YouTube CPM by Niche
(2026 Benchmarks)
YouTube CPM benchmarks across 8 niches, sampled from 50,000 channels. Finance tops the list at $18 CPM; entertainment bottoms at $2.80.
A mediocre finance channel out-earns an exceptional gaming channel on the same view count. The 2026 CPM spread between the highest and lowest niches is 6×, and when you factor in the typical view counts by niche, total income differences reach 10–15×. If you're starting a channel in 2026 and optimizing for income, niche selection is the single most important decision — orders of magnitude larger than any production or editing decision.
CPM and RPM by niche
CPM is gross (what advertisers pay). RPM is what creators take home after YouTube's 45% cut and non-monetized views.
| Niche | Median CPM | Median RPM | P25 CPM | P75 CPM | P90 CPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finance & investing | $18.00 | $9.90 | $8.00 | $32.00 | $55.00 |
| Business & marketing | $14.00 | $7.70 | $6.00 | $25.00 | $42.00 |
| Tech reviews | $10.00 | $5.50 | $4.00 | $18.00 | $32.00 |
| Education & how-to | $8.00 | $4.40 | $3.50 | $14.00 | $25.00 |
| Lifestyle & vlog | $5.00 | $2.80 | $2.00 | $9.00 | $16.00 |
| Gaming | $3.50 | $1.90 | $1.50 | $6.00 | $11.00 |
| Entertainment | $2.80 | $1.54 | $1.20 | $5.00 | $9.00 |
The gap between P25 and P90 within each niche is as large as the gap between niches. Which means: moving from a bad channel in a good niche to a great channel in the same niche is mathematically equivalent to moving from a gaming channel to a finance channel. Niche selection AND execution both matter — but niche selection is the one you can change in 20 minutes and execution takes 2 years.
Methodology
- Sample
- 50,000 monetized YouTube channels across 8 primary niches. Channels must have processed 10,000+ monetized views per month to qualify.
- CPM measurement
- Gross CPM reported by Google AdSense for video ad inventory. Shorts and music-library videos excluded from the sample.
- Geographic weighting
- All channels weighted toward US/UK/CA/AU audience mix. Tier-3 audience channels would see CPMs 50–70% lower.
Cite this dataset
Admetrics Team (2026). YouTube CPM by Niche 2026. useadmetrics.com/benchmarks/youtube-cpm-by-niche-2026 Retrieved April 10, 2026.