So far it seems people that put forth effort here actually make more than on youtube and faster. I'm not talking Pewdiepie type millions, but the average youtube author like your friend tends to make more here. What is even cooler is you can do both. Make it for youtube, then share it here with some additional comments and such, and as long as you are engaged with the community here and not doing fire and forget posts (posting, but not engaging in comments) you can get the best of both worlds.