YouTube pays a typical long-form channel about $2.30 per 1,000 views, which is about $2,300 for a million views. That is the median RPM AIR Media-Tech measured in the real Studio data of 300 channels; education channels earned a median of $10.22 per 1,000 views and kids channels $0.33. Shorts pay far less: roughly $0.07 to $0.20 per 1,000 views, or $150 to $300 per million. The biggest lever you control is the format: long videos of 8 minutes or more can carry mid-roll ads, and only long-form watch time counts toward joining the Partner Program in the first place. ClipFlux makes exactly those: chaptered 16:9 videos of up to 15 minutes, from $0.95 a minute.
What a view pays, at a glance
| Long-form niche | Per 1,000 views | Per 100,000 views | Per 1 million views |
|---|---|---|---|
| All niches (median) | $2.30 | $230 | $2,300 |
| Education & Science | $10.22 | $1,022 | $10,220 |
| Lifestyle | $2.98 | $298 | $2,980 |
| Entertainment | $2.43 | $243 | $2,430 |
| Gaming | $2.05 | $205 | $2,050 |
| Kids & Teens | $0.33 | $33.00 | $330 |
Long-form medians from AIR Media-Tech's study of 300 channels (May 2025 to May 2026). All 13 niches, and what an AI video costs against each, are in YouTube RPM by niche. Your own numbers will differ, mostly with where your viewers live.
Long videos versus Shorts
The two are paid in completely different ways. On a long video, ads run on your video's own page and you receive 55% of the net revenue. Shorts ads run between Shorts in the feed, so YouTube pools that revenue, divides it across creators by views, and creators keep 45% of their part. In AIR's data from 274 channels, Shorts earned 3 to 14% of the long-form RPM in the same niche: it took 11,000 to 34,000 Shorts views to earn what 1,000 long-form views did, and Shorts brought most channels under 2% of their revenue. Shorts are useful for being discovered. The money is in long videos.
How long should a video be to make money?
8 minutes or longer, if you want ads in the middle. YouTube only allows mid-roll ad breaks on monetized videos of at least 8 minutes, and a view that carries two or three ads earns more than a view that carries one. YouTube places breaks automatically at natural pauses, or you can set them yourself; a break is not guaranteed to show an ad. Length only pays if people stay, though: the RPM rises with ads per view, and watch time decides both those ads and whether YouTube keeps recommending the video. A tight 9-minute video that holds viewers beats a padded 15-minute one.
When you actually get paid
Only after your channel is accepted into the YouTube Partner Program. YouTube may show ads on videos from channels that are not in the program, but those channels receive nothing from them. The requirements are 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 public long-form watch hours in 12 months, or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days; the details, and how many views the 4,000 hours take, are in YouTube monetization requirements. Once in, earnings are paid through AdSense for YouTube.
Work out your own number
Revenue is simply views times RPM divided by 1,000. Put in your expected views, niche and format in our YouTube money calculator, and see how much faceless channels make for the full picture, including what the videos cost to produce.
Questions
How much does YouTube pay for 1 million views?
For long videos, about $2,300 at the median RPM of $2.30 that AIR Media-Tech measured across 300 channels, ranging from about $330 for kids content to about $10,220 for education. For Shorts, about $150 to $300 per million views.
How much do YouTube Shorts pay per 1,000 views?
Very little: in AIR Media-Tech’s data from 274 channels, Shorts earned roughly $0.07 to $0.20 per 1,000 views directly, about 3 to 14% of what the same niche earns on long videos.
How long should a YouTube video be to make money?
At least 8 minutes if you want mid-roll ads, because YouTube only allows ads in the middle of videos that long. Longer only helps if people keep watching: a 12-minute video watched for 2 minutes earns less than a tight 9-minute one.
Does YouTube pay for views if you are not monetized?
No. YouTube may still show ads on your videos, but you only receive a share of the revenue once your channel is accepted into the YouTube Partner Program.
What share of ad revenue does YouTube keep?
On long videos creators receive 55% of the net ad revenue from their watch pages, so YouTube keeps 45%. On Shorts creators keep 45% of the revenue allocated to them from the Shorts creator pool.