How the estimate works
It uses RPM, revenue per mille: what reaches you for every 1,000 views, after YouTube takes its share.
Your monthly views are divided by 1,000 and multiplied by a low and a high RPM for your niche.
Say a cooking channel gets 200,000 views a month.
Food RPM runs from $1.50 to $5 in the data we use, so the estimate is $300 to $1,000 a month.
RPM is not CPM
CPM is what advertisers pay for 1,000 ad views.
RPM is what you keep for 1,000 views of your video, counting the views that showed no ad at all.
RPM is always the smaller number, and it is the one that matches your bank account.
Why the range is so wide
A finance channel can earn four times what a gaming channel earns from the same views.
Advertisers pay more to reach people who are about to spend money.
- Country moves it most. A view from the United States can pay several times a view from India.
- So does the season: ad prices climb in November and December and drop in January.
- Shorts pay far less per view than long videos, so leave Shorts views out of the number.
- A channel outside the YouTube Partner Program earns nothing from ads, whatever its views.