YouTube niches by RPM
Typical RPM ranges (revenue per 1,000 monetized views) compiled from public creator reports. Honest caveat up front: your actual RPM depends on audience country, seasonality and video topic more than on the niche label — treat these as order-of-magnitude guides, not promises.
Money & business
| Niche | Typical RPM | What drives it |
|---|
| Personal finance | $12–30 | Advertiser gold: banks, brokers and fintechs bid hard for these viewers |
|---|
| Investing & stocks | $15–40 | Highest RPMs on the platform; also the most compliance-sensitive |
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| Entrepreneurship | $10–25 | B2B tools and courses advertise here; longer watch sessions |
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| Real estate | $10–30 | High-ticket advertisers; strongly US-audience dependent |
|---|
| Digital marketing | $8–22 | SaaS advertisers; smaller but committed audiences |
|---|
Tech & software
| Niche | Typical RPM | What drives it |
|---|
| AI tools & tutorials | $8–20 | Surging advertiser demand; crowded but still under-served in depth |
|---|
| Programming | $6–18 | Dev-tool sponsors often beat AdSense here |
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| Consumer tech reviews | $4–12 | Affiliate revenue usually out-earns the RPM |
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| Photography & cameras | $5–14 | Gear affiliates are the real business |
|---|
Lifestyle & education
| Niche | Typical RPM | What drives it |
|---|
| Health & fitness | $4–12 | Massive audience; supplement sponsors carry the economics |
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| Self-improvement | $5–15 | App sponsors (meditation, learning) are common |
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| Educational explainers | $4–10 | Evergreen watch time compounds for years |
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| Cooking | $3–8 | Lower RPM, huge volume; brand deals do the earning |
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| Travel | $3–8 | Seasonal and tourism-board dependent |
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Entertainment
| Niche | Typical RPM | What drives it |
|---|
| Gaming | $2–6 | Low RPM, enormous volume; memberships and sponsors matter more |
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| Reactions & commentary | $2–5 | Cheap to produce, hard to defend, weak advertiser pull |
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| Vlogging | $2–6 | RPM follows whatever topic you vlog about |
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| Kids' content | $1–4 | COMIC-labeled inventory pays the least on the platform |
|---|
Picking a niche is a packaging decision as much as a money decision — a high-RPM niche you can't sustain loses to a modest one you publish in weekly. WhatToUpload helps you find the ideas inside whatever niche you choose.
