YouTube Monetization Requirements: What Changes in 2027

If you are starting a channel now, the Partner Program level that applies to you depends on what you want to earn from and on the day you apply. Ad revenue sharing is the one whose bar rises on February 1, 2027. This article sets out both levels, taken from YouTube's own help pages, and then asks how much of this anyone can check without access to the channel.

The two entry levels today

These come from YouTube Help's pages on Partner Program eligibility and on the expanded program, read on 2026-09-20 and 2026-09-21. YouTube edits them, so check the pages before you plan around a number.

The first level is for fan funding and Shopping features. YouTube Help says a creator gets there with 500 subscribers and 3 valid public uploads in the last 90 days, plus either 3,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months or 3 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. It is open to eligible creators in the countries and regions listed on that page, and the page says that at this level you can earn from features such as channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers and Super Thanks if you meet each feature's own requirements.

The second level opens revenue sharing from ads and YouTube Premium. It needs 1,000 subscribers and one of these:

1. 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months.
2. 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.

Only some views count. Qualified watch hours come from long-form videos you have set to public. Private, unlisted and deleted videos do not count, and neither do ad campaigns, Shorts or unlisted livestreams. Qualified Shorts views are views of public Shorts that appear in the Shorts feed.

The eligibility page lists other conditions too. You have to follow YouTube's channel monetization policies, live in a country where the program operates, have no active Community Guidelines strikes, turn on 2-Step Verification, have access to advanced features and link an active AdSense account.

What changes on February 1, 2027

The change is set out on a separate YouTube Help page, "Changes to the YouTube Partner Program", read on 2026-09-20.

The same page adds two conditions on how partners are paid, both starting on February 1, 2027:

• To earn each month from the Shorts Creator Pool, a creator has to maintain 10 million qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days.
• Premium Lite creators share in a pool of 60% of net subscription revenue. For Premium views, the pool is 30% of net subscription revenue.

Existing partners get a separate test. A channel counts as active if it meets any one of these: 1,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days, 1 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, or 2 long-form videos or 5 Shorts uploaded every 90 days. A partner who drops below those levels gets an extended 90-day window to get back above them.

YouTube says creators must accept the updated terms in YouTube Studio by January 31, 2027. If you do not, you stop earning from the associated monetization features starting February 1, 2027.

What 8,000 watch hours looks like in views

The next numbers are our own arithmetic, not a YouTube figure, and they assume every view lasts the same amount of time, which real audiences never do.

8,000 hours is 480,000 minutes. At an average view of 4 minutes, that is about 120,000 views. At 8 minutes it is about 60,000. The old bar of 4,000 hours halves both numbers: about 60,000 views at 4 minutes, 30,000 at 8.

A channel whose viewers stay for a long time reaches the bar on fewer views than one with short, quickly abandoned videos. The same view count can land on either side of the line.

What you can check from outside a channel

Almost nothing about the Partner Program is public. Watch hours, Shorts views over a 90-day window, strikes and AdSense status are all visible only to the channel owner in YouTube Studio. What an outsider can see is a subscriber count, if the channel shows it, and the view counts on public videos.

That is why our Monetization Checker reports signals and a confidence score and not a yes or no. It can tell you whether a channel shows the visible marks of monetization. It cannot tell you that the channel meets the watch-hour bar, because that number is not published anywhere. If you are evaluating a channel for a sponsorship or a purchase, ask its owner to show you the relevant Studio screen live.

Before you apply

1. 01

   Decide which level you are aiming at

   Fan funding needs the 500-subscriber level and is limited to eligible countries. Ad revenue needs the 1,000-subscriber level, and that is the one that changes on February 1, 2027.

2. 02

   Check what actually counts

   Private videos, unlisted videos, Shorts and ad campaigns do not count toward watch hours. A channel that has grown mainly through Shorts will not earn watch hours from them.

3. 03

   Sort out the account conditions early

   2-Step Verification, an active AdSense account and a clean strike record are easier to sort out before the week you want to apply.

4. 04

   If you are already a partner, accept the new terms

   The January 31, 2027 deadline applies to you. Put it in your calendar now.

FAQ

Related reading