YouTube announces Shorts will soon be eligible for monetization, and creators will keep 45% of the revenue generated from viewership.
This is a significant update for creators who earn income on YouTube.
Unlike long-form videos, which allow creators to profit from ad revenue, Shorts has no direct path to monetization.
YouTube has a Shorts “fund” that awards money to creators for popular videos. However, that’s not the same as a residual income stream.
In addition to monetizing Shorts, YouTube is expanding the eligibility criteria for the YouTube Partner Program. This will help more creators qualify to earn revenue with long and short-form content.
Here’s more information about when creators can start making money with YouTube Shorts and who will be eligible for monetization.
YouTube Shorts Monetization
Starting in early 2023, creators in the YouTube Partner Program will be eligible to monetize Shorts videos.
This will allow creators to make money from ads that run between videos in the Shorts feed.
YouTube will add the revenue generated from ads in the Shorts feed and pay out a share to creators at the end of the month.
From the overall amount allocated to creators, they will keep 45% of the revenue, distributed based on their share of total Shorts views.
This is an interesting approach to paying out creators, incentivizing the whole community to get behind Shorts.
The more ad revenue generated from Shorts throughout the month, the more everyone will get paid.
On paper, this sounds like a clever way to get the YouTube community rallying behind Shorts, which is exactly what the company needs to do to push ahead of competitors like TikTok.
In contrast to the Shorts fund, YouTube says this revenue-sharing model is built for long-term sustainability:
“We expect the majority of our Shorts Fund recipients to earn more money under this new model, which was built for long term sustainability. Instead of a fixed fund, we’re doubling down on the revenue sharing model that has supercharged the creator economy and enabled creators to benefit from the platform’s success.”
Expanding YouTube Partner Program Eligibility
To benefit from Shorts monetization, creators must first get accepted into the YouTube Partner Program.
To get more Shorts-focused creators into the Partner Program, YouTube is introducing new eligibility criteria.
Starting in early 2023, creators can apply to the YouTube Partner Program by meeting a threshold of 1,000 subscribers and 10M Shorts views over 90 days.
This change will allow creators to qualify for the Partner Program even if they don’t publish long-form videos.
When this change rolls out, YouTube will keep its existing criteria in place — which is 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours.
Lastly, YouTube says it will lower the qualifying threshold for fan funding in early 2023, allowing non-Partner Program creators to make money from viewer purchases.
More details will be available when the updates get closer to launching.
Source: YouTube
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