YouTube Revenue Calculator
Estimate monthly YouTube channel earnings from views, CPM, and sponsorships.
Project annual ad revenue and see how watch time affects total income.
YouTube pays creators through the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) based primarily on ad revenue, which is calculated using RPM (Revenue Per Mille) — your earnings per 1,000 video views after YouTube takes its 45% cut.
Key formulas:
CPM (Cost Per Mille) = Advertiser spend per 1,000 ad impressions RPM = (Total Estimated Revenue ÷ Total Views) × 1,000 Monthly Revenue = (Monthly Views ÷ 1,000) × RPM Annual Revenue = Monthly Revenue × 12
YouTube’s split: Advertisers pay CPM → YouTube keeps 45% → Creator receives 55% (this creator share is your RPM basis).
What each variable means:
- CPM — what advertisers pay; varies by niche, season, and audience geography.
- RPM — what you actually earn per 1,000 views (after YouTube’s cut and non-monetized views).
- Views — total video views in the period (not unique viewers).
- Monetized Playbacks — a subset of views where ads actually showed (typically 40–60% of total views).
RPM benchmarks by niche:
- Finance / investing: $12–$30 RPM
- Technology: $5–$15 RPM
- Education: $4–$12 RPM
- Gaming: $2–$7 RPM
- Entertainment / vlog: $1–$5 RPM
- Kids content: $1–$4 RPM
Worked example: A personal finance channel gets 500,000 views/month with an RPM of $18.
Monthly Revenue = (500,000 ÷ 1,000) × $18 = 500 × $18 = $9,000/month Annual = $9,000 × 12 = $108,000/year
Additional revenue streams: Channel memberships ($3–$25/member/month), Super Chat, merchandise, brand sponsorships (typically $20–$50 CPM negotiated directly), and affiliate links can each match or exceed AdSense revenue for established channels.