YouTube’s monetization program now has 2 million creators, paid $30 billion over last three years

Abner Li | Aug 23 2021 - 6:00 am PT

The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) launched over 14 years ago to allow video monetization, and the Google company is now celebrating 2 million creators.

Those 2 million creators are located around the world, with Google calling YPP “one of the largest drivers of the creator economy” since its launch in May of 2007. In 2020, the number of new YouTube channels joining the monetization program doubled compared to the year before.

And the number of YouTube channels making 6 figures in revenue or more is up more than 35% year over year in the US.

YouTube has paid $30 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the past three years. More recently, the video network’s ad revenue crossed $7 billion in Q2 of 2021, resulting in YouTube’s highest quarterly payout in history.

And many of these creators are generating jobs and contributing to local and global economies. In 2019 alone, YouTube’s creative ecosystem supported the equivalent of 345,000 full-time jobs, just in the US.

Meanwhile, YouTube today says years-long efforts to crack down on bad actors with new policies, resources, and features has led to a violative view rate of 0.16-0.18% — “out of every 10,000 views on YouTube, only 16-18 come from violative content” in Q4 of 2020.

It comes as YouTube now has 10 monetization features: Ads, Premium, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks, Memberships, Merch, Ticketing, BrandConnect, and Funds. The company’s other big ongoing effort is the $100 million 2021-22 fund to spur YouTube Shorts content.