Highest paying YouTube niches in 2026, ranked by earnings per 1,000 views

As of 1 November 2026, finance tops Branzly's ranking of the highest paying YouTube niches, at about $5 to $17 per 1,000 views. Technology comes second at about $3.40 to $10.20, and business third at about $3.40 to $8.50, while entertainment, music and sports pay the least at about $0.70 to $2.70.

The rate alone does not decide income. The median finance channel in our data earns an estimated $1,944 a month from ads, and the median gaming channel about $4,395, because gaming channels get far more views. The table below ranks 18 niches by rate and shows what a typical channel in each one earns.

Highest paying YouTube niches by earnings per 1,000 views

RPM is what a creator keeps per 1,000 views after YouTube's share, unfilled ad slots and ad blockers. It is lower than CPM, the price advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions. Our guide to YouTube CPM rates by niche explains the difference.

Why the rate and the monthly income rank differently

A finance channel earns more than three times as much per view as a gaming channel at the midpoint, $11.00 against $3.25. But the median gaming channel in our data gets about 1.35 million views a month, against about 177,000 for finance. As a result, the median gaming channel ends up with about twice the ad revenue.

Technology shows the opposite problem. It has the second highest rate, but the median technology channel gets about 66,000 views a month, the lowest of all 18 niches, so its median ad revenue is only about $449. The median technology channel also has the fewest subscribers of any niche, about 85,000.

Business does well on both counts. It has the third highest rate and a median of about 396,000 monthly views, which gives it the highest median ad revenue of the high-paying niches, about $2,354 a month.

Entertainment is the reverse of finance. Its rate is the lowest, at a midpoint of $1.70, but its median channel gets about 1.32 million monthly views, enough for about $2,246 a month.

Food and kids and family channels show the same effect within the general $1.40 to $4.10 band. Their median channels get about 671,000 and 607,000 views a month, which puts their median ad revenue at about $1,844 and $1,668, close to finance. Travel shares that band but has a median of only about 172,000 monthly views, so its median channel earns about $474.

Long form, Shorts and upload pace by niche

Shorts pay far less per view than long-form video, so a niche's mix of formats changes what its channels earn. This table shows the share of recent uploads that are long form, the median views per recent upload and the average uploads per month.

The high-paying niches lean on long-form video. Technology, education and finance all publish 78% or more of their recent uploads as long form, against 65% for entertainment and 63% for music. For more on short-form pay, see YouTube Shorts monetisation and RPM.

How we got these numbers

The rate ranges are the niche RPM benchmarks Branzly uses in every channel report and in its ad revenue calculator. They are based on vidIQ's published 2026 ranges by niche, assume a mostly Tier 1 audience (US, UK, Canada and Australia) and apply to all views. Niches without their own benchmark, such as cars, food and kids and family, use the general $1.40 to $4.10 band.

Channel figures come from 28,449 Branzly channel reports with at least 1,000 subscribers and an estimated monthly view count as of 1 November 2026. Monthly views are reconstructed from each channel's recent uploads, and median revenue is the median monthly views multiplied by the midpoint rate. These are estimates of ad revenue only. Channels with mostly non-US audiences, or mostly Shorts, will earn less than the table shows, and sponsorships and other income are not included.

What to do with this

1. Find your niche in the first table and note its range. Use the low end if most of your audience is outside the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
2. Multiply your monthly views by that rate, or let the ad revenue calculator do it with your own numbers.
3. If you are choosing a topic, weigh views as well as rate. Business pairs a high rate with a median of about 396,000 monthly views.
4. Shift more of your output to long form if your niche pays well per view. Technology and finance channels already post 78% or more of their recent uploads as long form.
5. Compare yourself with channels in your niche through the category pages.

To see what a single video in your niche is worth, run it through the video earnings calculator.