If you’ve been creating content long enough, you’ve probably noticed a difference in your analytics towards the end of the year. More views. More clicks. More comments from usernames you sometimes can’t pronounce. And, of course, more money.
November and December are the Super Bowl of creator earnings, but what some US creators don’t realise is that the real boost isn’t just coming from home. It’s coming from overseas.
I learned this the hard way. One year, I woke up to see my channel suddenly blowing up in Germany, of all places. Same videos, same posting schedule, but my RPMs were doing gymnastics I’d never seen before. It didn’t seem logical until I started looking at what was happening globally.
And that’s what this article is about: the fascinating, slightly underrated reason why US creators earn more from international audiences at the end of the year.
November and December are universal spending months. Americans celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas; the UK is scrambling for gift deliveries; the UAE is drowning in year-end retail campaigns, and Europe is switching into full hibernation-and-shop mode.
People are online more. They’re watching longer. They’re buying aggressively.
As audiences consume more content, advertisers increase their spending, and this surge isn’t limited to the US. It’s happening everywhere.
So, if you have even a tiny sliver of international viewers, this is the period when they become disproportionately valuable.
Also read: How Grey differs from a US bank
There’s a popular myth that US audiences always deliver the highest CPMs (cost per mile). Not quite.
At the end of the year, countries like the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, and the UAE often outbid US advertisers for the same ad slots. It’s simple economics: brands have budgets they must spend before 31 December, and they start bidding aggressively to hit their annual targets.
This means that a US creator with a strong international fan base may earn more per thousand views from the UK in December than from the US. A million views from Sydney or London can outperform a million from Chicago, even if the content is the same.
And because those countries have stronger currencies, the value stretches even further once everything’s converted back to USD.
This is the part nobody talks about.
If a German advertiser is paying €8 CPM and it gets converted to dollars, that difference adds a quiet little boost to your monthly payout.
Holiday seasons tend to strengthen some currencies, too. So if you’re earning from GBP, CAD, AUD or EUR traffic, November and December almost feel like they come with a built-in “seasonal bonus”.
You didn’t do anything different; you just happened to show up where the money was strongest.
One of my favourite analytics graphs every year is the late-December watch-time spike. The whole world slows down. Students go home. Offices close. People sleep, scroll, watch, repeat.
Outside the US, this downtime becomes even more pronounced.
In Northern Europe, everyone is indoors. In the Middle East, it’s tourism season. In Latin America, the lead-up to Christmas is a cultural event on its own. All of this means more hours to watch content, and every extra watch hour is more ad inventory.
Holiday behaviour = more impressions = more money.
Also read: How Nigerians can shop Black Friday deals from abroad
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Here’s the other secret: brands outside the US love American creators at the end of the year.
Why?
US creators have global influence, English reach, and a level of cultural export that travels well. A British or German brand that wants visibility during Black Friday will often prefer a US creator who can speak to both American and international audiences.
This demand drives up rates.
By the time December rolls around, creators are often negotiating higher sponsorship fees simply because brands abroad are scrambling to get visibility before budgets expire.
If you’re plugged into international markets at all, even slightly, you benefit from every single one of these regional campaigns without ever needing to travel or change where you live.
Take two creators:
Creator A: 90% US audience
Creator B: 55% US, 20% UK, 10% Canada, 10% Germany, 5% UAE
Creator A earns well in Q4, well, no surprise.
Creator B earns exceptionally well in Q4 because nearly every one of those regions hits seasonal peak CPMs at the same time.
It’s the same output, the same content, but different earning power.
Also read: Why many UK freelancers earn more from global clients in Q4
The trick isn’t to chase views from every corner of the world. It’s to become discoverable globally.
Things that help include creating evergreen content, using clear and concise English that translates well, adding subtitles, tapping into international holidays, and covering universally relatable themes.
And of course, making sure you have a way to receive global income easily. Platforms like Grey exist for exactly this reason: to help creators collect payments from everywhere without friction.
By the time December hits, the world is spending, scrolling, and watching more than at any other time of the year. And US creators sit at the perfect intersection of global relevance and strong ad markets.
So if you’ve ever wondered why your earnings jump in November and December, now you know. Your overseas audience is boosting your income in ways your home audience simply can’t match.
Lean into it, revel in it and open your Grey account today or download the app to get the financial freedom you need.
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