Until I read this story in the New York Times, I never thought of YouTube as a way to make money online. The story is about Michael Buckley, a 33 year-old comedian from Connecticut and founder of YouTube comedy show, What the Buck?. Buckley is a member of the YouTube Partner Program, a relatively new revenue sharing program. After his comedy show started bringing in more through the Partner Program than his job as an administrative assistant, Buckley quit and started working on the show full time. Buckley posts 3 times a week, and each episode has an average of 200,000 views. What the Buck? currently brings in more than $100,000 a year.

YouTube’s Partner Program works by putting ads inside and around your videos. YouTube makes money when users click on the ads, and they split a percentage of the profits with you. The ads inside the videos, called layovers, have the added benefit of generating revenue if a third party places the video on their site. YouTube has always let third parties host their videos but until they implemented layover ads, they had no way profiting from this arrangement.

Apply to the YouTube Partner Program.

Watch What theBuck? on YouTube.