Gaming YouTube RPM

Long videos about gaming usually pay creators $0.80 to $4.50 per 1,000 views, typically $2.20. Here is what that means for 100,000 and 1 million views, what Shorts pay, and what moves the number.

Long form RPM
$0.80 to $4.50
typical $2.20 per 1,000 views
Shorts RPM
$0.02 to $0.25
typical $0.07 per 1,000 engaged views
100,000 long form views
$63 to $353
typically $172
1 million long form views
$627 to $3,530
typically $1,720

For a US based English channel with 8 to 15 minute videos. Since August 24, 2026 YouTube counts a long form view from the first frame, so we price 78% of public views at these rates, the same as in our channel reports. Estimates, not payouts: only a channel's owner can see its real earnings in YouTube Studio.

Estimate a gaming channel

Paste a channel to price its own views, audience and video lengths

What moves RPM

The same factors our channel reports use

Where viewers live

A view from the UK pays about 70% of a US view, Canada 75%, Australia 90%, Germany 55%, Japan 40%, Brazil 10% and India 5%. The range above assumes a mostly US, UK, Canadian and Australian audience, so a channel watched mostly elsewhere earns less per view.

Video length and mid roll ads

YouTube allows ads in the middle of videos of 8 minutes or more. We price a video under 8 minutes at 0.85x of an 8 to 15 minute one, 15 to 30 minutes at 1.15x and 30 minutes or more at 1.3x. These length factors are a soft estimate from ad load data.

How much of a video people watch

Mid roll ads only reach viewers who are still watching. A typical 8 to 15 minute video is watched about 30% of the way and a 15 to 30 minute one about 25%, so extra ad slots only pay for the viewers who stay.

Views that show an ad

In AIR Media Tech's Studio data, 55% of Gaming views showed at least one ad, against 53% across all 300 channels. Views without an ad still count in RPM, so a lower share pulls RPM down.

The time of year

Ad rates follow advertiser budgets. Across AIR Media Tech's channels the median RPM was $1.56 in January and $2.35 in November, the peak of the year.

What the sources say

Evidence: strong

AIR Gaming median $2.05 (P25 $0.70, P75 $3.62), 55% monetized, 1.44 ads per monetized view; vidIQ $2 to $4 (game reviews $5 to $8, mobile $1 to $3); Niche Pursuits $1.40.

AIR is AIR Media Tech, which reports YouTube Studio data from 300 channels, May 2025 to May 2026.

Runrate files a channel under Gaming when its titles and description talk about things like gaming, gameplay, let's play, walkthrough, minecraft, roblox, fortnite, gta.

Questions

What is the RPM for gaming YouTube channels?

Long videos about gaming usually pay creators $0.80 to $4.50 per 1,000 views, typically $2.20. RPM is the creator's share after YouTube's cut, counted over all views, and this range is for an English channel whose viewers are mostly in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

How much does a gaming channel make per 1 million views?

About $627 to $3,530 from long form ads, typically $1,720. For a US based English channel with 8 to 15 minute videos. Since August 24, 2026 YouTube counts a long form view from the first frame, so we price 78% of public views at these rates, the same as in our channel reports. Shorts pay far less.

Do Shorts pay the same?

Shorts pay $0.02 to $0.25 per 1,000 engaged views, typically $0.07, and about $0.33 for a US audience. That is 3% to 14% of the same niche's long form RPM.

Is this what a gaming channel really earns?

No. Estimates, not payouts: only a channel's owner can see its real earnings in YouTube Studio. Two channels in the same niche can earn very different amounts: AIR Media Tech found the top quarter of a niche earns 2x to 8.4x the RPM of the bottom quarter, so audience country, video length and ad suitability matter as much as the niche. Paste a channel above to see its own estimate.

How sure is this range?

The evidence for this niche is strong. Strong: measured on many channels. Low and high span the credible published range. Typical starts from measured medians where they exist, pulled toward the middle of the planning ranges.

Niches that pay about the same

Music $0.80 to $4Entertainment $0.80 to $4.50Pets and animals $0.80 to $4Sports $1 to $5All 31 niches

Where these numbers come from. Runrate's research tables, compiled October 17, 2026, the same ones every channel estimate uses. Estimates, not payouts: only a channel's owner can see its real earnings in YouTube Studio.