Income Reports: Methodology

Method version 1.4 · applies to the records shown on the dashboards page

The figures on the dashboards page are numbers read by software from the YouTube Studio cards, panels and charts that creators show on screen in their own videos. Each figure links to the exact moment it appears. This page explains how those records are produced, what the labels next to them mean, which records may be shown publicly, and what the method cannot tell you.

Two kinds of record, kept apart

• Screen-read records are the primary data: a number visible on the creator’s own YouTube Studio screen, with the period and currency as the screen showed them. Everything on the dashboards page is a screen-read record.
• Caption-read statements are numbers the creator said, read from the video’s auto-captions. They are kept as a separate cross-check set, are never merged with screen-read records, and are not used on the public page.

How screen-read records are produced

1. Source. A creator’s own video in which they open their YouTube Studio analytics. The video is downloaded once, at a paced rate, and the creator’s public channel page is consulted to identify the videos named on screen.
2. Reading. Software locates the moments where a Studio card, panel or chart is on screen and reads the numbers from full-resolution frames. There is no per-record human review; people decide the collection scope, handle exceptions and decide what is published.
3. What each record stores. The kind of screen (channel card, period panel, month bar, list row, single-day tooltip, RPM panel and so on), the subject (channel or video, with the basis for identifying it), the values as displayed, the period and its basis, the currency and its basis, the timestamp and link to the source moment, every cross-check that was run, every open discrepancy, and, where a caption mentions the same figure, the caption reading next to it.
4. Checks. Where the same figure appears twice on screen (a total and its parts, a card and a table, a revenue figure and an RPM panel) the record notes whether they agree. Checks only add information; they never change a number.

Status labels (numbers only)

• screen-read: the number was read from the creator’s on-screen dashboard; the source moment is linked.
• screen-read · cross-checked: the record also carries a passing check. The basis of the check is stored with the record: a second on-screen figure, an on-screen arithmetic check, or a human re-read of the same frame. A same-frame re-read confirms the reading, not the figure, and is not treated as an independent source.
• needs review: conflicting or low-confidence reading, held back from every comparison.
• withdrawn: removed at the creator’s request.

The status describes the numbers only. Whether the subject, the period and the currency are established is recorded separately, and a record with an open discrepancy in its own numbers is never labelled cross-checked.

Period

• on screen: a date range or period label is printed on the screen (for example “Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025”, “Last 90 days”, a monthly table row inside a labelled range).
• inferred: the screen shows only a day axis or a month name without a year; the start and end are estimated from the axis, the video’s publish date and the day the screenshot was taken, and the record says so. Inferred periods are never presented as confirmed.
• not established: no usable period evidence. Such records stay in the data set but are not shown publicly.

Currency

YouTube Studio prints a symbol, not a currency code. A “$” shown by a creator who is US-based is recorded as USD under a stated policy (assumed_US), and the basis is printed with the record. A “€” is recorded as EUR from the symbol. Amounts are never converted between currencies, and no figure is compared across currencies.

RPM, derived figures and arithmetic

• An RPM (revenue per 1,000 views) is recorded only when a Studio panel displays it, exactly as displayed.
• A derived per-1,000-views figure is computed only when revenue and views appear on the same card or for the same on-screen range; it is labelled “derived” and is never presented as a Studio RPM. Shorts cards get no derived figure, because Studio measures Shorts RPM per 1,000 engaged views.
• Where a displayed RPM does not equal revenue ÷ views of the same row, the arithmetic check is recorded as failed and the gap is listed as an open item. No cause is asserted.

Open items

Every difference the screens do not explain is listed with the record rather than resolved by assumption: a total that does not equal its parts, a card and a table that disagree, a spoken figure that differs from the screen. Small gaps are tagged by size only — cent_level (one cent) or minor_numeric_gap (under 2 units of the displayed currency) — and their cause is not asserted; larger or non-numeric discrepancies are material and keep the record from being labelled cross-checked. Where a caption reading and a screen value differ, both are kept and neither is treated as the creator’s error.

What is never recorded

• A value the creator hid on screen (for example a blurred card) is not recorded, even if it can be glimpsed in another frame; the case is noted as observed but excluded, without the value.
• Nothing is estimated, interpolated or filled in. If the screen did not show it, it is not a record.

Which records may be shown publicly

Every record carries a public-eligibility verdict, written by the same build that produces the data. A record is eligible only when its subject is established, its period is printed on screen or explicitly inferred and labelled so, its currency is established on screen or by the approved currency policy, and nothing in it was hidden by the creator. Records fail when the subject is unresolved (for example the dashboards shown belong to a channel other than the one that uploaded the video and the link between them is unproven), when the period is not established, when the currency is not established, or when the value was hidden. Excluded records are not deleted; they stay in the working data with the reason. Eligible records may still carry caveats — an inferred period, an open material gap, a creator-made graphic rather than a Studio screen, or a card without a revenue value — and those caveats are shown with the figure.

Caption-read statements (cross-check set)

Auto-captions are downloaded and each money-related sentence is stored twice: the raw caption text, which is never edited, and a suggested reading, which is never treated as fact. Deterministic checks flag doubtful readings (dropped digits, lost decimal points, a currency symbol attached to a view count, contradictions between two statements). These statements are compared with the screen-read records where they overlap, and both readings are kept when they differ. They do not appear on the dashboards page and are not merged with screen-read records.

Revenue types

A YouTube Studio figure labelled “Estimated revenue” is an estimate, recorded as such and never presented or aggregated as a payment. Studio itself notes that the final amount may change at the end of the month, and AdSense pays after the month closes. A payment record (for example a bank deposit shown on screen) is typed separately and is never mixed with estimates; it is compared with nothing unless the period it covers is on screen. Sponsorships, courses and other income are not part of the dashboards and are not recorded here.

Known limits

• Self-selected and self-reported. Creators choose what to show and when; those who publish income videos are not typical creators.
• Small sample. The current data set holds seven videos; six creators’ dashboards are eligible for the public page.
• Machine reading can misread a digit. Every figure links to its source moment so anyone can check it; open items are listed rather than corrected.
• Country is usually not stated, so no country-level statistics are produced; currency is a policy reading where the screen shows only a symbol.
• Figures stay in the original currency and the original period. A day, a month, a 90-day window, a year and a lifetime are different measurements and are labelled as such.
• No per-record human review. People decide scope, exceptions and publication; they do not vouch for each number.

Corrections and removal

Creators can ask for a correction or removal of any record about their channel by emailing takehomehub@protonmail.com. Records are read from public videos with a link to the source; removal requests are honoured regardless.

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