People make a living from Youtube ad payoffs so they DO pay their creators. That said, I also know it takes 17 gajillion views before they monetize, but they DO pay the content creators. Eventually.

One of my friends has a total of just over 74,000 views in total on 193 videos, some as old as 10 years of age. She did a 5 times per week stream during quarantine (From her bathroom. It was hilarious.) and many of that 193 came from that period. I doubt she has made much money from 74,000 views. I can't find anywhere how many followers she has. I don't know if Youtube pays by view, by like, by subs...

Anybody have real info on that?