Our Methodology
How we build the CPM, RPM and earnings benchmarks behind our calculators — what we measure, where the numbers come from, and where they stop being useful.
Last reviewed: October 2026What we publish
Across our calculators and guides we publish benchmark ranges for:
- RPM (revenue per 1,000 views) by niche, country and format — e.g. $2–$8 globally for long-form video.
- CPM (advertiser cost per 1,000 impressions) by niche and country.
- Shorts RPM — currently $0.03–$0.08 per 1,000 views.
- Platform revenue shares — the fixed splits YouTube pays creators.
These are estimates of typical ranges, not predictions for any single channel. Your actual RPM is shown in YouTube Studio under Analytics → Revenue, and it is always more accurate than any external estimate.
Where the numbers come from
Our benchmarks are compiled from three kinds of sources, in this order of reliability:
- YouTube's official documentation. Fixed facts — revenue shares, Partner Program thresholds, payment mechanics — come from YouTube Help and the YouTube Partner Program terms. For example, the 55% creator share on long-form ads and the 1,000-subscriber / 4,000-watch-hour thresholds are YouTube's published terms, not our estimates. We link to the official pages wherever these facts appear.
- Publicly reported creator earnings. RPM and CPM ranges are compiled from earnings figures creators have publicly shared (videos, posts, interviews) and from industry reporting on creator-economy rates. We look for ranges that repeat across independent reports rather than trusting any single figure.
- Calculator sanity checks. Our own tools are back-tested against the public figures above: if a calculator's default output disagrees with widely reported ranges, we investigate and adjust the defaults.
Key figures and their basis
| Figure we publish | Basis |
|---|---|
| 55% creator share, long-form ads | YouTube's published Partner Program terms |
| 45% creator share, Shorts pool | YouTube's published Shorts monetization terms |
| 70% creator share, fan funding | YouTube's published terms for memberships & Supers |
| 1,000 subs + 4,000 watch hours (or 10M Shorts views) | YouTube's published YPP eligibility criteria |
| Global long-form RPM $2–$8 | Range repeated across independent creator reports; see limitations |
| Shorts RPM $0.03–$0.08 | Range repeated across independent creator reports; see limitations |
| Niche & country multipliers | Relative ordering from creator reports (finance > gaming, US > India); absolute values are estimates |
How often we update
- Official facts (thresholds, revenue shares): checked against YouTube Help whenever YouTube announces program changes, and at least quarterly.
- Benchmark ranges: reviewed quarterly against new public creator reports. When ranges move, we update the pages and the "last updated" note.
- Calculators: defaults are re-checked against the benchmarks at the same cadence.
If you spot a figure that looks stale or wrong, tell us — corrections from creators with real data are the fastest way these pages improve.
Limitations — read this before quoting us
- RPM is not fixed. Two channels with identical views can earn 10× different amounts based on audience country, niche, video length, season and ad inventory.
- Ranges, not promises. A range of $2–$8 means most reported values fall inside it — not that your channel will.
- Shorts figures are the least stable. The Shorts pool model means per-view rates move more than long-form RPM.
- We are not YouTube. For your channel's real numbers, YouTube Studio → Analytics → Revenue is the source of truth.
How to cite us
If you reference our benchmarks, please cite them as estimates and link to this page:
Who maintains this
This methodology is maintained by Fawad Ullah, the researcher behind YT Money Calculator. Questions about sources or methods: contact us.