Step 1: Find your RPM (optional)
Step 2: Estimate earnings
How this YouTube money calculator works
Revenue per mille, or RPM, is your total revenue per 1,000 views after YouTube’s revenue share, as YouTube explains in its help page on ad revenue analytics. This calculator does one thing: it multiplies your views, in thousands, by an RPM you supply. Step 1 works out your RPM from real numbers in your Studio. Step 2 turns an RPM into a revenue estimate, and lets you compare two scenarios, such as a cautious one and an optimistic one.
Where to find your RPM
Open YouTube Studio, go to Analytics, then the Revenue tab. Your RPM is shown there, and you can also divide revenue by views for any period using Step 1. Pick a period long enough to smooth out spikes, since a single viral week can distort it.
CPM is not what you earn
CPM is what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions, before YouTube’s share. YouTube’s help page says your revenue will not equal your CPM times your views, because CPM reflects what advertisers pay, not what you earn. It also notes that you will likely have more views than monetized playbacks, meaning views where an ad actually played. That gap is one reason a calculator built on CPM overstates earnings.
Why this calculator has no niche or country presets
RPM is calculated inside YouTube and shown only in each creator’s own Studio. The niche and country benchmarks you will find online come from third-party samples and creator surveys, and they disagree with each other by wide margins. Rather than guess, this tool asks for your own number. If you don’t have a monetized channel yet, enter a cautious and an optimistic RPM as your two scenarios and treat the result as a planning range, not a forecast.
Why your RPM changes over time
- Audience location. Advertisers pay different rates in different countries.
- Niche. Some topics attract higher ad rates than others.
- Season. Ad rates rise and fall through the year.
- Shorts are paid differently, so this tool is for long-form videos.
- Non-ad income such as memberships counts toward RPM in Studio.
To decide what to make before you worry about earnings, see our guide to choosing a channel niche and concept, and use the engagement rate calculator to check how viewers respond.
