Quick answer
Earnings are views ÷ 1,000 × your RPM, and your own RPM is in YouTube Analytics. The only third-party figures here are one company's: AIR Media-Tech, which offers channel audits, reports a median of about $2,300 per million long-form views in a study it says covers 274 channels. At the $0.328 Shorts RPM AIR reports for a US audience, 100,000 engaged views come to $32.80.
How this calculator works
The calculator has two directions. Estimate earnings answers "what would these views pay at my RPM?": enter your views and the RPM YouTube Analytics shows you, and it prints views ÷ 1,000 × RPM. If you do not have an RPM yet, you can pick one of AIR Media-Tech's measured figures instead: it replaces your RPM while it is picked, and the note under the result gives its date and what AIR says it rests on. Those figures are one company's findings for channels it had data for, not YouTube's. Find my RPM / CPM answers "what is my channel actually earning per thousand views?": paste your earnings and views from YouTube Studio and it computes your RPM, plus an estimated advertiser CPM if you know your ad impressions. Everything recalculates as you type.
The formulas
For a Shorts RPM, "views" means engaged views: YouTube says its RPM includes all engaged views for Shorts and all views for videos. The CPM line divides by 0.55 because YouTube says it pays 55% of net revenues from ads shown on a video's Watch Page, so it treats every dollar of your earnings as Watch Page ad revenue. That is an approximation: YouTube's RPM is based on several revenue sources, including ads, channel memberships, YouTube Premium revenue, Super Chat and Super Stickers, and Shorts are paid on different terms. YouTube Analytics reports CPM metrics of its own.
RPM vs CPM: the difference that confuses everyone
CPM (cost per mille) is an advertiser-side number. YouTube defines it as what an advertiser pays for 1,000 ad impressions, before YouTube's revenue share. RPM (revenue per mille) is a creator-side number: your total revenue, after YouTube's revenue share, per 1,000 views, based on several revenue sources including ads, channel memberships, YouTube Premium revenue, Super Chat and Super Stickers. For Shorts, YouTube's RPM is per 1,000 engaged views; for videos it counts all views. YouTube gives two reasons RPM is lower than CPM:
- RPM is calculated after YouTube's revenue share; CPM is before it.
- RPM includes all views, including ones that were not monetized. A view can have no ad because the video is not advertiser-friendly, ads are turned off for it, no ad matched that viewer's targeting, or for other reasons such as the viewer's geography, how recently they saw an ad, and whether they have Premium.
CPM and RPM measure different things, so compare like with like.
How the revenue shares work
YouTube's partner earnings overview lists three shares, each set by a module a creator accepts in YouTube Studio: 55% of net revenues from ads on a video's Watch Page, 45% of the revenue allocated to the creator from the Shorts Creator Pool, and 70% of net revenues from channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers and Super Thanks. So no single "45% cut" describes every source. For Shorts, YouTube's Shorts monetization policies say the ad revenue shown between Shorts is pooled each month, part of it covers music licensing, and the creator pool is shared out by each creator's share of total engaged views in each country. Since 31 March 2025 a Short's view counts every start or replay; the earlier metric, now called engaged views, counts how many viewers chose to continue watching, and Shorts ad revenue sharing is based on it (YouTube Help).
Why this page has no RPM table by niche
The YouTube Help pages read for this page, listed in the audit trail below, give no RPM by niche or country. Until 11 October 2026 this page carried third-party tables by niche and by country; they were removed because their publisher states no sample or method for them. The one study cited below, AIR Media-Tech's, gives Shorts RPM for five audience countries, shown in the table below; its other tables are images that were not read, so there is no table by niche here. The number that applies to your channel is your own RPM: YouTube describes RPM as a metric in YouTube Analytics, and says its revenue reports are in YouTube Studio under Analytics, then Revenue. So this page starts from your own RPM and cites one third-party study, for what that study reports.
AIR Media-Tech's measured figures (updated 16 September 2026)
AIR Media-Tech, a company that offers YouTube channel audits, says it pulled data from the YouTube Analytics API for 274 channels in 13 niches (3,044 channel-month observations), took RPM from YouTube Studio, and reports medians across those channels. It says its medians span 12 months but not which, and it does not say how the channels were chosen. It introduces its Shorts RPM by audience country as coming from its "verified partner data" and gives its long-form median with no sample beside it, so this page cannot say that every row below rests on the same 274 channels. These are one company's findings for channels it had data for, not YouTube's figures; this page has read AIR's article, not its data. YouTube reports a Shorts RPM per 1,000 engaged views, so enter engaged views, not plain views, whenever you use one. AIR words its figures as per 1,000 views; because the metric is RPM, which YouTube counts per 1,000 engaged views for Shorts, the last column applies the Shorts figures to 100,000 engaged views. That is this page's reading of the metric, not something AIR states.
| Figure | RPM per 1,000 views (AIR Media-Tech) | 100,000 views ≈ |
|---|---|---|
| Long-form videos, median | about $2.30 (AIR: about $2,300 per million views) | $230 |
| Shorts, US audience | $0.328 | $32.80 |
| Shorts, Australian audience | $0.193 | $19.30 |
| Shorts, UK audience | $0.166 | $16.60 |
| Shorts, Canadian audience | $0.165 | $16.50 |
| Shorts, German audience | $0.163 | $16.30 |
| Shorts, most niches | $0.07 – $0.20 | $7 – $20 |
AIR also reports Education as the highest RPM in its dataset, $14.97 to $18.23. It puts 1 million Shorts views from a US-heavy audience at about $300 and from a mixed global audience at $150 to $250, and finds Shorts RPM at 3% to 14% of long-form RPM in almost every niche (Music is the exception), so most channels needed 11,000 to 34,000 Shorts views to earn what 1,000 long-form views pay.
Why RPM varies so much
These reasons come from YouTube's help pages on ad revenue analytics and mid-roll ads.
- Viewer geography. Advertisers choose which geographies they want to reach and competition differs by location, so a shift in where your views come from moves CPM.
- Time of year. Advertisers tend to bid higher or lower depending on the season; YouTube's example is that many bid higher just before holidays.
- Ad formats. Different ad types tend to have different CPMs, so the mix of formats available moves CPM.
- Video length. Mid-roll ads can be turned on for monetized videos that are 8 minutes or longer, and an ad slot is not guaranteed to serve an ad.
- Advertiser-friendliness. A view can have no ad when the video is not advertiser-friendly, and RPM counts those views too.
- Format mix. Shorts and long-form videos are paid under separate terms, with different revenue shares and a different count (engaged views for Shorts), so compare like with like.
What this calculator does not model
- Tax withholding. YouTube says tax withholding may affect finalized earnings and that the amount withheld shows only in AdSense for YouTube, not in YouTube Analytics. For a creator outside the U.S. who submits U.S. tax info, it gives withholding rates of 0% to 30% on earnings from U.S. viewers. If no U.S. tax info is provided, it says Google may be required to withhold at the maximum rate, which depends on the account type and country: 24% of total worldwide earnings for an individual account, and 30% of U.S. earnings for a business account outside the U.S. Nothing is subtracted here (YouTube Help).
- Adjustments. YouTube says monthly estimated revenue in YouTube Analytics is adjusted for invalid traffic, Content ID claims and disputes, and certain ad campaign types, after one week and again in the middle of the following month, and that finalized earnings are only visible in AdSense for YouTube.
- Income outside RPM. YouTube says RPM does not include merchandise, brand deals and sponsorships (YouTube Creator Partnerships excepted) or other income earned indirectly through YouTube.
Partner Program changes announced for 1 February 2027
YouTube's help page "Changes to the YouTube Partner Program" (undated; read 11 October 2026) announces changes planned for 1 February 2027, with updated terms to be accepted in YouTube Studio by 31 January 2027. Among them: to earn from the monthly Shorts Creator Pool, a creator will need 10 million qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days, a condition YouTube's Shorts monetization policies also apply to YouTube Premium revenue from Shorts; missing it does not remove a creator from the program or affect long-form earnings. For new creators, the entry thresholds for ads and Premium change to 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, in addition to 1,000 subscribers; YouTube says the status of creators already in the program is not impacted by this update. The announcement also covers Premium Lite, Shorts incentive programs, Shorts ads targeted at small groups of channels, channel activity requirements and fan funding terms, which this page does not summarize. The Shorts figures on this page describe the rules in force today and do not model these changes.
Worked examples
Example 1: what 100,000 views earn at AIR Media-Tech's figures
Take 100,000 long-form views at AIR Media-Tech's median of about $2,300 per million views, which is about $2.30 per 1,000: 100,000 ÷ 1,000 × 2.30 = $230. Counted as 100,000 engaged Shorts views at AIR Media-Tech's measured $0.328 for a US audience, they earn 100 × 0.328 = $32.80, and at the $0.07 floor of its range for most Shorts niches, 100 × 0.07 = $7. This is why "how much does YouTube pay per view?" has no single answer: per view, the table above runs from $0.00007 (AIR's $0.07 floor for most Shorts niches) to $0.0023 (its long-form median).
Example 2: finding your real RPM and CPM
Suppose YouTube Studio shows $520 earned on 148,000 views last month. RPM = 520 ÷ 148,000 × 1,000 = $3.51. If Advanced Analytics shows 92,000 ad impressions, the advertiser-side CPM ≈ (520 ÷ 0.55) ÷ 92,000 × 1,000 = $10.28 if all of that was watch-page ad revenue, and the other 45% of it was about $425. That CPM is about 2.9 times the RPM: YouTube says RPM is calculated after its revenue share and counts views that were not monetized, while this CPM is per ad impression (92,000 impressions on 148,000 views).
This tool is for planning and education only — it is not financial advice, and no calculator can predict your channel's actual payout.
FAQ
What is a good RPM on YouTube?
There is no single good RPM, and your own is in YouTube Analytics. The only third-party figures cited here are one company's: AIR Media-Tech, which offers channel audits, reports them in a study updated 16 September 2026 that it says covers 274 channels. AIR's figures are a median of about $2,300 per million long-form views, Education as the highest RPM in its dataset at $14.97 to $18.23, and for Shorts $0.07 to $0.20 for most niches and $0.328 for a US audience, the last from what it calls its verified partner data. AIR defines its RPM per 1,000 views; YouTube reports Shorts RPM per 1,000 engaged views.
What is the difference between RPM and CPM?
CPM (cost per mille) is what an advertiser pays for 1,000 ad impressions, before YouTube's revenue share. RPM (revenue per mille) is your total revenue, after YouTube's revenue share, per 1,000 views, based on several revenue sources including ads, channel memberships, YouTube Premium revenue, Super Chat and Super Stickers; for Shorts it is per 1,000 engaged views. YouTube says RPM is lower than CPM because it is calculated after the revenue share and includes all views, including ones that were not monetized.
How much does YouTube pay for 100,000 views?
It depends on your RPM, which YouTube Analytics reports: earnings are views ÷ 1,000 × RPM. As a reference point from one company's study, not a YouTube figure: at AIR Media-Tech's median of about $2,300 per million long-form views, 100,000 long-form views come to $230, and at the $0.328 Shorts RPM it reports for a US audience, 100,000 engaged Shorts views come to $32.80.
Why is my RPM so low?
YouTube says RPM is calculated after its revenue share and includes all views, including ones that were not monetized, so it can fall when unmonetized views rise. A view can have no ad because the video is not advertiser-friendly, ads are off for it, no ad matched the viewer, or for other reasons such as the viewer's geography. YouTube says mid-roll ads can be turned on for monetized videos that are 8 minutes or longer, and Shorts are paid on different terms from long-form videos.
Do YouTube Shorts have a lower RPM than long-form videos?
In AIR Media-Tech's sample of 274 channels (updated 16 September 2026), yes: Shorts RPM was 3% to 14% of long-form RPM in almost every niche, with Music the exception, so most channels needed 11,000 to 34,000 Shorts views to earn what 1,000 long-form views pay. YouTube defines Shorts RPM per 1,000 engaged views, so use engaged views when you apply a Shorts RPM.
Does this calculator show my exact YouTube earnings?
No. It is an estimate based on the RPM you enter. Your RPM is a snapshot that moves over time; YouTube names the time of year, viewer geography and ad formats as reasons CPM changes. YouTube says estimated revenue in YouTube Analytics is adjusted after one week and again in the middle of the following month, and that finalized earnings, including any tax withheld, are only visible in AdSense for YouTube. If you use AIR Media-Tech's figures instead of your own, treat them as one study's findings, not a guarantee.