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YouTube is the go to platform for consuming content. On average, it gathers over 122 million active daily users, meaning that every day people go to YouTube to watch different types of videos.
With the right strategy, combining niche focused content with great titles, descriptions and thumbnails, (and a little luck) you as a creator have a chance to take part in the Billions Views Club. This Club is a recognition for achieving a billion views widely recognized and celebrated by the community.
Hitting a billion views on YouTube is a huge milestone. With such an audience base the possibilities of making money out of your content are endless. A Youtuber with a billion views can make approximately 2 million dollars! However, as a creator you always have to remember that the platform is not going to directly pay you for views. It’s the ads views that count!
YouTube gathers lots of people everyday who can be potential buyers for several brands willing to showcase their products or services on the platform. That's the key to understanding the YouTube Monetization System.
Joining the Youtube Partner Program is a mandatory requirement if you want to monetize your content. You can apply to the program on YouTube Studio. To qualify for YouTube's monetization features, your channel must meet the following milestones:
The way creators earn money on Youtube is through ads. How does it work? With AdSense, a Google advertisement program that connects advertisers with your content. The brand or advertiser buys ad placements through AdSense auctions using different bidding strategies. On average, creators earn approximately $0.018 per ad view meaning that every 1,000 ad views they earn $18.
Having a billion views on YouTube is amazing but what really affects your revenue are the ad views.
For example, if your video has 1 billion views but no ads, you won’t be making any money. If your video has a billion views and 30,000 ad views, you’ll be making money from those 30,000 ad views.
Hitting 1 billion views is an enormous achievement. Just to have an idea of how big it is, if you were to count up to a billion only doing so 8 hours a day (like any other regular job), it will take you 95 years to get there.
If we were to estimate how much money someone can make with a billion views we can take an average $18 dollars per 1,000 views as a reference point.
So for a billion views you can get approximately 2 million dollars. While this figure is a solid estimate for ad earnings, we need to keep in mind that this only includes ad revenue as a source of income while YouTube provides other ways of monetization as well.
Youtube pays creators based on the money brands pay to showcase their products or services on different ads. With AdSense, they connect the ads with your videos and a share of that advertising revenue is going to the creator.
YouTube operates on a revenue-sharing model. Of the total amount paid for an ad, Youtube keeps 45% and gives the youtuber the rest 55%. Remember that the views that count are the ad views.
Let’s say your video gets a billion views. Half of these views result in ad views (50,000,000) and you have an average CPM of $10.
After estimating your Ad Revenue, Youtube makes it cut before giving you your percentage. So you’ll earn a total of $2.75M (55%) while YouTube keeps $2.25M (45%).
The first ever video to reach a billion views was of an iconic song that everybody knows today: “The Gangnam Style”. Psy, the K-pop singer, generated significant revenue from the massive viewership. The video was released globally on 15 July 2012. Within a day it had 500,000 views.
Two years later the video got to 2 billion views and Forbes magazine reported Psy earned just under $2 million from YouTube ads. Later on it was said that the video generated approximately $8 million in total revenue from YouTube, with Psy and his record company receiving at least $4 million after revenue sharing.
Time went by and today the iconic video holds more than 5 billion views, so it's reasonable to infer that the total earnings from YouTube have increased proportionally, potentially reaching between $10 million to $20 million.
Trying to figure out how much money a billion views video is gonna make is really tough. There are multiple factors to consider. You can take CPM or RPM metrics as a guideline but always remember that there is no absolute way of knowing beforehand the exact amount of money your video is gonna make.
Cost Per Mille (CPM) and Revenue Per Mille (RPM) are two key metrics for understanding how much money a 1,000 views represent to you. CPM is the cost per 1,000 ad impressions before YouTube revenue share and RPM is your total revenue (after YouTube's revenue share) per 1,000 views.
Let’s take a Psy video and take it as an example. Let’s say the video got 5,000,000,000 exactly, 3,000,000,000 impressions and brands are paying a CPM of $4.
(3,000,000,000 ad impressions * $4) / 1,000 = $12,000,000
$12,000,000 * 0.55 = $6,600,000
$6,600,000 / 5,000,000 = $1.32 per 1,000 views
At 5 billion views, you’d earn approximately $6.6 million after YouTube’s cut.
We know that The Gangnam Style made between 10 and 20 million. Does that mean that CPM and RPM metrics don’t work? Not at all! It just shows how important it is to understand that there are multiple factors determining your final revenue. If you are looking to make money out of your content you must take the time that it takes to get to know them and take them into your strategy.
If you want to learn more, you can check out our article and find out more YouTube Monetization Metrics to Keep in Mind!
YouTube Shorts earnings are significantly lower because ad revenue is pooled across creators. With an average of a billion views each month on Shorts youtubers can make an estimate of $10,000 to $50,000 monthly.
YouTube Shorts are vertical videos or short duration, typically between 60 seconds and 3 minutes. Unlike standard YouTube videos, Shorts Revenue comes from a pooled ad revenue system instead of direct ad placements. Creators receive a share of the revenue from ads displayed between videos in the Shorts Feed, not based on the ads displayed on their own videos.
Shorts ad revenue is distributed based on collective views. For instance, if your Shorts account for 10% of all Shorts views in the U.S., you’ll receive 10% of the revenue from the YouTube Creator Pool for that region.
There’s a huge difference in the amount of money you can make with long vs. short videos. In the scenario where you get a billion views on a longer video you could be making up to $5 million whereas if you get those billion views on a Short, your earning could get up to $50,000.
Luckily, there’s no need to decide between the two. In order to maximize your YouTube income you as a creator can use both of them as part of your strategy. Shorts are like a trailer for your longer content. You can experience using Shorts as a way to give people a taste of your style while you keep finding what works best for you, your content and your audience.
Location is a key factor determining your income. Not only is it important where you are based but also where are your viewers at. We know that Youtube works on CPM and that metric changes depending on the country your audience is.
Places like Sweden, Algeria, South Korea and Norway hold the highest CPM’s in the world. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that there are the best paying countries. This is because most of the time the CPM is high but the views are not so reaching a billion views is almost impossible.
That’s why as a creator you must focus on higher CPM rates, wide audiences and high ad demand. In that case The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany are the ones that will likely bring in more revenue.
The U.S holds one of the biggest audiences in the platform with a lot of users consuming videos daily. The average CPM ranges between $10 and $15, meaning one billion views could generate $12,000,000 revenue ($6,600,000 after YouTub’es 45% share).
Let’s break it down:
In countries like The UK and Germany the users are a little less but the advertising budget is higher and so is the CPM ($8 - $12). A billion views in each of these countries could mean $9,000,000, $4,950,000 to keep after YouTube’s cut . In Canada or Australia the users count is lower but the engagement rate and the need for good quality ads is higher, elevating the CPM as well. With a billion views you can make approximately $8,000,000, meaning you get to keep $4,400,000 after YouTube’s share.
Typically countries with a good economy have higher CPM’s, allowing youtubers to make more money. This shows how many factors, such as the local economy and the wealth of the audience watching, affect your potential revenue.
Tracking the exact amount a YouTube video earns is almost impossible. Here are the key factors that will definitely affect your revenue count.
The niche you are working with is going to determine the brands that are willing to work with you and also the ads that fit your content. The more profitable the niche is, the more expensive ads your video gets.
Below is a table with average CPM of different niches on YouTube with their earnings from a billion views.
Clearly the earning potential of different YouTube categories varies upon niche- target and the brands budgets.
Where your viewers are based, their age, gender, etc. plays a big role in how much money you can make through ads. Brands aim to target specific audiences to maximize their awareness and return of investment (ROI). So knowing who is watching will contribute to defining what ads are better to display and how much you are gonna make per view.
The bond you established with your audience. If your viewers are loyal to your content they’ll probably watch your entire videos with the ads displayed on them. This will get your ad views going up and add up to your final revenue.
The content of your videos will affect your CPM and ultimately your earnings. Different types of content attract different kinds of advertisers. Videos about tech, finance, or business tend to have higher CPMs because brands in these niches are willing to pay more. On the other hand, entertainment videos usually have lower CPMs but attract more views.
If a significant amount of your community is a YouTube Premium member, the platform is going to share with you a percentage of the membership fee that will add up to your monthly earnings.
If most of your viewers are using any kind of ad-block tool while watching your videos your ad views aren’t going to be shown so your revenue is going to decrease.
CPM varies considering the amount of advertisers wanting the ad space. At certain times of the year like holidays, cyber monday or any other specific dates the demand for ad space is higher so brands are willing to pay higher CPM’s making your revenue for 1,000 ad views higher too.
YouTube takes 45% of all ad revenue, meaning creators only receive 55%.
The longer the video, the more ads that can be displayed in it. Videos over 8 minutes allow for multiple ad placements, boosting revenue compared to shorter videos.
YouTube pays creators based on CPM (Cost Per Mille). The content category of your videos not only is going to attract viewers but also brands willing to pay to advertise on your space. Therefore, your videos category is another one of the things influencing your daily, monthly or annual revenue.
With a billion views and an average CPM of $3 you can make almost $3,000,000.
Entertainment videos often gather a great audience making it easier to get to great views. Songs tend to go viral and the views keep going up. However, the CPM here is not that high because there’s not many brands bidding for space.
With a billion views and an average CPM of $4.50 you can make almost $4,550,000.
In Gaming, the average CPM is higher because they attract multiple viewers that are potential gamers who may be interested in the latest games or tech gadgets. So brands selling these products are more willing to pay for those ad spaces.
With a billion views and an average CPM of $6.60 you can make almost $6,600,000.
CPM are higher as people watching these types of videos usually are trying to get something done themselves so are more open to buy the products related to what they are looking for. Brands selling DIY tools or courses are the best bettors.
With a billion views and an average CPM of $12 you can make almost $12,000,000.
The Finance arena holds the higher CPM as brands advertising here are willing to pay premium rates to add top services and products such as banks and investment firms or platforms.
There are plenty of famous youtubers out there that hold more than a billion views and keep making that number higher over time. Here is a list of an average amount of money each of them made only considering ad revenue on the platform.
Quick note. Remember these are only estimates based on an average CPM of $18 per 1,000 views on ad revenue. Everyone of these creators make much more money from sponsorships, merch, affiliate marketing and other income streams.
Yes YouTube is only going to pay you for Ad Views but as a creator there are other ways you can make the most of your billion views and increase your revenue!
As a creator you can partner up with brands to promote their products on services on your videos. Depending on the type of agreement, the term to fulfill and the type of content to produce.
What starts with a one time deal can lead to a sponsorship or an ambassador role that implies a relationship over time.
Katie, lifestyle YouTuber made a deal with Glow Recipe, a skincare brand, to create a limited-edition kit called the "Get Glowing With Me Kit."
This collaboration was available at Sephora and included travel-size versions of popular Glow Recipe products aimed at enhancing skin hydration and glow.
Youtubers can design merchandise and show their own line of products during their videos. They can also list them on an e-commerce platform and make them available for the viewers to purchase. Products like T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, phone cases and toys are popular choices.
Felix Kjellberg, A.K.A PewDiePie, has released various merchandise items, such as mugs, clothing and accessories, which he promotes through his YouTube channel.
As a youtuber you can join different affiliate programs and promote a series of products by sharing a unique discount code with a tracking link added in the video description.
You can also create your own personalized storefronts on platforms like Creator Hero to showcase recommended products. Storefronts are online platforms or designated sections of e-commerce websites where creators can showcase and recommend products to their viewers.
Hobotech is a YouTuber specialized in making reviews of rare items such as lithium batteries and solar power stations. He provides in-depth analyses and includes affiliate links in the video descriptions so if any viewer makes a purchase, he gets a commission out of it.
If you are interested, you can check out our article on How Much Does YouTube Pay for 1M Views and find more Ways to Maximize Your Revenue!
For better or worse YouTube Monetization System does not really care for the views you get. You can be a views billionaire but unless those views are ad views, the platform is not going to pay you for them.
However, having lots of views and people consuming your content daily opens the door to multiple possibilities for creators to monetize their videos and channels. Whether it is through sponsorships, ad revenue itself, brand deals or selling merch, as a creator you can combine every one of these and make the strategy that fits you best.
No matter which road you choose, always remember that consistency and authenticity are the key elements to keep your audience entertained and loyal to your content. The more views, the more impressions, the more comments and shares, all that affects one way or another the earnings you are able to make.
