Top 30 YouTube Niches With High CPM in 2023

So, you’re probably looking to start a channel, but you want it to be profitable.

If you identify the niches that pay the most, you will earn more from the ads shown in your videos.

You don’t have to create an entire channel about that niche, you can simply talk about them in specific videos, and you’ll get paid more for that video.

We’ll explain everything you need to know about this here. Here are the best YouTube niches with high CPM to earn more money per thousand views.

30 YouTube Niches With High CPM

The higher the bid from the advertisers, the higher CPM your video will get. Here is the full list of the most expensive niches for advertisers.

Niche	Low Bid	High Bid
Email Marketing	$14.55	$50.0
Insurance	$15.63	$49.52
Sell House	$10.87	$47.31
Website Hosting	$13.6	$39.86
Ecommerce Software	$9.22	$33.29
Donate	$5.16	$32.36
Lawyer	$5.74	$24.43
Credit Card	$6.75	$20.3
Attorney	$4.67	$20.29
Casino	$2.64	$19.35
E Commerce	$7.26	$17.99
Mortgage	$5.45	$16.21
Seo	$3.38	$15.3
Online Business	$2.88	$15.25
Vpn	$2.73	$14.5
Loans	$4.19	$13.22
Cryptocurrency	$2.26	$11.94
Drop Shipping	$2.5	$11.82
Home Repair	$3.44	$11.04
Weight Loss	$2.55	$9.98
Content Creation	$2.91	$9.73
Credit	$2.01	$9.67
Career Advice	$2.53	$9.16
Auto Repair	$3.0	$8.87
Degree	$2.22	$8.63
Trading	$1.6	$7.18
Personal Finance	$2.26	$6.97
Invest	$1.48	$6.74
Software	$1.74	$6.72
Business Services	$1.95	$6.4

Low Bid: The lowest amount an advertiser has to pay to have their ads shown in an ad spot.

High Bid: The highest amount an advertiser has to pay to have their ads shown in an ad spot. The more they pay, the more likely their ads will be shown.

In other words, the higher any of these numbers are, the more CPM your video will probably have if it’s about that subject.

There are many more niches like these, but it’s impossible to list them all here.

Here I’ll teach you how to find more profitable niches on your own, so keep reading.

Why does CPM vary so much between videos?

When you create YouTube videos (and you’re a partnered YouTuber), your videos become available for advertisers to display their ads.

An advertiser has to pay a certain price each time someone watches their ad or clicks on it.

The amount they pay is determined by the amount of competition (other advertisers) that also want to show their ads on their videos.

They have to fight each other and give the highest price (like an auction) so their ads can be shown.

The more competition = the more expensive it is to show the ad.

The more expensive it is to show the ad = the more money you get as the creator of the video.

So you need to create videos that target a keyword with a lot of advertising competition.

What is a keyword? A keyword is a phrase that people type on YouTube or Google to find content recommendations.

The title of every video that you make and the words you say during the video are keywords you are directly or indirectly targeting:

For example: 

A YouTube video with the title: “Best USB Mic? AKG Lyra USB Microphone Review” is targeting the following keywords:

• Best USB Mic
• AKG Lyra USB Microphone Review

If you go to Google Keyword Planner — this is the tool that advertisers use to plan the keywords to target with their ads — you can type these keywords in and the tool will tell you how much advertisers are paying for those keywords.

Here’s the example:

How to find more niches with high CPM using Google Keyword Planner

Go to the Google Keyword Planner tool.

First, sign in with your Google account.

Then, click on discover new keywords.

Type in your keyword and choose your country.

In the results, what ultimately matters to measure how much CPM you might earn from a video targeting that keyword is the top of page bid:

This amount is NOT the CPM you get per se. 

This is just how much the advertiser has to pay just to display the ad once, or for one click (depending on their approach).

If we compare this to another niche that I know gets high CPM, you can see a huge difference in cost:

• Best short term insurance plans = $10.30-$22.68
• Best USB mic = $0.16-$0.58

“Best short term insurance plans” is way more competitive and valuable for advertisers than “Best Usb Mic”.

Targeting the former with a video will give you higher CPM. You can be 100% sure about that.

For more examples of highly competitive keywords, Wordstream has compiled an awesome list with the most expensive keywords in Google Ads.

NOTE: this doesn’t mean that you get around $10.30 per view or anything like that. YouTube keeps half of what your videos earn. And most views are not monetized. For a view to be monetized people have to actually watch the ad or click on it. Most views you get won’t get you any money. Use this just as a sort of guide to compare which keywords are more profitable to target.

What makes a niche have higher CPM?

If you read the section above, you now understand that the higher the advertising competition, the higher the CPM you get.

But what makes a niche highly competitive for advertisers?

Several factors can impact your RPM–and the CPM paid by the advertiser in the first place.

1. Industries where there’s a LOT of money involved.

Basically, markets that are highly profitable for businesses have tons of advertisers outbidding each other, which brings CPM up.

In highly profitable markets, businesses can afford to spend a lot of money on their ads, and still make a lot of money.

These are the niches that earn real money on advertising.

For example, some of the most competitive markets out there are:

• Health
• Makeup
• Financial 
• Relationship advise and dating
• Technology

However, these markets are too big.

Inside them, there are some golden niches that have CRAZY high CPM. You can find these at the top of the page.

2. Geographic location.

Location matters when it comes to CPM, and YouTube charges advertisers that target people from the highest-ranking countries substantially more than they charge for viewers who live in, for example, impoverished Latin countries.

As a result, you may find that where your videos are being played has a significant impact on your revenue.

3. How long the viewer watches the ad.

Some ads allow viewers to simply skip the advertisement–and if the ad gets skipped, the ad doesn’t count against the advertiser, which means that you won’t get paid. 

4. How many of your video views are actually accompanied by advertisements

Not every viewer you attract will get an ad.

If there’s not an ad attached to a specific individual viewing your video, chances are, you aren’t going to get paid for it.

There aren’t always enough advertisers for every type of video, and advertisers often choose the specific types of videos they want their ads attached to.

Not only that, users who watch multiple videos in succession won’t see ads in front of all of them, which means that you won’t get paid for those views.

Users may also choose to use ad blockers, — or they may pay for the premium version of YouTube, which can reduce the number of ads they view.

For example…

Older audiences don’t use ad blockers as much and also earn more money on average, so they usually mean a higher CPM.

All of these factors can have a substantial impact on how much you actually receive when someone views your video.

What’s the Average YouTube CPM Per Country?

As we explained above, much of what an advertiser pays per thousand views will vary drastically depending on the country where the viewers live.

YouTube has not told anyone the average CPM per country, but from our experience, the general rule is that first-world — and especially western — countries will give you more CPM because advertisers need to pay more to reach them since there is more competition.

Why is that? Because of GDP per capita. It’s probably impossible for an Algerian audience to earn you as much money as a US one, just because of the huge GDP per capita difference between these countries.

Americans have much more purchase power, so it’s natural that there are more advertisers competing to reach them so they can get some of that money.

Also, you need a big audience to really know your true CPM.

See, in the following example, the average CPM in Norway hovers around $43.16. In Algeria, that number is $25.

In Canada and the United States, this partner has an average CPM of around $13, while the United Kingdom hovers around $14.16.

In Mexico, on the other hand, the average CPM is just 21 cents, while Georgia and Hungary come in at the lowest CPM, at just .01 cents per mille. 

This is for reference only and these numbers won’t look the same for you.

Why?

In these examples, Algeria’s CPM was taken from 1 view while the US from 148 views.

So this is not statistically accurate.

And let me warn you:

Don’t expect your CPM to be even near $20.

The best-earning audiences I’ve ever heard of can only generate around $14 CPM — and that’s a VERY specific niche that is highly profitable.

But from my experience, CPM in the US can vary between $2-$14.

Yes, that’s a huge variance. But that’s just because every audience is different.

Nonetheless, each YouTube channel has a different audience and a completely different CPM.

If your channel is for young Fortnite gamers, they will earn you a lot less money than, for example, an audience of lawyers that are looking to start a business — even if both audiences are from the US.

What does that mean for you?

You can’t control which advertisements play in front of your videos, nor can you control where your viewers come from.

You can, however, market heavily to an audience that is more lucrative –and accept that when it comes to video views, your income may be limited by the language you target and your geographic region. 

How to Calculate Your YouTube CPM

In order to calculate the CPM of an advertisement, the cost of advertisement is divided by the total number of impressions, then multiplied by 1000.

So your calculation might look something like this:

(Cost of advertisement / total number of impressions) x 1000

If you want to calculate your RPM–that is, your revenue per million views–your calculations start by taking your estimated current revenue, then dividing by the current number of video views and multiplying by 1000.

Your calculation might look like this:

(current revenue / total number of video views) * 1000

This won’t give you an exact picture of exactly how much you should expect for each video view or how much income you can expect over time, but it will give you a basic understanding of how much your video is making.

This simple calculation can also help show you which videos are bigger earners, which means you can produce more, similar content in the future. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have questions about calculating CPM, RPM, or how advertisements work on YouTube? Consider some of these frequently asked questions. 

1. How can I get a more accurate view of my RPM on YouTube?

In order to get a more accurate view of your RPM–or your overall revenue–go to your YouTube studio.

There, click on Analytics in the menu to the left.

Then, click on the Revenue tab at the top.

Monetized playbacks include all those video views that earned you money over the course of the selected period.

2. Why is the number of monetized playbacks so much lower than actual video views?

“There are thousands of people viewing my videos, but I’m not making nearly that much in ad revenue!“

Keep in mind that the number of monetized playbacks is not the same as the number of overall video views–and in fact, you will find that you have far more actual views than you have monetized playbacks.

Most people cannot earn a sufficient income stream from their YouTube videos through advertisements alone.

While it’s a great way to boost your income, it’s common for this source to generate relatively low income over the course of the month.

That’s why you must find more ways to monetize your audience.

Only views that include advertisements will be included in your monetized views. Many sources can decrease ad content:

• Mobile views, which are less likely to have ads
• Ad blockers
• Viewers watching multiple videos in one session
• Viewers using the premium version of YouTube

3. Can I Increase my CPM?

You can, technically, increase your CPM (or at least the amount of money you make) if you play more ads on your videos.

Or, if you choose to make your videos in English or target a country with a higher GDP per capita (but this is not as practical).

Also, it depends on the type of ads that you play:

In-stream ads appear before your video.

These are the traditional ads that usually frustrate viewers and make them start looking for that important skip button.

As the video creator, you’ll usually get paid most when viewers watch these advertisements–but if they skip them, you may see no revenue from them at all.

In-display ads start at the same time as your video.

They don’t usually include sound, which means they won’t interfere with your video, but they do appear beside it, which can take attention away from the video.

In-slate ads show up after the video itself plays.

The location and the number of ads make a big difference in how much you can make.

As a content creator, you have some control over the ads that appear along with your video.

Keep in mind that the more you limit those ads, the less you have the potential to receive in ad revenue.

4. Do you need to change your channel to one of these niches?

Not necessarily.

The CPM varies per video, which means that you can create videos targeting highly competitive keywords — niches — without changing your entire channel.

Just try to make sure that your new videos are somewhat related to your channel’s general niche.

You can also pivot slowly to one of these niches if it makes sense.

If your objective is making money on YouTube and live from it, it might be a good idea to approach your channel like a real business and switch to a revenue-focused strategy (that doesn’t take advantage of your viewers).

Just make sure you don’t stop enjoying making videos, or you won’t last for long.

How to increase your YouTube income without getting higher CPM

You don’t have to get a higher CPM to earn a lot of money from YouTube.

There are other ways that don’t involve YouTube ad money. For example:

• Affiliate Marketing
• Creating your own products and selling them

How to earn money with affiliate marketing.

Get products or paid apps that your audience might like, and review them.

Give a fair, unbias review and then add an affiliate link to the product in your video description.

An affiliate link is a special link that can earn you money if people buy the product after clicking on it.

The most popular affiliate program in the world is Amazon Associates.

With it, you can earn from 2% to 8% of commission for every sale made on Amazon after people click your link.

But almost every brand in the world has some sort of affiliate program.

Visit their page, and look in the header or footer for an affiliate program link, like this one:

Each affiliate program varies a lot, so make sure you read the conditions before joining.

You’ll have to apply for every different affiliate program. You might not get accepted in all of them at first, but most affiliate programs aren’t too picky.

How to earn money with your own products

This is my favorite way of monetizing a YouTube channel.

You can build a real online business this way.

The best thing is that you don’t need to do anything complicated.

Create your own digital product/service.

The only thing you need to do is solve a problem for your audience.

There are different ways you can charge to solve these problems:

Create an online course

That’s one of our monetization methods here at VloggerPro, and it’s one of the most popular methods online right now.

If you’re good at something, you can teach them a new skill by creating an online course.

For example, you can teach people how to earn more money freelancing, to make money, how to grow a YouTube channel or Instagram account, how to paint, etc.

We use Teachable to host our online courses. It’s very simple and it will take care of everything (from lesson hosting, payment, and student enrollment) for you.

The great thing about this method is that you only need to create the course once, and you can keep selling it for years.

Start consulting

This is similar to creating your own online course.

The good part is that you can start right away and get paid instantly.

The bad part is that you need to be on a call and spend hours of your days with your clients.

You can start consulting for a while to get some quick money, while you build an online course.

There are also other ways of getting more money from YouTube by providing something your most loyal fans would love to have:

Sell your own merch

Selling your own merch (apparel, clothing, coffee mugs, makeup, etc).

Huge YouTubers like Jake Paul earn most of their fortune through this method.

And it’s easier than you think.

You only need to use a white-label service like Printful.

You can basically pay a designer on Upwork or Fiverr, for the designs or logos you want to be printed on your merch.

Then, Printful will take care of printing and shipping the apparel for you. Easy.

You’d only need a website (you could use Etsy, which is free), or you could launch your own ecommerce site.

Offer premium content to paying followers

For example, you can open a Patreon account and offer content that people can’t get for free.

You’ll usually charge around $5-$15 per month per subscriber. It’s one of the most popular monetization methods right now for content creators.

If you want more ideas to make more money on YouTube, check out this post.