YouTube Gaming RPM India 2026: Why Gaming Earns Less and How to Compensate

Gaming content earns low CPM in India for structural reasons related to advertiser demand and audience demographics. The primary advertisers on Indian gaming content are: Mobile game publishers (PUBG Mobile/BGMI, Free Fire, Clash of Clans) paying ₹30-80 CPM. Gaming peripheral brands (headsets, controllers, chairs) with smaller India budgets than US equivalents, paying ₹40-100 CPM. Energy drinks and snack brands (Red Bull, Mountain Dew) with modest digital spend, paying ₹30-60 CPM. The problem: these advertisers don't compete for ad inventory as aggressively as financial services or insurance companies. A finance advertiser will pay ₹300-500 CPM because a converted customer is worth ₹50,000+ over their lifetime. A gaming peripheral advertiser is competing for a ₹3,000 headset purchase and pays accordingly. Additionally, Indian gaming audiences skew young (13-24 years old), and advertisers pay significantly less CPM for younger demographics because their purchasing power is lower. The combination of low advertiser spend and young audience demographics structurally limits gaming CPM to ₹30-120 — with creators receiving ₹15-60 as RPM after YouTube's share.

Long-form gaming content RPM in India 2026: Gameplay and commentary: ₹15-35 RPM. Mobile gaming (BGMI, Free Fire, CoD Mobile): ₹15-30 RPM — the most common gaming content in India, with lowest CPM due to mobile game advertiser budgets. PC gaming (Valorant, CS2, GTA): ₹25-50 RPM — slightly higher CPM because PC gaming audience skews older and higher income. Gaming tips and tutorials: ₹30-55 RPM — educational gaming content earns more because YouTube can serve more diverse ad categories. Game reviews and hardware reviews: ₹40-70 RPM — review content attracts tech advertisers alongside gaming advertisers. Gaming Shorts RPM in India 2026: Clip compilations and highlights: ₹2-5 RPM. Tutorial Shorts (specific tips/tricks): ₹3-8 RPM. For reference: a gaming channel with 1 million monthly long-form views earns ₹15,000-55,000/month from ads. A finance channel with 200,000 monthly long-form views earns ₹16,000-50,000/month. The gaming channel needs 5x more views to earn the same income. This is the core challenge for Indian gaming creators.

The biggest Indian gaming channels — Technical Guruji (gaming adjacent), Techno Gamerz, Total Gaming, Mortal — earn substantial income despite low RPM by layering multiple revenue streams on top of ad revenue. Sponsorships and brand deals: This is the primary income driver for large gaming channels. Gaming chair companies (DXRacer, Green Soul), peripheral brands (HyperX, Logitech), energy drinks (Monster, Red Bull), and mobile game publishers pay ₹50,000-500,000 per sponsored video to channels with 1M+ subscribers. Affiliate marketing: Amazon affiliate links for gaming setups earn 3-8% commission. A channel recommending a ₹15,000 gaming headset with 5,000 clicks and 3% conversion earns ₹22,500 per recommendation video. Merchandise: Channels with dedicated gaming communities sell custom merchandise (jerseys, mousepads, hoodies). Channels like Mortal have built significant merch revenue. Tournaments and events: Large Indian gaming channels participate in and host tournaments with entry fees and sponsorship revenue. Super Chats and memberships: Gaming channels with live streaming audiences generate substantial Super Chat revenue during streams — often ₹10,000-100,000+ per stream for popular creators. The strategic recommendation: build a gaming channel for the community and engagement, then monetize through sponsorships rather than purely through YouTube RPM.

There are specific tactics Indian gaming creators can use to raise their RPM above the gaming niche baseline. Shift some content toward gaming-adjacent tech: 'Best Gaming Setup Under ₹50,000 India 2026' earns ₹60-120 RPM (tech advertisers) versus ₹20-35 RPM for gameplay content. Hardware reviews, GPU guides, and monitor comparisons bring higher CPM advertisers into your content mix. Target international gaming audiences: English commentary on Indian gaming channels dramatically increases international viewership. US and European gaming viewers contribute 5-8x more per view to YouTube's ad revenue than Indian viewers. Channels like Dynamo Gaming that added English alongside Hindi saw CPM improvements of 30-50%. Create gaming tutorial content: 'How to get better at BGMI' and 'Best settings for Free Fire' serve educational intent and attract broader ad categories. Tutorial content consistently earns 30-50% more RPM than pure gameplay. Extend video length strategically: Gaming videos of 12+ minutes with clear chapters for mid-roll ads earn significantly more per video than 7-8 minute clips. Don't pad content, but if a topic naturally warrants 15 minutes, don't cut it to 8. Use tools like FluxNote to create supplementary content — gaming industry news, game review scripts, setup guide voiceovers — that earns higher RPM than gameplay, diversifying your channel's revenue mix without abandoning your core gaming identity.