How Much YouTube Pays for 1 Million Subscribers

Creators who are a part of YouTube's Partner Program can make money from their videos with ads.
YouTubers can make thousands of dollars each month from the program.
Learn the strategies a YouTuber with about 1 million subscribers used to earn up to $54,600 a month.

Getting 1 million YouTube subscribers is a huge milestone, and, in practical terms, it often means a creator can earn a full-time living from the platform.

YouTube creators earn money in numerous ways, but money from the ads that play in their videos usually constitutes a big chunk of their income. How much does YouTube pay for 1 million subscribers? Nate O'Brien, a YouTuber with more than 1 million subscribers, earned $440,000 from the platform in a year. He earned from $14,600 to $54,600 a month.

Read a full breakdown of how much money O'Brien makes a month and his strategies

Another YouTuber, the lifestyle creator Tiffany Ma, previously told Insider that she earned up to $11,500 a month from ads on her videos.

Read about how much money Ma earns a month and how she grew her channel

To start earning money directly from YouTube, creators must apply for the Partner Program and meet a threshold of 500 subscribers, three public uploads in the last 90 days, and either 3,000 watch hours in the past year or 3 million YouTube shorts views in the past 90 days. Once accepted, eligible creators can earn money from features such as channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks, and the ability to promote their products with YouTube Shopping.

To start earning money from YouTube AdSense, creators in the program must have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past year.

Two key metrics for earning money on YouTube are the CPM rate, or how much money advertisers pay YouTube per 1,000 ad views, and the RPM rate, which is how much revenue a creator earns for every 1,000 video views after YouTube's cut.

Check out how much money 8 YouTubers make per 1,000 views and the most lucrative content categories

Some subjects, like personal finance and business, can boost a creator's ad rate by attracting lucrative advertisers. But while Ma's lifestyle content makes less money, she's perfected a strategy to maximize payout.

"To really optimize your audience, I think YouTubers should definitely put three to four ads within a video," Ma said.

The money made directly from YouTube is a key pillar of many creators' incomes.

Here are eight exclusive earnings breakdowns in which YouTubers with 1 million followers or more share exactly how much they earn from the platform:

How much YouTubers make for 1 million subscribers