YouTube is making a major shift in how creators earn money on its platform. In a significant update to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), the Google-owned video platform has officially doubled the monetization eligibility thresholds for both long-form videos and YouTube Shorts.
If you are a content creator looking to monetize your channel, here is everything you need to know about the new requirements, deadlines, and how these changes will impact your channel.
What Are the New YouTube Monetization Requirements?
Under the updated policy, the subscriber threshold remains the same, but the watch time and Shorts view requirements have doubled:
- Watch Time: Creators now need 8,000 valid public watch hours within the last 12 months (up from 4,000 hours).
- YouTube Shorts Views: Creators opting for the Shorts pathway need 20 million public Shorts views in the last 90 days (up from 10 million views).
- Subscribers: The requirement remains unchanged at 1,000 subscribers.
When Do the New YouTube Partner Program Rules Take Effect?
The new monetization rules will take effect starting February 1, 2027.
This gives aspiring creators and growing channels a buffer window to hit the previous thresholds (4,000 watch hours or 10 million Shorts views) and get accepted into the YouTube Partner Program before the higher limits kick in.
How Does This Affect Currently Monetized Channels?
Existing monetized creators will remain in the YouTube Partner Program. However, there are updated activity metrics to keep in mind:
- Shorts Revenue Sharing: Existing creators must maintain at least 10 million Shorts views over a rolling 90-day period to keep earning ad revenue from Shorts.
- Long-Form Video Revenue: Falling below the Shorts threshold will temporarily pause Shorts revenue sharing, but it will not impact earnings from regular long-form videos.
Why Is YouTube Raising the Monetization Bar?
YouTube states that the change reflects the massive growth of content consumption across the platform. According to YouTube’s latest figures, users generate over 200 billion daily views on YouTube Shorts, while watch time on connected TV screens has surpassed 1 billion hours per day.
By raising the entry bar, YouTube aims to ensure that channels entering the Partner Program have an established audience base and consistent viewability.
Summary of Changes
| Metric | Previous Requirement | New Requirement (Effective Feb 1, 2027) |
| Subscribers | 1,000 | 1,000 (Unchanged) |
| Public Watch Hours (Last 12 mos.) | 4,000 Hours | 8,000 Hours |
| Shorts Views (Last 90 days) | 10 Million | 20 Million |
