In this article, I want to discuss the difference between RPM versus CPM. It’s analytics on YouTube that we use and it can be very confusing. It has to do with how much money you make in relation to how many times your videos are watched.

This is something I dug into because it just wasn’t adding up when I would watch other videos. I kept seeing statistics like, you’re only going to make about $7 for every thousand impressions. However, my stats were different to that.

Personally, I think that’s just a round number that people give but every video is different. It depends on the topic and the views. It also depends on the RPM and the CPM that is offered.

So, let’s get started.

Analyzing My Videos

I want to explain this by showing you my videos. I have a small channel and I think this is vital to share. About two weeks ago, I created a video sharing how much money I was making on my videos and on my channel.

Actually, I was hesitant to share this because I thought maybe I’m not making that much. However, it was interesting that I got a couple of comments from people saying, “wow, you’re doing pretty well”. And, I even had somebody comment that they had a lot more subscribers and were making less. So that’s why I started digging to figure out why?

I think part of it has to do with the topic that you’re sharing and how much the CPM and RPM is. So first of all, let me give you the definition of each one. Then we’re going to jump into my channel and pull up some videos to compare. I’ll show you how much they make and how they’re different, even though their topics might be similar.

What Is RPM?

RPM is a metric used to determine the total ad revenue that a publisher is set to earn for a thousand ad impressions. So, if my video gets 1000 impressions, the RPM is what I’m going to make from the ads shown. In short, RPM stands for “Revenue per 1000 impressions”.

What Is CPM?

On the other hand, the CPM is the amount an advertiser has to pay for those 1000 ad impressions. In other words, CPM is “Cost per 1000 impressions”.

Hopefully, that makes sense and will help you to remember the difference.

Some Real-Life Examples

My number one video has 19,000 views. The CPM on this video is $63.65. Therefore, the advertiser has to pay $63.65 for each 1000 impressions.

On the other hand, I earn $15.44 for those thousand impressions. So, my RPM is $15.44 for each 1000 impressions. Therefore, this video with 19,000 views has made close to $300.

The video is called HootSuite versus Buffer. I created a group of videos comparing different social media tools and post planners.

The next video I created is called HootSuite versus Buffer versus Loomly. So, in this one I compared 3 tools. This video has over 1500 views so far and the CPM is $79. But I’m getting paid more. In fact, $34.98 more for each 1000 impressions. So, it’s more than double.

This means, in the long run, I’m going to make far more money with this video.

Here’s a few more examples:

• How To Feature Other Channels – 112 views – CPM is $10.77 – RPM is $3.70
• Why You Need a Social Media Post Planner – CPM is $55 – RPM is $15.20

You Don’t Need A Huge Number Of Views To Make Money

What I’m trying to show you here is that you don’t need a million views for your videos to make money.

Tip: Look up Evan Carmichael. He has around nine channels going at the same time. His philosophy is that the more videos you create, the more money you’re going to make. Even if your individual videos don’t have a lot of views.

Therefore, you have to decide whether you want to concentrate on quality or quantity. Both will eventually make you money.

Here’s another example of a how-to video I created about Clickfunnels. I used to create a lot of videos as I was learning to use different tools. This was mainly so I could go back and watch them if I had forgotten how to do something.

The interesting thing about this video is that the CPM is $91.72 and the RPM is $53. That’s huge! Currently, the video only has 374 views but I’ve already made $20.

Compare this to another one of my videos that has 400 views but has only made $3.

Therefore, you need to look at topics as well as views. You want your videos to be in certain popular niches and then break these down into sub-topics. But, don’t just create videos for the revenue. Make them to serve your audience as well.

To Sum Up

Let’s sum up the difference between CPM and RPM again.

• RPM is the revenue that you’ll earn for every 1000 impressions.
• CPM is the cost that an advertiser pays for every 1000 impressions.

Remember, if your channel is fairly new, you won’t have these analytics showing up yet. I’m not sure how many videos you have to have before the analytics start displaying.

What you should be concentrating on is getting more content up. And, make sure that people are searching for the type of content that you have in your videos.

Then, once you have your 4000 watch hours, your videos will start displaying ads and you’ll start making some money. At that time, you’ll definitely want to start looking at your analytics.

You’ve Got This!