How Much Money Does YouTube Pay Per 1,000 Views?

Published 2026-09-20 · Updated 2026-09-21 · 5 min read · Alexander, automation engineer

TL;DR

YouTube does not pay a fixed amount per 1,000 views. It reports RPM, the money a channel earned per 1,000 views, and that changes from channel to channel and video to video.
YouTube Help says partners get 55% of net revenues from ads on their public long-form videos, and 45% of the revenue allocated to them in the Shorts feed.
What moves the number: whether a video is eligible for ads, which revenue types apply, who watches, and adjustments YouTube lists such as invalid traffic.
Your own Studio Revenue tab is the only figure that counts for your channel. A calculator gives a direction, not a payout.

"How much per 1,000 views?" is the most searched question about YouTube money, and it has no single answer. What can be said is what the number means, what YouTube publishes about how it pays, and which parts of the answer belong to your channel and not to anyone else's.

What the number means

YouTube Help defines RPM as how much money you have earned per 1,000 video views. CPM is the cost an advertiser pays for 1,000 ad impressions. The two differ, and the page says why revenue is not CPM times views: CPM reflects what advertisers pay, not what you earn, and not all views will have ads.

For your own planning RPM is the useful figure. It already includes YouTube's share and the views that showed no ad.

What YouTube publishes about how it pays

The partner earnings overview gives the revenue shares. YouTube pays partners 55% of net revenues from ads displayed on their public videos on the watch page. Channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers and Super Thanks are listed at 70% of net revenues. For Shorts, creators keep 45% of the revenue allocated to them, based on their share of views.

The page also lists what can change a month's estimate: invalid traffic, Content ID claims and disputes, and certain ad campaign types such as cost-per-day campaigns. Payment thresholds, account holds and tax withholding affect what reaches your bank account.

Four things that move the rate

Ad eligibility. YouTube Help's icon guide says a video with a yellow icon may earn less because it does not meet all the advertiser-friendly guidelines, and a red icon means it cannot be monetized.
Revenue mix. Estimated revenue includes channel memberships, YouTube Premium revenue and Super Chat as well as ad revenue.
Format. Long-form and Shorts are paid on different terms, as the shares above show.
Audience. Our calculator assumes country and niche change the rate. Its own model puts 1,000 views between about $3 and about $10 in the cases we built in, with a base RPM of $4.20 and factors we chose. Those are our assumptions, not YouTube data.

A small example

These numbers are invented. A video with 50,000 views and an RPM of $4.20 has earned about $210 (50 times 4.20). If the same video earns $2.50 per 1,000, the figure is $125. The difference is not a mistake. It reflects how many of those views had ads, who watched and what the ads paid.

01
Look at your Revenue tab
YouTube Analytics shows estimated revenue, RPM and playback-based CPM for partners.
02
Compare videos with your own RPM, not with a stranger's
Numbers quoted by other channels come from other audiences and topics.
03
Check ad eligibility first when a video earns little
A yellow or red monetization icon on the video explains a lot.
04
Use the calculator for a direction only
Enter views, country and niche to see the order of magnitude, and keep the caveat in mind.

Confidence note

The definitions, the revenue shares and the icon meanings come from YouTube Help. The dollar ranges come from our calculator's assumptions and the example uses invented numbers. No public figure can tell you what your channel earns.