How accurate is this?

Treat the output as a range. RPM swings with seasonality, advertiser demand, watch time, and ad blocking, so the same channel can earn double in December what it earned in January on identical views. Use it for the shape of the number, then check Studio for your own.

What is RPM, and why not CPM?

RPM is revenue per 1,000 views after YouTube takes its 45% cut, which is the figure you see in Studio. CPM is what advertisers pay before the split and before unmonetised views, so it always looks larger than what lands in your account.

Why are Shorts worth so much less?

Shorts pay from a separate revenue pool, and it works out to a small fraction of long-form RPM. A channel with the same view count but mostly Shorts earns far less from ads.

Does niche really matter that much?

It is the single biggest lever. Advertisers pay far more to reach someone watching a finance or B2B video than someone watching gaming or entertainment, and the gap between the top and bottom niches is roughly ten to one.

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YouTube earnings calculator

Put in your monthly views and niche, and see the ad revenue range that usually comes with them.

Most earnings calculators ask for one number, multiply it by a made-up RPM, and hand back a figure with two decimal places it has no right to. This one asks for the four things that actually move the number: how many views you get, what you make videos about, where the people watching them live, and how much of your traffic is Shorts. What comes back is a range.

Niche is the biggest lever by far. A finance channel and a gaming channel with identical view counts can be an order of magnitude apart on ad revenue, because advertisers pay very differently to reach those two audiences. Audience location matters nearly as much: the same video earns far more from a mostly US and UK audience than a globally spread one. Shorts are the part that surprises people. They pay from a separate pool that works out to a small fraction of long-form rates, so a channel doing big Shorts numbers often earns less than a smaller long-form channel.

Ad revenue is also rarely the whole picture. The brand deal line here estimates what a month of your audience is worth to a sponsor at typical integration rates, which for most channels under a few hundred thousand views is the larger number of the two.

Frequently asked questions

How accurate is this?: Treat the output as a range. RPM swings with seasonality, advertiser demand, watch time, and ad blocking, so the same channel can earn double in December what it earned in January on identical views. Use it for the shape of the number, then check Studio for your own.
What is RPM, and why not CPM?: RPM is revenue per 1,000 views after YouTube takes its 45% cut, which is the figure you see in Studio. CPM is what advertisers pay before the split and before unmonetised views, so it always looks larger than what lands in your account.
Why are Shorts worth so much less?: Shorts pay from a separate revenue pool, and it works out to a small fraction of long-form RPM. A channel with the same view count but mostly Shorts earns far less from ads.
Does niche really matter that much?: It is the single biggest lever. Advertisers pay far more to reach someone watching a finance or B2B video than someone watching gaming or entertainment, and the gap between the top and bottom niches is roughly ten to one.

This tool lives inside Chewbr

Chewbr does revenue tracking and packaging checks, plus the other 46 jobs between filmed and published.

The full app is the finishing system for YouTubers: every video gets a 47-step checklist from Plan to Promote, with tools like this one built into the step where you need them. It has not launched yet, so join the waitlist and you will be first through the door.