A travel vlogger earns from YouTube ads, sponsors, affiliate links, fans and their own products, and the ads usually aren't the biggest slice. Almost nobody shows their actual numbers. Kara and Nate did.
They run one of the largest travel channels on YouTube, with about 4.5 million subscribers, and from 2016 to 2019 they published every dollar they earned and spent. This income report is built on those numbers. They're older than 2026, and we'll say where that matters.
Key takeaways
- A travel video with a million views earned about $3 per 1,000 views from ads.
- In Kara and Nate's best published quarter, ads brought in 34% of income.
- Their profit went from about $10,000 in 2017 to about $244,000 in 2018.
- From February 1, 2027, new channels need twice the watch hours to earn from YouTube ads.
What a Real Travel Vlogger Income Report Shows
It shows money in, money out and what's left, broken down by source. Kara and Nate's reports list their YouTube earnings, Patreon, credit card partners and two online courses, then every expense down to Netflix.
Estimates can't do this. Most "how much do travel vloggers make" numbers online come from calculators that multiply views by a guessed ad rate. Even our own Kara and Nate net worth estimate of $2–3 million comes from public data aggregators, not from the reports below. We looked for another travel channel of this size with public books and didn't find one.
Other travel creators we can only estimate
For everyone else, the best anyone can do is an informed guess. Our Drew Binsky income breakdown says so up front: no public filing confirms any figure for him. The same goes for the family behind the Bucket List Family, street-food vlogger Trevor James, Ukrainian travel vlogger Anton Ptushkin, and IzKiz creator Jennifer Tuffen.
TV hosts are harder still, since their pay sits in private network contracts rather than YouTube dashboards. Figures for Bear Grylls, Les Stroud and food-show host Adam Richman are estimates in the same way. That's exactly why a real report, even an old one, is worth studying.
How Much Does YouTube Pay a Travel Vlogger per 1,000 Views?
About $3, going by one of Kara and Nate's biggest hits. Their 2019 video "Our Tiny Home in the Swiss Alps" passed a million views in its first week. Almost two months later, it had made close to $3,000 from ads.
The math is simple. A million views is 1,000 blocks of 1,000, so $3,000 ÷ 1,000 = $3 per 1,000 views. If it kept climbing past a million, the true rate was a little lower.
YouTube calls this figure RPM: your total revenue per 1,000 views, after YouTube's share. According to YouTube's help center, it includes ads, memberships, Premium revenue and Super Chat.
CPM is the other number you'll hear. It's what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions, before YouTube's cut. Creators keep 55% of long-form ad revenue and 45% of their share of the Shorts pool.
Shorts pay far less per view. One calculator site estimates Shorts RPM at $0.02 to $0.12 per 1,000 views, compared with $1.65 to $24.75 for long-form. That's one site's modeling, not YouTube data, so read it as a rough gap rather than a rate.
The Income Mix of a Top Travel Channel
From July to September 2019, ads and sponsors each brought in about a third of Kara and Nate's income. Three smaller streams covered the rest:
| Income source (Q3 2019) | Amount | Share of income |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube ad revenue | $50,707.67 | 34% |
| Sponsored content | $50,100.00 | 34% |
| Affiliate income | $28,642.53 | 19% |
| Patreon and PayPal | $10,748.52 | 7% |
| Course sales | $8,889.00 | 6% |
| Total | $149,087.72 |
The affiliate row is where it gets interesting. Credit card referrals alone made $22,346, about 15% of the quarter's income ($22,346 ÷ $149,087.72). Patreon and courses together didn't match it.
Why cards? Think about who watches travel videos: people who want to go more places for less money. Rewards cards sell themselves to that crowd. A gaming channel doesn't get that kind of match for free.
The sponsorships weren't chased, either. Nate wrote that every dollar of brand money that year came from companies that approached them, and that they said no to most offers. New channels should take note. Sponsors show up once there's an audience, not before.
Three Years From a Loss to a Six-Figure Quarter
Kara and Nate's first report, from July 2016, shows $603.26 in total income. Most of their early reports end in the red. The quarterly profit from 2017 on, meaning income minus expenses, looks like this:
| Period | Profit |
|---|---|
| Q1 2017 | −$1,289.08 |
| Q2 2017 | $2,110.97 |
| Q3 2017 | −$1,334.60 |
| Q4 2017 | $10,598.50 |
| Q1 2018 | $22,379.55 |
| Q2 2018 | $46,333.34 |
| Q3 2018 | $90,980.60 |
| Q4 2018 | $84,355.07 |
| Q1 2019 | $87,686.53 |
| Q2 2019 | $66,265.22 |
| Q3 2019 | $123,530.77 |
Add up 2017 and you get $10,085.79 (−$1,289.08 + $2,110.97 − $1,334.60 + $10,598.50). For 2018, it's $244,048.56 ($22,379.55 + $46,333.34 + $90,980.60 + $84,355.07). Profit rose roughly 24-fold in a single year ($244,048.56 ÷ $10,085.79 ≈ 24.2).
The first three quarters of 2019 added $277,482.52 more. But look at Q4 2018 and Q2 2019: both came in below the quarter before. Nate describes growth in early 2019 as steady, so profit can dip even while the channel isn't shrinking. Anyone budgeting on channel income should expect the same.
Why one video changed a whole quarter
The Swiss Alps video made close to $3,000 by itself. The channel's ad revenue that quarter, though, rose by almost $15,000. New viewers found it, then went back and watched older videos.
So the hit's own earnings were only about a fifth of the bump it caused ($3,000 ÷ $15,000 = 20%). A viral travel video pays mostly through everything else people watch afterwards.
What Do Travel Vlogger Income Reports Leave Out?
For a start, most people forget the costs. In Q3 2019, Kara and Nate spent $26,896.95. That paid for trains, flights, hotels, meals, a part-time editor, an assistant, a travel-hacking helper, software, gear and phone plans. The business costs alone came to $9,382.80.
They still kept 83% of income as profit ($123,530.77 ÷ $149,087.72). Part of the reason is that much of their lodging that quarter cost nothing, thanks to Airbnb referral credits, hotel points, friends and work trips. A new creator paying full price everywhere won't get close to that margin.
The reports have blind spots too. FareDrop, a separate business the couple ran with a partner, isn't included. Taxes aren't listed, so the profit is likely pre-tax, though the reports never say so outright. And the most recent report covers mid-2019. What their income looks like in 2026, we can't confirm.
The 2027 Rule Change for New Channels
YouTube is making it harder to start earning from ads. Today, the Partner Program asks for 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days, according to YouTube's help center.
From February 1, 2027, new channels will need 8,000 watch hours in the past 365 days, or 20 million Shorts views in 90 days, along with 1,000 subscribers. Channels already in the program aren't affected.
Picture a travel channel 18 months old with 3,000 watch hours. Right now it's 1,000 hours short. After February 2027, it'll be 5,000 short (8,000 − 3,000). If your channel is anywhere near the line, getting in early is worth a real push.
How Should a New Travel Vlogger Plan Their Income?
Build the non-ad income from the start, because the ads won't carry you. They didn't carry a channel of Kara and Nate's size either.
Begin with one affiliate product your viewers really use; for Kara and Nate, that was credit cards and travel gear. Then make one thing you own, like a course, a guide or a membership. Their two courses earned $8,889 in one quarter, and Nate said they'd kept selling with very little promotion.
None of this is free, though. Every hour you put into a course or an affiliate page comes out of filming and editing time. By 2019, Kara and Nate were paying an editor and an assistant just to keep uploads on schedule.
FAQ
How much does a travel vlogger make per 1,000 views?
It varies with audience location, niche and video length, so there's no set rate. One of Kara and Nate's most-watched videos earned about $3 per 1,000 views from ads over its first two months.
What share of a travel vlogger's income comes from ads?
About a third, in the one detailed record we have. The other two-thirds of Kara and Nate's Q3 2019 income came from sponsors, affiliates, Patreon and courses.
How long does it take a travel vlogger to make money?
For Kara and Nate, about two years to make a real profit and three to reach a six-figure quarter. Their early reports mostly showed losses.
What are a travel vlogger's biggest expenses?
Travel itself, plus help. In one 2019 quarter, Kara and Nate spent more on flights, trains, lodging and daily costs than on business costs, and their editor, assistant and travel-hacking helper made up most of the business side.
No calculator can show you what a real travel vlogger income report does: the months in the red, the uneven climb, and how little of the money came from ads.
These numbers are from 2019, and YouTube's rules have changed since. The basic lesson hasn't. If you're starting a travel channel, plan for several kinds of income from day one.