One million views is a milestone that many YouTube creators want to hit. Reaching this milestone means a lot of people have seen and consumed your content, and it’s a euphoric feeling because you don’t just stumble into the million-view realm.
You did something that people deem worthy of watching.
Congratulations! And if you’re trying to hit this milestone, you may be wondering: how much does YouTube pay for 1 million views? The answer is unknown. Your niche and the market will dictate your RPM.
We’re going to explore how much you can earn from:
- 1 million long-form video views
- 1 million YouTube shorts
Before we get into the “good stuff,” let’s explain what a view actually means.
What Counts as a View on YouTube?
We cover what a real view is in-depth in one of our guides, but what you need to know is a view is when someone watches at least 30 seconds of your video.
If you create Shorts, then it’s the number of times that people watched your Short.
When you have a 10-minute video and people click off in 10 seconds, this is not a view.
How Much Does 1 Million Long-form Views Pay?
YouTube pays by RPM, which is a fancy way of paying for 1,000 views. If you have 1 million views, you then have 1,000 RPM, which you multiply by your average RPM. For example, if you have a $5 RPM and 1 million views, you will make $5 x 1,000 = $5,000.
But you know that different industries have different earnings, right?
Some creators are nice enough to share their earnings per 1 million views with the world. Let’s take a look:
1. JMG Enterprises
JMG has numerous videos that have over 1 million views. He has two videos that became very popular:
- 1.3M views on a video on how to remove ear wax earned $3,969.
- 1M views for a video on unclogging a toilet and it earned $6,909 with less views.
He states that the average person makes $2 – $5 RPM. His plumbing video makes $18 – $21 a day and had nearly double the RPM of the ear wax video.
2. Liz Chaderton
Liz has a small channel that had 1 million views and 42.8k subscribers. She has videos on watercolor painting, and she films in her shed. She’s been on the platform since 2010 and started adding a clip once a year or so.
She got monetized in 2022, and she states that since her audience is in the UK, her ads earn less than someone with a US audience.
With that said, she earned a total of £5,854, or $7,425.90.
3. Budget Treasures
Budget Treasures has over 109K hours of watch time on her channel and 1.1 million views. She is very thorough in her video, and you’ll see that her channel, with 1.1 million views earned her $10,440.
What does she create content about?
A lot.
Primarily, she’s a single mom sharing her budgeting with you. She’ll share things like her payday routine and things she’s not buying in 2020.
4. Jamil Velji
Jamil is in the business niche and has stated that he is in a high-value industry, and he does incorporate a few tricks to monetize his videos, such as having videos that are over 10 minutes long.
One video has 2.3 million views and made him $8,120, which comes out to a little less than $4,000 per 1 million views.
5. Shelby Church
Shelby is someone who always makes it on our lists because she’s so open to sharing her earnings with the world. She has a massive channel, but in her niche, she doesn’t make as much as some of the other creators.
What is she making?
- $2,035 from a video with 1.3M views
- $743 from a video with 2.2M views (or $371 per million views)
One of her videos with just 370k views earned her $3,015. Why are we showing you these earnings? Because it’s a prime example of how your niche will transform how much you earn.
We’ve seen how much YouTube pays for longer videos, but what about Shorts? If you’ve been on YouTube a lot lately, you know that Shorts were being pushed extensively on the platform. You can get millions of views for these small clips, but what does that really mean in the long run?
Let’s take a look.
How Much Does 1 Million Long-form Short Views Pay?
YouTube Shorts generate 30 billion views per day. With that many views, it’s easier than you think to rack up 1 million views for your Short.
It’s no secret that people love short-form videos, but do they pay well?
On YouTube, not really. On average, YouTube Shorts pay anywhere from $0.01 to $0.07 RPM. That’s a far cry from the average long-form RPM of $1-$20.
Let’s look at what some real YouTubers are getting paid for 1 million Short views.
1. Zerkka (Joshua Bradley)
Zerkka of the Sidemen group recently shared on the @Whatsgoodpodcast that one of his Shorts earned:
- $57 for 1.5 million views. That comes out to about $28.5 for 1 million views.
On a bright note, that Short got him over 400 new subscribers.
2. VidIQ
VidIQ’s channel is all about helping YouTubers grow their audience and make more money. Naturally, he was excited to jump on Shorts to see if they’re a viable source of income for the channel.
Here’s what his Shorts earned:
- $58.23 for the channel
- $0.06 RPM
3. CaffeinatedBlogger
YouTuber @CaffeinatedBlogger shared his earnings for a Short that got 1.2 million views and is still performing well.
How much did he earn?
- $37.70
- RPM of $0.03
That Short may not have earned him much, BUT he did get 11,300 subscribers out of the deal.
@CaffeinatedBlogger’s channel is all about making money online and AI.
4. NanoBytesInc
Most Shorts earnings are pretty disappointing, but @NanoBytesInc is an exception. He shares his earnings from a short-form video he posted on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
YouTube paid him the most. For 3.7 million views, he earned:
- $256.74
- RPM of $0.07
If we adjust these earnings for 1 million views, we get about $70.
NanoBytesInc’s channel is all about extreme frugality, so it’s surprising that his RPM is so high.
5. RanftEvan
@RanftEvan posted a few Shorts when they were first released to see how much he could earn.
In total, those Shorts got just over a million views and earned him:
- $56
He may not have earned much, but those Shorts got him over 2,000 new subscribers.
Should You Post YouTube Shorts?
YouTube Shorts may not pay as much as long-form videos, but they are subscriber magnets. That’s why successful YouTubers still put time and energy into making Shorts. They use them as a way to get more people to their channel to view their long-form videos. And they earn a few bucks along the way.
So, yes, you should post YouTube Shorts, especially if you’re trying to grow your channel.
Conclusion
How much can you earn for 1 million views on YouTube? The answer depends on what type of video you’re posting (long-form or short-form), your niche, your audience’s location and other factors. But on average, YouTubers can earn several hundreds of or even thousands of dollars for 1 million views on long-form videos. For shorts? That’s about $30-$70 tops.
