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The more the merrier: YouTube has modified its YouTube Partner Program requirements to give creators with smaller followings access to some of its content monetization tools.
Under the new requirements, creators who have at least 500 subscribers, three public video uploads from the last 90 days, and either 3,000 watch hours over the past year or 3 million Shorts views in the last 90 days can apply.
Previously, a creator had to have at least 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 watch hours in the past year or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days. This change is initially rolling out to creators in the US, UK, Canada, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Creators who are accepted to the program under these requirements can access a slew of monetization tools like tipping, shopping capabilities that let them promote their own merch, and channel memberships.
However, they will not be able to split ad revenue with YouTube. In a blog post, YouTube said “they’ll automatically become eligible to earn revenue sharing from ads and even more benefits” once they meet the existing criteria.
The policy changes bode well for creators, according to Alessandro Bogliari, co-founder and CEO at The Influencer Marketing Factory, a global agency.
“It’s a win-win for everyone because YouTube is going to have more content creators joining and more content creators are going to be also potentially winning, because they can start seeing monetization,” he told Marketing Brew.
These changes indicate that YouTube is seeking to capitalize on the creator economy at a moment when it’s hotter than ever, Bogliari said.
“In the past, we’ve seen Instagram Reels with their payouts. We’ve seen TikTok with TikTok Series helping people monetize through paywall content, so I would say that it was already time, potentially, for YouTube to start opening this up to creators who might have smaller followings. I would say the timing is right,” he told us, noting that several social media platforms “are fighting for attention and a piece of the market.”
The YPP expansion is one of the platform’s latest initiatives to help creators monetize their content. In February, it began sharing Shorts ad revenue with creators. Last year, it debuted Creator Music, a resource designed to help creators understand the costs associated with music licensing.
YouTube will release more details on the new policy changes at VidCon next week.