HOW DO YOU GET PAID FOR YOUTUBE CONTENT? YouTube pays content producers based on: (1) Number of views [instead of likes]; (2) geolocation where viewer is watching from [I.e. you get paid more if you [if video is inappropriate, you earn less as companies don’t want to put their ads on your video]; and (4) number of ads on the video. Following are the top YouTubers, based on latest data available: