Creators who want to monetize their content on YouTube will face higher hurdles, as the platform has increased the thresholds for earning money from ads and subscriptions. Starting February 1, new creators will need to accumulate at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days to begin earning money. This represents a significant increase from the current requirements of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the past year or 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views over the past 90 days.
The changes will not affect creators already in the YouTube Partner Program, but will impact new entrants and those who have not yet met the new thresholds. Additionally, YouTube has introduced a new requirement for creators to maintain 10 million Shorts views over a 90-day period to earn money through the Shorts Creators Pool. Channels that fall below this threshold will remain in the partner program and continue earning on long-form content, but will not receive Shorts revenue until they cross the 10 million view threshold again.
YouTube says the changes are necessary to "keep pace with the growth of YouTube," which now sees over 200 billion daily Shorts views and over a billion hours of watch time on TV every day. However, the increased thresholds may make it harder for new creators to enter and remain in YouTube's monetization program, particularly for Shorts creators. By raising the bar, YouTube is putting more pressure on creators to consistently attract large audiences before they can earn money on the platform.
The changes come as YouTube expands its more affordable Premium Lite subscription to all countries where YouTube Premium is available. Creators receive a share of subscription revenue based on member watch time and views, with 55% going to long-form video creators and 45% to Shorts creators. According to YouTube, creators can expect higher earnings when users sign up for Premium, as partners earn more than when users are watching ads.
YouTube is not the only social media company revising its creator rewards programs. Recently, Elon Musk's X revamped creator payouts by changing its guidelines to only reward original content, and Facebook launched a new monetization program to attract creators from TikTok and YouTube. As the social media landscape continues to evolve, creators will need to adapt to these changes to remain competitive and profitable.
