YouTube is making it harder to earn money on YouTube

Starting February 1st, 2027, creators who want to monetize their channel through YouTube’s Partner Program (YPP) will need at least 1,000 subscribers and either 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. That’s a sizeable jump from YouTube’s current requirement of 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 watch hours in the past year, or 1,000 subscribers with 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days. Creators will also need to maintain 10 million Shorts views over 90 days to earn money from the Shorts Creators Pool, though falling below this threshold won’t result in removal from YPP.

Additionally, YouTube says creators will benefit from an expansion of its cheaper Premium Lite subscription, which is coming to all countries where it offers Premium. YouTube splits up subscription revenue to creators based on watch time and views, with 55 percent dedicated to long-form videos and 45 percent for Shorts. “With these additional subscribers, creators can expect higher earnings: when a user signs up for Premium, partners, on average, earn more than when the user was watching ads,” YouTube says.

The requirements are changing as YouTube ramps up efforts to become more like a premium TV service alongside Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney Plus, rather than just an online platform for videos. This year, YouTube struck deals to broadcast shows from big names like Trevor Noah, and broadly rolled out a feature that allows creators to organize their videos into seasons.

Separately, there are some new requirements for creators to keep earning money from ads and subscriptions through the YPP, though. That includes maintaining either 1,000 watch hours over the past year, 1 million Shorts views, or two long-form videos or five Shorts uploaded every 90 days. YouTube’s existing policies say it will remove creators from the YPP if they haven’t uploaded a video or published content to the Posts tab for at least six months. Creators already in the program will need to accept the new terms by January 31st, 2027, to keep making money from their content.