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There are lots of easy side hustles that don’t require experience, a set time commitment, or a special skill. Watching videos is one of them.
Although you won’t make a ton of money, you can expect to earn a few dollars an hour while you let ads, previews, TV shows, and movies play on your smartphone or tablet.
Whether you want to pay off debt, fund a large purchase, or you’re just looking for a reasonable side hustle you can do in your spare time, watching videos online is a legitimate option for scoring extra cash.
How to Make Money Watching Videos
The easiest way to get started is to find sites and apps that provide videos for you to watch. You’ll register with the sites, agree to their terms and conditions, and perform the tasks required. Although all of these sites pay you to watch videos, some will offer other opportunities to make money by completing surveys or participating in challenges. Some even offer referral or sign-up bonuses.
You can take advantage of all relevant opportunities to maximize your earnings.
You’ll generally collect cash payouts from most sites, but some will only let you redeem your earnings for gift cards or other similar rewards.
How Much You Can Expect to Earn Watching Movies
As with most online jobs, the amount you earn depends on how much time you put in. If you watch videos daily, it is possible to earn between $100 and $200 per month across several apps and websites. If you’re inconsistent in your video-watching efforts, expect to make less. Our reviewers estimate hourly earnings to come in between $2 and $5.
While that figure may seem low, it’s worth noting that these tasks are generally completed while you are doing something else.
For example, if you’re watching football on a Saturday afternoon and you decide to open one of the apps below while the game is on, you could potentially earn $7.50 during the three-hour game. Then, during an episode of America’s Got Talent, you might earn an additional $2, bringing your total to $9.50 you earned while watching TV.
It’s not the highest-paying side hustle, but if you do that on 20 separate occasions during the month, you could earn up to $150.
13 Ways to Get Paid to Watch Videos Online
Have your tablet, laptop, or smartphone handy? Open your respective app stores or head to these sites that pay you to watch videos for money.
1. Swagbucks
Swagbucks made its debut in 2010 and has paid its users over $348 million in cash and free gift cards. To make money watching videos on Swagbucks, you can choose from over 10 categories of videos in Swagbucks Watch.
When you click on a category like entertainment, food, or fashion, you’ll find playlists that have between 15 and 30 videos and range in length from less than 30 minutes to an hour.
Every time you watch a playlist, you’ll earn points that you can redeem for gift cards or PayPal cash. If you’d like to make more money on Swagbucks, you can do other things like complete surveys, test new products, and use its search engine. it also offers a $10 sign up bonus to entice new members to join the program.
Related: Is Swagbucks Worth It? Here’s Our Official Review.
2. InboxDollars
Since it was founded in 2000, InboxDollars has paid $50 million to its members. It’s very similar to Swagbucks in that you can get paid to watch videos from a variety of categories, including movie trailers or product features and demonstrations. You can stack your earnings by playing games online, reading sponsored emails, and downloading coupons.
One additional perk of InboxDollars is that you can earn $5 in bonus cash just by opening up an account.
Related: InboxDollars Review: Pros, Cons, and Tips for Maximizing Your Earnings
3. MyPoints
With MyPoints, you can earn cash by watching videos on a desktop browser or via the MyPoints TV mobile app. To earn points you can convert to gift cards, cash, or travel points, all you need to do is select a playlist and watch it all the way through.
If you do watch videos on MyPoints, note that there is a cap; you can only earn up to 500 points per day watching videos. However, you can earn more by completing other tasks like printing coupons, playing games, or taking surveys.
MyPoints is easy to sign up for, and it offers a $10 Amazon or Visa gift card when you create an account. All you need to provide is your name and an email address.
Related: 13 Best Places to Take Paid Surveys Online
4. Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel
Nielsen is a global data analytics company that provides TV ratings. It’ll pay you $50 a year to watch anything you’d like online. All you have to do is download the app, create a username and password, and provide some basic info about yourself.
If you choose to get paid to watch videos with Nielsen TV ratings, you’ll be sending the company some of your browsing data, including which websites you visited and how long you spent on each of them.
In addition to the $50 annual payout, you may become eligible for monthly sweepstakes. The company gives away $10,000 split between 400 winners. You can also register multiple devices to earn more rewards, although it’s unclear what those extra rewards are.
Note that this is different from being a Nielsen TV family. For that program, you need to be selected, while the Computer & Mobile Panel is open to everyone 18 years old and older.
Related: 15 Legit Ways to Make Money From Your Phone
5. KashKick
The main way to earn money with KashKick is by taking paid surveys. However, KashKick users can also get paid to watch short videos and ads. Since this isn’t its primary offering, opportunities for these may be fewer than other earning activities.
When you sign up with KashKick, you’ll need to complete your profile survey. Doing so will earn you your first $1. If you qualify for video offers, you’ll find them on your “Offers” tab in your dashboard. The reward amount for each video depends on the offer, which typically ranges from $0.25 to a few dollars.
If you like KashKick, you can earn extra rewards by referring friends and family. For each person you refer, you’ll get paid 25% of what they earn.
6. Earnably
Earnably is another site that lets you earn money by watching videos. Through its partner site, Hideout.tv, you must watch both videos and a set number of ads in order to earn credits you can redeem for cash or e-gift cards. It claims the ads can be easily spotted as they look just like regular TV commercials.
In order to cash out your rewards, you need to make sure your Hideout.tv and Earnably accounts are linked, which should happen automatically once you’ve registered for both sites. However, you will need to manually transfer your points from Hideout.tv to Earnably.
You can earn extra points by referring friends and family to the site using your unique referral link. If they sign up, you’ll get 10% of everything they earn by completing offers. Your extra earnings never expire, and you can make even more from promo codes and other bonuses Earnably offers.
7. iRazoo
At iRazoo, you can watch entertaining videos and earn points to redeem for PayPal cash or gift cards. Since the inventory on iRazoo TV refreshes daily, you’ll want to check the site every day for new short films, app trailers, movie reviews, and cooking trailers.
Aside from watching videos, you can also earn money by playing games and sharing your opinions. You can even earn 100 free points just by signing up.
Related: 15 Legitimate Ways to Get Free Gift Cards for Things You Already Do
8. SuccessBux
SuccessBux boasts over 170,000 members who get paid to watch ads online.
You can also earn money by listening to the radio, answering surveys, and referring friends. The minimum payout is $1, and there’s no limit on how much you can earn. You can receive your money through PayPal or another payment processor. It’s a great option if you’re a beginner to earning money online because it offers an intuitive, hassle-free platform.
Related: 17 Places to Find Small Task or Micro Jobs
9. FusionCash
FusionCash has given out over $3 million in awards over 12 years. While it’s like many of the other sites that pay you to watch videos, it offers more payment options. You can collect payments via checks, direct deposit, or PayPal.
You’ll get a $5 bonus just for joining FusionCash. The site has an online platform that can answer all of your questions about making money through it. If you become an active contributor, you can earn an extra $3 every month.
10. CreationsRewards
With CreationsRewards, you can visit the video area of the website where you’ll see a list of videos you can watch to earn points. You’ll need to watch the video in its entirety to earn the points, but you won’t know the points value until you finish watching it. You can repeat this as often as you want as there’s no limit to how many points you can earn in a day.
Other ways to earn points include redeeming the daily bonus, taking surveys, and trying products and services. You can also refer friends and family and earn 10% of their earnings. There’s even a shopping portal where you can earn cash back and rebates when you shop online at stores like Walmart, Dunkin’ Donuts, Shutterfly, and online learning platforms like Udemy.
You can redeem your points for e-gift cards, and you must earn at least 100 points every six months for your account to remain active.
11. AdWallet
AdWallet asks users to watch videos and rewards them for their efforts. After signing up, it’ll send you a text telling you to log in to your account to watch a hand-picked short ad or video. You can earn more by taking short surveys and answering questions.
Each video is worth between $0.50 and $3. When you reach $10, you can cash out via PayPal, e-gift cards, bank transfer, or charitable donation. You can also earn an extra $1 per person you refer.
12. Netflix tagger
Although rare, you can get a job watching videos for Netflix. This job, informally known as a Netflix Tagger, involves watching the shows and movies in Netflix’s catalog and assigning the appropriate descriptive metadata. This includes objective information like the cast or how much violence is in a movie as well as compelling, subjective information to entice people to watch.
These are typically on-site, full-time positions rather than remote ones you can do in your spare time. But if you like getting paid to watch movies, it’s worth it to periodically check for openings.
Related: How and Where to Watch Movies Online for Free
Get Paid to Watch Videos in Your Spare Time
Watching videos for money is an easy side gig if you have a long commute or you’re stuck waiting at the doctor’s office. Setting a daily reminder on your phone to check for newly available videos is one way to help increase your earnings. Prioritizing the sites that have the highest return on your time is another.
Consider testing out several of these apps and websites to see which ones are most lucrative for you. And don’t forget that you can sign up for multiple sites at once, increasing your earnings even more.
