YouTube CPM: 7 Factors Affecting Your Channel’s Revenue
Can a YouTube creator’s CPM change for no apparent reason? By examining different channels, we know that CPMs fluctuate all the time. But increases or decreases do not happen randomly; Whether your CPM rises to the moon like Dogecoin or falls to the ground like a meteor, there is a specific reason each time.
What is CPM on YouTube?
CPM (cost per millie) is the amount of money advertisers pay per 1,000 views. So, for example, if one of your videos gets 100,000 views and the CPM is $8.50, the video’s total revenue is $850. That’s a nice win, but only a portion of it goes into your bank account. YouTube takes a 45% cut, leaving you with $467.50. After that, deduct a healthy amount for taxes.
This is a best-case scenario as not every “view” on YouTube is monetized. There is a metric in YouTube Studio called Estimated Monetized Plays. It shows how many views on your channel have actually been monetized.
Take a look at the table below. In this example, the creator has 68,216 views on their channel (for a specific period of time). But as you can see, YouTube hasn’t monetized all of those views. Only 43,812 views brought in revenue.
Start Your Web/Blog & Earn Money Online
 |  |
|---|---|
| Renewal: From $0.99 p/m | Renewal: From $4.99 p/m |
| Free SSL: Yes | Free SSL: No |
| Free Domain: No | Free Domain: No |
| Promotions: Yes | Promotions: Yes |
| Used By Over: 10+ Billion | Used By Over: 5+ Million |
 | |
You can find all this data in the YouTube Studio. Visit the analytics page to view your CPM and estimated monetized plays.
With that in mind, here are six factors that increase or decrease your YouTube CPM.
- The geographic location listed on your channel
Did you know that where you live determines how much money you make on YouTube? Some countries have bigger economies than others, and that abundance carries over to YouTube. If you live in the US, you already know that. The American cost of living is higher than most countries. Take India for example. According to Nationmaster.com, the median disposable income is $3,258.85 per month for Americans and $452.11 per month for Indians. That means the average American has seven times more money to spend.
The age of your audience
Using our American income example, let’s look at the age of your YouTube audience. Your viewers likely fall into one of these categories:
13-17 years
18-24 years
25-34 years
45-54 years
55-64 years
65+ years
These groups have different income levels. For Americans between the ages of 45 and 54, annual earnings peaked in 2013 at $78,879. As a result, these older but wealthier Americans spent more (about $60,524) than other groups. And remember what we said earlier: Advertisers want to be where the money is flowing.
