Quick answer
A finance channel with 250,000 monthly long-form views at a $15 RPM earns about $3,750 a month from ads. The same views in gaming, at a $3 RPM, earn $750 — niche decides income more than view count, and the same views as Shorts would earn about $30.
How the YouTube AdSense Estimator works, step by step
Enter your monthly views, pick a niche to set a typical RPM or enter your own RPM from YouTube Studio, choose long-form or Shorts, and set how many videos you publish a month. The calculator returns monthly, yearly and daily earnings, plus earnings per video, so you can compare channels, niches and upload schedules.
RPM — revenue per 1,000 views — is what you actually keep after YouTube's share and after views that carried no ad are counted. The calculator's niche presets run from $15 for finance and investing, through $12 for business and marketing and $8 for technology, down to $3 for gaming and $1.50 for music. Your own Studio RPM is always the more accurate number, and it is the figure to enter once you have one.
YouTube pays creators 55% of the ad revenue on long-form videos; YouTube keeps 45%. Shorts are paid differently: revenue is pooled across Shorts and allocated by view share, with creators keeping 45% of their allocated share after music licensing costs. That is why the calculator caps Shorts RPM at $0.12 — Shorts earnings are measured in cents per 1,000 views, not dollars.
Treat the output as a range, not a forecast. Advertiser demand peaks in the fourth quarter and drops in January, and CPMs routinely fall 30 to 50% from December to January across most niches. A single video's topic can pay several times your channel average, and annual planning should use the full-year average RPM, not the holiday peak.
Ad revenue is only part of the picture. Memberships, Supers, affiliate income and sponsorships sit outside this number, and for most mid-size channels ads are 40 to 70% of total income. Ad revenue sharing starts at the full Partner Program threshold: 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 valid public watch hours in 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days. From 1 February 2027, new applicants will need 8,000 watch hours or 20 million Shorts views.
The formula
Monthly earnings = (monthly views / 1,000) x RPM. RPM = total revenue / total views x 1,000. Shorts earnings use the same formula with an RPM capped at $0.12 in this calculator.
Worked example — try it on the calculator above
Worked example: two channels, same views, different niches
Channel A (gaming) gets 1,000,000 views a month at a $3.50 RPM: earnings = 1,000 x $3.50 = $3,500. Channel B (personal finance) gets 250,000 views at a $22 RPM: earnings = 250 x $22 = $5,500. Channel B earns 57% more from a quarter of the views, because finance advertisers pay for viewers with money decisions to make. View counts rank channels; RPM explains their income. At the calculator's finance preset of $15, Channel B would earn $3,750 — still more than Channel A on a quarter of the views.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does YouTube pay per 1,000 views?
There is no fixed rate. Creators keep 55% of ad revenue on long-form video, and the resulting RPM typically runs from about $1 to $5 for entertainment and gaming, $5 to $15 for tech and education, and $15 to $40 for finance, insurance and B2B topics. Geography matters too: views from the US, UK, Canada and Australia pay several times the rate of views from lower-ad-spend regions.
What is the difference between CPM and RPM?
CPM is what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions, before YouTube's 45% share. RPM is what the creator receives per 1,000 views, after the share and including views where no ad ran. RPM is always the smaller and more honest number for income planning, and it is the figure YouTube Studio reports.
How many views do I need to join the YouTube Partner Program?
The standard threshold is 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days. An earlier tier (500 subscribers, 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views) unlocks fan funding such as memberships and Supers, but ad revenue starts at the main threshold. From 1 February 2027, applicants will need 8,000 watch hours or 20 million Shorts views.
Why did my earnings drop in January?
Advertisers spend heavily in the run-up to Christmas and cut budgets in January, so CPMs routinely fall 30 to 50% from December to January across most niches. It is a market pattern, not a penalty on your channel. Annual planning should use the full-year average RPM, not the fourth-quarter peak.
Estimates, not advice. This calculator provides educational estimates based on the inputs you enter and the assumptions shown on this page. It is not financial, tax or investment advice, and it cannot see your full situation. Verify important figures against official sources, and consider a qualified professional for decisions about your own money. See our Disclaimer and Methodology.