Ah, monetization—the art of turning your skills and assets into cold, hard cash. It’s an old concept, as old as business itself, but it’s gained new meaning and relevance in the age of ecommerce, online content, social media, and the gig economy.
Here are different meanings of monetization and how monetizing your business’s assets can earn you extra money and create a steady revenue stream.
What is monetization?
Monetization is the process of converting an asset you already own—be it online content, data, services, or a financial asset—into tangible legal tender. That’s right: money. Understanding your audience’s needs and tailoring your strategy can transform an asset into a sustainable and rewarding revenue source.
For example, you can monetize multimedia content on a website, an app, or a social media platform via advertising, subscriptions, sponsored content, or selling digital products.
How monetization works
Monetization is a way of unlocking the economic value of an asset. In other words, before you monetize your asset, it is self-contained and not producing any income—it could even be costing you money. Monetization starts when you recognize your asset’s income potential. The next step is to choose how to unleash that potential.
Your monetization strategy depends on the nature of your asset, market demand, and target audience. For example, when a real estate owner makes profit by renting out a property on Airbnb or an Uber driver uses their car to generate revenue, they’re monetizing their physical assets.
Monetization examples
- Website monetization
- App monetization
- YouTube monetization
There are many ways you can monetize digital assets like a website, an app, or a flourishing YouTube channel. Learn about some of the different ways to monetize your creative work online:
Website monetization
Your website’s value comes from the traffic it generates—the number of eyeballs visiting and consuming your content. Website owners have many options for converting content into cash:
- Advertising. Website traffic can be monetized through pay-per-click (PPC) and cost-per-impression (CPI/CPM) advertising. The advertising network placing ads on the high-traffic pages measures the effective cost per thousand impressions (eCPM) and pays the website publisher accordingly. Google Ads or AdSense are popular tools for this.
- Lead generation. Have you ever responded to a web survey, filled out an online form, or made a web inquiry? This data is often collected and sold to a business seeking new leads. The monetized asset is the user data, especially if it’s from a targeted audience intending to purchase. The ability to connect businesses with individuals who fit their ideal customer profile and have demonstrated interest in what they offer has monetary value.
- Paywalls. You can place popular site content, previously available for free, behind a paywall. You can earn revenue by charging a monthly or annual subscription or charging fees for access.
- Premium content placement. When someone wants to reach your website’s target audience to raise their profile or promote their business, they can produce content for your website and pay you to publish it.
- Cross-promotion. Cross-promotion monetization is a strategic marketing approach where businesses monetize products by partnering with other companies to promote each other’s goods or services. For example, an ecommerce clothing store might partner with a popular shoe brand, offering exclusive bundle deals on its websites, cross-promoting and monetizing each other’s products to their respective customer bases.
- Affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a performance-based monetization strategy where other companies pay you, the affiliate, commissions for promoting their products or services on your website or platform.
App monetization
Apps offer ripe opportunities for monetization. Of course, you can charge an upfront fee for users to download your app from the app store. Since iOS and Google Play apps typically cost less than $1, you can lower the barriers to entry by making your app free. Once you’ve gained users, you can explore ways to monetize the app. Here are four popular tactics:
- Advertisem*nts. Monetize your app by selling ad space—just like a website. You might then give users the option to remove the ads for a small fee.
- Subscriptions. You might offer one or more subscription tiers that add features.
- Freemium. In this case, the user downloads your free app and then buys extra functionality—including desirable enhancements, virtual currency, or keys to unlock the full version—through in-app purchases via subscriptions or one-time purchases.
- Data monetization. Monetizinginformation assets like data is similar to lead generation on websites. You collect user data legally through your app and sell it to third parties. Users must consent to this practice. Keep in mind: Data monetization doesn’t become viable for apps until they’re relatively popular.
YouTube monetization
YouTube monetization through the YouTube Partner Program offers a financial opportunity to video creators looking to earn from their video content. You can generate income through YouTube ads in your YouTube videos by adhering to YouTube monetization rules and channel monetization policies.
First, upload videos to your YouTube channel. YouTube Studio serves as your command center, offering insights and tools to optimize your content for visibility and monetization. Ad revenue payments from YouTube channels depend on watch time, video metadata, and the engagement that videos created can amass.
The YouTube creator platform requires YouTube creators to meet specific criteria before they can start earning, including a minimum amount of watch time and subscribers, as outlined in the YouTube channel monetization policies. Once you meet these thresholds, you can earn money from ads displayed in your YouTube content.
However, some viewers may choose to watch ad-free content through YouTube’s paid subscription service, which contributes to your income based on watch time. This ecosystem ensures that you have multiple videos to earn from your YouTube account, whether audiences are watching ad-supported or ad-free content.
Monetization FAQ
How do you monetize something?
Understanding monetization starts with recognizing your assets’ intrinsic value and then devising the best way to convert it into legal value (a cash stream). Popular monetization tactics include selling advertising, subscriptions, and data.
Can you monetize content?
Ways to start monetizing your content include subscriptions, pay-per-view, cross-promotion, ads, affiliate marketing, brand partnerships, tip jars, memberships, live events, and branded merchandising sales. The Montreal-based company Bonsound, for example, helps musicians monetize their work by selling branded merchandise through Shopify. Bands can offset unpredictable digital streaming revenue by selling physical products that have higher profit margins, like t-shirts and vinyl records.
What is an example of ecommerce monetization?
A great example of ecommerce monetization is Gymshark. This fitness apparel brand partners with social media influencers who promote Gymshark products. The company’s apps offer exclusive workout programs, challenges, early access to new collections, and exclusive discounts. This recurring revenue stream fosters user loyalty and engagement.
 - Shopify (2024))
