Hajra Naz
YouTube announced a major policy change on Monday. New creators will now face higher thresholds. These new requirements apply before creators can start earning money from ads and subscriptions.
The new rules are specific. Creators need at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year. Alternatively, they need 20 million qualified Shorts views within the last 90 days. This marks a significant jump from current requirements. Right now, creators only need 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 watch hours over the past year. The alternate path currently requires 1,000 subscribers plus 10 million Shorts views over 90 days.
This change takes effect on February 1. YouTube, which is owned by Google, clarified one important detail. Creators already accepted into the YouTube Partner Program won’t be affected by this update.
There’s another new requirement too. YouTube announced that creators must maintain 10 million Shorts views over a rolling 90-day period. This applies specifically to earning through the Shorts Creators Pool.
Channels that fall below this threshold won’t be removed from the program entirely. They’ll remain in the Partner Program. They can also keep earning from long-form content during that time. Shorts revenue will resume automatically once a channel crosses the 10 million view mark again.
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YouTube explained the reasoning behind these changes. The company says it needs to keep pace with its own explosive growth. According to YouTube, the platform now sees more than 200 billion daily Shorts views. It also sees over a billion hours of watch time on TV screens every single day.
These changes will make monetization noticeably harder to reach. This is especially true for creators focused on Shorts. By raising these thresholds, YouTube is placing more pressure on creators overall. Consistently reaching large audiences becomes even more essential before anyone can start earning. As a result, fewer new creators may be able to monetize their content going forward.
Monday’s announcement included another major update. YouTube is expanding its lower-cost Premium Lite subscription. This tier will now be available in all countries where standard YouTube Premium already exists. Creators earn a share of this subscription revenue. That share depends on member watch time and overall views. Long-form video creators receive 55% of that revenue. Shorts creators receive the remaining 45%.
YouTube highlighted a potential upside for creators in its blog post. The company said additional subscribers should lead to higher earnings overall. According to YouTube, when a user signs up for Premium, partners typically earn more. That’s compared to what those same partners would earn from ad-supported viewing alone.
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Premium Lite comes with specific benefits for subscribers. It offers an ad-free experience across most videos. Subscribers can also download videos for offline viewing. The tier additionally allows background play, letting users listen while using other apps.
YouTube isn’t alone in rethinking creator payouts right now. Other major platforms are making similar moves. Over the weekend, Elon Musk’s X revamped its own creator payment system. That platform shifted its guidelines to reward only original content.
Earlier this spring, Facebook made a similar move too. The company launched a new monetization program of its own. That effort was specifically designed to attract creators away from TikTok and YouTube.
