State of YouTube Monetization 2026: Statistics From 300 Channels

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A YouTube view paid a median of $2.30 per 1,000 views over the past year, or about $2,300 per million long-form views after YouTube's 45% share. That's what 300 channels AIR Media-Tech works with earned from May 2025 to May 2026, measured in their own Studio data: 3,595 monetized channel-months.

Most YouTube monetization statistics online are advertiser CPM ranges with no source behind them. So we put a year of our data in one place: what a view pays, who takes most of the money, which niches pay most, what Shorts and livestreams add, how the calendar moves the rate, and what YouTube changes in 2027. Each number comes with its sample and period, so you can check it and quote it.

What a YouTube View Pays in 2026

Across 300 channels AIR Media-Tech works with, the median RPM was $2.30 per 1,000 views from May 2025 to May 2026. RPM is what a creator gets per 1,000 views after YouTube keeps 45% of ad revenue. CPM is what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions, before that cut. YouTube Studio shows both numbers. The CPM figures quoted online are usually advertiser estimates from third-party tools, and they run higher than both your Studio CPM and your RPM.

Here's what a year of Studio data from those 300 channels shows:

• The median channel earned about $2,300 per million long-form views.
• The median channel showed an ad on 53% of its views. The other 47% earned no ad revenue.
• Education & Science paid the most, at a $10.22 median RPM. Kids & Teens paid the least, at $0.33.
• Inside one niche, the best-paid channels out-earned the worst-paid by three to eight times. In Education & Science, the top quarter earned $19.50 per 1,000 views and the bottom quarter $2.31.

So the niche sets a range, and where you land in it depends on your channel. To estimate your own number, use the calculator in How Much Does YouTube Pay for 1 Million Views. The next sections break it down by niche, format, and month.

^{Source: AIR Media-Tech, Studio data from 300 channels, 3,595 monetized channel-months, May 2025 – May 2026.}

Who Earns Most of the Money on YouTube

In AIR Media-Tech's data from 300 monetized channels, the top 10% of channels earned 58% of all ad revenue from May 2025 to May 2026. The bottom half of the sample shared 4%.

^{Source: AIR Media-Tech, Studio data from 300 channels, 3,595 monetized channel-months, May 2025 – May 2026.}

The top earners weren't grouped in the best-paying niches. They came from Gaming, Music, Entertainment, and Education alike. What they had in common were the mechanics: more of their views showed an ad, each view carried more ads, their monetization settings were clean, and their audiences watched from higher-paying countries. In this sample, that points to how a channel is set up more than to what it's about.

Which YouTube Niches Pay the Most in 2026

Education & Science paid the most per view in AIR Media-Tech's data, at a $10.22 median RPM, about four times the all-niche median. Kids & Teens paid the least, at $0.33, because videos made for kids can't show personalized ads. Most niches in between sat within a dollar of the $2.30 median.

Here's the median RPM for all 13 niches, from 300 channels, May 2025 – May 2026:

^{*Fewer than ten channels in the sample, so treat these as directional.}

Finance tops most online lists because those lists rank advertiser CPM, the rate before YouTube's share and before unmonetized views drop out. In our sample, Business & Finance had a $2.01 median RPM, though that's only three channels, so read it as a signal. Gadgets & Tech shows the same gap: a strong $5.73 Studio CPM, but only 34% of its views showed an ad, so the RPM landed at $2.33.

The full breakdown, with Studio CPM and what drives each niche, is in Which YouTube Niche Makes the Most Money in 2026.

Pay and growth tell different stories here. Kids & Teens pays the least of the 13 niches but grew faster than any other in September 2026, as our breakdown of which YouTube niches are growing fastest in 2026 shows.

How Audience Country and Channel Size Affect YouTube RPM

In AIR Media-Tech's data from 300 channels, subscriber count barely changed what a view paid. Small channels (10K–100K subscribers) had a $2.14 median RPM, and medium channels (100K–10M) had $2.04, May 2025 – May 2026. Inside niches, the gap went both ways. In Lifestyle, small channels earned $3.82 against $2.04 for medium ones. In Entertainment, medium channels earned $3.40 against $1.36.

Below 10,000 subscribers, our six-month look at small channels’ earnings after monetization puts the typical first full month at $88.

Audience country moves the rate much more. In CPM data AIR Media-Tech published in June 2025 from 3,000+ channels, US audiences had a $14.67 CPM, Australia $13.30, and Switzerland $12.98. India sat at $0.74, Pakistan and Bangladesh at $0.53, and Yemen at $0.48, about 30 times below the US.

These are advertiser CPMs, before YouTube's share and before unmonetized views drop out, so RPM runs lower in every country. An English-language channel can still land near the bottom if most of its viewers watch from lower-paying countries. The full country table is in How Much Does YouTube Pay for 1 Million Views.

How Much YouTube Shorts Pay Compared With Long-Form

In AIR Media-Tech's data from 274 channels, Shorts paid 3–14% of long-form RPM in almost every niche. Shorts RPM ranged from $0.02 to $1.48 per 1,000 views, depending on the niche. Shorts ads run between videos in the feed, and the revenue goes into a shared creator pool that YouTube splits by views. Creators keep 45% of their share.

Here's what 12 months of data from those 274 channels shows:

• Most channels needed 11,000 to 34,000 Shorts views to earn what 1,000 long-form views paid.
• Small Music channels were the exception: about 1,100 Shorts views matched 1,000 long-form views, because Content ID pays rights holders on Shorts that use their music.
• For most channels, Shorts brought in less than 2% of total revenue.

So Shorts help a channel get found, and long-form is where the ad money is. The full numbers by niche and channel size are in YouTube Shorts RPM vs Long-Form.

How Much YouTube Livestreams Pay

In AIR Media-Tech's data from 404 channels, livestream RPM beat long-form RPM in 5 of 10 niche-and-size segments. The study covers 2025 and Q1 2026. Its revenue figures come from 1,287 streaming months of the 127 channels that monetized live content.

• Large Kids & Teens channels earned 3.1 times more per stream view than per video view. Small Entertainment channels earned 3 times more.
• Channels that went live 8+ times a month earned a median 50.2% of their ad revenue from streams. At one stream a month, the share was 4.4%.
• Heavy streamers earned $5.67 per 1,000 live views, against $2.68 for channels that streamed once a month. Their regular videos also paid more  ($4.59 against $2.22), so part of that gap comes from the kind of channel that streams a lot.

So for channels that stream every week, live becomes a second income line. The niche-by-niche numbers are in Livestream RPM, Revenue, and Subscribers by YouTube Niche.

When YouTube RPM Peaks and Drops During the Year

Across 300 channels AIR Media-Tech works with, the median RPM peaked at $2.35 in November and fell to $1.56 in January. That's about 34% below the November peak. Holiday advertisers bid up ad prices in Q4, and budgets reset after New Year.

YouTube's own ad revenue follows the same calendar. Alphabet reported $11.38 billion in YouTube ad revenue for Q4 2025, its biggest quarter of the year. That's about 11% more than Q3, which brought $10.26 billion.

^{Medians by calendar month, all niches, 300 channels, May 2025 – May 2026.}

The Q4 lift depends on the niche. Here's how much the median RPM rose in Q4 for each one:

^{*Fewer than ten channels in the sample, so treat these as directional.}

If this year follows the same calendar, October and November will pay the most per view, and January will pay the least. For high-swing niches like Business & Finance and Food & Cooking, that makes Q4 the time for your strongest, most ad-friendly uploads.

YouTube Monetization Changes Coming in 2027

YouTube has announced that from February 1, 2027, Shorts will pay ad and subscription revenue only to channels with 10 million qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days. Channels below that stay in the YouTube Partner Program and keep earning on long-form videos. Shorts revenue sharing resumes once a channel crosses 10 million again.

The same announcement, from August 10, 2026, lists more changes for February 1, 2027:

• New channels applying to YPP will need 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Today the bar is 4,000 hours or 10 million Shorts views. Channels already in YPP aren't affected.
• Premium Lite will expand to every country where YouTube Premium is sold. Creators will get 60% of net Premium Lite subscription revenue, against 30% for regular Premium.
• Channels already in YPP need to accept the updated terms in YouTube Studio by January 31, 2027. Without them, the affected monetization features stop earning from February 1, 2027, until the terms are accepted.

YouTube's help pages don't say what happens to applications sent just before the deadline, but our partner support team does: if an application reaches YouTube by 23:59 UTC on January 31, 2027, it's judged at the old bar. The full YouTube monetization requirements for 2027 are in a separate guide.

One change is already live. Since August 24, 2026, YouTube counts a view the moment a video starts playing. Earnings still come from engaged views and engaged watch hours, so the public view count can run ahead of the views that pay.

The RPM figures in this report come from May 2025 – May 2026, before any of these changes. For smaller Shorts channels, the 10 million threshold matters most: below it, Shorts stop earning ad and subscription revenue after February 1, 2027. Every date and threshold is in our timeline of YouTube monetization policy changes.

How We Measured These YouTube Monetization Statistics

The numbers in this report come from four AIR Media-Tech studies. All of them use YouTube Analytics data from channels we work with, not advertiser estimates or third-party tools.

• All headline figures are medians, so one viral channel can't move them.
• Niches with fewer than ten channels are marked with an asterisk. Read those as directional.
• RPM is what a creator earns per 1,000 views after YouTube's share. CPM is what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions.