YouTube Rules: Big news for youtube users. News has come as a significant surprise to YouTube creators. YouTube has implemented major changes to its revenue sharing policies for advertisements and YouTube Premium through the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). This decision poses a considerable challenge for new creators aspiring to monetize their content, including videos and shorts.
Under these new regulations, effective February 1, 2027, the eligibility criteria have been significantly increased. Let’s break down the details of this change and its implications for small and emerging creators.
Have the rules changed for new creators?
According to YouTube’s updated guidelines, starting February 1, 2027, any new creator wishing to earn from ads and YouTube Premium must fulfill one of the following two conditions:
Long-form video: 8,000 qualified watch hours within the past 365 days. This is an increase from the previous requirement of 4,000 watch hours.
YouTube Shorts: 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, up from the previous threshold of 10 million views.
YouTube has stated that this marks the most significant change to YPP since 2018. However, this new rule will only impact new creators; those already part of YPP will not be affected by this new entry requirement.
What happens if you don’t meet the target?
Creators who are unable to meet this ambitious ad target need not lose hope, as YouTube has provided some alternatives:
Fan Funding and Shopping Unchanged: The monetization criteria for features like Super Chat, Super Thanks, Channel Membership, and YouTube Shopping remain the same. There are no alterations.
Rules for existing Shorts creators: Creators already earning from Shorts must maintain 10 million views in the last 90 days to continue sharing revenue from ads.
Channels won’t be removed from YPP: If a creator’s views fall below 10 million, their channel will not be removed from YPP. Once they achieve 10 million views again, their Shorts revenue sharing will automatically resume.
Why did YouTube take this strict decision?
In its official blog post, YouTube cited the platform’s unprecedented growth as the reason for this tough decision. YouTube now has over 200 billion Shorts views daily, and over 1 billion hours of content are watched on TV screens every day. Currently, there are over 3 million active creators already in the YouTube Partner Program.
YouTube says it wants to make this system better rewarding for its most active and high-quality creators. The company expects to pay creators more in 2027 than it did in 2026.
New opportunities to earn money beyond advertising
YouTube wants creators to stop relying solely on ad revenue. Therefore, YouTube is introducing a new incentive program for channels with fewer than 10 million Shorts views:
Shopping Bonus: Additional bonus for selling products through YouTube Shopping.
Brand Deals & Trends Incentives: Exclusive earnings boosts for creators who start brand collaborations and new trends.
Premium Lite: YouTube is rolling out its “Premium Lite” plan to all countries. 60% of net subscription revenue from Premium Lite will go to a pool of creators. Of this pool, long-form video creators will receive 55%, and shorts creators will receive 45%.
Concerns of creators on social media
Following YouTube’s announcement, creators on the social media platform X have expressed concern. Smaller creators believe this decision will make it more difficult for new content creators to use YouTube as a source of income, and achieving 8,000 hours of watch time without any initial income will prove extremely challenging.