YouTube Doubles Partner Program Requirements

On Monday, YouTube published a blog post (opens in a new tab) titled "New opportunities to earn and changes to the YouTube Partner Program." Here's what's changing.

From 1 February 2027, new creators applying for ads and Premium revenue sharing will need:

• 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days, up from 4,000
• or 20 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days, up from 10 million
• 1,000 subscribers, unchanged

YouTube calls these "the first significant changes since 2018."

8,000 watch hours in a year works out to roughly 22 hours of watch time every single day, sustained for twelve months. 20 million Shorts views in 90 days is about 222,000 views a day, every day, for three months.

Shorts earnings now have a minimum

There's a second change here, and this one applies to creators who are already in YPP.

From 1 February 2027, you will only earn from the Shorts Creator Pool in a given month if you've had 10 million qualified Shorts views in the previous 90 days. Miss it, and your Shorts revenue share switches off until you're back above the line. YouTube confirms in the help article (opens in a new tab) that you won't be removed from YPP and your long-form earnings are unaffected, but the Shorts money stops.

Grandfathering does not apply here. If you're an existing partner doing 3 million Shorts views a quarter, which is a real audience by any reasonable measure, your Shorts ad revenue goes to zero.

Here's how YouTube's VP of Creator Product, Amjad Hanif, explained it:

"We had a case where if you had only a few thousand views, you might have a few cents for that month. And instead, we'd like to design the program in a way where it rewards creators who are leaned in, who are driving views and engagement." - Amjad Hanif

What you get in exchange

YouTube is offering three things to soften this:

1. Incentive programs. Bonuses for YouTube Shopping tagging, production credits for brand deals, and earnings boosts for trend activations. Hanif said these have been "quietly" tested over the past year. Details are still to come.
2. Targeted Shorts ads. If an advertiser targets five or fewer channels, eligible creators earn a direct 45% revenue share on top of the standard pool. This is genuinely new and genuinely good, if you're the kind of channel advertisers target directly.
3. Premium Lite expansion. Rolling out to every country where Premium exists, with creators sharing a pool of 60% of net Premium Lite subscription revenue.

The Fan Funding tier isn't the same thing

In the interview, Hanif says this twice:

"The one thing that didn't change is what it takes to join YPP. It still takes 500 subs and 3,000 watch hours or 3 million views in the last 90 days." - Amjad Hanif

That's the Fan Funding tier, which gets you memberships, Super Thanks and Shopping. It does not get you ad revenue. Describing the ad revenue threshold doubling as "what it takes to join YPP hasn't changed" only works if you define YPP as the tier that doesn't pay you for ads.

It's worth noting that YouTube says it expects to pay out more to creators in 2027 than in 2026, which is probably true. A bigger pot shared between fewer people is exactly what you'd expect these changes to produce.

What This Actually Means for You

• If you're already in YPP for ads: your entry status is locked, but you still need to sign the updated terms in YouTube Studio (opens in a new tab) before 31 January 2027.
• If you're close to 4,000 hours or 10 million Shorts views: get approved before 1 February 2027 and you're in under the current requirements, so the new ones never apply to you. You've got roughly five and a half months.
• If you're a long way off: nothing changes today, and the Fan Funding tier at 500 subs is still there at 3,000 hours or 3 million Shorts views.
• If Shorts are your main format: work out your rolling 90 day view count now. If you're under 10 million, model what your channel looks like with Shorts ad revenue at zero from February, and decide whether the answer is more Shorts, better Shorts, or a pivot to formats that pay reliably.

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Pete’s Content Corner

My weekly picks from across the content creation world.

1. X is retiring Creator Revenue Sharing on 7 September (opens in a new tab), replacing it with an Original Content Rewards Program that pays on impressions from verified users, requires 500 verified followers and 500,000 Home Timeline impressions in 90 days, and no longer counts reposts or re-uploads.
2. Hank Green has apologised to his audience (opens in a new tab) for leaning too heavily on AI in his content, and says he's rethinking how he produces his videos.
3. YouTube is rolling out Live Practice Mode (opens in a new tab) to all eligible channels, so you can test your setup and settings without an audience watching.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read Stream Report.

Pete ✌️