You want to be a YouTuber. It’s hard to watch your favorite creator and not think, “I wonder how much they make?” And if you hear that there are 2.5 billion users, you might take a dive and share videos with the world.
If you build up a following, you might be able to make $4.6 million like Ali Abdaal does.
But every channel starts with a single view. You’ll also learn to become obsessed with the acronym “RPM” because it’s how much YouTube pays per 1000 views.
We’re going to first explain what an RPM means and then showcase ten different creators who share their earnings so that you can better understand how much you can make from just a thousand views.
What is RPM as a YouTube Creator?
YouTube pays you revenue per mille (RPM). Multiple sources of revenue may be included in this figure, but it’s your channel’s earnings per 1,000 video views.
Factors That Dictate Your RPM
Your earnings may vary from what you’ll see below because RPM relies on revenue. Every creator shares revenue with YouTube, so if the platform is paid less for advertisements, your RPM will be lower.
With this information in mind, let’s view the factors that will determine your RPM:
- Country: Where are your viewers located? If you have a lot of viewers in Norway, ad prices are very high, so your earnings will also be higher.
- Niche: Ad costs in business and finance are higher than those for hair products because these are niches where advertisers are willing to pay more.
- Ads: Shorter videos have less room for ads, which is why creators often recommend videos that are 8 minutes long. You want the mid-roll ad on your videos because it pays a lot.
- Economy: If ad spending is down, your revenue will also be down.
Finally, how much does YouTube pay per 1000 views? Let’s see real-world examples of what others are making on their channels.
10 YouTubers Share Their YouTube Pay Per 1000 Views
1. Kamillah Rae
Kamillah is killing it with her channel, and she was very happy with the money she made from her first 250,000 views. Many creators don’t reach this milestone, but she did with just 26,000 subscribers.
She averages an RPM of $2.71, so for every 1,000 views, this is how much she earns.
But what’s great about creating content on YouTube is that your videos will continue to make you money. If you have 100 videos, all bringing in 1,000 views a day, you’ll make $271 per day, which is a great income.
Kamillah focuses her content on:
- Productivity
- Vlogs
2. Nay Nicole
Nay’s 35 videos have led to a massive following of 200k subscribers, and she really hasn’t posted in a year. But the entrepreneur shares her insights into starting and managing a business.
While we don’t know why Nay seems to have abandoned her account, she did share that she makes $34.90 RPM.
With 6.2 million views, she has made some amazing money from her channel.
3. Josh Winiarski
Josh has a modest channel and was reluctant to create a video on his earnings. He shares insights into photography, the equipment that he uses and even tutorials. If you want to up your photography game, you’ll learn a lot from Josh.
And he makes $4.48 per 1,000 views on his channel.
4. Joshua Mayo
Joshua is everywhere. You’ll see his name mentioned in blogs and on social media because he carved himself a niche and makes great money on his channel. If you want to be inspired by how he earned over $613k in his first year, you’ll see a video on this topic on his channel.
And being in his niche, he earns $21.20 RPM.
Joshua focuses on:
- Earning money
- Side hustles
- Passive income
5. Shelby Church
Shelby shares how much her YouTube channels make, and she has a great way to hook in viewers. It’s important to note that she has a few channels, but her main one makes her $9.72 per 1,000 views.
Playback CPMs, which mean someone watched the video again or a chunk of it, earns her $24.59.
Her channel has a little bit of everything, but she focuses primarily on “tech and lifestyle,” so she says in her bio.
But if you watch her videos, you’ll see her talks about:
- Living on a boat for $600 a month
- Luxury house tours
- Posing for videos
- Life hacks
- Making money on Airbnb
- Travel hacks
6. Mark on Business
Mark on Business shares how much his channel made after 1,000 subscribers and shortly after monetization. During a 5-month period in 2023, his channel earned just $877.36 with 421.8K views. That’s an RPM of about $2, which is extremely low for a finance-related channel.
So, what happened? Mark shares that his channel was a victim of the “invalid traffic bug.” Essentially, he was getting big view spikes from unknown traffic sources. He explains why this happens and how it affects your channel – all great information to have if you’re just starting a channel.
7. Patrick Wieland
Patrick Wieland shares his channel’s revenue for 2022, 2023 and for the lifetime of his channel. For all of 2023, his channel earned $83,857.88 with 6.7 million views. At this rate, he’s getting a $12.51 RPM. For 1,000 views, he’d earn $12.51.
His channel focuses on day trading. The finance niche gets some of the highest RPMs, so if you have a similar channel, you can expect RPMs like Patrick’s.
8. Danielle Ryan
When Danielle Ryan first monetized her channel, she earned CAD$155.39 in the first 30 days, and these earnings were just from AdSense.
She shares that her RPM was CAD$7.49, so that’s how much she would earn for 1,000 views.
Danielle’s channel is all about entrepreneurship and business advice, which is why her RPM is higher than average.
9. Rockstar Eater
Rockstar Eater’s channel is all about – you guessed it – food! He mainly shares restaurants and other food hotspots in LA and the surrounding areas, but you’ll find him eating in other states and countries.
From March 15-April 11, 2023, his channel made $5,600.60 with 714.8K views. While he’s sharing his dashboard, you can see that his RPM was about $8.94. That’s about how much he would earn for 1,000 views.
So, if you have a food-related channel, you may have similar RPMs.
10. Humphrey Yang
Humphrey Yang recently shared his earnings with 1 million subscribers and over 200 million lifetime views. He also talks about average RPMs, which he says is about $3-$5. That’s in line with what other YouTubers say, so at this rate, you can expect to earn $3-$5 for 1,000 views.
His channel made a whopping $274,374.56 in 2023. His RPM for content published between May 19, 2022 and November 20, 2023 had an RPM of $13.06. So, if you had a similar RPM to Humphrey, you’d earn $13.06 for 1,000 views. His channel’s content focuses on finance and investing, so the higher RPM isn’t surprising.
Average Pay Per 1000 Views
As you know, your RPM as a YouTube creator is dependent on so many factors, including your niche, audience location, video length and more.
Some YouTubers make $2 per 1,000 views. Others make $40 per 1,000 views.
That said, the average pay per 1,000 views is about $5-$6.
You may make more or less than that with your content.
People watch more than one billion hours of video per day on YouTube, so it’s easier than you think to get 1,000 views. If you’re consistent and keep publishing great content, that 1,000 views will turn into 10,000 and then 100,000. Before you know it, you’ll be earning $500+ per video at the $5 average RPM.
