YouTube CPM Calculator
Calculate your YouTube CPM — the cost an advertiser pays per 1,000 ad impressions on your channel. This is the number before YouTube's 45% cut. Use the niche benchmarks below to see whether your CPM is under-indexing for your topic.
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How CPM is calculated
TL;DR
CPM = (Revenue / Ad Impressions) × 1000. This is YouTube's gross CPM, before the 45% revenue share.
Not every view gets an ad. Typical ad impression rate is 40–65% of total views — higher for longer videos with mid-rolls. That's why CPM feels higher than RPM: CPM only counts monetized impressions.
# CPM formula CPM = (revenue / ad_impressions) × 1000 # Example: $4,800 from 820K impressions → 4800 / 820000 × 1000 = $5.85 CPM
Why your CPM isn't what you expected
TL;DR
The three levers: geography, topic, season. Everything else is noise.
A channel targeting US audiences can easily 3–5× the CPM of the same channel targeting global audiences. Topic matters even more — finance and B2B channels routinely see $20+ CPMs while entertainment struggles to hit $3. Q4 lifts everything by 40–60% due to holiday ad budgets flooding in.
Frequently asked questions
What's a good YouTube CPM in 2026?+
All-niche average is $6.50. Finance: $18+. Business: $14. Tech: $10. Gaming: $3.50. Entertainment: $2.80.
Why is my CPM higher than my RPM?+
CPM is gross. RPM is net after YouTube's 45% cut AND after dividing by all views, not just monetized ones.
Does video length affect CPM?+
Yes — videos 8+ minutes unlock mid-roll ads, which typically raise CPM by 40–80% because impressions per view increase.