How much does YouTube pay creators?

A million views. A number that looks like success on screen. But how much is it worth in a bank account?

Imagine two creators. Both reach a million views. The first has an RPM of 1 euro, the second 6 euros. For the first that brings in around 1,000 euros, for the second 6,000 euros.

This is a worked example, not a promise or a market average. But it shows why the question “How much does YouTube pay per view?” doesn't have a single number for an answer.

The number worth knowing: RPM

RPM tells you how much revenue a creator generates per 1,000 views after YouTube's share. It can include ads, YouTube Premium, memberships and other revenue that YouTube counts in this metric.

CPM, on the other hand, tells you how much an advertiser pays per 1,000 ad impressions. If you see a CPM of 10 euros online, that doesn't mean the creator gets 10 euros for every thousand video views. Not every view has an ad, either.

For regular videos, the basic calculation is:

Views ÷ 1,000 × RPM = estimated revenue

These are illustrative scenarios for regular videos. RPM is already after the platform's share, but the calculation doesn't deduct production costs and taxes. Nor does it include all the possible revenue of the creator's business.

Why can two sets of a million views be worth different amounts?

What matters is who is watching and what advertising demand exists for that audience. Among the reasons for changes in ad prices, YouTube lists viewers' geography, the time of year and the types of ads.

So the creator's location alone doesn't determine the earnings. A creator from Slovenia can address a local or an international audience. Two channels made on the same street can have completely different economics.

If someone publicly shows what their channel earns, also check the period, the content format and the audience. Their number is useful as a concrete example. It is not yet a forecast for your channel.

What share does the creator keep?

For ads on the watch page of regular videos, YouTube pays the partner 55 per cent of net advertising revenue under the relevant monetisation module.

Shorts have a different system. Revenue from ads between short videos is pooled, part of it goes towards music licensing, and the creator keeps 45 per cent of the amount allocated to them from the Creator Pool.

That is why you can't use these two percentages for a direct comparison of earnings per view. The bases for the calculation are different. For Shorts, eligible engaged views are what count for revenue sharing, so the public view counter alone is not enough for the calculation.

Revenue from a video is not yet profit

Let's take another made-up example. A video earns 3,000 euros, and you spend 2,400 euros on preparing, filming and editing it. Before other costs and taxes, 600 euros remain.

That is quite a different story from the headline “I made 3,000 euros with this video”.

A creator can additionally receive direct sponsorships or sell products and services. Such revenue shouldn't automatically be attributed to YouTube's payment for views.

What does this mean for a company?

Before you start filming, decide how the channel should create value. Do you want to build a media channel that is funded by viewership? Or do you want viewers to understand your offer better and become customers?

For the second goal, a video with fewer views can be very useful too, if it reaches the right people. A product explanation, for instance, that a buyer watches just before making a decision.

A million views is an interesting milestone. For a business plan, though, you need three more numbers alongside it: revenue, the cost of creating the content and the value of the business the content helps to win.

Sources and links

• YouTube: explanation of RPM, CPM and the factors behind ad revenue.
• YouTube: official partner revenue shares.
• YouTube: how Shorts monetisation works.
• YouTube Creators: the official educational channel. A source for further videos, not a link to an individual clip.