YouTube Doubles The Grind For Ad Revenue Eligibility

YouTube is known for its generous monetization program, but recently, the platform announced stricter criteria for content creators to start earning money. Starting February 1, 2027, new creators must double their efforts by accumulating 1,000 subscribers, 8,000 qualified watch hours, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the past year.

The current threshold only required 1,000 subscribers, 4,000 watch hours, or 10 Shorts views. Additionally, YouTube is tightening eligibility requirements for Shorts Ads, demanding 10 million views over a 90-day period, up from the previous standard of 1 million views. Creators who fail to meet these new standards can still generate revenue from their long-form videos, but not from Shorts videos, which must now garner 10 million qualified views per 90-day period.

YouTube claims that creators already earning significant revenue from Shorts are unlikely to be affected, but the new rules make it considerably more challenging for emerging content creators to join the program and earn money from it. YouTube's Vice President of Creator Products, Amjad Hanif, stated that these changes aim to make earnings "more meaningful" and design a program that rewards creators who drive views and engagement.

Furthermore, YouTube introduced Premium Lite, a subscription tier that provides ad-free viewing, content downloads, and background video playback in countries where full YouTube Premium is available. However, Premium Lite does not offer ad-free listening on YouTube Music. The company explained that 30% of net subscription revenue goes to Premium subscribers, while 60% supports Premium Lite.

Creators earn a share of this revenue based on member watch time and views, with 55% allocated to long-form videos and 45% to Shorts. YouTube asserts that increased subscriber counts will lead to higher earnings, as partners generally earn more when users subscribe compared to when they watch ads.