YouTube Shorts revenue share went live in India in 2023. Three years in, top Indian Shorts creators are pulling Rs 4-12 lakh/month from RPM + brand deals. Here is the actual breakdown.

YouTube Shorts in India now pays creators 45% of the ad revenue pool — roughly Rs 35-90 per 1000 views for Indian audience. Top Shorts creators in India (CarryMinati Shorts, Bhuvan Bam Shorts spinoff, Mythpat clips) average 50-200M views/month, which translates to Rs 4-12 lakh in direct YouTube revenue alone. Brand deals are 2-4x larger than direct payouts. Mid-tier Shorts creators (500K-2M subs) charge Rs 80,000-3 lakh per integration. The pricing isn't based on views — it's based on niche purchasing power. A finance Shorts creator with 800K subs out-earns a comedy Shorts creator with 3M subs. Mistake to avoid: optimizing solely for Shorts views. Long-form YouTube videos still drive the bulk of channel revenue and audience depth. Top Indian creators use Shorts for discovery, long-form for monetization.