YouTube's help pages give the creator's share of each revenue and no rate per view. The rates below come from a measured sample of 300 channels.
YouTube defines RPM, revenue per mille, as the creator's revenue after YouTube's share for every 1,000 views, and CPM as what an advertiser pays for 1,000 ad impressions before that share. The RPM help page publishes no value for either. RPM is lower than CPM because it is calculated after YouTube's share and counts every view, including views that showed no ad.
The figures below are measurements by AIR Media-Tech on the YouTube Studio data of 300 channels of 10,000 to 50 million subscribers, from May 2025 to May 2026 (AIR Media-Tech, 1 July 2026). They describe that sample only.
| Niche | Median RPM | Middle half of channels | Views to earn $1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education & Science | $10.22 | $2.31 – $19.50 | ~98,000 |
| Lifestyle | $2.98 | $1.77 – $5.24 | ~336,000 |
| Entertainment | $2.43 | $0.88 – $5.02 | ~412,000 |
| Gadgets & Tech | $2.33 | $0.70 – $3.71 | ~430,000 |
| Music | $2.28 | $1.35 – $4.16 | ~439,000 |
| Gaming | $2.05 | $0.70 – $3.62 | ~487,000 |
| Health & Sport | $1.23 | $0.72 – $1.53 | — |
| Kids & Teens | $0.33 | $0.16 – $0.88 | — |
Transport ($5.69) and Business & Finance ($2.01) are left out of the table: AIR measured fewer than 10 channels in each. All niches together, the median was $2.30 per 1,000 views, about $2,300 per million. It peaked at $2.35 in November and fell to $1.56 in January. The top 10% of channels took 58% of the sample's ad revenue; the bottom half shared 4%.
Shorts revenue comes from a shared pool. Ad revenue from the Shorts feed goes into a Creator Pool, which is split among monetizing creators by their share of engaged views in each country; the creator then keeps 45% of what is allocated to them (Shorts revenue sharing). Music is paid first: with one licensed track, half of the revenue tied to a Short's engaged views goes to the pool, with two tracks one third.
YouTube's own worked example, which it presents as hypothetical, ends at $405 for 1 million engaged views in one country. Measured on 274 channels, Shorts earned between $0.02 and $1.48 per 1,000 views depending on the niche, roughly 3% to 14% of what long-form earns (AIR Media-Tech, 17 September 2026).
YouTube has also opened a Shorts bonus pilot, on invitation only, with no application: a minimum payment for a set number of Shorts plus a bonus on engaged views, “based on the typical earnings in your country” (Shorts bonus program).
| Rule | Until 31 January 2027 | From 1 February 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Entry to ad revenue | 1,000 subscribers + 4,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months, or 10M qualified Shorts views in 90 days | 1,000 subscribers + 8,000 qualified watch hours in 365 days, or 20M qualified Shorts views in 90 days, for new applicants |
| Fan funding and Shopping | 500 subscribers + 3,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months or 3M qualified Shorts views in 90 days | unchanged |
| Shorts pool, each month | not stated | 10M qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days |
| Staying active | not stated | 1,000 watch hours in 365 days, or 1M Shorts views in 90 days, or 2 long videos or 5 Shorts every 90 days |
Sources: eligibility page and 2027 update page. A channel below the 10M Shorts threshold stays in the program and keeps its long-form earnings. YouTube counts more than 3 million creators in the program (YouTube blog).
On 16 September 2025 YouTube said it had paid “over $100 billion to creators, artists, and media companies globally over the last four years” (Google blog). The figure covers creators, artists and media companies together. For how this compares with other platforms, see what TikTok pays and what Instagram pays.
YouTube's help pages give no average rate per view. Across 300 channels measured from May 2025 to May 2026, the median was $2.30 per 1,000 views, with niches ranging from $0.33 to $10.22.
At the measured median of $2.30 per 1,000 views, about $2,300. An Education channel at the median earned about $10,000; a Kids channel about $330.
YouTube keeps 45% of net ad revenue on long-form videos, 55% of a creator's Shorts allocation once music licensing is paid, and 30% of net revenue from memberships and Super Chat.
Between $0.02 and $1.48 per 1,000 views depending on the niche, in a measurement of 274 channels published in September 2026. YouTube pays 45% of each creator's share of the Shorts pool.
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