Wanna know how much cash you’re taking to the bank from all YouTube monetization methods? Now, YouTube has a metric for that.
Even better: the metric shows you the revenue you’re earning relative to video views.
Let’s take a deep dive into the new feature.
New YouTube Metric Shows Producers How Much They’re Earning
YouTube Revenue Per Mille (RPM)
In this case, the acronym RPM has nothing to do with the old vinyl records that people listened to in the 1970’s. It stands for Revenue Per Mille.
That “Mille” part is an abbreviation for “1,000 views.” In other words, it’s a number that shows you how much cash you’re raking in for every 1,000 views on your YouTube channel.
“Because it takes into account all your revenue and all your views reported on YouTube Analytics, RPM provides the most holistic measurement of the overall rate at which you earn money on YouTube,” said YouTube in a statement.
Importance of RPM
Once upon a time, the only way you could monetize your YouTube account was by running ads. That’s not the case any longer.
Now, you can put a few bucks in your bank account with various alternative monetization methods.
First, there’s YouTube Premium. You earn cash with views from YouTube Premium accounts.
Next, there’s channel memberships. People pay you to receive content that’s not available to unpaid subscribers.
You can also generate some revenue with Super Chats and Super Stickers. They’re live-streaming monetization options that give viewers the option to make on-the-spot donations.
To help creators better track their revenue rate, we’re launching RPM, a new creator-focused metric in YouTube Analytics that shows how much a creator earned per 1,000 views. RPM is the most holistic way to analyze your performance. Learn more: https://t.co/Ap7bCC39Bq pic.twitter.com/ol418SvB8y
— YouTube Creators (@YouTubeCreators) July 9, 2020
YouTube Cash Per Mille (CPM)
CPM stands for Cash Per Mille. It measures the average amount of money people are willing to spend to show ads on your videos.
It’s not as good as RPM when it comes to measuring the revenue potential of your channel for a couple of reasons.
For starters, CPM only looks at monetized videos. You may produce some videos that you don’t want interrupted with commercials because you’re trying to promote your brand and would like to avoid annoying people.
Also, some ads might not run on certain videos that YouTube considers to be advertiser-unfriendly.
Secondly, CPM only shows you what your advertisers are paying. It doesn’t show you how much you’re earning.
CPM usually gives a higher number than RPM. That’s because RPM is calculated after YouTube takes its piece of the pie.
So if you see a lower RPM than CPM in your analytics, that’s perfectly normal. Don’t get frustrated.
How to Measure with YouTube RPM Metric
So now that you know a little bit about RPM, how can you use it to improve your intake?
For starters, perform something like an A/B test to compare holistic YouTube strategies.
Let’s say you produce 10-minute videos with ads. That strategy earns you a certain amount of money over a couple of months.
Then, you switch to a hybrid approach. You run some 10-minute videos with ads while also doing a little bit of live-streaming. The live-streaming earns you revenue with Super Stickers.
After a couple of months of the hybrid approach, you can see which strategy earned you more money per view. Just compare RPMs over a similar timeframe.
If you find that the hybrid approach gets you more cash, then you can experiment some more by going to a full livestream approach. After a couple of months of that, compare RPMs again.
Rinse and repeat.
Wrapping It Up
If you’re using YouTube as a revenue stream, you should check out the new RPM metric. It not only shows you how much you’re earning via ads, but it shows you how much money you’re making with YouTube’s other revenue streams as well.
Make it a point today to visit YouTube Studio and view your RPM metric.
