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YouTube AdSense revenue across three channels with 7M subscribers
Executive overview
YouTube pays creators 55% of ad revenue, but raw view counts mislead: CPM (cost per thousand views) varies dramatically by audience geography and topic. A channel with 3x more views can earn the same as one with higher-value audiences. YouTube Shorts drove massive subscriber growth in 2021 but generated negligible direct revenue.
The core insight: audience quality and geography matter more than view count for YouTube income.
How YouTube monetisation works
- YouTube keeps 45% of ad spend; creators receive 55% via Google AdSense
- CPM depends on audience location, age, and purchasing power — not subscriber count
- You need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours before monetisation is unlocked
- Shorts views do not count toward the 4,000-hour threshold
- ~80% of monthly AdSense income comes from videos published months or years earlier
Channel performance in 2021
- Silicon Valley Girl (business/tech, US-heavy audience): 6M long-form views → $47,364; 360K short views → $190
- Russian channel (vlogs, Russian-speaking audience): 16M long-form views → $50,000; 2.6M short views → $65
- Lingua Marina (language learning, global audience): 84M long-form views → $139,000; 87M short views → $2,557
- Total AdSense across all three channels in 2021: $240,311
Why CPM gaps are so large
- Silicon Valley Girl earned $47K from 6M views; Russian channel earned $50K from 16M views — nearly the same revenue at 3x fewer views
- Lingua Marina earned 3x more than Silicon Valley Girl despite 16x more total views
- Audiences in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada command the highest CPMs
- India, Indonesia, and Vietnam audiences generate lower CPMs regardless of volume
YouTube Shorts in 2021
- Shorts drove 580,000 new subscribers on Lingua Marina — the single largest growth lever
- Direct revenue from Shorts was minimal: $2,557 total across all channels for the year
- YouTube Shorts Fund paid out $100 in November and $164 in December — not significant income
- Shorts are best used for growth and experimentation, not monetisation
Cost structure and other income
- Team of seven: editors, managers, thumbnail designers
- California taxes can reach 50%+ (federal + state combined)
- Additional revenue streams: paid brand partnerships, courses, affiliate links, and appearing in brand ads — these typically exceed AdSense income
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