What is RPM (revenue per mille)?
In short: What you earn per 1,000 views on YouTube, after YouTube's share is taken out.
RPM stands for revenue per mille, meaning per 1,000. On YouTube it is how much you earned for every 1,000 views, counting all revenue sources in your Studio report and after YouTube takes its share. That makes it the most useful number for estimating income.
The formula is simple: earnings ÷ views × 1,000. If you earned $12 from 40,000 views, your RPM is $0.30. Shorts RPM is usually far lower than long-form RPM, because Shorts are paid from a shared pool rather than per ad.
Example
Say that in one month, YouTube Studio shows $90 from 30,000 long-form views and $6 from 200,000 Shorts views (hypothetical numbers). Long-form RPM is $90 ÷ 30,000 × 1,000 = $3.00. Shorts RPM is $6 ÷ 200,000 × 1,000 = $0.03. Your channel-wide RPM is $96 ÷ 230,000 × 1,000, about $0.42. That blended figure hides the fact that one format pays 100 times more per view than the other, so look at RPM for each format separately before you plan what to make next.
Tips for creators
- Compare your RPM with your own past months, not with numbers from other channels. Format, topic and where your viewers live all move it.
- To plan an income goal, divide the goal by your RPM and multiply by 1,000. At a $0.30 RPM, $1,000 takes about 3.3 million views.
- Expect Shorts RPM to change from month to month. The Shorts pool depends on total ad revenue and total engaged views, so the same view count can pay differently.
Common questions
Where do I find RPM in YouTube Studio?
YouTube Studio shows RPM in the Revenue tab of Analytics. It counts all your revenue sources after YouTube's share, so it already reflects the 55% share of net ad revenue on long videos and the 45% share of allocated Shorts revenue.
What is a good RPM for YouTube Shorts?
YouTube does not publish averages. Third-party data from AIR Media-Tech puts typical Shorts RPM between about $0.008 for audiences in India and about $0.33 for audiences in the United States. A Shorts RPM of a few cents is normal for many channels.
Go deeper
RPM calculatorRead →Why is my Shorts RPM so low?Read →Shorts pay by countryRead →Related terms
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All 29 glossary terms · Reviewed on 2026-11-05.