If you want to monetize your YouTube channel  and earn income from your videos, there are two barriers that you have to overcome:  1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewing.

At first glance, 4000 hours may seem like a very difficult challenge, but once your channel gains momentum, it is a very affordable goal. These tricks will help you get your first 4000 hours quickly so you can start monetizing your channel as soon as possible.

5 tips to get 4000 hours of viewing on YouTube

1) Upload your podcasts to YouTube

The  podcast  is a type of content that has much pull. Typically, users listen to podcasts while doing other activities, so they don’t mind the long duration. And although there are many specific podcast platforms, there are also a lot of users who listen to them through YouTube.

Therefore, if you decide to create a podcast, do not hesitate to upload it to your channel as well. You’ll have loads of minutes of potential content and views with very little extra effort.

2) Don’t be afraid of long videos

In  video marketing , there is a kind of popular belief that short videos are more effective and have more viral potential. But the truth is that more and more content creators are betting on long videos, and users are getting used to them. Therefore, do not hesitate to upload longer videos that deal with a subject in depth, always taking care that it is  quality content .

3) Make live broadcasts

Live broadcasts  do not require editing , work quite well to pique user interest, and are often long, so they are a very efficient way to add hours.

Review the metrics after each live broadcast: the higher the retention, the more minutes viewed you will be earning with each live. To increase retention, structure your live shows well, prepare the information and content that you will use during the live and answer live questions from your audience. You can define a day a week or a month for your broadcasts, and thus the audience of the channel will look forward to your live shows.

And remember that once you have finished broadcasting live, it will continue to be present on your channel if you so decide and it will continue to gain visits and minutes in the following weeks.

4) Take advantage of the topics of the moment

The  newsjacking  also works on YouTube. If you manage to be the first to publish on a current  topic , you will get a lot of views, which in turn can become subscribers and contribute to the growth of your channel in the long term.

To achieve this, you will have to be very up to date with the trends in your sector and be able to anticipate, for example, with a video of first impressions about a highly anticipated launch.

5) Experiment

On YouTube, success is not instantaneous. To give just one example, the channel “Destripando la historia” is one of the biggest viral YouTube hits in recent years in Spain, with more than 3.5 million subscribers and more than 40 million views in some videos. But before this bombing, its creators launched several YouTube channels that passed without pain or glory.

The moral: do tests, try to create different types of videos, take care of the  quality of the content  and never stop  experimenting . You will see how your first 4000 hours are closer than you thought if you are constant with your content and do not get discouraged. Do not fall into perhaps more immediate practices but that in the long run will harm your channel: create good content, be regular and follow the feedback from your audience.