Getting monetized on YouTube means getting into the YouTube Partner Program, and the Partner Program has two access levels. The lower one opens at 500 subscribers, three public uploads in the past 90 days, and either 3,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days or 3 million qualified Shorts views in the past 90 days, and it turns on fan funding and Shopping. Ad and Premium revenue need 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the past 90 days. Those last two numbers double for new applicants on 1 February 2027.
That date matters more than anything else on this page. In August 2026, YouTube raised the entry bar for ad revenue for the first time since 2018, and it added a separate deadline that lands on channels already earning. Most of what you will read about monetization right now was written before either change.
So here is the current version. This guide covers both Partner Program tiers and their exact numbers, the account conditions that have nothing to do with subscriber counts, everything that changes on 1 February 2027, how to apply and how long review takes, what actually happens to your monetization when you use music, and how to keep monetization once you have it.
Find out before you upload, not after.
Claims land after you publish. Clear the music first with 116,000 tracks built for video.
What YouTube monetization actually means
YouTube monetization is the set of earning features YouTube turns on for channels accepted into the YouTube Partner Program. The Partner Program is the gate, and it has two access levels with different thresholds plus a set of account conditions that apply to both. Hitting the numbers is necessary but not sufficient. A human reviewer still looks at your channel before anything gets switched on.
That last part surprises people. YouTube runs on automated systems almost everywhere else, but Partner Program applications go into a queue and get assessed by people. It is why two channels with identical subscriber counts can get different answers, and why "I met the requirements" and "I got approved" are not the same sentence.
If you are earlier than this and still building the channel itself, start with how to start a YouTube channel and come back when the numbers are closer.
YouTube monetization requirements right now
There are two tiers. The lower tier needs 500 subscribers and opens fan funding and Shopping. The upper tier needs 1,000 subscribers and opens ad and Premium revenue sharing. Each tier offers two routes to qualify, one built on long-form watch hours and one built on Shorts views, and the two routes never combine. You clear one or the other.
That non-combining rule is the single most common misreading of the Partner Program's eligibility requirements. Half your watch hours plus half your Shorts views gets you nothing. Pick the route your channel actually produces for and clear it outright.
| Requirement | Fan funding and Shopping | Ad and Premium revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Subscribers | 500 | 1,000 |
| Public uploads | 3 in the past 90 days | Not required |
| Route A: watch hours | 3,000 qualified, past 365 days | 4,000 qualified, past 365 days |
| Route B: Shorts views | 3 million qualified, past 90 days | 10 million qualified, past 90 days |
| What it turns on | Channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks, YouTube Shopping | Everything above, plus ad revenue and YouTube Premium revenue sharing |
The 500-subscriber tier: fan funding and Shopping
This tier exists so you can start earning before you can run ads. At 500 subscribers, three public uploads in the past 90 days, and either 3,000 qualified watch hours in 365 days or 3 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days, you can apply and get access to channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks, and YouTube Shopping. No ad revenue yet.
Worth knowing: getting in at this tier means you are in the Partner Program. When you later cross the higher thresholds you do not reapply. The additional revenue features switch on.
The 1,000-subscriber tier: ad and Premium revenue
This is the one people mean when they say "monetized." It needs 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the past 90 days, and it turns on ad revenue against your videos plus a share of YouTube Premium subscription revenue from Premium members who watch you.
The watch-hour window is rolling, not a calendar year, which trips up more channels than the number itself does. Hours you earned 13 months ago no longer count. If your output has slowed, your total can fall while you keep uploading. We broke the arithmetic down separately in how many watch hours you need to monetize, and if you are chasing the number rather than checking it, how to get 4,000 watch hours on YouTube is the practical version.
The account conditions that have nothing to do with your numbers
Every tier carries the same non-numeric conditions, and any one of them will hold up an application that cleared every threshold. Your channel has to follow YouTube's channel monetization policies. You have to live in a country or region where the Partner Program operates. You need zero active Community Guidelines strikes. You need two-step verification turned on for the Google account your channel runs on. You need an active AdSense for YouTube account linked.
Originality sits underneath all of it. Reuploaded content, compilations with nothing added, and slideshows built from stock footage get applications rejected regardless of how good the numbers look. This is where most rejections come from, not from the thresholds.
What changes on 1 February 2027
On 1 February 2027, the entry bar for ad and Premium revenue doubles for new applicants, a new ongoing threshold arrives for Shorts earnings, and a terms deadline lands on every channel already in the program. Channels already accepted keep their status and are not held to the new entry numbers. The fan funding and Shopping thresholds do not change at all.
YouTube laid all of it out in YouTube's announcement of the changes in August 2026, calling it the first significant revision to Partner Program entry terms since 2018. The company said it expects to pay creators more in 2027 than in 2026, a point covered alongside the program's size in the music industry's read on the change.
The entry bar doubles for new applicants
From 1 February 2027, a new applicant going for ad and Premium revenue needs 1,000 subscribers plus either 8,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the past 90 days. The subscriber requirement does not move. The watch hours and Shorts views both double, from 4,000 and 10 million.
Read that against the rolling window and the timing gets sharp. If you are close to 4,000 hours now, you have one season to apply under the current numbers, and review itself takes about a month. If you are at 1,500 hours, plan for 8,000.
A 10 million view floor for Shorts earnings
From the same date, every channel in the Partner Program needs 10 million qualified Shorts views in the trailing 90 days to be eligible for ad and subscription revenue sharing on Shorts. This one applies to existing members, not just new applicants.
Falling below it does not remove you from the Partner Program and does not touch long-form earnings. Shorts revenue sharing pauses, then resumes automatically once the channel crosses back over 10 million. For most channels that treat Shorts as a discovery tool rather than a short-form operation at scale, the practical effect is small, but it is worth opening your analytics before February rather than after.
The 31 January terms deadline, even if you are already monetized
If your channel is already earning, this is the item to act on. Creators have to review and accept updated monetization terms in YouTube Studio by 31 January 2027: the Watch Page Monetization Module, the Shorts Monetization Module, and where it applies the Commerce Product Module. Miss the date and monetization features stop earning on 1 February until the terms are accepted.
Anyone who turned on fan funding features like channel memberships or Super Chat before 2023 is also being moved from the older Commerce Product Addendum to the current Commerce Product Module. According to YouTube, thresholds, product behaviour, and revenue share rates all stay the same. Only the legal framework is being unified. Both items are documented in the help centre page on what changes, and what the update means for working filmmakers walks through the consequences for channels that treat YouTube revenue as part of a production budget.
The activity rules get easier
One part of the update moves in your favour. From 1 February 2027, a channel counts as active in the Partner Program if it has 1,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days, or 1 million qualified Shorts views in the past 90 days. That is a much lower bar than staying above the entry thresholds, and it recognises that plenty of working channels publish in bursts rather than weekly.
How to apply for the YouTube Partner Program
Applying happens entirely inside YouTube Studio. The order matters, because an unlinked AdSense account or missing two-step verification will stall an otherwise clean application, and the fastest version of this process is the one where nothing is missing when you hit submit.
How to apply for the YouTube Partner Program
- Confirm your eligibility in YouTube Studio
Open YouTube Studio and go to the Earn tab. It shows your current subscriber count, qualified watch hours, and qualified Shorts views against both tiers, so you can see which route you are closest to clearing. You can also opt in to an email notification for when you become eligible.
- Turn on two-step verification
Enable two-step verification on the Google account your channel is registered to. This is a hard requirement, not a recommendation, and a hacked channel is treated as a policy and advertiser risk.
- Clear any active Community Guidelines strikes
You need zero active Community Guidelines strikes at the point of application. Strikes expire, so if one is sitting on the channel, check its expiry date and time the application after it.
- Review and accept the monetization terms
Read and accept the base Partner Program terms in Studio, along with the monetization modules for the revenue types you want. From 1 February 2027 these are the updated Watch Page and Shorts Monetization Modules.
- Link or create an AdSense for YouTube account
Create the AdSense for YouTube account from inside YouTube Studio rather than separately, because a self-created account set up outside that flow can cause linking problems. Complete identity and tax verification and add a payment method before you submit.
- Submit and track the review in the Earn tab
Submit the application and watch its status in the Earn section of Studio. If your counts dip below the threshold while you wait, you are still assessed against the numbers you had when you applied.
How music affects your monetization
Music affects your monetization on long-form video, where a copyright claim can switch off earnings on a video outright. It does not work the way most monetization guides describe it on Shorts. The difference is worth getting right, because the wrong version of this has been repeated so widely that it now reads as common knowledge.
Long-form video: where music actually costs you
On a standard watch-page video, a Content ID claim hands the decision to the rights holder. Their settings decide whether the video gets monetized for them, tracked, or blocked, and those settings can differ by country, so the same video can earn in one place and be unavailable in another. Partner Program members can sometimes share the revenue with the music publisher instead. What you do not get is a say in which of those happens, and you find out after upload rather than before. That is the real exposure, and it lands per video, not per channel.
The mechanics of detection are their own subject, covered in how YouTube's Content ID system works. The practical point for monetization is narrower: a claim is not a strike, strikes are the thing that ends channels, and both are avoidable at the point where you choose the track. If you want the full distinction, how to avoid copyright strikes on YouTube lays it out, and how to legally use copyrighted music on YouTube covers what clearing a track properly involves.
Shorts: what the music split actually does
Here is the version you have probably read: use one licensed track in a Short and you lose half your revenue, use two and you lose two thirds, so switch to royalty-free music and keep more. The first half of that is roughly right about the pool. The conclusion is wrong.
Shorts ad revenue is pooled rather than attached to individual videos. Where a Short uses one music track, half the revenue associated with its engaged views goes to the Creator Pool and half covers music licensing. With two tracks, a third goes to the Pool. But how Shorts revenue is actually split is explicit about what happens next: every monetizing creator is allocated the full engaged views on their Shorts whether or not music was used, and creators keep 45 percent of their allocation either way. Using music in a Short does not reduce your allocation from the Pool or your revenue share rate.
So if someone tells you cleared music pays you more on Shorts, they are describing something YouTube says does not happen. The reason to clear music for Shorts is the same as the reason to clear it anywhere: claims, blocks, and the time you lose arguing about them after publishing. Not a bigger payout.
How long review takes, and what happens if you are rejected
YouTube says a Partner Program review typically takes about a month. Applications are worked in the order they arrive, and channels that need more than one reviewer take longer, especially where reviewers disagree about suitability. You can watch the status in the Earn tab the whole time.
If the answer is no, you have two routes. Appeal within 21 days, and YouTube responds to appeals within 14 days; a successful appeal gets the channel approved within 30 days. Or leave it, keep publishing original content, and reapply after 30 days. A second rejection extends the wait to 90 days before you can try again.
Most rejections come back to content rather than counts: reused or unoriginal material, policy problems, misleading titles and thumbnails. Use the waiting period on the actual cause. Reapplying with the same channel and a few more watch hours tends to produce the same answer.
How to keep monetization once you have it
Getting in is one problem. Staying in is two more: remaining active, and staying clean on policy.
The activity side is the easier one, and from February 2027 it gets easier still. Below the activity threshold, YouTube can remove Partner Program access, and channels that lose it have to reapply, which also means losing the passive income that older uploads were still generating.
The policy side is where channels actually get hurt. Advertiser-friendly guidelines, copyright, and Community Guidelines all keep applying after you are accepted, and individual videos can be demonetized without anything happening to the channel. We went through the specific triggers in why YouTube demonetizes videos, and if you are trying to model what any of this is worth in practice, how much YouTube pays for 1 million views has the earnings side.
Music that will not cost you the video.
A claim you find out about after upload is avoidable. Start with music that is already cleared.
Frequently asked questions
There are two sets. Fan funding and Shopping need 500 subscribers, three public uploads in the past 90 days, and either 3,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days or 3 million qualified Shorts views in the past 90 days. Ad and Premium revenue need 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the past 90 days. Both tiers also require following YouTube's channel monetization policies, living where the Partner Program operates, zero active Community Guidelines strikes, two-step verification, and a linked AdSense for YouTube account.
Yes, at the lower Partner Program tier. With 500 subscribers, three public uploads in the past 90 days, and either 3,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days or 3 million qualified Shorts views in the past 90 days, you can apply and get channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks, and YouTube Shopping. Ad revenue is not included at this tier and needs 1,000 subscribers. Getting in at 500 means you do not reapply later; the extra features switch on when you cross the higher thresholds.
YouTube says review typically takes about a month after you apply. Applications are handled in the order received, and channels needing multiple reviewers can take longer. You can track the status in the Earn tab of YouTube Studio. If your subscriber count or watch hours dip below the threshold while you are waiting, you are still assessed against the numbers you had when you applied.
No. Shorts views and long-form watch hours are two separate routes to the same tier and they never combine. For ad and Premium revenue you need either 4,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the past 90 days, alongside 1,000 subscribers. A channel can qualify entirely on Shorts without publishing a single long-form video.
Most rejections come from content and policy rather than thresholds. The common causes are reused or unoriginal material, compilations with nothing added, policy violations, and misleading titles or thumbnails. You can appeal within 21 days and YouTube responds to appeals within 14 days, or keep publishing original content and reapply after 30 days. A second rejection extends the wait to 90 days.
Yes. Channels already in the Partner Program have to review and accept updated monetization terms in YouTube Studio by 31 January 2027, covering the Watch Page Monetization Module, the Shorts Monetization Module, and where applicable the Commerce Product Module. Monetization features stop earning on 1 February until the terms are accepted. The new 8,000 watch hour and 20 million Shorts view entry thresholds apply to new applicants only and do not affect channels already in the program.
