How much does 1 million views on YouTube pay?

For a short video posted in January 2026, ad revenue ended up being about $87 per million views.

Screenshot of YouTube analytics showing that a video got about 1 million views on January 17th.

A recently posted short form video posted to the Corky Lorenz YouTube channel is now over 2.5 million views.

Data for Jan 17th shows 1,037,534 views and estimated ad revenue at $87.07 for just that video.

The ad revenue rate for shorts is much lower than long form videos. But, it is still helpful in boosting views on older videos.

Overall, views on the channel went up for most videos. The short getting viral distribution was aligned in topic with previous content. Many viewers also watched related long form videos.

New subscribers from that event totaled around 1,000.

Ice dye on a cotton shirt:

https://youtube.com/shorts/-shz8Wbi9EU?feature=share

Screenshot showing the date Jan 17th getting about $87 dollars in ad revenue from 1 million views.

Corky Lorenz

January 19, 2026