Highest Paying YouTube Countries in 2026: Where Ad Money Is Strongest

YouTube earns money by selling advertising space. Advertisers pay more to reach audiences with higher purchasing power who are more likely to buy their products. A Norwegian viewer watching a finance video is statistically more likely to open a premium brokerage account than a viewer in a lower-income country — so the advertiser pays more to reach them, and that money flows to the creator.

Four factors drive high CPMs:
1. Consumer purchasing power: Higher-income countries have consumers who spend more, which advertisers value.
2. Advertiser competition: In the US, thousands of companies compete to advertise in popular niches, driving prices up.
3. Language: English is the language of the world's largest advertising market. Norwegian, German, and Dutch content accesses smaller but still wealthy ad markets.
4. Niche: Financial services, legal, and insurance advertisers pay premiums in every country because the value of a converted customer is very high.

The combination of a wealthy country plus a high-intent niche (finance, software, insurance) produces the highest CPMs. A US finance channel earns $10–$20 CPM. A Norwegian finance channel earns $12–$18 CPM. Both dramatically outperform entertainment channels anywhere in the world.

These CPM ranges represent realistic mid-range averages across niches. Finance and legal content earns 3–5x these averages; entertainment earns 0.5x.

1. Norway: $5–$15 CPM. Norwegian advertisers compete intensely in a small, wealthy market. Finance and property content earns highest.

2. Australia: $4–$12 CPM. Large English-speaking market with competitive financial services advertising. Q4 rates spike significantly.

3. United States: $4–$12 CPM ($8–$20 for finance). The world's largest digital advertising market.

4. Switzerland: $4–$10 CPM. Small population but exceptionally high consumer income and advertiser spending.

5. United Kingdom: $3–$9 CPM. Second-largest English advertising market. Financial services CPMs reach $12+.

6. Canada: $3–$8 CPM. Benefits from US advertiser spillover. Strong finance and real estate CPMs.

7. Sweden: $3–$7 CPM. Wealthy, tech-forward population. E-commerce and tech CPMs are particularly high.

8. Denmark: $3–$7 CPM. Similar profile to Sweden.

9. Netherlands: $2.50–$6 CPM. Major European market with strong B2B advertising.

10. Germany: $2.50–$6 CPM. Europe's largest economy. Finance and automotive CPMs are strong.

11. New Zealand: $3–$7 CPM. Small but high-income. Benefits from cross-audience with Australia.

12. Finland: $2.50–$6 CPM. High technology adoption, strong tech and finance CPMs.

13. Japan: $2–$6 CPM. Large market with unique characteristics — Japanese-language content earns separately.

14. South Korea: $2–$5 CPM. Fast-growing digital ad market with strong consumer tech focus.

15. France: $2–$5 CPM. Large Western European market with competitive luxury and finance advertising.

You cannot directly choose where your viewers come from, but you can significantly influence it through content and optimization strategy.

Language is the first filter: English content primarily reaches English-speaking high-CPM countries (US, UK, Australia, Canada). If you want Norwegian CPMs, you need to create Norwegian-language content — or accept that your English channel will earn mostly US/UK/Australian rates.

SEO targeting for high-CPM markets: Research what Americans, Australians, and Canadians specifically search for within your niche. Use YouTube's keyword research tools to find high-volume English search terms. Ranking on those terms brings proportionally more Tier 1 viewers.

Content topics favored by wealthy demographics: Financial independence, investing, real estate, premium travel, technology, and professional development skew toward higher-income, higher-CPM viewers across all markets.

Upload timing: Publish when your target Tier 1 audience is active. For US audiences: 9am–2pm Eastern Time on weekdays. For Australian audiences: 8am–12pm AEST.

Thumbnail and title design for Tier 1 audiences: US and UK audiences are more likely to click on factual, specific titles ('How I Saved $10,000 in 6 Months') than vague clickbait. Australian audiences respond similarly. Norwegian audiences respond well to practical, no-nonsense thumbnails.

Norway and Sweden consistently appear in the top CPM rankings despite having populations of only 5.4 million and 10.5 million respectively. Understanding why explains a lot about how YouTube advertising economics work.

Norway's GDP per capita is approximately $90,000 USD — nearly double the US figure and among the world's highest. When advertisers are bidding for Norwegian viewers, they're bidding for access to extremely wealthy consumers. Financial services, high-end travel, and premium technology advertisers pay heavily for Norwegian eyeballs.

Sweden has a population more tech-forward than almost any other country — extremely high rates of online shopping, digital banking adoption, and subscription service use. This makes Swedish viewers extremely valuable to tech, fintech, and e-commerce advertisers.

For English-language creators: you'll naturally attract some Norwegian and Swedish viewers if you produce finance, technology, or business content, since educated Scandinavians speak excellent English and seek content in English when good local content doesn't exist.

For creators who speak Norwegian or Swedish: the opportunity is real but small in absolute numbers. A Norwegian YouTube channel in finance can earn excellent CPMs, but your total addressable market of 5 million people caps how large you can grow. Most successful Nordic creators create in both their native language and English.