How Much Does YouTube Pay You for 1 Million Views in 2024

A common question I often hear is, “How much does YouTube pay you for 1 million views?” If you’re thinking of becoming a YouTube influencer and content creator, but worried about the financial viability, this is a must-read!

As the world's largest streaming platform, YouTube offers a fantastic opportunity to earn through video content creation. However, earning from YouTube views requires time, patience, and the right strategy.

Your earnings on YouTube for a million views are influenced by various factors, including ad types, audience demographics, and your video's engagement levels.

In this article, I'll break down YouTube's pay-per-view system and guide you on how to monetize your YouTube content effectively.

How Much Does YouTube Pay You for 1 Million Views?

Understanding how much YouTube pays you for 1 million views requires a fundamental knowledge of YouTube's monetization model.

The average YouTuber earns about $0.01-$0.03 per ad view, which means you can earn up to $18,000 for 1 million views on YouTube. However, that’s far from the reality.

You’d need to factor in YouTube engagement rates, the number of ad views, and how much they’re worth, along with YouTube’s cut while calculating your YouTube earnings.

Here’s how much you can make on YouTube on average based on what the platform suggests:

Number of ad views	Amount earned
1000 ad views	$10 – $30
10,000 ad views	$100 – $300
100,000 ad views	$1,000 – $3,000
500,000 ad views	$5,000 – $15,000
1 million ad views	$10,000 – $30,000

Keep in mind that these are averages and not 100% exact figures as these numbers are based on the number of ad views, not just video views.

Your YouTube earnings from 1 million YouTube views can differ greatly.

Not all viewers who click on your video will realistically finish the whole video, let alone view the ads in the video. For a detailed look into the differences between video views and ad views, check out Google’s About YouTube ads and view metrics guide.

In late 2022, Business Insider interviewed famous YouTubers to find out their YouTube CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) rates.

Kaz Sawyer, known for his challenge videos on YT, earns $1.61 per 1,000 views on average. He focuses a lot more on short-form content, part of YouTube Shorts with its own creators fund. It is safe to say that a big part of his earnings is coming from this fund.

On the high end, we have Joshua Mayo, a personal finance YouTuber, who earns around $29.30 per 1,000 views. An interesting thing about Joshua’s channel is that his CPM rate grew higher when he changed his channel’s content category from lifestyle to finance.

Changing your content category not only helps you find your target audience but also affects the advertisements that are shown in your videos. Ad placement rates also vary per audience niche or content category.

As per the numbers shared by YouTubers making money on the platform, here’s a more realistic range for how much you can earn on YouTube:

Number of ad views	Amount earned
1,000 ad views	$1.5 – $30
10,000 ad views	$15 – $300
100,000 ad views	$150 – $3,000
500,000 ad views	$750 – $15,000
1 million ad views	$1,700 – $30,000

As you can see, there is a high variability in how much you can earn from your YouTube AdSense-enabled videos. 

Key Factors That Determine YouTube's Payout for 1 Million Views

When it comes to earning revenue from YouTube, several factors come into play. Here are the 5 most important factors that influence how much YouTube pays you per view:

1. The Type of Advertisement

YouTube makes all of its money from selling advertising space on its platform. But not all ad space costs the same, and it’s up to advertisers to choose how they’re willing to spend their marketing budget.

It doesn’t take long to notice that there are different types of ads on YouTube. For example, some ads allow you to skip them after a few seconds while others force you to watch the whole ad.

As of late, more ads have become 15-30-second ads that you cannot skip. Although there has been backlash over them, more businesses are choosing this option.

As digital marketing becomes the main priority for businesses, more of the marketing budget is spent on creating ads for platforms like YouTube. These companies want you to watch these ads that they’ve put a lot of time and effort into.

Here’s an example of an ad that allows you to skip after 5 seconds:

There are mainly two ways to monetize ads on YouTube:

1. Pay-per-impression (PPM) ads

YouTube pays YouTubers for every 1,000 ad views. This number is much lower per view than what you’d get for an ad that’s clicked on.

Calculating the cost of a view to set your budget for the campaign is difficult, and even YouTube offers only rough estimates. However, PPM ads are generally cheaper than PPC ads.

If you’ve got a limited budget but are expecting thousands of views on your videos, you should opt for PPM ads.

2. Pay-per-click (PPC) ads

These ads rely on the user to click the ad. These are usually the types of ads that you can skip after 5 seconds. However, YouTube also accounts for users who watch the ad past the 5-second mark.

Advertisers prefer PPC ads because it’s easier to calculate the cost-per-click. What makes it less attractive than PPM ads is that it’s difficult to estimate how many users will click on the ad.

It could also happen that someone sees an ad, doesn’t click it but visits the website later.

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2. The Advertiser

Advertisements displayed on your channel are usually niche-specific. This means companies that advertise choose the video content they’d like their ads to be displayed in.

Depending on how large the audience is for the niche, as well as the audience’s worth, YouTube will charge advertisers different prices. 

Therefore, your content’s niche will affect how much you’re paid for 1M views.

You’ll quickly notice that if you view certain content more than any other, you’ll start getting ads related to that content.

As a digital marketing expert, I’m always watching new content related to digital marketing. And as you can see, most of the ads I get are related to the niche.

In this case, I received an advertisement from Namecheap, a web hosting platform.

3. Your Audience Demographics

Certain countries/regions are considered higher value, especially to advertisers looking to target a specific audience.

Advertisers are more likely to pay more to advertise in a country where they will get higher-quality leads, resulting in more sales.

For example, advertising a TikTok tool or app in a country where it is banned is pointless. But advertising in countries with the highest number of TikTok users, like the United States (almost 150 million users), is much more valuable.

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4. Your Engagement Rate

Speaking about quality leads, the engagement rate of your videos has a large impact on how much you can earn from your content.

This is particularly apparent as large YouTube channels get paid over $20,000 for a million views while smaller channels get less than $5,000 for 1M views.

The higher your engagement rate, the more YouTube 1 million views income you can make.

Advertisers want to verify whether or not the million views you get are worth their money. This means that your viewers are watching the videos and finishing them.

They also look at the comments, number of likes, and how much the content is shared across social media platforms.

5. The YouTube Partner Program

To be eligible for running ads on your YouTube channel, you need to join the YouTube Partner Program.

Qualifying for YouTube income involves joining the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), which facilitates earning money per view on YouTube. You should ensure that your YouTube account is verified otherwise, you won’t earn any ad revenue from the platform.

To be eligible for the YPP, you must:

• Adhere to YouTube's channel monetization policies.
• Reside in a country/region where the YouTube Partner Program is accessible.
• Abide by YouTube’s Community Guidelines to avoid disqualification due to channel strikes.
• Activate 2-step verification for your Google Account.
• Have advanced features access on YouTube.
• Establish or possess an active AdSense account that can be linked to your channel.
• Attain 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 valid public watch hours in the past 12 months.

YouTube updated these terms in October 2022 to include users who have 1,000 subscribers and over 10 million valid public Shorts views within the last 90 days.

This is in response to short video content creators who prefer to use other competing platforms like TikTok (which specializes in short-form content) because they can run ads on their content.

With YouTube, they can now create Shorts and benefit from the program.

Looking to start a career on YouTube or want your business to reach a larger audience on the platform? Check out my YouTube marketing guide.

Need some inspiration to increase your video views? Check out the 25 most-watched YouTube videos.

Exploring Alternative Ways to Earn Money on YouTube (Beyond Ad Revenue)

Smart YouTubers don’t just rely on YouTube AdSense views to make money. You need to dig deeper to increase your 1M views YouTube income.

In this section, I’ll share the most popular ways to make money on YouTube using other methods.

1. AdSense Ads

This is the most obvious way, but it’s not the most reliable or easiest way to make money. Especially, if you’re a micro-influencer.

To get started with monetization on YouTube, you can set up your own AdSense account. Once you get a higher number of views on your videos and ads, you can earn money through it.

2. YouTube Channel Memberships

Creating a channel membership for your most loyal fans is not only a great way to earn extra income from your YouTube channel but also a great way to engage with your followers.

Your main channel followers can opt-in for a monthly subscription to your membership, which comes with perks depending on what you’d like to offer.

Most YouTube channels that offer subscriptions have:

• “Member only” videos
• Custom emojis for the comment sections
• “Member only” Live streams

3. Sponsorships

Creating sponsored videos is another way to earn money on YouTube. This is how it works — A brand hires you to promote their products or services to your target demographic, and you get paid for doing so.

With the right sponsors, the more followers you have, the more money you'll make.

YouTube now allows content creators to add a small tag at the top of a video to show that the video contains sponsored content.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Promote a product through affiliate marketing on YouTube and easily earn a commission from the sale of that product.

As an affiliate, you are assigned a unique link that takes your audience to the sponsored product or service. You can also embed your affiliate link in the video description.

Some popular types of content to promote affiliate links are how-to videos, reviews, and unboxing sponsored videos.

If you intend to use this marketing tactic, ensure you add a disclaimer stating that you’ll get a small commission for every purchase made. You can add it in the description or the video.

5. Merchandise Sales

You can also take advantage of your million views on YouTube by selling items. This is one of the most popular methods of generating money on YouTube.

You can sell tshirts, hats, coffee mugs, and other products with your logo or name on them.

A good example is PewDiePie, one of the most popular gaming influencers. He launched a unisex apparel brand, Tsuki, with his wife, Marzia Bisognin in 2021. Tsuki is the Japanese word for “moon.”

Their obsession with Japanese fashion, art, and culture is what has led them to create the clothing brand.

6. YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts are short, vertical videos that may be shot on a smartphone and immediately uploaded to YouTube, much like Instagram Stories. A video can have a maximum duration of 60 seconds on a YouTube Shorts video.

So, as a content creator, how can you profit from this?

In February 2023, YouTube stopped the creator's pool fund for YouTube Shorts. Instead, they’ve allowed advertisers and eligible YouTube creators to opt into their new revenue-sharing model.

How does it work? YouTube shows ads in between two different Shorts as a user scrolls through them.

1. Every month, YouTube will add up all revenue gained from ads displayed on Shorts videos.
2. YouTube splits the revenue between paying music licensing fees and paying the creators via the Creator Pool.
3. From the Creator Pool, revenue is then distributed based on the total share of views a creator had that month. For example, if a creator gets 3% of all eligible Shorts views, they’ll be allocated 3% of the revenue in the Creator Pool.
4. From there, YouTube takes its cut, and creators receive only 45% of their allocated amount.

YouTube also sets aside 45% of the net revenue of YouTube Premium to monetize YouTube Shorts. This strategy helps them compete with other platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

Payments to creators are allocated based on how many views their Shorts received from premium accounts.

7. Third-Party Paid Membership Websites Like Patreon

You can also monetize YouTube content using outside services like Patreon and other paid media platforms.

On average, creators can convert 0.15%-0.75% of YouTube subscribers into paying Patreon contributors.

You can make money by giving your Patreon subscribers exclusive material against a small monthly fee. This includes early access to videos, behind-the-scenes footage, or personalized messages to your biggest fans.

Ready to Earn Big From 1M YouTube Views?

So, answering the question, “How much does YouTube pay you for 1 million views?,” we’ve learned that achieving a million views on YouTube might not turn you into an instant millionaire. It can certainly lay the foundation for a successful YouTube career though.

It's important to remember that while understanding how much YouTube pays you for a million views is crucial, reaching this milestone also unlocks additional revenue streams like sponsorships and product endorsements.

Remember, the income you can earn from a million views on YouTube isn't just related to your number of views. It also involves growing your channel and audience, and creating other income sources by monetizing your subscriber base.

However, once you surpass the 1M-views threshold, your financial rewards can be transformative.

So, why wait? Begin your journey on YouTube today and start unlocking the potential earnings that await you!

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