How this calculator works
The calculator has two directions. Estimate earnings answers "what would these views pay?": pick a niche preset (or type your own RPM) and it multiplies views by RPM. Find my RPM / CPM answers "what is my channel actually earning per thousand views?": paste your earnings and views from YouTube Studio and it computes your RPM, plus an estimated advertiser CPM if you know your ad impressions. Everything recalculates as you type.
The formulas
The CPM line divides by 0.55 because creators keep 55% of watch-page ad revenue — the CPM advertisers actually paid is your ad earnings before YouTube's 45% cut. It is an approximation: your reported earnings can also include Premium revenue, memberships and Super Thanks, which are not ad revenue at all.
RPM vs CPM — the difference that confuses everyone
CPM (cost per mille) is an advertiser-side number: what brands pay YouTube per 1,000 ad impressions. RPM (revenue per mille) is a creator-side number: what lands in your pocket per 1,000 video views, after YouTube's cut, across all revenue sources. RPM is always lower than CPM for three reasons:
- Not every view shows an ad — ad blockers, unmonetized views, and viewers who skip before an ad loads all count as views but not impressions.
- YouTube keeps 45% of ad revenue before RPM is calculated.
- RPM averages over every view, including Shorts views if you mix formats.
So a channel can show a $20 CPM in Analytics and still have a $5 RPM. Both are correct; they measure different things. When someone quotes "YouTube pays $X per 1,000 views", they almost always mean RPM.
How the 55/45 split works
For long-form videos, YouTube pays creators 55% of the ad revenue their watch pages generate and keeps 45% — the standard YouTube Partner Program terms. Shorts work differently: ad revenue from the Shorts feed goes into a shared creator pool, music licensing costs come off the top, and creators receive 45% of their allocation based on their share of total Shorts views. That pooled model, combined with how many Shorts a viewer flicks through per session, is why Shorts RPM is measured in cents rather than dollars.
RPM benchmarks by niche (2026)
These are directional ranges for long-form video compiled from published 2026 creator data — individual channels vary widely. The "US-heavy" column assumes most viewers are in the US, UK, Canada or Australia; "global mix" assumes a broad worldwide audience.
| Niche | Typical RPM (US-heavy) | Typical RPM (global mix) | 100k views ≈ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance & investing | $10 – $16.50 | $5 – $10 | $1,000 – $1,650 |
| Business & marketing | $8 – $14 | $4 – $8 | $800 – $1,400 |
| Tech & software | $6 – $9 | $1.50 – $6 | $600 – $900 |
| Education | $4 – $7 | $2.75 – $5 | $400 – $700 |
| Health & fitness | $3.50 – $5.50 | $2 – $4 | $350 – $550 |
| Travel | $3 – $5 | $1.50 – $3.50 | $300 – $500 |
| Beauty & fashion | $2.50 – $5 | $1.40 – $3 | $250 – $500 |
| Entertainment & vlogs | $2 – $4 | $1 – $2.50 | $200 – $400 |
| Gaming | $2 – $3.30 | $0.90 – $2 | $200 – $330 |
| Music | $1 – $1.50 | $0.50 – $1 | $100 – $150 |
| Shorts (any niche) | $0.05 – $0.08 | $0.01 – $0.05 | $1 – $8 |
RPM by audience country (2026)
Geography moves the needle as much as niche does, because advertisers bid on audiences, not creators. Approximate average CPM/RPM by viewer country, per Lenostube's 2026 data:
| Viewer country | Avg. CPM | Avg. RPM |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | $36.21 | $11.95 |
| United States | $32.75 | $10.81 |
| Canada | $29.15 | $9.62 |
| United Kingdom | $21.59 | $7.12 |
| Germany | $18.79 | $6.20 |
| India | $0.83 | $0.46 |
| Pakistan | $0.36 | $0.20 |
The spread is brutal: the same video earns roughly 20–50× more per US or Australian view than per South Asian view. Channels that publish in English and rank in Tier-1 search results capture most of the upside without changing their content.
Why RPM varies so much
- Advertiser demand. A credit-card company will pay $40+ CPM to reach someone researching loans; a mobile-game advertiser pays a few dollars to reach teenagers.
- Video length. Videos over 8 minutes can run mid-roll ads, often doubling ad impressions per view.
- Seasonality. Q4 (October–December) budgets push CPMs to their annual peak; January routinely drops RPM 30–50% overnight.
- Ad suitability. Content flagged limited-ads (profanity, controversy, tragedy) monetizes a fraction of its views.
- Format mix. Every Shorts view is averaged into channel-wide RPM, so a viral Short can make a healthy channel's RPM look like it collapsed.
Worked examples
Example 1 — what 100,000 views earn across niches
Take the same 100,000 long-form views with a US-heavy audience. A finance channel at a $15 RPM earns 100,000 ÷ 1,000 × 15 = $1,500. A gaming channel at a $2 RPM earns 100,000 ÷ 1,000 × 2 = $200 — same effort, 7.5× less revenue. The identical views delivered as Shorts at a $0.05 RPM pay 100 × 0.05 = $5. This is why "how much does YouTube pay per view?" has no single answer: here it spans $0.00005 to $0.015 per view.
Example 2 — finding your real RPM and CPM
Suppose YouTube Studio shows $520 earned on 148,000 views last month. RPM = 520 ÷ 148,000 × 1,000 = $3.51 — typical for entertainment content with a mixed audience. If Advanced Analytics shows 92,000 ad impressions, the advertiser-side CPM ≈ (520 ÷ 0.55) ÷ 92,000 × 1,000 = $10.28, and YouTube's 45% share of that ad revenue was about $425. Notice the CPM is nearly 3× the RPM: 45% went to YouTube, and roughly 4 in 10 views never showed an ad.
This tool is for planning and education only — it is not financial advice, and no calculator can predict your channel's actual payout.
FAQ
What is a good RPM on YouTube?
For long-form videos with a mostly US/UK/Canada audience, $4–$10 RPM is a healthy range for most niches. Finance and business channels commonly see $10–$16+, while gaming and broad entertainment often sit at $1–$3. A globally mixed audience typically halves these numbers or more. Shorts are a different world entirely: around $0.01–$0.08 RPM.
What is the difference between RPM and CPM?
CPM (cost per mille) is what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions, before YouTube takes its share. RPM (revenue per mille) is what you actually receive per 1,000 video views, after YouTube's 45% cut, and it includes all revenue sources shown in YouTube Analytics. RPM is always lower than CPM because not every view shows an ad and YouTube keeps 45% of ad revenue.
How much does YouTube pay for 100,000 views?
It depends almost entirely on niche and audience geography. At a $2 RPM (gaming, global audience) 100,000 views earn about $200. At an $8 RPM (tech, US-heavy audience) they earn about $800. At a $15 RPM (finance) they earn about $1,500. The same 100,000 views as Shorts, at a $0.05 RPM, earn roughly $5.
Why is my RPM so low?
The usual causes are a large share of views from low-CPM countries, a niche advertisers pay little for, videos under 8 minutes (no mid-roll ads), a high proportion of Shorts views diluting the average, limited ad suitability on your content, or seasonality — advertiser budgets dip sharply every January.
Do YouTube Shorts have a lower RPM than long-form videos?
Yes, dramatically. Shorts RPM typically runs $0.01–$0.08 per 1,000 views versus $2–$15+ for long-form. Cross-channel studies put Shorts RPM at roughly 3–14% of long-form RPM in the same niche, meaning it can take 10,000–30,000 Shorts views to earn what 1,000 long-form views pay.
Does this calculator show my exact YouTube earnings?
No — it is an estimate based on the RPM you enter. Your true RPM is in YouTube Studio under Analytics → Revenue, and it moves month to month with seasonality, ad formats, and audience mix. Use the benchmarks here for planning, not as a guarantee, and check YouTube Analytics for your real numbers.