{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Dataset",
  "name": "Which YouTube niches pay the least per 1,000 views?",
  "description": "Kids and family content pays the least on YouTube at roughly $1.20 RPM, followed by music and reactions ($1.40), gaming ($1.80), entertainment and comedy ($2.20) and lifestyle vlogging ($3.20). Made-for-kids rules, rights-holder splits and young global audiences all suppress what advertisers will pay.",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/answers/which-youtube-niches-pay-the-least",
  "dateModified": "2026-08-21",
  "creator": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "RevenueLab",
    "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi"
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "keywords": [
    "YouTube Revenue Calculator",
    "YouTube RPM Calculator",
    "YouTube RPM by Niche",
    "YouTube membership revenue calculator"
  ],
  "distribution": {
    "@type": "DataDownload",
    "contentUrl": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/page.json?path=answers%2Fwhich-youtube-niches-pay-the-least",
    "encodingFormat": "application/json"
  },
  "json": {
    "type": "answer",
    "question": "Which YouTube niches pay the least per 1,000 views?",
    "shortAnswer": "Kids and family content pays the least on YouTube at roughly $1.20 RPM, followed by music and reactions ($1.40), gaming ($1.80), entertainment and comedy ($2.20) and lifestyle vlogging ($3.20). Made-for-kids rules, rights-holder splits and young global audiences all suppress what advertisers will pay.",
    "tableTitle": "Lowest-RPM YouTube niches, 2026",
    "columns": [
      "Niche",
      "Typical RPM",
      "Why it's low"
    ],
    "rows": [
      {
        "label": "kids and family",
        "value": "$1.20",
        "note": "made-for-kids rules block personalised ads, which removes the highest-paying demand"
      },
      {
        "label": "music and reactions",
        "value": "$1.40",
        "note": "claims and revenue splits with rights-holders eat into the payable share of views"
      },
      {
        "label": "gaming",
        "value": "$1.80",
        "note": "young, global, ad-blocker-heavy audiences with limited advertiser demand per impression"
      },
      {
        "label": "entertainment and comedy",
        "value": "$2.20",
        "note": "huge reach at low intent — great for scale, weak per view"
      },
      {
        "label": "lifestyle and vlogging",
        "value": "$3.20",
        "note": "general-interest inventory with no strong purchase signal for advertisers to bid on"
      }
    ],
    "context": "Low RPM is not the same as low income. Gaming and entertainment channels routinely out-earn finance channels because they generate 20–50× the views and monetise through memberships, merch and sponsorships instead of ads. The trap is building a low-RPM channel while planning your income around AdSense alone — at $1.20 RPM you need 4 million monthly views for a $5,000 month.",
    "methodology": "Uses the same 2026 post-split RPM table as the rest of the answer library. Kids figures reflect the personalised-ads restrictions that apply to made-for-kids content; music figures account for revenue shared with rights-holders after Content ID claims.",
    "dateModified": "2026-08-21",
    "relatedCalculators": [
      {
        "label": "YouTube Revenue Calculator",
        "to": "/youtube-revenue-calculator"
      },
      {
        "label": "YouTube RPM Calculator",
        "to": "/youtube-rpm-calculator"
      },
      {
        "label": "YouTube RPM by Niche",
        "to": "/youtube-rpm-by-niche"
      },
      {
        "label": "YouTube membership revenue calculator",
        "to": "/youtube-membership-revenue-calculator"
      }
    ],
    "relatedReading": [
      {
        "label": "YouTube payout tiers by niche",
        "to": "/blog/youtube-payout-tiers-by-niche-2026"
      },
      {
        "label": "YouTube membership revenue guide",
        "to": "/blog/youtube-membership-revenue-guide"
      }
    ]
  }
}