Ad Revenue Calculator
Estimate ad income from a blog, YouTube channel, podcast or newsletter, from your monthly audience and the RPM or CPM you enter, a month and a year ahead with optional growth.
Result…
How it's calculated
RPM basis: income = audience ÷ 1,000 × RPM CPM basis: income = audience × ads per view ÷ 1,000 × CPM × share kept Month n audience = audience × (1 + growth)^(n − 1)
RPM (revenue per mille) is what you earn per 1,000 views, pageviews, downloads or emails after any platform or network cut, so it is the easiest number to plan with. CPM (cost per mille) is what an advertiser pays per 1,000 ad impressions; to turn it into your income you multiply by the ads each view shows and the share you keep. Rates differ a great deal by topic, audience country, season and platform, so use figures from your own dashboard or sponsor quotes rather than averages you read online. Growth compounds monthly from the first month.
Your numbers, step by step
About the Ad Revenue calculator
This ad revenue calculator estimates what advertising could earn from a blog, a YouTube channel, a podcast or a newsletter. Enter your monthly audience (pageviews, monetised views, downloads or emails sent) and the rate you are paid. If you know your RPM, the income per 1,000 views from your own dashboard, it multiplies straight through. If you have a CPM, the price an advertiser pays per 1,000 ad impressions, it also asks how many ads each view shows and the share of ad spend you keep. Add a monthly growth rate to see each of the next 12 months and the year's total. The calculator never assumes a typical rate or platform share: rates change with topic, audience country and season, so the numbers come from you, and each step of the working is shown.
How to use it
- Choose “Where the ads run” and enter your audience a month.
- Choose “Your rate is” RPM or CPM.
- For RPM, enter your income per 1,000 views from your ad dashboard or a sponsor deal.
- For CPM, enter the advertiser price, the “Ad impressions per view” and the “Share of ad spend you keep”.
- Enter “Audience growth a month”, or leave it at 0, and read the first month and the 12-month total.
Worked example
A YouTube channel with 80,000 monetised views a month at an RPM of 5 earns 80,000 ÷ 1,000 × 5 = 400 in the first month. Growing 3% a month, views reach about 110,739 in month 12, which earns 553.69, and the 12 months together come to 5,676.81. A podcast with 15,000 downloads, two ads per episode at a CPM of 20 and 70% kept earns 20 × 2 × 70% = 28 per 1,000 downloads, or 420 a month.
Updated
Questions people ask
How do I calculate ad revenue from views?
Divide your views by 1,000 and multiply by your RPM. With a CPM, multiply views by the ads each view shows, divide by 1,000, multiply by the CPM and then by the share you keep.
What is the difference between RPM and CPM?
CPM is what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions. RPM is what you earn per 1,000 views after any platform or network cut and after views that showed no ad, so it is usually the better number to plan with.
What RPM should I expect?
There is no reliable single figure: it depends on your topic, where your audience lives, the time of year and the platform. Use the RPM in your own dashboard, or quotes from sponsors, rather than averages from elsewhere.
Why does my real income differ from the estimate?
Ad income moves with seasonal demand, ad blockers, unfilled ad slots and each platform's rules and payment thresholds. Treat the result as a planning range and update it with your actual figures each month. How that income is taxed depends on your country, so ask an accountant or your tax office.
How do I compare ad income with what the ads cost advertisers?
Advertisers buy on CPM, so the CPM calculator shows the cost side of the same numbers.