A client asked recently: "I'm creating content, but I have no idea if it affects sales. How do I even measure that?" It's a real challenge - much harder than UTM attribution.
Then I came across a video by Alex Hormozi. He shared something that really stuck with me: the RPM metric.
RPM - Revenue Per Mille. It’s a standard metric in YouTube Studio: how much you earn per 1,000 views from ads.
In simple terms: YouTube shows ads in your videos. Advertisers bid in Google Ads auctions. YouTube keeps 45%, you get 55%. RPM = your revenue ÷ views × 1,000.
Why it matters: advertisers pay different rates for different audiences. Business owners and professionals cost more. Teenagers cost less. YouTube knows who’s watching and serves relevant ads. A high-value audience means higher ad prices and higher RPM.
Here’s what Hormozi did. He says: I don’t rely on YouTube ad revenue - my portfolio companies do $200M+/year, ad revenue is tiny. But he still tracks RPM - as a proxy for audience quality.
High RPM = people with money are watching = those same people buy books and sign up. You got it?
Months with high RPM had the most sales and leads. When he switched to entertainment content for 90 days, views tripled, RPM dropped - and sales dropped with it. Boom!
So RPM became a leading indicator for him. He doesn’t wait months for sales to confirm; he’s effectively seeing in real time whether he’s attracting the right people.
His results after switching from Shorts to deeper business content in 3 weeks:
- RPM +68%
- Subscribers +24.6%
- Opt-ins +26%
- Book sales ×2
With fewer views, each view became more valuable.
"Likes ain't cash, views ain't cash, cash is cash."
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