YouTube Shorts has been a resounding success so far in becoming a clone of TikTok, and now YouTube is really opening the floodgates. Soon, YouTube Shorts will join the Partner Program, making monetization of the short-form video easy for creators.
Update 9/20: YouTube has made this news official.
As first reported by The New York Times, YouTube Shorts will be joining the Partner Program “early next year,” giving creators a shot at the money generated through advertising around these videos.
The YouTube Partner Program has paid out to creators for years now, and has relatively easy requirements for entry. The minimum requirements for eligibility include at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the course of one year. 10 million views on Shorts within 90 days will also be a part of the qualification.
YouTube is also opening up new options that will help creators monetize their Shorts without being in the Partner Program. This includes paid channel memberships and “Super Thanks” tipping, but YouTube hasn’t yet disclosed what the requirements will be for unlocking these options.
Payouts for Shorts will be slightly different, though.
YouTube as the platform will retain 55% of funds generated, while 45% will be distributed to creators – it’s the opposite for regular YouTube videos. Apparently, part of the reason for this is so that creators can use music in Shorts without worrying about rights, as they would on other platforms as The Verge points out.
YouTube Shorts first debuted in 2021, and have quickly grown in popularity.
The platform reported over 1.5 billion users as of this June. Prior to this change, Shorts have only been monetized through “Creator Funds” as well as independently obtained sponsorships and deals, which can make it difficult for smaller creators to profit off of their videos, even if they manage to get millions of views.
More on YouTube:
- YouTube ads appear to be ramping up, with as many as 10 unskippable ads in a single break
- YouTube ML turns landscape video ads into Short-friendly vertical ones
- YouTube Shorts will start adding watermarks to downloaded videos, just like TikTok
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