How Much YouTube ACTUALLY Pays Small Channels in 2025

[00:00] Here's a popular YouTube question. How

[00:02] much do small channels make in their

[00:03] first 30 days of monetization? $10,

[00:06] $100, $500? Well, weirdly, it's all of

[00:10] them. In fact, I found two creators with

[00:13] almost exactly the same number of views.

[00:15] One creator earned enough to buy a pizza

[00:17] with pineapple. Controversial opinion,

[00:20] I'm a recent convert. I actually like

[00:22] them. On the other hand, another creator

[00:24] earned enough to buy a Switch, too.

[00:28] Oh, yeah. So, two creators with the same

[00:30] number of views but completely different

[00:32] payouts. And that's what this video is

[00:35] all about. I'll not only explain why

[00:37] this discrepancy in payouts happens, but

[00:40] I'll also reveal real earnings and real

[00:42] screenshots from small creators, so

[00:44] you'll have some idea of what to expect

[00:46] in your first YouTube paycheck. But it's

[00:48] always fun to speculate a little bit,

[00:50] isn't it? So before we dive into the

[00:52] details, how much do you think your

[00:54] first YouTube paycheck is going to be

[00:56] when, not if, when you get monetized?

[00:59] And if you are already monetized, let us

[01:01] know what your first paycheck was if you

[01:03] want to share it. Right? Then why does

[01:05] YouTube pay some creators more than

[01:07] others? And is this even fair? To answer

[01:10] that question, you have to understand

[01:12] the little acronym that's responsible

[01:14] for all of this. It's called RPM or

[01:17] revenue per millie. This basically is

[01:19] just a fancy way of saying how much

[01:21] YouTube will pay you for 1,000 views.

[01:24] But this tiny three-word acronym is a

[01:26] reason two creators with the same number

[01:29] of views can earn completely different

[01:31] amounts of revenue. And to explain that,

[01:34] let's go for a drive.

[01:43] [Music]

[01:46] This is electric. But imagine for a

[01:48] second that this is a gas car and you're

[01:50] cruising down the Californian coast with

[01:52] the windows down and the music booming

[01:55] and all of a sudden you run out of said

[01:58] gas. But now let's imagine you're

[02:00] driving exactly the same car, exactly

[02:02] the same distance in the UK and you also

[02:06] run out of gas. Now in California you

[02:08] can pull into a gas station and you can

[02:10] probably fill up the car for what around

[02:12] about $3 to $4 per gallon. But in the

[02:15] UK, that's a completely different story.

[02:17] You'll probably expect to pay, goodness,

[02:19] I don't know, $10 to $12 per gallon. And

[02:23] the reason I don't really know that is

[02:24] because I have an electric car. But the

[02:26] moral of the story is that the same car

[02:29] travel the same distance and yet they

[02:31] paid completely different prices.

[02:34] Whoops.

[02:38] Yeah, RPM pretty much works in the same

[02:40] way. Just because two creators both get

[02:42] 10,000 views on one video doesn't mean

[02:45] that YouTube will pay them the same. And

[02:47] that's because the viewing conditions

[02:48] are very different. The RPM is

[02:50] influenced by what your video is about,

[02:53] where your viewers live, how long your

[02:54] video is, and how long people watch the

[02:56] video for. And just to be clear, RPM is

[02:58] not to be confused with CPM. They do

[03:01] sound similar, but they are slightly

[03:03] different. CPM stands for cost per

[03:05] millie, and that's what the advertisers

[03:08] pay YouTube to run ads on your videos.

[03:10] But you don't get all of that money.

[03:12] YouTube takes a giant 45% cut of the

[03:16] CPM. And so that's why we have RPM,

[03:19] which is a number you actually earn per

[03:21] 1,000 views after YouTube takes its

[03:24] share. All right, so with all of that

[03:26] out of the way, let's look at some

[03:27] actual creators and see how wildly

[03:30] different their first YouTube paychecks

[03:32] can be.

[03:32] >> And you can see that I earned in total

[03:34] over this month 237,000 views. I gained

[03:38] 413 subscribers and my estimated revenue

[03:43] for my first month of being monetized on

[03:46] YouTube as a part of their YouTube

[03:48] partner program was a whopping $23.79.

[03:55] >> Yeah, that's 10 cents per 1,000 views.

[03:59] And why your prize at the end of a month

[04:02] is a pineapple pizza. I really was under

[04:05] the impression that I would be gaining

[04:08] at least $100 a month.

[04:10] >> Yeah. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that is

[04:12] simply not the case when most of your

[04:13] views are coming from YouTube shorts.

[04:16] They pay a fraction of long form views.

[04:19] Usually 50 to 100 times less. So to make

[04:22] any serious cash from shorts, you'll

[04:24] need to get tens of millions of views

[04:26] per month, if not more. So that's

[04:28] something to remember. It's easy to grow

[04:30] a channel with shorts, but harder to

[04:32] make a sustainable income.

[04:33] >> So, since getting monetized on August

[04:36] 23rd, my grand total YouTube earnings so

[04:39] far is $684.83.

[04:42] >> Hang on a second. Savage.

[04:45] Any relation?

[04:46] >> No. Rob, is everyone with the last name

[04:48] Wilson related to you? Savage is a very

[04:50] common last name here in America.

[04:53] >> Fair enough. Moving on. So, this channel

[04:55] with roughly the same amount of views as

[04:57] the previous channel has earned 30 times

[05:00] more revenue because the RPM is around

[05:03] about $280, which is so much higher.

[05:06] >> I can't even tell you how many videos

[05:08] just like this I've watched trying to

[05:10] figure out exactly how much I can expect

[05:12] to earn on YouTube. And I saw creators

[05:14] earn as little as $30. And I've also

[05:17] seen big creators reveal their earnings

[05:19] and they're making way more than this.

[05:21] >> Well, now come on, non-savage savage.

[05:23] $600 is still enough to afford a Switch

[05:26] 2.

[05:28] Oh yeah. And one of the modern Zelda

[05:31] games, which are absolutely trash.

[05:34] But she does have a point about how much

[05:36] she's earning.

[05:37] >> So that first YouTube paycheck that I

[05:39] got was from September 13th to the end

[05:42] of October, and it was $264.25.

[05:46] So, this is Caleb Bale, a small but

[05:48] mighty channel that's able to earn over

[05:50] $200 from just 22,000 views. And the

[05:54] plain and simple reason for this is

[05:56] because he has an astronomical RPM. So,

[05:59] the big question is, why are these RPMs

[06:01] so different? How did Caleb get nearly

[06:03] $10 per 1,000 views while Tatiana gets

[06:07] $280 per 1,000 views? Well, it all comes

[06:10] down to four big variables. Starting

[06:14] with

[06:15] >> ultimately though some YouTube channels

[06:16] are more monetizable because certain

[06:19] audiences have more money. So in the

[06:21] case of personal finance, that's one of

[06:23] the higher ones for RPM and CPM because

[06:26] companies that are trying to reach

[06:28] people who are interested in personal

[06:29] finance are more likely to pay higher

[06:32] dollars to YouTube in order to get their

[06:34] ads in front of these people. Yep, Caleb

[06:36] is spot on. The niche plays a huge

[06:39] factor. Viewers of finance content are

[06:41] often ready to spend some money right

[06:43] now. They're looking for credit cards,

[06:44] investment tools, or business software,

[06:47] which is exactly what these advertisers

[06:49] are trying to push to the viewer.

[06:50] Whereas a lifestyle vlog or prank

[06:53] channel, entertainment content, might

[06:55] still pull in tons more views, but the

[06:58] audience is usually just watching for

[07:00] fun. They're not ready to buy anything

[07:02] right there, right now. And what are you

[07:04] supposed to sell them? Toys, drinks,

[07:06] clothing. It's not quite as specific, is

[07:08] it? So, if you're in a niche such as

[07:10] making money online, marketing,

[07:12] educational content, you're already in a

[07:14] high RPM zone. But if you're doing

[07:16] reaction videos, music, or

[07:18] entertainment, then the RPMs tend to be

[07:20] lower. The next variable is the location

[07:22] of your audience. Where your viewers

[07:24] live matters a lot. If most of your

[07:26] audience is from the UK, US, Canada,

[07:29] Australia, basically places that pay

[07:31] higher wages, your viewers tend to have

[07:33] more spending power and advertisers are

[07:35] willing to pay more to get ads in front

[07:37] of them. But if your views come mostly

[07:38] from countries with lower ad spend, like

[07:40] India, Indonesia, or the Philippines,

[07:43] well, it's probably best if I just show

[07:45] you the difference. For this video,

[07:46] these are the two biggest contributors

[07:48] in terms of views, the US and India. The

[07:51] CPM of US views is over $20, which

[07:54] probably equates to an RPM of around

[07:56] about 12 to$14.

[07:58] India, on the other hand, despite half a

[08:01] million views, contributes just a book

[08:04] 30. And that's before YouTube's cut. the

[08:06] RPM will be less than a dollar and the

[08:09] average for all countries is around

[08:11] about $11.50. And just to be clear,

[08:13] location is not about where you, the

[08:16] creator, uploaded the video or the

[08:18] contents of the video itself. It's all

[08:20] about the location of the viewers. So

[08:22] your video could be a travel vlog about

[08:25] India, but if most people are watching

[08:26] from the US, that's where your RPM will

[08:29] be based off of. The next big variable

[08:31] is video length. Obviously, we've

[08:33] already established that if you make

[08:35] short videos that end up as YouTube

[08:36] shorts, which go into a completely

[08:38] different type of video feed, it will

[08:40] seriously impact your RPM. But there is

[08:43] another end of this revenue earning

[08:45] spectrum. Long form videos will earn you

[08:47] more revenue because adverts can be

[08:49] played before and after the video.

[08:51] However, if your video is over 8 minutes

[08:54] long, you can also add something called

[08:56] midroll ads. These are extra ads that

[08:58] will show up in the middle of a video,

[09:00] not just at the beginning and the end.

[09:02] And more ad slots means more chances to

[09:04] earn more money. For example, let's say

[09:06] you've got two creators who earn exactly

[09:08] the same RPM. One makes five minute

[09:10] videos with no midroll ads, but another

[09:13] makes 12-minute videos with three ad

[09:15] breaks. Guess who earns more per video?

[09:18] Obviously, it's the creator with more

[09:20] ads. But does that mean you should stuff

[09:22] as many ads in your videos as possible?

[09:24] Definitely not. In fact, YouTube won't

[09:26] even let you do that. But one or two ads

[09:29] throughout your video at the right time

[09:31] can definitely help your earnings. As a

[09:34] brief and non-scientific example, this

[09:36] video that's under 8 minutes in length

[09:37] has $840,000 views and has earned

[09:40] $3,600.

[09:42] On the other hand, this video that's 9

[09:44] minutes long and is therefore eligible

[09:45] for midroll ads has 30,000 views less,

[09:48] but has earned $750 more. Midroll ads

[09:52] likely contribute to that. But of

[09:54] course, we have to appreciate the

[09:56] variable of the viewer themselves. The

[09:58] longer people watch your videos, the

[10:00] more ads YouTube can show them and the

[10:02] more valuable your content becomes to

[10:04] advertisers. So even a 6-inute video can

[10:07] earn more than a 12minute video if it

[10:09] keeps them watching until the end while

[10:11] viewers bail after the first minute of

[10:13] the longer video. So more than just

[10:14] making your videos longer, you want to

[10:16] make them stickier. And so when all of

[10:19] these four variables line up nicely,

[10:22] that's when RPM starts to climb into the

[10:24] $8, $10, $12 range and beyond. But what

[10:28] if you're not a finance channel raking

[10:31] in a high RPM rate? What should you

[10:34] expect to earn? Well, in this next

[10:36] section, I'm going to show you which

[10:37] niches fall into the high, medium, and

[10:40] low RPM ranges so you can see where your

[10:42] channel roughly fits. We'll start with

[10:44] tier one, which is the low RPM range of

[10:47] between a dollar and $3 every thousand

[10:50] views. These are niches like

[10:52] entertainment lifestyle music pranks

[10:54] vlogs, and yes, of course, gaming. These

[10:57] are the most popular types of content on

[10:59] YouTube, but they also pay the least.

[11:01] Like we shared before, advertisers don't

[11:03] spend big on broad casual audiences. So,

[11:06] if your content is fun and casual,

[11:08] you'll need to get more views to make

[11:10] the same amount of money as other

[11:12] channels. But as we said, broad casual

[11:15] audiences lead to a high volume of

[11:17] views. In tier 2, we have a mid-range of

[11:19] niches where you'd expect to earn$4 to

[11:22] $7 per,000 views. These are niches like

[11:25] tutorials productivity education tech

[11:27] reviews. This is the sweet spot for most

[11:30] creators because here advertisers are

[11:32] targeting people actively learning,

[11:34] which means better engagement and better

[11:36] ad rates. If your channel teaches

[11:38] something or solves problems, you're

[11:40] probably in this zone. And the good

[11:42] news, with the right tweaks, it's often

[11:44] possible to bump it into the next tier.

[11:46] And if it helps the context, this is the

[11:47] RPM tier that the Vid IQ channel sits in

[11:50] right now. Let's move into tier three.

[11:52] Now, the higher echelons of RPM revenue,

[11:55] where you're earning anything from $8 to

[11:57] $12, possibly more than that. This is

[11:59] where YouTube breaks out the red carpet

[12:01] for niches like finance, marketing, real

[12:04] estate. If RPMs were a party, these guys

[12:08] are the VIPs with bottle service.

[12:10] Everyone else is peeking through the

[12:12] window wondering, "How on earth did they

[12:14] get in there?" Well, it's simple. The

[12:16] advertisers here are fiercely fighting

[12:18] for the attention of the people who

[12:20] watch these videos. They have loads of

[12:23] money to spend, and they're ready to

[12:25] spend it. Now, even a small channel in

[12:27] this tier can earn big without needing

[12:29] hundreds of thousands of views. Picture

[12:31] this as an example. You're a luxury

[12:33] cruise travel channel and your videos

[12:36] only average a,000 views, but an

[12:38] advertiser decides to stick aundred ads

[12:42] on those views. They only need two or

[12:44] three people to buy on a very high

[12:46] ticket price item to make it worth their

[12:49] while. Now then, even if your channel is

[12:51] traditionally not in a highpaying niche,

[12:54] there are ways to boost your RPM. And in

[12:57] this final section, I'll explain exactly

[12:59] what this means for small creators and

[13:01] how you can maximize your earnings no

[13:04] matter what your niche is in. But first,

[13:06] here's the truth. Your first YouTube

[13:08] paycheck won't buy you a yacht. It's

[13:10] typically designed to earn you around

[13:12] about $100, which is a threshold to

[13:15] actually get paid into your AdSense

[13:17] account. Although, as we've already

[13:19] seen, the amount earned from channel to

[13:21] channel varies considerably. But

[13:23] whatever the amount, that first tiny

[13:25] paycheck is proof. Proof that you've

[13:28] unlocked a system that pays you every

[13:31] single day, even when you're asleep.

[13:34] I think they call that passive income.

[13:37] And as you grow your channel over time,

[13:40] so will your income. Now, as we've just

[13:41] covered, there are many factors that

[13:43] come into how much you will earn. But

[13:44] here are some ways you can increase your

[13:46] RPM, even if you are in one of those

[13:48] lower paying niches. First up,

[13:51] experiment with making longer videos

[13:52] that hold attention. You should be

[13:54] testing different video lengths

[13:56] regardless of a financial incentive to

[13:58] discover what your audience wants. But

[14:00] obviously, if you can make a video 15

[14:02] minutes long instead of 10 minutes by

[14:04] adding more value, not fluff, there's

[14:07] more opportunities for more ads to run.

[14:09] Next, you want to target high value

[14:12] topics. This one is your secret source.

[14:15] Engineering your niche into something

[14:17] far more valuable to advertisers. For

[14:19] example, if you're making videos about

[14:21] budget travel, try targeting topics like

[14:24] how to save money on flights or best

[14:26] travel credit cards. All of a sudden, in

[14:29] the eyes of the advertiser, you've

[14:31] potentially jumped into the realms of

[14:32] the finance niche. And simply put,

[14:35] understand what your advertisers want.

[14:38] They want viewers who are looking for

[14:40] solutions. So, if your video helps

[14:42] someone solve a problem, make a

[14:44] decision, or learn something useful,

[14:46] then your RPM will usually be higher.

[14:49] This is how it's possible for small

[14:50] creators with under 10,000 subscribers

[14:53] to make 300,500

[14:55] or even $1,000 a month from ad revenue

[14:58] alone. But do you want to know what the

[15:00] weirdest thing is? Some of you have just

[15:03] watched this 15inute video with all of

[15:05] its midroll ads and you're not even

[15:09] monetized. So, I highly recommend you

[15:11] watch this video over here, which is a

[15:14] complete guide to earning one of these,

[15:17] and then you can come back to this video

[15:18] to figure out how to maximize your ad

[15:21] revenue and earn yourself

[15:24] one of these.

[15:26] Take it away, Dan. Get your screenshots

[15:28] ready

[15:30] and take the take the