vlogger formula” and monetise around exclusive access to themselves. You’ll know pretty fast if that’s you or not.

If you want your Patreon to be successful, you need to get crystal clear about what you are achieving for your audience. The problem I face when I ask channels I coach how they are helping their audience is that I get answers like this:

• “They get one-on-one access to me.”
• “They get behind the scenes content.”
• “I give them more personal and live updates.”

But these responses are not spelling out how you help your audience.

Instead, let’s assume an example where you have clarity on how you are helping your audience. Your overarching goal is to get people out sailing fulltime, so you give them these benefits:

• “They get one-on-one access to ask questions about full time sailing & get support.”
• “They get access to a supportive community who is also interested in sailing full time.”
• “I give them more personal and live updates that show what it’s really like to be a fulltime sailor.”

Suddenly, with that clarity on what you are trying to achieve for your audience, you have clarity on how to advertise your Patreon, what events to hold inside your Patreon, and what info snippets to give. You also have clarity about what type of information wouldn’t be interesting or relevant for them.

Affiliate Marketing & Sponsorship

I group these two together because in both instances, an external agency has control over your income. Following along the same lines of Patreon, you want to get clear about how these partnerships will serve your audience. What are you helping them work towards?

If you spend any time in the comments section of your favorite adventure YouTubers, you’ll see comments complaining about them advertising for Better Help or Athletic Greens. The reason why this pisses off so many viewers is because its often unrelated to what the creator has signaled they are achieving for their audience.

Let’s say for example that you are trying to get your audience out on 4WD adventures. Items such a beefy hiking shoes, hiking clothes, outdoor gadgets, and rooftop tents are all items that would help your audience achieve their goal of getting outside and adventuring. But if you’re casually cruising around Greece and checking out gorgeous anchorages in the warm summer, it’s probably going to piss off your audience that you’re advertising Better Help, which is a website that provides mental health services.

There’s a weird line though. Most of us are showing our lives as vloggers, so if you are genuinely using Better Help, then speaking to that can be authentic. But if you are showing episode after episode of you happily exploring, then even if it is authentic that you are using Better Help, it’s not going to resonate with your audience and they will start to feel like you are “selling out”. Your content is matching the product you are trying to sell.

It’s interesting because I saw one creator get a good deal with Athletic Greens, a deal which would allow them two months of expenses. They were frustrated that their audience felt they had sold out. They thought, “If our audience truly supports us, shouldn’t they be happy we are able to support ourselves for two more months?!” Well yes, and no.

90 percent of you audience aren’t your core supporters, and they are there for themselves, not you. You would be alienating this part of your audience and breaking trust if you took deals not aligned with your message.

Think of trust like a glass of water. Every time you do something 100% for your audience, you are filling the cup. Anytime you do something for yourself, you are taking from the cup. Trust is the currency of YouTube.

Branded Gear

I feel like you know what I’m going to say by now. Does it help your audience goals? If not, then not worth your time. I think for the several hours of work I did, I sold a handful of t-shirts. By the way, by “branded gear”, I mean t-shirts, flags, backpacks, and other gear that has your logo and tagline on it.

You see, there are two types of people who will buy your branded gear. It’s your core supporters who want to see you grow. They understand that wearing your gear not only gives you an income, but it also gets some eyes on your logo. They are awesome people and deserve a massive thank you.

And then there’s people who want to be part of a tribe. They buy your branded gear because they want to be seen and recognised by other people who know your logo. They want to identify their tribe.

The problem with this second group is that it only works as a money-generating activity if you’re a big creator or a creator with a very very loyal following. You see, in order for people to want to be part of your tribe, they need to believe there’s a big enough and tight enough tribe out there to make the cost worth it. They need to think the chances of your logo being seen and recognised is possible. How else can they find their tribe?

If you are a small creator, the likelihood of generating enough income just to cover the hours it takes to put the shop together is very small. That said, if you’re aiming for a big loyal tribe, it helps move your audience towards their goals, and you believe you will get there, start right away. Get your logo out there.

However, I don’t think this is the best use of your time…

A Better Way

I think there is a much better way to monetise your channel. You already know that I run this newsletter, a podcast, and now a course. That is one income stream I planned out, and now I am planning another that is more focused on my adventure vlog.

I want to walk the Te Araroa Trail, which is a 3,000km trail across all of New Zealand, which takes 4 months to walk.

As I do in my course, I went through an Audience Journey Map. I start with my goal to get my audience from being just curious about the trail all the way through to feeling fully informed and confident they could do the trail. That’s the journey I am taking them on.

This is what an Audience Journey Map looks like. Purple represents the stage of the journey. The sticky notes represent if they are experiencing a positive or negative emotion at that stage. The green cells below the purple represent ways I can serve my audience at each stage of the journey.

Because I am clear about each stage of the journey, I am also able to get clear on what they may be FEELING at each stage of the journey. For example, when someone first gets the idea to take on such a big goal, they are excited. At the same time, they know they need to do a lot of research. But once they do heaps of research, it becomes very clear how much information is out there, and then they get overwhelmed.

Knowing that my audience will get to that overwhelmed stage, I am creating a PDF checklist to make it clear in what order and how they should prepare, including fitness, safety, gear, food, accommodation, etc. I will make videos that touch on these topics and then point my audience to my Patreon where they can get full access to my checklists.

Let’s try another. I know my audience will need gear. So, I am going to do heaps of research about what brands I should work with, and then try to get them as sponsors or affiliate links. I’m going to make videos about the research I’ve done, why I believe in the gear I’ve chosen, and then I am going to point my audience towards those brands.

And finally, let’s say that I’ve convinced a few people that the trail is worth it. They are going to make the leap. But they don’t want to do it alone. So, I make a video showing all the Patrons I’ve met here in New Zealand and all the cool things we do together. I then point my audience towards my Patreon where I tell them they will get a supportive community of like-minded people. Once they join, I add them to my WhatsApp group where I have a constant daily chat going on, and I plan happy hours and hikes where we all meet here in New Zealand.

Clarity

As you can see, once you get clarity on where you are taking your audience, it is clear which monetisation options can serve them. It also becomes clear how to use those monetisation options to attract and retain them. In our industry, having a service mindset is what allows you to monetise. So do you have clarity on how you are serving your audience? If not, I recommend going through the questions below.

Action

Ask yourself:

• What journey are you taking your audience on? If they were to watch every video on your channel, what new skill, feeling, or knowledge would they have? What would they be able to do as a result of having that new thing?
• Now that you know where you are taking your audience, what does each stage of their journey look like?
  • Don’t overcomplicate it here. If they are becoming fulltime sailors for example, keep it as simple as, “They are interested>They do research> they search for boats >they find boat”. If you overcomplicate it, you’re going to get stuck in whether or not you’re do it right.
• What product, service, or other thing can you provide that would help your audience get through each stage of their journey? What video can you make that will bring awareness to what you are providing?