“How much does YouTube pay per 1,000 views?” is a bit like asking how much a taxi costs. It depends where you’re going, when and who’s driving.
The honest answer is a range, and your own analytics hold the best number. This YouTube ad revenue calculator turns your views and your RPM into an estimate of what you earn a day, a month and a year. If you only know CPM, it can work from that instead.
How to use the YouTube Ad Revenue Calculator#
- Enter your monthly views. Use the views your videos get in a typical month.
- Choose RPM or CPM. Pick RPM if you can read it in YouTube Studio. Pick CPM to estimate from advertiser prices.
- Fill in the matching fields. RPM needs one number. CPM also needs the monetized playback rate and your revenue share.
- Read the result. You see the monthly, yearly and daily estimate plus your effective RPM.
RPM versus CPM#
These two get swapped constantly, and they measure different things.
- CPM is what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions, before YouTube takes its cut and counting only the views that actually show an ad.
- RPM is what you actually earn per 1,000 total views, after YouTube’s share and counting views with no ad as well.
RPM is always lower than CPM, and it’s the number to use if you can find it, because it already includes everything. You’ll find it in YouTube Studio under Analytics and then Revenue.
Two worked examples#
If you know your RPM. You get 100,000 views a month and your RPM is $4. Revenue is 100,000 ÷ 1,000 × $4 = $400 a month, which is about $4,800 a year.
If you only know your CPM. Same 100,000 views, but now you know advertisers pay a CPM of $8 and 60 percent of your views show an ad. Creators keep 55 percent of long-form ad revenue.
- Monetized views: 100,000 × 60% = 60,000
- Gross ad revenue: 60,000 ÷ 1,000 × $8 = $480
- Your share at 55%: $264
Dividing $264 by 100,000 views and multiplying by 1,000 gives an effective RPM of $2.64, which shows how far RPM can sit below CPM.
What moves your RPM#
- Where your viewers live. Advertisers pay more to reach audiences in some countries than others.
- Topic. Finance, software and business content tends to earn more than gaming or general entertainment.
- Video length. Videos over about eight minutes can carry mid-roll ads, which adds ad slots.
- Time of year. Ad spending usually climbs towards the end of the year and drops in the new year.
- Format. Shorts are paid from a shared pool and usually earn far less per view than long videos.
What different RPMs look like#
Here’s a channel with 100,000 monthly views at a range of RPMs. These are examples for scale, not predictions for your channel:
| RPM | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| $1 | $100 | $1,200 |
| $2 | $200 | $2,400 |
| $4 | $400 | $4,800 |
| $8 | $800 | $9,600 |
The spread from $1 to $8 is why one channel can live on its ad revenue and another with the same views can’t.
Before you can earn from ads at all#
You need to be in the YouTube Partner Program first. Until 31 January 2027, full ad revenue needs 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 public watch hours in 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days. YouTube announced on 10 August 2026 that new applicants from 1 February 2027 will need 1,000 subscribers plus 8,000 qualified watch hours in 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days. Channels already in the program are not affected. Our YouTube watch time calculator shows how many views that means for you, and whether you can beat the deadline.
Shorts revenue also changes for partners. From 1 February 2027, a channel needs 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days to earn ad and subscription revenue on Shorts. Below that line it stays in the program and keeps earning on long-form videos.
Ads are only one income stream, too. Many smaller channels earn more from sponsorships, affiliate links or their own products than from ad revenue.
Checking your own numbers#
The most accurate way to estimate ad revenue is to take the figure from YouTube Studio for the last 28 days and divide by views to find your RPM. Use that in the calculator for next month’s forecast. Watch the effect of seasons: the fourth quarter usually pays more, and January less. Videos with longer watch times can carry more ad breaks, and the topic of the channel changes the rate advertisers will pay.
Frequently asked questions#
There’s no fixed rate. Creators see anything from around $1 to well above $10 per 1,000 views, depending on audience, topic and season. Your RPM in YouTube Studio is the number that matters.
At an RPM of $4, 1 million views earns about $4,000. At $1 it is $1,000 and at $8 it is $8,000.
CPM is what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions. RPM is what you earn per 1,000 total views after YouTube takes its share, so it’s lower.
YouTube has publicly described a 55 percent creator share for long-form video ads. Shorts work differently, with revenue shared from a pool.
No. You’re paid when ads are shown and watched, not simply for a view. Monetized playbacks are the ones that count.
Sources and further reading#
- YouTube Blog: New opportunities to earn and changes to the YouTube Partner Program (Aug 10, 2026). The official announcement of the 8,000 hour and 20 million Shorts view thresholds.
- YouTube Blog: What counts as qualified watch hours and Shorts views. YouTube’s list of what counts as a qualified watch hour or Shorts view (Aug 12, 2026).