How the calculator works
YouTube pays creators per 1,000 views. That number is called RPM (revenue per mille), and it’s what you actually take home after YouTube keeps its 45% share of the ad revenue. The formula is simple: monthly views × RPM ÷ 1,000.
The hard part is knowing your RPM. It depends mostly on who advertises next to your videos. A finance channel attracts banks, brokers and software companies that pay a lot per click, so its RPM is several times higher than a gaming or music channel. That’s why we ask for your niche: each of our 125 niches belongs to a category with its own RPM range, and the calculator shows the low and high end of that range instead of one made-up number.
An example
Say your personal finance channel gets 100,000 views a month. Finance RPM sits around $7.70 to $19.25, so you’d earn roughly $770 to $1,925 a month, or $9,240 to $23,100 a year. The same 100,000 views on a gaming channel (RPM $0.80 to $2) would bring $80 to $200. Same work, very different paycheck: picking the niche matters as much as getting the views.
Why Shorts pay so much less
Shorts revenue comes from a shared pool that’s split between creators by their share of Shorts views. In practice, Shorts earn about $0.04 to $0.10 per 1,000 views whatever the topic, so a million Shorts views pays roughly what 10,000 long-form finance views do. Shorts are great for growth; long videos pay the bills.
What moves your real RPM
Audience country: viewers in the US, UK, Germany and Canada are worth several times more than viewers in lower-income markets. Video length: videos over 8 minutes can carry mid-roll ads. Season: advertisers spend heavily from October to December and pull back in January. Audience age: adult, higher-income viewers earn far more than kids’ content, which can’t show personalized ads.
How to raise your RPM
Make longer videos: anything over 8 minutes can carry mid-roll ads, so each viewer sees more of them. Speak to an audience with buying power: English, German and French content often earns a higher RPM than content in lower-income markets. Lean toward topics advertisers love: software, money, health and education attract pricier ads than pure entertainment. And keep people watching: the longer the watch time, the more ads get shown.
Ad revenue isn’t the only income
On most big channels, ad revenue is half of total earnings or less. Sponsorships, affiliate links, channel memberships, Super Thanks and your own products can earn far more from the same views. This calculator only shows YouTube’s ad share, so your real income is usually higher.
Frequently asked questions
How much does YouTube pay per 1,000 views?
Most long-form channels earn between $1 and $20 per 1,000 views (RPM). Finance, business and tech sit at the top; gaming, music, kids and sleep content at the bottom. Shorts earn about $0.04 to $0.10.
How many views do you need to make $1,000 a month?
It depends on the niche. At a $10 RPM you need about 100,000 monthly views; at a $2 RPM you need around 500,000. Use the calculator to see the range for your niche.
Do I need to be monetized first?
Yes. Ad revenue starts once you join the YouTube Partner Program: 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 public watch hours in 12 months, or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days. See how close a channel is with our monetization checker.
How accurate is the estimate?
It’s a range, not a promise. Your exact RPM shows up in YouTube Studio once you’re monetized. We use conservative category ranges checked against real channels, so most channels land inside the range.
How much do 1 million views pay?
On long videos, roughly $600 to $19,000 depending on the niche, with sleep and kids content at the low end and finance at the top. A million Shorts views pays about $40 to $100.
Does YouTube pay per subscriber?
No. YouTube pays for the ads shown on your views, not for subscribers. Subscribers matter for qualifying for monetization and for getting the first views on each new video.