YouTube has announced significantly higher thresholds for creators to begin earning money on the platform, making it harder for newcomers to join its Partner Program. The changes, taking effect from 1 February, are intended to help YouTube "keep pace" with its own growth, but will increase the pressure on creators, particularly those focused on Shorts, to build large, consistent audiences before they can start monetising their content.

New creators will now need at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, roughly double the current requirements of 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 watch hours, or 1,000 subscribers plus 10 million Shorts views. Existing Partner Program members will not be affected, though creators will now need to maintain 10 million Shorts views every 90 days to keep earning from the Shorts Creators Pool, with revenue resuming once that threshold is met again. Alongside this, YouTube is expanding its cheaper Premium Lite subscription to all countries where Premium is offered, with subscription revenue split 55% to long-form creators and 45% to Shorts creators. The move follows similar changes to creator payout rules at X and Facebook.