YouTube creators will soon need twice the number of watch hours to get ad revenue

For a lot of people who grew up watching YouTube since the late 2000s, becoming a content creator on the platform and earning an income through it has become a dream of sorts. The video streaming platform though is going to make some changes that will be making those dreams harder.

YouTube is updating their rules for monetisation through its YouTube Partner Program that will need new content creators to hit significantly higher numbers to get into it. Specifically, from 1 February 2027 onwards, creators will need at least 1,000 subscribers and either 8,000 watch hours over the past year, or 20 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.

That’s basically double the numbers needed from the current requirements, which are 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past year or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.

On top of that, once you’re actually in the YouTube Partner Program, you will need to maintain at least 10 million Shorts views over the past 90 days to be eligible for ads and subscription revenue sharing through Shorts. You will still be in the Partner Program and be able to earn off long form content but not through Shorts.

For what it’s worth, YouTube says that creators should still see higher earnings—if you’re able to break into the Partner Program of course. That’s because they plan to expand Premium Lite to even more regions with YouTube Premium. This cheaper paid option for uninterrupted viewing will in theory net creators more earnings compared to ad viewers, with YouTube offering 30% of the net subscription revenue for Premium and 60% of Premium Lite back to creators. Of that pool, 55% will be for long form videos, and 45% for Shorts.

It seems pretty clear that this is a push by YouTube to get more of their audience towards Shorts. Whether it works though remains to be seen, seeing as most of their users and creators for that matter tend to stick to long form content for now, though with monetisation shifting towards Shorts it could change come February next year.

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