YouTube Money Calculator
Estimate what a channel earns from ads. Enter your monthly views and niche for a revenue range, or enter your own RPM for an exact figure.
YouTube Studio shows this under Analytics, Revenue. Using your own figure makes the result exact rather than estimated.
Estimated ad revenue
$600 – $1,500
per month
Ad revenue only. It excludes memberships, Super Thanks, shopping and sponsorships, which for many channels are larger than ads. It also assumes the channel is already in the YouTube Partner Program.
How to use this calculator
Enter monthly views
Use the last 28 days from YouTube Studio, or your own estimate.
Pick your niche
Advertisers pay very different rates by subject, so this drives the range.
Choose the format
Shorts monetise from a shared pool and pay far less per view than long-form.
Add your real RPM
Optional. If you are already monetised, this makes the result exact.
Typical RPM by niche
| Niche | Estimated RPM |
|---|---|
| Finance & investing | $12 – $30 |
| Business & marketing | $10 – $25 |
| Real estate | $8 – $20 |
| Technology & software | $6 – $15 |
| Education & how-to | $5 – $12 |
| Health & fitness | $5 – $12 |
| Beauty, fashion & travel | $4 – $10 |
| Food, cooking & DIY | $4 – $9 |
| Gaming & entertainment | $2 – $6 |
| Family & kids | $2 – $5 |
| Music | $1 – $4 |
| Shorts (any niche) | $0.05 – $0.25 |
Estimates for a broadly US and UK weighted audience. Real RPM moves with audience country, viewer age, season (Q4 is the annual high and January the low), video length and how many ads you run, which is why this is shown as a range. Your own figure in YouTube Studio always beats an estimate.
What this does and does not include
Included
- Ad revenue from long-form video or Shorts
- Your share after YouTube's cut, which is what RPM already reflects
Not included
- Channel memberships, Super Thanks and Super Chat
- Brand sponsorships, which often exceed ad revenue
- Affiliate links, merchandise and your own products
- YouTube Premium watch-time revenue
For a lot of working channels, ads are the smallest of those lines. If you are deciding whether YouTube is worth pursuing, the sponsorship number matters more, and the influencer rate calculator estimates that side.
You have to be monetised first
None of this pays anything until the channel is accepted into the YouTube Partner Program. YouTube's eligibility page sets the bar at 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 qualified public watch hours in the last 12 months, or 1,000 subscribers with 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.
One detail catches people out: watch hours from ad campaigns do not count toward those thresholds, and neither do Shorts views gained through ad campaigns. You can pay to put a video in front of people, but you cannot pay your way to the eligibility line. The Partner Program requirements guide covers the rest of the criteria.
Frequently asked questions
How much does YouTube pay per 1,000 views?
It depends far more on niche than on view count. Finance and business channels commonly see an RPM of $10–$30 per 1,000 views, technology $6–$15, and gaming or entertainment $2–$6. Shorts pay from a shared pool and typically land between $0.05 and $0.25 per 1,000 views. Those are estimates for a US and UK weighted audience; your own RPM in YouTube Studio is the accurate number.
What is the difference between RPM and CPM?
CPM is what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions, before YouTube's share and before views that showed no ad. RPM is what actually reaches you per 1,000 views of your video, after YouTube's cut and across all views including unmonetised ones. RPM is always the lower number, and it is the one to use for estimating income.
Is this YouTube money calculator accurate?
It is an estimate unless you supply your own RPM, in which case the arithmetic is exact. Estimated ranges exist because real RPM swings with audience country, viewer age, season, video length and ad load. Anyone quoting a single precise figure for all channels is guessing.
Do I need 1,000 subscribers to earn from YouTube ads?
Yes. YouTube's Partner Program eligibility requires 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 qualified public watch hours in the last 12 months, or 1,000 subscribers with 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Until a channel is accepted, ad revenue is zero regardless of views.
Do views from ads count toward monetization?
No. YouTube's eligibility page lists ad campaigns among the video types whose watch hours do not count toward the thresholds, and the same exclusion applies to Shorts views gained through ad campaigns. Paid promotion can grow an audience but cannot shorten the path to the Partner Program.
Why do Shorts pay so much less than long-form video?
Shorts revenue comes from a shared pool funded by ads between Shorts, which is then divided among creators and used to cover music licensing. Long-form video runs ads directly against your content. The result is a per-view rate that is usually a small fraction of long-form.
Does this include sponsorships and memberships?
No, it estimates ad revenue only. Channel memberships, Super Thanks, affiliate links, merchandise and brand sponsorships are excluded, and for many working channels those add up to more than ads do.
What time of year pays the most on YouTube?
Advertiser demand peaks in the fourth quarter around the holiday season, which lifts RPM, and drops sharply in January when budgets reset. A calculation based on December numbers will overstate a typical month.
How can I increase my RPM?
Cover subjects advertisers pay more for, make videos long enough to carry mid-roll ads, and build an audience in higher-paying markets. None of these is a quick change, and chasing RPM at the expense of making videos people want to watch generally backfires.
Is this calculator free?
Yes, entirely. It runs in your browser, requires no account, no sign-up and no channel access, and nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
NewFollowers
Working toward 1,000 subscribers?
The threshold is the hard part. NewFollowers delivers YouTube subscribers from existing accounts, ordered with a channel link and never a password, paced rather than dumped, with prices shown before payment.