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On February 5th, 2018
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we accidentally saw
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just how much Marques Brownlee makes per month from YouTube Ads.
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He released a video showing his phone
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without realising that he accidentally showed his YouTube analytics.
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Before he managed to remove it, We managed to make a copy of it.
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This will be the first invaluable piece of our puzzle
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as we set out to find out how much MKBHD earns.
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Let's begin by calculating his Cost Per View
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we do this by dividing his estimated revenue, by the total number of views shown on his phone.
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In January 2018 he made 0.0018 cents per view, or 1.86$ for every 1000 views on his channel.
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It's not a bad start, but how much does MKBHD make from YouTube's ad revenue in a year?
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Well, now that we know his Cost Per View, we can get a pretty accurate idea.
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Let's take his total number of views for the last 12 months from the day of making this video,
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multiply it by our Cost Per View,
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and we get $1 031 538 dollars.
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This is how much ad revenue he is left with after 12 months,
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and I say left with because Google took a 45% cut.
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If we also take Google's cut into into account,
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MKBHD's channel made a total of $1 875 523 in ad revenue,
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with Google taking 843 thousand dollars.
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But we all know that Marques also makes money from selling his merchandise,
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like t-shirts and hoodies from a company called Cotton Bureau,
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sponsorships and commissions from his affiliate links.
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So, lets dig deeper and find out exactly how much MKBHD makes in TOTAL.
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This, is where the second piece of our puzzle comes into play:
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a snippet from Marques' interview from March 21st, 2019 where he says,
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that his yearly Ad Revenue which we already calculated,
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makes up (Marques speaks) "40-50%" of his total revenue.
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Since he still hasn't yet launched his secret business which I'll reveal somewhere at the end of this video,
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It's safe to assume that this ratio is still the same in 2020.
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With this information, let's take his Ad Revenue earnings for the last 12 months
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and calculate what his total revenue would be if they made up either a 40 or 50 percent share like he said.
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Assuming his CPV and the revenue ratio remains the same,
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2.06 - 2.58m million US dollars
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is an accurate estimate of how much MKBHD earns in 1 year
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from YouTube advertisements, sponsorships, merchandise and affiliate links.
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But REVENUE is not PROFIT!
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this isn't how much money he actually keeps.
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Apart from Google's cut, his still has expenses, such as salaries for his full-time and part-time staff,
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new video gear and travel costs.
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To get an estimate for his expenses,
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lets go ahead and find the average salary for the entry level equivalent of the positions his staff have.
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and, assume that he needs another 150k for his part-time staff and all other expenses.
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If we round up 147 to 150, we have total yearly expenses of 300 thousand dollars.
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Now before you think to yourself WOW, that's still a ton of money!
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lets not forget the TAX MAN, shall we?
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Taking into count that he's based in New Jersey,
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he will have to pay federal income tax, state income tax and Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax,
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he'll have to pay between 803 thousand - 1.052 million dollars IN TAXES.
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So how much does Marques Brownlee make in total per year
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after Google, after Tax and after business expenses?
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Well
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He started off with a total yearly revenue of 2.9 - 3.4 million USD
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He spent an average of 300K on business expenses
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Google took 843K
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And the Tax Man took 803 - 1.05 million dollars.
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Leaving him with a total profit between 960 - 1.22 million dollars.
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Wondering what he spends his money on?
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Well, Marques actually pays himself a small amount of this and chooses to reinvest a lot of it back into the business
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to keep improving the videos he makes for us.
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What's are some of the things he buys with all the money?
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Say hello to MIA
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his camera robot that costs an astonishing 150 thousand dollars.
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This is actually not a lot taking into count
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that Marques Brownlee is one of the biggest, most reputable and influential tech reviewers in the world
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who's been perfecting his craft for 11 consecutive years
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regardless of having started with 3 years of slow growth
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and being rejected 3 times by YouTube to join the partnership program.
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It's time for the long awaited secret reveal for those who stayed until the end of the video
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On September 16th, 2015
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Marques Brownlee filed to register the „MKBHD“ trademark
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to be used on cell phone cases, namely, cell phone covers.
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Given his huge audience,
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when he starts this business,
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you can be sure that his youtube ads will be a much smaller share of his total earnings.
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Thank you watching!
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when I release data driven insights on how famous YouTubers like MKBHD became successful.