The number of Kenyan content creators earning seven-figure monthly paycheques directly from YouTube has jumped 60 percent since 2022, according to Alex Okosi, the managing director for Africa at Google and YouTube Emerging Markets.
The surge has been greatly fuelled by a habit where Kenyans are watching Kenyan content, with the country ranking as Africa’s leading consumer of its own homegrown content on YouTube. This, in turn, has been translating into revenue for the creators.
Last September, YouTube revealed it had paid creators over $100 million (nearly Sh13 billion) since 2021.
In 2021, Alphabet, YouTube’s parent company, reported $28.8 billion in advertising revenue, paying $15 billion to creators globally. Under YouTube’s revenue-sharing model, the platform takes 45 percent, while 55 percent goes straight to the creator.
One beneficiary of this boom is James Mutembei, the man behind the popular Mutembei TV, a YouTube channel focused on local news and politics. He launched the channel in August 2019.
At least Sh300,000 monthly
His first earnings from the channel, which has amassed 906,000 subscribers, were Sh157,000, and since then, he has never made anything below Sh300,000 a month. Along the way, the channel has grown into a small newsroom, employing seven people to help produce content consistently.
“My reason to start a news channel was to fight poverty. Poverty can make you do things that you never thought of. When I was employed, the salary was not enough, and that challenged me to think outside the box. That is how I got here,” he says.
With more Kenyan creators flooding YouTube, many borrowing from each other’s formats, a familiar debate has emerged of how easy or hard it is to make money on YouTube.
For Mutembei, the answer is obvious. “The hack is understanding your viewer’s interest and matching it. If you have the right content, people will come. If you check YouTube, I almost always have a video in the top 10 trending in the country. I just produce the right content, at the right time, consistently. Stick to that, and people will join you and the money follows,” he adds.
But online comedian Andrew Duncan Oduor, alias 2Mbili, sees things differently. 2Mbili runs three active YouTube channels that focus on Lifestyle, Too Personal with 2Mbili, Everything Cars with 2Mbili and 2Mbili TV, and from his seat, the surge of creators has thinned out earnings.
“YouTube isn’t as lucrative as it was a few years ago. Earnings have dropped drastically. Many people have shifted to YouTube Shorts. Longer videos aren’t as attractive anymore, and there’s a lot of similar content out there. It’s become monotonous,” he says.
Since YouTube pays largely based on watch time, fewer minutes watched means smaller payouts. “I’m making about a quarter less than what I made two or three years ago. Back then, many creators were buying cars and houses with YouTube money. Once the space became saturated with copycats, many legit creators slowed down or stepped back,” 2Mbili adds.
The comedian also adds that with new content creators popping up and copying the content style of already established creators, the audiences are always chasing novelty.
“It’s like getting a new cloth, you want to wear it all the time,” he adds.
Revenue strategy
For filmmaker and scriptwriter Abel Mutua, YouTube is less a cash cow and more of a revenue strategy. His Mkurugenzi channel, a storytelling platform, boasts 891,000 subscribers, with an average of 200,000 views per video.
The 38-year-old, who rose to fame on Tahidi High, says the channel earns him a decent amount, just not enough to leave him with some pocket change.
“The money I get from YouTube is not bad, but my staff is huge. I have a payroll of 14 guys from YouTube, I don’t remain with anything made from YouTube, but it is enough to ensure that everybody (workforce) has been fed (paid),” Abel reveals.
The real payoff for him comes indirectly rather than directly from YouTube. With the growing audience he has been able to attract major brands that target his community, and that is where the he makes his money.
“When a bank or DSTV comes knocking, that’s the money I take to the bank. YouTube is a tool. I invest heavily in quality storytelling because I know it will attract other income sources.”
Streaming of Abel’s content, like many other Kenyan content creators on YouTube has become a little bit of a nuisance, as often pop-up adverts interrupt viewing, which sometimes are unskippable.
Those ads are a major income stream, supplementing what YouTube pays for watch time. Creators can choose which ads run on their content and where they appear, a decision that directly affects earnings.
“When adverts are embedded on your channel, that means more money coming your way. The power to select Advert categories and at what point they appear is vested in the creator. However, some creators lose out on maximising advert revenues when they opt not to select all, or enough Ad categories to be served on their content. When that happens, the ads left out are redirected to another creator who is more accommodating,” Addy Awofisayo, YouTube Music Head Sub-Saharan Africa, explains.
Premium subscribers
YouTubers primarily make money through the YouTube Partner Programme, which allows eligible creators to monetise their content in various ways, with the advertising revenue being the most common stream.
There is also YouTube Premium. Premium subscribers watch content without ads, but creators still get paid through a shared pool of subscription revenue, distributed based on watch time.
But that is not the only pot.
There is also YouTube Premium. Premium subscribers watch content without ads, but creators still get paid through a shared pool of subscription revenue, distributed based on watch time. While there is no fixed payout, Premium views often earn more per view for highly engaged audiences.
“If you're a YouTube Premium member, you won't see ads, so we share your monthly membership fee with creators. The more videos you watch from your favourite creators, the more money they make,” explains YouTube’s Help Centre.
YouTube Premium has grown rapidly, from 18 million subscribers in 2019 to 125 million in 2025.
Creators can also earn directly through channel memberships, where fans pay a monthly fee in exchange for perks like exclusive badges, emojis and members-only content. For creators with loyal communities, this has become a powerful and reliable revenue stream.
