What is CPM (Cost Per Mille)?

CPM stands for Cost Per Mille (mille meaning thousand in Latin), and it represents the amount of money advertisers pay for every 1,000 ad impressions on your content. If you run a clip channel, this is the number that directly determines how much you earn from ad revenue on platforms like YouTube.

CPM rates vary wildly depending on your audience's location, the time of year, and your content niche. A gaming clip channel might see CPMs between $2-$6, while finance or tech content can pull $15-$30+. The US, UK, Canada, and Australia are the highest CPM regions — if your clips attract viewers from these countries, you'll earn significantly more per view.

Seasonally, CPM tends to spike in Q4 (October-December) when advertisers ramp up holiday spending, and dip in January when ad budgets reset. Smart clippers plan their upload schedules around these cycles.

For clip channels specifically, your CPM is also affected by video length. YouTube only serves mid-roll ads on videos over 8 minutes, so longer compilations typically earn more per view than short individual clips. This is why many successful clip channels create "best of" compilations alongside their individual clip uploads.

It's worth noting that CPM is what advertisers pay — your actual revenue per 1,000 views (called RPM) will be lower after the platform takes its cut. YouTube keeps about 45% of ad revenue, so your RPM is roughly 55% of your CPM.