# YouTube Monetization Checker & Earnings Estimator (`seemuapps/youtube-monetization-checker`) Actor

Check if any YouTube channel is monetized and estimate its monthly earnings, RPM, views per month, niche and Partner Program eligibility, in bulk.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/youtube-monetization-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Seemu Scraping](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$25.00 / 1,000 channel checkeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## YouTube Monetization Checker & Earnings Estimator

Check whether any YouTube channel is monetized and estimate how much it earns. Paste in channel handles or URLs and get, for each one, its monetization status with the evidence behind it, YouTube Partner Program eligibility, estimated monthly views, niche, RPM range, and estimated monthly and yearly earnings. You can check up to 2,000 channels per run.

### What you get

For every channel, one row with:

- **Monetization status**: `isMonetized` (true / false / null), a `monetizationConfidence` level (confirmed, likely, unlikely, ineligible, unknown) and `monetizationSignals`, the plain-English evidence behind the verdict
- **Monetization features**: whether the channel has a **Join** (memberships) button and a **Store** tab
- **Partner Program eligibility**: `meetsYppThreshold` (1,000 subscribers plus an estimate of annual watch hours)
- **Channel stats**: name, handle, URL, subscribers, total views, video count, country, join date
- **Recent performance**: videos sampled, average and median views per video, uploads per month, last upload date
- **Estimated monthly views**, with a `monthlyViewsMethod` field that shows how the number was calculated
- **Niche** (finance, business, tech, education, gaming, music, kids and more), plus the signals used to pick it
- **Estimated RPM range** in USD per 1,000 views, based on niche and audience country
- **Estimated monthly and yearly earnings** (low and high)
- An `estimateNote` on every row saying which figures are estimates

### Use cases

- **Influencer marketing and sponsorship pricing**: see roughly what a creator earns from ads before you make an offer
- **Buying or investing in YouTube channels**: check monetization status and estimated revenue before you pay
- **Competitor and niche research**: compare estimated earnings and RPMs across a niche
- **Creator self-benchmarking**: see how close a channel is to the YouTube Partner Program threshold
- **Lead generation for creator tools and agencies**: find channels that are monetized, or not yet monetized

### How monetization is detected

YouTube does not publish whether a channel is monetized. This actor checks public signals, starting with the strongest:

1. **Join button (channel memberships).** Only Partner Program channels can offer memberships, so this means **confirmed**.
2. **Store tab (YouTube Shopping).** Also limited to Partner Program channels, so this also means **confirmed**.
3. **Under 1,000 subscribers.** The channel cannot earn ad revenue, so the result is `false`, **ineligible**. Ads sometimes appear on videos from small channels because of copyright claims, or because YouTube runs its own ads there, but the creator is not paid for them.
4. **Ads on recent videos.** For channels with 1,000+ subscribers, the actor opens up to 4 recent videos and looks for ads. If any video has ads, the result is **likely**. If none of 3 or more videos has ads, the result is `false`, **unlikely**.
5. Otherwise the result is `null`, **unknown**. The actor does not guess.

In testing, the Join button or the Store tab alone correctly identified 9 of 10 well-known monetized channels, and the ad check caught the 10th. No channel under 600 subscribers showed a Join button or a Store tab. Ad serving varies from video to video, so "unlikely" is a strong hint, not proof.

### How earnings are estimated

**All earnings figures are estimates, not the channel's real revenue.**

- **Monthly views**: the total views of the channel's latest long-form uploads (30 by default), divided by the number of days since the oldest of those uploads went live, then scaled to 30 days. If there are too few recent uploads, the actor uses lifetime views divided by channel age instead. Shorts and views on older videos are not counted, so the estimate is conservative for channels with a large back catalog.
- **RPM**: a niche range for long-form ads, based on a Tier-1 audience (the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Northern Europe). For example, finance is $12–$30, tech $6–$15, education $4–$12, entertainment $2–$6, gaming $1.50–$5, music $0.50–$3 and kids $0.50–$2.50. The range is then adjusted for the channel's country: Tier 2 gets 45–70% of it and Tier 3 gets 10–35%. If the country is unknown, the range is widened.
- **Earnings**: monthly views × RPM ÷ 1,000. Yearly earnings are monthly × 12. Channels judged not monetized get $0, and the note shows what they could earn if they were.
- **Not included**: Shorts revenue, memberships, Super Thanks, sponsorships, merch and affiliate income.

### How to use

1. Add channels to **Channels**, one per line: `@handle`, a channel URL, or a channel ID (UC…)
2. Optionally change **Recent videos to sample** (default 30)
3. Leave **Check recent videos for ads** on for the most accurate monetization status, or turn it off for faster runs
4. Run the actor. Results appear in the **Dataset** tab, and you can export them to JSON, CSV, Excel or Google Sheets.

### Input example

```json
{
  "channels": ["@mkbhd", "@veritasium", "https://www.youtube.com/@GrahamStephan"],
  "recentVideos": 30,
  "includeVideoChecks": true
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
  "channelId": "UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA",
  "name": "Veritasium",
  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium",
  "handle": "@veritasium",
  "subscribers": 21300000,
  "totalViews": 4587528359,
  "videoCount": 535,
  "country": "US",
  "countryTier": "tier1",
  "joinedDate": "2010-07-21",
  "isMonetized": true,
  "monetizationConfidence": "likely",
  "monetizationSignals": ["Ads are served on recent videos (found on 1 of 1 checked)"],
  "hasMemberships": false,
  "hasStore": false,
  "meetsYppThreshold": true,
  "recentVideosSampled": 30,
  "avgViewsPerVideo": 10550572,
  "uploadsPerMonth": 2.5,
  "estimatedMonthlyViews": 26866722,
  "monthlyViewsMethod": "recentUploads: 30 latest long-form uploads earned 316,517,154 views over the 359 days since the oldest was published (exact upload dates); Shorts and older back-catalog views not included",
  "niche": "education",
  "estimatedRpmLow": 4,
  "estimatedRpmHigh": 12,
  "estimatedMonthlyEarningsLow": 107466.89,
  "estimatedMonthlyEarningsHigh": 322400.66,
  "estimatedYearlyEarningsLow": 1289602.68,
  "estimatedYearlyEarningsHigh": 3868807.92,
  "estimateNote": "All earnings, RPM and monthly-view figures are ESTIMATES, not the channel's real revenue. …"
}
```

### FAQ

**Is this the channel's real income?** No. Only the channel owner can see real revenue in YouTube Studio. These figures are estimates built from public view counts and typical RPM ranges.

**Why is `isMonetized` sometimes `null`?** The actor returns `null` when the public signals are not strong enough to decide, for example when ad checks are turned off or recent videos could not be opened. It does not guess.

**Does it need a login?** No. It only reads public channel and video pages.

**How fast is it?** In testing, it checked about 14 channels in 35 seconds.

# Actor input Schema

## `channels` (type: `array`):

YouTube channels to check, one per line. Accepts @handles (@mkbhd), channel URLs (youtube.com/@handle, /channel/UC…, /c/name, /user/name) or raw channel IDs (UC…). Up to 2,000 per run.

## `recentVideos` (type: `integer`):

How many of the channel's latest long-form uploads to read for average views, upload frequency and the monthly-views estimate. More videos = a smoother estimate.

## `includeVideoChecks` (type: `boolean`):

Open up to 4 recent videos per channel to see whether YouTube serves ads on them. Only used for channels with 1,000+ subscribers and no Join button or Store tab. Turn off for faster runs; monetization is then reported as unknown for those channels.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd",
    "@veritasium",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@GrahamStephan"
  ],
  "recentVideos": 30,
  "includeVideoChecks": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One record per channel: channelId, name, url, handle, subscribers, totalViews, videoCount, country, countryTier, joinedDate, isMonetized, monetizationConfidence, monetizationSignals, hasMemberships, hasStore, meetsYppThreshold, recentVideosSampled, avgViewsPerVideo, uploadsPerMonth, estimatedMonthlyViews, monthlyViewsMethod, niche, estimatedRpmLow/High, estimatedMonthlyEarningsLow/High, estimatedYearlyEarningsLow/High, estimateNote.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "channels": [
        "@mkbhd",
        "@veritasium",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@GrahamStephan"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/youtube-monetization-checker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "channels": [
        "@mkbhd",
        "@veritasium",
        "https://www.youtube.com/@GrahamStephan",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("seemuapps/youtube-monetization-checker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "channels": [
    "@mkbhd",
    "@veritasium",
    "https://www.youtube.com/@GrahamStephan"
  ]
}' |
apify call seemuapps/youtube-monetization-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,seemuapps/youtube-monetization-checker"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/WD5Ba46LzsvN4TSyh/builds/QDtT39qPux63fPJbJ/openapi.json