---
title: 'CPM vs RPM (new YouTube Ads metric! which one should you use?)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=mO9DGMuS9J4'
video_id: 'mO9DGMuS9J4'
date: 2026-06-22
duration_sec: 0
---

# CPM vs RPM (new YouTube Ads metric! which one should you use?)

> Source: [CPM vs RPM (new YouTube Ads metric! which one should you use?)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=mO9DGMuS9J4)

## Summary

This video explains the difference between two key YouTube ad revenue metrics: CPM (Cost Per Mille) and RPM (Revenue Per Mille). CPM shows what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions, while RPM shows a creator's actual earnings per 1,000 views after YouTube's revenue share and includes all views, not just monetized ones.

### Key Points

- **YouTube Ad Revenue Basics** [00:00] — YouTube splits ad revenue with creators when ads are shown on their videos.
- **CPM Definition** [00:19] — CPM stands for Cost Per Mille (thousand) and is the amount advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions.
- **New RPM Metric** [00:33] — RPM (Revenue Per Mille) is a newer metric that shows creators their actual earnings per 1,000 views.
- **YouTube Partner Program Requirements** [00:40] — To monetize, you need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time.
- **CPM vs RPM in Analytics** [01:18] — In YouTube Analytics, RPM is now shown alongside playback-based CPM.
- **Why RPM is Lower** [01:24] — RPM is typically lower than CPM because it factors in all views (not just monetized ones) and subtracts YouTube's revenue share.
- **CPM Details** [01:47] — CPM is based only on monetized views; it does not include non-monetized views or YouTube's share.
- **RPM Incorporates All Views** [02:55] — RPM includes every view of a video, even those without ads, giving a truer picture of earnings per view.
- **CPM for Advertiser Research** [03:38] — CPM reveals what advertisers pay, useful for researching competitor niches (e.g., the creator notes a $43 CPM for Instagram ad topics).
- **RPM Includes Other Revenue Sources** [04:12] — RPM accounts for ads, YouTube Premium, channel memberships, Super Chat, and Super Stickers, unlike CPM.
- **RPM Shows Actual Earnings** [04:55] — RPM reflects revenue after YouTube's share (approx. 55/45 split), providing creators with real earnings.
- **How to Improve RPM** [05:24] — Enable monetization on all videos, use all ad formats (including mid-rolls), and enable features like memberships and Super Chat.
- **Example CPM and RPM Values** [05:57] — A video with a $43 CPM yielded a $25 RPM; the creator's lifetime channel CPM is $23, RPM is $8.29.
- **RPM Simpler Than CPM** [06:52] — RPM is essentially cost per view multiplied by 1,000 for readability, making it more straightforward for creators.

### Conclusion

For YouTube creators, RPM is the more accurate metric to track actual earnings per 1,000 views, as it accounts for all revenue sources and view types after YouTube's share, while CPM reflects only advertiser spending per 1,000 ad impressions.

## Transcript

so when it comes to youtube ad revenue
which is just where you let youtube put
ads on your videos
so that you can make some money through
that process because the advertisers
have to pay youtube to put those ads on
your videos and so
since they're your videos youtube splits
the money that they get from the
advertiser
with you that's how youtube ad revenue
works and typically
one of the the main metric that people
pay attention to
when it comes to how much money you earn
from youtube ad revenue
is the cpm which stands for cost per mil
but just recently youtube has come out
with a new metric
called rpm which is revenue per ml
[Music]
in order to allow youtube in the first
place to put ads on your videos you have
to have a thousand subscribers and 4 000
hours of watch time
then you apply to the program and get
accepted and then you can start to earn
money through the ads on your videos
i mentioned that just so you know that
but also because i've got plenty of
videos
that walk you through how to get ads on
your videos how to get a thousand
subscribers four thousand hours watch
time
all of that really good videos tutorials
on that whole process so
and then i even break down how to make
more money from the ads that you're
putting on your videos
once you're at that point all right so
i'm here inside my analytics for this
instagram video
and i've got it uh i've got revenue
selected right here and you'll see that
they've added an
rpm tab right here and then right here
is the playback based cpm okay so some
questions
what's cpm what's rpm why is the rpm
lower than the cpm
which one of these should you pay
attention to so first let's cover what
the cpm is
and by the way this youtube help center
is actually very helpful
they do a good job at breaking all this
down i know it's not fun and exciting
necessarily to come in here and read
through these but
the information's here and it's really
good so right here what's the difference
between rpm and cpm so cpm is the cost
per 1000 ad impressions
before youtube revenue share another way
to say that which i think it says it
over here
yeah so right here in this one it gives
the definition cpm is the average amount
of money that advertisers pay
to show ads in your videos so the cpm is
the average amount that the
advertiser is paying to reach 1 000
people
through your video and then what happens
is youtube splits that cpm off of
every thousand views with you i think
it's a 55 45 split something like that
but
it's pretty close to right down the
middle youtube splits that with you
and i do want to clarify right here and
this will make more sense when we talk
about rpm but
that you don't earn that cpm or that
split of the cpm off of every thousand
views
you only earn that off of every thousand
views that are monetized
some views are monetized some views are
not monetized
some viewers will get ads some viewers
won't get ads
and there's other things that factor
into that as well but it's just
important to note that when you look at
your cpm it's based only off of your
monetized views
and not the other views that weren't
monetized aren't factoring into it
so what the rpm is doing is factoring in
all those other views that weren't
counted in the cpm
and giving you what would essentially be
a truer
cost a truer how much you're earning per
every thousand views
because now it's not what an advertiser
is paying per every thousand views
and it's not only counting the monetized
views but now it's looking at all the
views on your channel or on the video as
a whole
including every single view even the
ones that weren't monetized
and then basing an rpm giving you uh
here's how much you're earning for every
thousand views
off of all of the views collectively so
in case my wording right there was
confusing we can try and use youtube's
words right here they say it only takes
into account the revenue from ads and
the views from the videos
that we're monetizing lastly it shows
you what the advertisers were paying
not what you're actually earning which
is kind of cool from a research
perspective like if you're interested in
what your competitors are paying for
every
thousand views you could rank a video in
that topic in that niche and get an idea
for example looking at this video right
here i've got a pretty good idea that
people at least for at least for this
topic this niche
instagram ads are paying somewhere
around
43 bucks for every thousand views okay
let's talk rpm now rpm is a better
metric for creators because it shows you
how much you earn on youtube and it
takes into account
total revenue reported in youtube
analytics including
ads youtube premium channel membership
super chat super stickers okay that's
what i probably should have mentioned
that earlier i kind of forget
to think about that because i'm not
doing super chats and super chicken
stickers channel memberships i'm not
doing that at all
um but if you are then your art that
then
all of that uh all of those earnings
will also be included in your rpm
so that's cool because those aren't
included at all in the cpm because again
the cpm is the
amount that the advertiser is paying for
every thousand views
also we got total number of views from
your videos including those that are not
monetizing i talked about that
the actual revenue earned after revenue
share so i talked about that split
the cpm is not showing that split but
the rpm does reflect
the split between youtube and yourself
youtube and the creator
please note i like how they put the
exclamation point right here because the
first time i saw it in there in the
in the actual analytics i was like oh
why is that so low right because
but it makes sense completely makes
sense it's a ratio that includes revenue
that is calculated after youtube's
revenue share
and the total number of views it will
typically be lower than your cpm
you shouldn't see a difference in the
actual amount of revenue that you make
okay right here this is good to know
it's good to hear it right from
youtube's mouth i've said this in my
other videos but in order to improve
your rpm in order
in other words how to make more money
here's what you need to do here's some
steps to maximize
enable monetization on all videos enable
all ad formats
enable ads at eligible positions mid
roles
going back to these mid-roll ad stacking
tests that i've been doing
and then it recommends enabling the
other features that they offer
membership super chat
etc so here's this video again with a 43
cpm so that's what advertisers are
paying for every
1000 views and then i'm making 25
off of every thousand views and if we
look at my channel as a whole just for
fun
over its entire lifetime my playback
base cpm has been twenty three dollars
and my rpm eight dollars and twenty nine
cents
and that makes sense that it's quite a
bit lower for the reasons that we talked
about and then also because there was
a good chunk at the beginning of my
channel and then i just have some videos
that straight up aren't monetized and
for more ways to increase your rpm check
out my ad stacking test videos and then
also the videos i've made about my cpm
again
new metric here rpm i talked about cpm
in the previous videos moving forward
now
i'll be talking much more about rpm
since that's the
much truer number as far as how much i'm
earning per view which by the way your
rpm is
just your cost per view times 1000 just
to make it an easier bigger number to
read
is honestly the real reason that they do
that so if we
did the math in reverse here and divided
it by a thousand
that would give me how much i earned per
view or how much i've earned per view
to date so 8.29
divided by 1000 so not even
a penny per view
you