In August, they ditched the old earnings algorithm for a new, more nuanced one that calculates our dollars on multiple factors instead of just member reading time, as had been the case before.
This has resulted in feedback from “all went to hell” to “it’s been a real earnings boost lately”.
Let’s see how it affects earnings in my case.
First things first
I’m going to calculate and find an average over my latest stories by using 1000 views as the measure.
1 view is hardly enough, and even 100 views fluctuate quite a lot. 1000 seems to be a little more stable in my experience.
Now, before we go on, reaching 1,000 views on a Medium story is an exciting milestone for any writer. I know that. It’s a huge thing, actually.
Congratulations if you’ve been there. Keep at it if you’re working on it!
It’s important to understand what those 1,000 views really mean in terms of income on Medium.
1000 views on the new Medium can mean a LOT… or nothing at all.
The new earnings metrics are complicated
They are. Some things haven’t changed, though:
External dilemma
First off, not all views are equal. You need to look at how many were internal views versus external.
As it has always been, external views don’t earn anything. It’s the internal views from paying Medium members that determine earnings.
For example, 1,000 external views would earn $0 while 1,000 internal views would earn a good chunk.
The main metrics
The money doesn’t come directly from views, either. Views were never important (for money).
Earnings are based on reading time and engagement from members.
The more members read your story and interact with it, the more you’ll earn. This has been amplified by the Medium changes from August 2023.
Now, not only does reading time determine earnings, but also claps, comments, highlights, follower reads, gained followers after reads, read ratio, and boosting.
So stay with me: I am just using views as a proxy here. Since reading time is hard to calculate on average, engagement is too, and views are still a significant measure.
The basics
- Stories with shorter reading times or less engagement earn less. Pretty logical. Again, external reading time doesn’t matter at all here.
- Stories that were read by followers earn more
- Stories with a high read ratio earn more
- Stories who get boosted earn more
A new key rule
Now here’s the banger:
- Stories that get read in under 30 seconds earn NOTHING
- 30 seconds of reading time is the minimum amount of time a reader has to spend on your story to earn money
This is crucial, as it severely limits the earning potential of shortform content (in my opinion) and skimmable stories.
Now spill it!
Okay, calm down.
Earnings per 1,000 views aren’t consistent across stories. We’ve covered that.
Before I dive into the numbers from August to now, let me give you a quick comparison.
Two years ago, I already calculated my earnings per 1000 views on Medium on average. You’ll find that story here. Back then, I landed on an average of $34 per 1000 views.
But that was 2 years ago.
How does the new Medium 2023 compare?
Since August, I’ve earned an average of $31 per 1000 views, calculated over 16 long-form stories I have published in this time.
$31 per 1000 views.
Impact
As you can see, that’s not much different from 2 years ago. Good for me. For other people, these numbers will look entirely different. For the reasons I went over:
- the 30-second rule, which impacts shortform writers & easy-to-skim content
- read ratio, which impacts easy-to-skim articles
- follower bonus, which impacts people who have a lot of engaged followers
- boost, which impacts writers and stories that Medium staff (and the 60-ish boost nominators in particular) really enjoy right now
The bottom line
Yeah, Medium has overhauled the earning metrics extensively. That doesn’t mean it’s good or bad per se.
For me, it’s been the same. For others, not so much, both positively and negatively.
We can’t do anything about it anyway. I still enjoy the deep dive into stats from time to time, though. It puts some things into perspective.
How has your experience been since August? Up, down, neutral?
