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YouTube Shorts money calculator
Estimate Shorts ad revenue from your views and Shorts RPM, and see how it compares with long-form.
What Shorts views pay
| Shorts views | Estimate |
|---|---|
| 1k Shorts views | $0.02–$0.1 |
| 10k Shorts views | $0.2–$1 |
| 100k Shorts views | $2–$10 |
| 1M Shorts views | $20–$100 |
The range is $0.02–$0.10 per 1,000 Shorts views, the band this site uses for Shorts. The calculator’s own default RPM is $0.05, which sits inside it. Shorts revenue is a shared pool, not a rate YouTube guarantees.
How the Shorts revenue pool works, and what views pay
Long-form videos earn from ads attached to each video. Shorts do not. At the time of writing, YouTube pools the revenue from ads shown between Shorts in the feed each month, sets part of it aside to pay for music used in Shorts, and splits the rest among monetised creators by their share of eligible Shorts views. Creators keep 45% of what is allocated to them. From February 1, 2027, a channel will also need 10 million qualified Shorts views in the trailing 90 days to keep earning Shorts ad revenue. Check YouTube’s current Shorts monetisation terms, as the details can change.
Because revenue is pooled and split by views, Shorts RPM is low and fairly flat across niches compared with long-form. Creators commonly report figures from a few cents to around $0.20 per 1,000 Shorts views (music channels can go higher), with the audience’s country making a large difference. The table shows what different view counts pay across that range.
The gap with long-form is large. At the calculator’s defaults (1 million Shorts views at a $0.05 RPM, long-form at a $4 RPM), a month of Shorts pays $50, the same as 12,500 long-form views. That does not make Shorts pointless. Many channels use them to reach new viewers and turn some of them into subscribers who watch long-form, where most of the ad money is.
When judging Shorts, look in YouTube Studio at subscribers gained from Shorts and at whether those viewers go on to watch your long-form videos, not just at Shorts revenue. A Shorts habit that pays $50 a month but adds thousands of subscribers can be worth far more than its RPM suggests.
Shorts RPM can also move more from month to month than you might expect. The pool depends on how much advertisers spend in the Shorts feed and on how many views share it, so the same number of views can pay differently in December and January. Look at a three-month average before changing your plans, and treat one strong month as a bonus rather than a new baseline.
| Shorts views per month | At $0.02 RPM | At $0.05 RPM | At $0.10 RPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100,000 | $2 | $5 | $10 |
| 1,000,000 | $20 | $50 | $100 |
| 10,000,000 | $200 | $500 | $1,000 |
| 50,000,000 | $1,000 | $2,500 | $5,000 |
How it works
Shorts revenue comes from a shared pool of ads shown between Shorts, split by views. That is why Shorts RPM is usually a small fraction of long-form RPM.
Use the Shorts RPM shown in YouTube Studio (Analytics, Revenue, filtered to Shorts). The default here is a cautious estimate.
The comparison line shows how many long-form views would earn the same, which is why many creators use Shorts to grow and long-form to earn.
Questions
Why is Shorts RPM so low?
Ads are not attached to each Short; revenue is pooled and shared across views, and part of it covers music licensing. Long-form ads are sold per video.
Are Shorts worth it?
For discovery, often yes: Shorts bring new viewers who then watch long-form. Judge them on subscribers gained, not on Shorts revenue alone.
How much does YouTube pay for 1 million Shorts views?
Your Shorts RPM times 1,000. At the RPMs creators commonly report, that is roughly $20 to $200, sometimes more with a high-value audience. Your own Shorts RPM in YouTube Studio gives the real figure.
How many Shorts views do you need to get monetised?
At the time of writing, ad revenue in the YouTube Partner Program requires 1,000 subscribers plus either 10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days or 4,000 public long-form watch hours in the last 12 months. You also need to accept the Shorts monetisation terms. Check YouTube’s current eligibility rules before planning around them.
Do Shorts views count toward the 4,000 watch hours?
No. At the time of writing, watch time from Shorts does not count toward the 4,000 public watch hours, which is why YouTube offers a separate Shorts views route into the Partner Program.
Does Shorts RPM depend on the viewer’s country?
Yes. Advertisers spend very different amounts in different countries, so views from countries with higher ad spending tend to pay more. A channel whose Shorts are watched mostly in the US or UK usually sees a higher Shorts RPM than one with a mostly global audience.
Do Shorts or long-form videos make more money?
Per view, long-form usually wins by a wide margin, as the comparison line in the calculator shows. Shorts are quicker to make and better at reaching new viewers. Many creators use Shorts for discovery and long-form for ad revenue and sponsorships.