ReelShiftHow much does
YouTube pay?
YouTube publishes percentages, not a price per view. Here is every share it does publish, and why nobody can tell you what 1,000 views is worth.
Guides · Published 2026-09-20 · Updated 2026-09-20 · 6 min read
Short answer: YouTube publishes shares, not rates. You keep 55% of net ad revenue on your long videos, 45% of the Shorts revenue allocated to you, and 70% of net revenue from memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers and Super Thanks. You need the Partner Program first: 500 subscribers for the fan funding features, 1,000 for ads. AdSense pays once you pass $100. There is no published rate per 1,000 views.
What an RPM works out to
| If your RPM is $1 | If your RPM is $2 | If your RPM is $5 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 views | $1 | $2 | $5 |
| 10,000 views | $10 | $20 | $50 |
| 100,000 views | $100 | $200 | $500 |
| 500,000 views | $500 | $1,000 | $2,500 |
| 1,000,000 views | $1,000 | $2,000 | $5,000 |
Those three RPMs are made up so the math is easy to follow. They are not YouTube figures, and YouTube publishes no rate per 1,000 views. RPM is a number YouTube reports back to you after the fact: your own earnings divided by your own views, times 1,000. Checked on support.google.com/youtube and support.google.com/adsense on 20 September 2026.
What YouTube does publish
YouTube's partner earnings page names four shares, and they are the only rates it commits to:
- Watch page ads: 55%. Creators get "55% of net revenues from ads displayed or streamed on their public videos". Net, so after YouTube's costs.
- Shorts: 45%. Shorts Feed ad money goes into a Creator Pool first, split by engaged views and music use, and then "monetizing creators will keep 45% of their allocated revenue, regardless if music was used or not".
- Memberships and Supers: 70%. That is "70% of net revenues from channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Super Thanks".
- YouTube Premium. Members see no ads, so YouTube shares their subscription money based on how much they watch. No figure per view is published.
The same page adds the line most articles skip: "there are no guarantees under the YouTube partner agreement about how much or whether you'll be paid".
You need the Partner Program first
Nothing above pays out until you are in, and there are two entry points:
- 500 subscribers, 3 valid public uploads in the last 90 days, and either 3,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months or 3 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days. That unlocks memberships, Super Chat and Super Stickers, Super Thanks, Jewels and gifts, and Shopping.
- 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months or 10 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days. This is the one that turns on ad revenue and Premium revenue.
You also need a channel in an available country, no active Community Guidelines strikes, 2-Step Verification on, and a linked AdSense for YouTube account. One date to diary: YouTube says that from 1 February 2027 it is updating the Partner Program, and you have to accept the new terms in YouTube Studio by 31 January 2027. Not live yet? Start with how to stream on YouTube.
How the money reaches you
- $100 threshold. In US dollars the AdSense payment threshold is $100, with equivalents in other currencies, for example €70.
- The 21st to the 26th. Earnings finalise at the start of the following month. If your balance is over the threshold and there are no holds, payment is issued between the 21st and the 26th, moving to the next business day if the 21st is a weekend or holiday.
- Then the bank. AdSense says the money arrives up to seven business days after it was issued, longer for some methods.
So views from September are paid in the second half of October, and only if you crossed $100.
Why RPM is never the same twice
RPM is what people mean when they ask what YouTube pays per 1,000 views. YouTube defines it as "a metric that represents how much money you've earned per 1,000 video views", counting ads, memberships, Premium revenue, Super Chat and Super Stickers together. CPM is a different thing: "how much money advertisers are spending to show ads on YouTube".
YouTube's help page names what moves it:
- Time of year. "Advertisers tend to bid higher or lower depending on the time of year. For instance, many advertisers bid higher just before holidays."
- Where your viewers are. "Different locations will have different levels of competition in the ad market, so CPMs will vary by geography."
- Which ads run. "Different ad types tend to have different CPMs."
Add to that: advertisers pick what kind of content they bid on, so your topic decides who is bidding at all, and a longer video can carry more than one ad.
What YouTube does not publish
- Any rate per view or per 1,000 views. Not for long videos, not for Shorts, not for Premium.
- Any RPM target. YouTube reports your RPM to you and says nothing about what it should be.
- Your Shorts allocation. It depends on your share of engaged views against every other monetizing creator in your country.
- A per country table. YouTube says CPMs vary by geography without publishing the geography.
Any chart headed "YouTube pays $X per 1,000 views" is one channel, or an average of a few, dressed up as a rate. The other platforms are just as quiet: how much TikTok pays, how much Twitch pays and how much Kick pays.
The half of this you can control
You do not set the 55%, the 45% or your RPM. You do set how many views there are, and the cheapest new views on YouTube come from Shorts posted while a moment is fresh. ReelShift watches your live stream on YouTube, Twitch, Kick or TikTok LIVE and hands you vertical clips with captions burned in, minutes after the moment. See the YouTube live clipper or clips to Shorts. Only post another streamer's clips with permission.
Pick your plan.
Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial: 1 channel and 5 streaming hours to try it on a real stream. Nothing is charged today, and we email you the day before it ends.
Quick answers.
How much does YouTube pay per 1,000 views?
YouTube publishes no rate per 1,000 views. It publishes shares: 55% of net watch page ad revenue, 45% of the Shorts revenue allocated to you, and 70% of memberships and Supers. What you earn per 1,000 views is your RPM, and it differs for every channel.
How much does YouTube pay for 1 million views?
There is no published figure. If your RPM happened to be $2, a million views would be about $2,000, but that RPM is an example for the math, not a YouTube rate.
How many subscribers do you need to get paid on YouTube?
500, with 3 public uploads in 90 days and either 3,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months or 3 million Shorts views in 90 days, unlocks memberships and Supers. Ads need 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 watch hours or 10 million Shorts views.
When does YouTube pay?
Through AdSense, once your balance passes $100. Earnings finalise at the start of the next month and payment is issued between the 21st and the 26th, then takes up to seven business days to arrive.
Do Shorts pay less than long videos?
They are paid differently. Long videos pay 55% of net ad revenue on the watch page. Shorts pay 45% of the revenue allocated to you from the Creator Pool, which depends on your share of engaged views and on music use. Neither is published as a rate per view.
Last updated 2026-09-20