With more than two billion active users, YouTube provides plenty of opportunities to monetise content. However, with an estimated 500 hours of video being uploaded every minute, it’s an increasingly competitive market.
If you create video content, it’s likely you’ve already thought about how you can make money on YouTube. Some of the world’s most famous vloggers make millions of pounds from their YouTube channels, but how did they get started?
Plus we include a YouTube earnings calculator so you can estimate how much you could earn from a YouTube <a https: width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%;">
YouTube earnings calculator
There’s no single, official formula for calculating YouTube revenue – as rates change based on ad markets, viewer location, and even content niche. The below YouTube earnings calculator is just one way you can estimate how much you could earn on YouTube.
The calculator uses your daily video views to see how many ads are served to viewers. Inputting your average engagement rate helps to estimate the value (RPM) that advertisers are willing to pay for your specific audience.
Don’t know your average engagement rate? Just calculate the total number of actions (likes, comments, shares) across your videos and divide that sum by your total video views.
If you want to start making money from your YouTube videos, you’ll need 1,000 subscribers.
You don’t get paid per subscriber, but the more subscribers you have, the more potential you have to generate revenue.
For example, if you want to become an influencer and work with brands for affiliate marketing, you’ll be paid more and get more opportunities if you have a high number of subscribers.
How many views do you need to make money on YouTube?
As well as 1,000 subscribers, you’ll need people to have watched 4,000 hours of your content in the last 12 months to start earning.
If you use YouTube Shorts, the threshold is 10 million valid public views in the last 90 days.
The more views you have, the higher your chances of making money. However, you’ll only get revenue if someone clicks or watches the ad on your video in full.
According to Forbes, YouTubers can make an estimated $5 (£3.50) per 1,000 views, meaning a video with 75,000 views would be worth around $375 (£270). However, earnings could be as much as $12,000 per 1,000 views.
How many views you need will depend on whether you’re solely looking to make money from advertising, and whether it’s going to be a full-time job or a side hustle because you’re a student for example.
How much does YouTube pay in 2025?
Of course, the amount you can earn will vary widely depending on a range of factors, for example:
- category of content
- length of video
- number of subscribers you have
This YouTuber shares how YouTube monetisation works and breaks down how much you could expect to get paid based on his own YouTube earnings and other research:
What type of video should you film?
If you’re wondering what type of video might earn the most revenue for you, Make Money Matt suggests creating content within these categories:
- finance
- travel
- makeup
- marketing
- making eligible to sign up if you have 1,000 subscribers and 10 million views on your Shorts videos in the past 90 days.
Advertisers pay for clicks and impressions and you’ll receive around 55 per cent of the revenue your content generates. If you’re using YouTube Shorts, you’ll get 45 per cent of the revenue.
You can set up ads from the ‘Monetization’ feature in the YouTube Studio. From here, you can turn on ads for single or multiple videos.
