Calculate your YouTube RPM
Revenue per 1,000 views by niche and country · RPM vs CPM explained · Free, no signup
Tech & Software Reviews pays roughly $6.00–$16 per 1,000 long-form views in a Tier-1 market.
Advertisers bid far more in some markets than others, so this moves the result more than almost anything else.
Range $600 – $1,600 from 100,000 views/month
- Per day
- $37
- Per year
- $13,200
- Effective RPM
- $11
What a sponsor might pay for that reach in a month. Don't add it to the figure above — it's a second income stream, and most channels earn more here than from ads.
Estimates only. Real RPM moves with watch time, ad formats, viewer demographics and the season — Q4 often pays 1.5–2× January. This covers ad revenue only, not memberships, Super Thanks, merch or affiliate income.
Why RPM is the number
RPM is what actually lands in your account per 1,000 total views — after YouTube's 45% cut and the roughly half of views that never show an ad. It's the only number worth planning around.
Niche and audience country explain most of the spread between channels. Pick yours and the calculator shows the realistic RPM band, plus what it means in monthly dollars at your view count.
Paste your channel in the other tab and the calculator pulls real view counts and your Shorts/long-form mix — then you can compare its effective RPM against the band for your niche.
Typical RPM by niche
Long-form video, Tier-1 audience. The full calculator covers all 21 niches and every audience tier.
| Niche | RPM range |
|---|---|
| Finance & Investing | $12 – $29 |
| Tech & Software Reviews | $6.00 – $16 |
| Education & How-To | $4.00 – $11 |
| Gaming | $2.00 – $6.00 |
| Music | $1.50 – $4.00 |
From CPM to RPM: the math
Advertiser CPMs get quoted a lot because they're big numbers, but two haircuts stand between a CPM and your bank account. First, only around 55% of views show an ad at all — ad blockers, unfilled inventory, and views advertisers don't bid on. Second, YouTube keeps 45% of what the ads earn. So a $20 CPM becomes roughly $20 × 0.55 × 0.55 ≈ $6 RPM. When someone quotes their niche's "$30 CPM", mentally divide by three.
RPM also blends everything into one honest denominator — every view, monetized or not, Shorts included. That makes it the right number for planning ("100K views/month × $6 RPM ≈ $600") and the right one for diagnosing: if your Studio RPM sits under your niche's band, the usual suspects are a Shorts-heavy mix or an audience outside Tier-1 countries. Paste your channel into the calculator's other tab and both become visible immediately.
Frequently asked questions
What is RPM on YouTube?
Revenue per mille — your total revenue per 1,000 video views, after YouTube's share. It's the creator-side number: if your RPM is $5 and a video gets 100,000 views, you earned about $500 from it. YouTube Studio shows your exact RPM under Analytics → Revenue.
What's the difference between RPM and CPM?
CPM is what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions, before YouTube's cut. RPM is what you receive per 1,000 total views — after YouTube keeps 45%, and after counting all the views that showed no ad. That's why a '$20 CPM' niche often lands around a $6 RPM: 20 × ~0.55 monetized rate × 0.55 revenue share.
What's a good RPM?
Entirely niche-dependent. Music and entertainment channels sit near $1.50-$5; gaming around $2-$6; tech $6-$16; personal finance $12-$29 — all for Tier-1 audiences. Judge your RPM against your niche's band, not a universal average.
How can I increase my RPM?
The honest levers: make longer videos (8+ minutes unlock mid-roll ads), attract audiences in higher-value countries, and drift your topics toward commercially valuable intent — 'best budgeting apps' out-earns 'funny moments' at identical views. Season matters too: Q4 routinely pays 1.5-2x January.
Why is my real RPM lower than this calculator shows?
Common causes: a large share of Shorts views (paid at cents per 1,000, dragging the blend down), a big audience outside Tier-1 countries, many videos under 8 minutes, or limited-ads topics. Paste your channel in the calculator to see the Shorts effect made explicit.
Where do I see my actual RPM?
YouTube Studio → Analytics → Revenue tab → RPM card. That's your real trailing number; this calculator is for planning, benchmarks, and estimating channels that aren't yours.