Why did my YouTube revenue suddenly drop?

Remember that YouTube uses a rolling 28-day earnings window. This means that every day, the data gets updated, and if a high-earning day drops out of that window, it can significantly affect your reported earnings. For example, if you had a great day last week and it's now outside the 28-day window, your earnings could go down as that day is replaced by a lower-earning day.

I've experienced similar fluctuations, and I think it might be a data glitch. Just the other day, my earnings showed $500 for the past 28 days, but when I checked again, it had dropped to $420, and now it's even lower at $388. It's really unsettling, but I hope it’s just a temporary issue with the system.

This has happened to me as well, and I did some digging. A fellow creator mentioned that these kinds of revenue drops are often glitches and don't affect the final amount you will be paid at the end of the month. That insight really calmed my nerves when I was stressing over it.

It’s also worth noting that the terminology can sometimes confuse us. When people talk about getting 'paid,' they often mean the actual amount that will eventually show up in our bank accounts. So while the numbers might fluctuate in the dashboard, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to get less money when the payment happens.

One thing I've learned is that CPM (Cost Per Mille) and RPM (Revenue Per Mille) can fluctuate wildly. For instance, one day I might have a $20 CPM and then the next day it could drop to $5 for the same video. This volatility is largely due to how advertisers bid for ad space. It's important not to get too caught up in daily earnings since they can change rapidly.