If you’ve looked into how to monetize your YouTube channel, chances are you’ve come across this acronym before: CPM.
It’s complex, it’s omnipresent and it has a huge impact on your YouTube earnings. CPM is a core factor in how easy making money off the platform is for content creators.
But what is YouTube CPM exactly – in simple terms? And how can you find the CPM of your YouTube niche?
Here’s everything you need to know.
Contents
What is YouTube CPM?
To start with, CPM stands for Cost Per Mille (“mille” is just Latin for one thousand).
This metric tells you how much advertisers pay for 1,000 ad impressions. This typically goes for ads that are placed at the beginning and during your videos, both skippable and non-skippable. (You can control which types of ads appear on your videos via Google AdSense.)
YouTube Shorts monetization works differently (check out our full article here!). Plus, CPM doesn’t include any money YouTubers may earn from additional monetization features. Channel memberships, Super Thanks, Super Sticker, or Super Chat are all unrelated to ads, and so don’t count here.
A second metric closely related to CPM is RPM – Revenue Per Mille. This describes the amount of money you’re left with after YouTube deducts its 45% share. The RPM you see in your video analytics, however, does include earnings from non-advertising monetization.
How high the CPM is for a particular niche depends on how competitive advertising is. Higher CPMs indicate that advertisers are keen to out-bid competitors to place ads on your video content.
Why is CPM Important on YouTube?
CPM is a crucial stat for YouTubers because it gives them a good idea of which topics have high earning potential. If you’re just starting a YouTube channel and are looking for YouTube niche inspiration, then CPM is an important factor to look at.
YouTube CPM rates vary dramatically across niches, as well as across different locations.
Some of the most profitable niches are those related to making money online, including personal finance, affiliate marketing, digital marketing, and social media marketing. These niches see CPM rates of $12 on average. Educational content for adults and tech channels reviewing gadgets also get fairly high CPM rates. Gaming or fitness content, on the other hand, average CPMs barely above $1.
The second factor that’s critical for your CPM is where you live. A YouTube creator in North American or Western European countries, like the US, Canada, Germany, or Norway will benefit from far higher average CPM rate than a creator based in India or Brazil.
Here is a more in-depth explanation of the various metrics.
Next, let’s see how you can check out what kind of CPM you can expect for your channel.
How do I find my CPM on YouTube?
So, how do you actually find the CPM of your niche?
If you’re still in the stages of planning your channel, the easiest way of finding your potential CPM is to check out articles that sum up average CPM values from information that hundreds of creators shared about their earnings.
To start with, you can check out our article about the most profitable YouTube niches.
For more personalized information, you can use the calculator in our article on how much YouTube pays you for 1 million views. Apart from niche CPM data, this tool also takes your location into consideration.
If you already have a YouTube channel and are part of the Partner Program, you can calculate the CPM on your YouTube videos using analytics and a simple formula.
Go to YouTube Studio and check out your total earnings and your total number of views. Then, divide your earnings by your views and multiply the result by 1,000.
This CPM calculation will give you the amount YouTube pays you on average for 1,000 views – sort of. If you read the previous section carefully, you’ll know that that’s actually your RPM – your revenue per mille, with YouTube’s share already deducted, but additional monetization streams factored in. In order to isolate your CPM, you’ll have to deduct those and calculate back in YouTube’s share.
Why go through the extra trouble? Comparing your RPM with the average CPM of your niche will also give you an idea how much you benefit from additional monetization options, which are typically an indicator of high-quality content.
FAQs
Go to YouTube Studio and check out your total earnings and your total number of views. Then, divide your earnings by your views and multiply the result by 1,000. If you don’t have a YouTube channel, or aren’t yet part of the Partner Program, you can check out tables with the average CPM of different niches online.
On average, CPMs for high-paying niches vary from $2-$12.
A solid CPM on YouTube is anything above $5.
While YouTube doesn’t display your CPM, you can calculate it. Go to YouTube Studio and check out your total earnings and your total number of views. Then, divide your earnings by your views and multiply the result by 1,000.
Personal finance has the highest CPM rate on YouTube, with average values of around $12.
