There are numerous paths to take if you're looking to make money from the Internet, but perhaps the first thing that occurs to most people is starting a YouTube channel. Becoming a YouTuber is an avenue that seems easy at first glance, but frankly, only a small percentage of those who take this path succeed.
Creating a successful YouTube channel is a challenging task, and you'll typically need to commit to consistently uploading videos for an extended period. However, if your channel takes off, you'll be rewarded with an additional income stream. In this article, we'll discuss how much YouTube pays for views.
How Much Does YouTube Pay Per View?
To make money on YouTube, you first need to become eligible for monetization; this requires at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. Next, you need to realize that there's no such thing as a fixed salary for YouTubers.
Each YouTube channel makes a different amount of money, depending on how big it is and how many viewers they have. Let's see what factors influence how much YouTube pays YouTubers before discussing how much the platform pays per view.
The Factors Influencing YouTube Pay
For a start, not every view your video gets is counted as monetized; a viewer needs to watch the ad for at least 30 seconds to count as a view. This is an important factor because it means you don't get paid for every view your video gets.
Viewers must stick around and watch the ad for at least 30 seconds (or all of the ad if it is shorter than 30 seconds) for your channel to get paid for it. There isn't much you can do in this aspect except for hoping that YouTube shows entertaining ads to your audience so that they watch a good portion of it.
The second factor is that YouTube has different CPM for different audiences. CPM stands for cost per mille and represents the amount that an advertiser pays for every 1,000 views on an ad. This CPM difference is region-based, and ad views from different countries pay out different amounts. For instance, Norway and Germany are two countries with high CPM.
Lastly, the more views you get, the likelier that more people have watched the ads on your videos, and thus the more money you will get from YouTube.
With these factors in mind, let's calculate how much YouTube pays per view on average.
How Much YouTube Pays Per View: The Simplified Math
YouTube charges contractors $0.18 per view on average. YouTube pays 68% of this rate to YouTubers through Google AdSense. This is a very good rate, as it means that, in theory, you would get $0.12 for every view—and so $122 for every 1,000 views.
On more of a granular level, the numbers aren't always so simple. Some people use ad blockers, and a good portion of those who see the ads skip in the first few seconds. Due to these reasons, among others, the actual pay per video view of YouTube is around $0.003 to $0.005. This means a YouTuber makes $3 to $5 per every 1,000 views their videos get.
You can use the AdSense revenue calculator to get a rough estimate of how much you can make each year from YouTube. The estimate from Google's calculator can be quite tempting, so make sure to consider the pros and cons of becoming a YouTuber before you decide on becoming a full-time YouTuber for certain. It can be a rough ride, and failure isn't entirely impossible.
More Views, More Money (Most of the Time)
YouTube pays a fixed amount of money per view, but despite this, YouTubers don't make the same amount themselves. This is because the total amount a YouTuber gets paid through YouTube depends on how many views they get and where their viewers are from.
The exact amount of pay per view can't be calculated, as the viewers are from different countries and regions. However, an average estimate is that YouTube pays $0.003 to $0.005 per view.