How this YouTube calculator works
YouTube does not pay a fixed amount per view. What you earn depends on your RPM, revenue per 1,000 views, which you can find in YouTube Studio > Analytics > Revenue. The calculator multiplies your views by a low and a high RPM:
Earnings = views × RPM ÷ 1,000
At 10,000 views a day and an RPM between $1.50 and $5.00, a channel would earn roughly $15–$50 a day, $450–$1,500 a month and $5,475–$18,250 a year. Use your own RPM from YouTube Studio for a realistic figure; the default range is only a starting point.
RPM vs CPM on YouTube
These two numbers are often confused:
- CPM is what advertisers pay for 1,000 ad impressions. It is measured before YouTube takes its share and only counts views where an ad was shown.
- RPM is what you receive per 1,000 views, after YouTube's share, across all views including those with no ad. It also includes other YouTube revenue such as channel memberships, Super Chat and YouTube Premium.
Because not every view shows an ad and YouTube keeps part of the ad revenue, RPM is always lower than CPM. For long-form videos, creators in the YouTube Partner Program receive 55% of the net ad revenue from ads shown on their videos. RPM is therefore the right number for estimating income.
Why RPM varies so much between channels
- Topic. Advertisers pay more to reach viewers interested in finance, business, software and technology than in many entertainment topics.
- Audience country. Views from the US, UK, Canada and Australia usually earn far more than views from lower-income markets.
- Video length. Videos over 8 minutes can carry mid-roll ads, which can raise revenue per view.
- Shorts vs long-form. Shorts are paid from a shared revenue pool and usually earn much less per view than long-form videos.
- Season. Ad prices tend to rise from October to December and drop in January.
What you need to start earning
To earn ad revenue you must be accepted into the YouTube Partner Program. At the time of writing, ad-revenue sharing requires 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 public watch hours in the past 12 months or 10 million public Shorts views in the past 90 days. Requirements change and vary by country, so check YouTube's official help page before you plan around them.
How to earn more from the same views
- Make longer videos where it suits the content, so mid-roll ads are possible.
- Target topics advertisers value, if they fit your channel.
- Add income that is not tied to ad rates: memberships, sponsorships, affiliate links and your own products. A product priced at $50 needs only 20 sales to earn $1,000, which at a $3 RPM would take over 330,000 views.
- Build an email list. Subscribers you can email are not affected by algorithm changes.