YouTube Doubles the Threshold for New Creators to Start Earning

YouTube will require new creators to accumulate twice as many watch hours before they can earn money from ads and subscriptions, the platform announced on August 10, 2026. Starting February 1, 2027, creators applying to the YouTube Partner Program — the system that lets creators share in ad and subscription revenue — will need at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the previous year, or 20 million qualified Shorts views within a 90-day window, to become eligible for monetization (TechCrunch).

The previous thresholds had been in place since YouTube began allowing monetization of Shorts, its short-form video format. Creators previously needed 1,000 subscribers alongside either 4,000 watch hours over the past year or 10 million Shorts views over the past 90 days. The subscriber requirement was not mentioned in the updated announcement. The new figures double both the watch-hour and Shorts-view benchmarks (TechCrunch).

Creators already enrolled in the YouTube Partner Program will not be affected by the change. The stricter requirements apply only to new applicants beginning on the February 1, 2027 effective date (TechCrunch; Mashable).

YouTube said the changes are being introduced to keep pace with its growth. The platform now sees over 200 billion daily Shorts views and over a billion hours of watch time on TV screens every day (TechCrunch).

Alongside the threshold increase, YouTube expanded its Premium Lite subscription tier to all countries where YouTube Premium is available. Premium Lite is a lower-cost subscription that removes ads but does not include the full feature set of YouTube Premium, such as offline downloads or background play. Creators receive a share of subscription revenue under the Partner Program, with 55% going to long-form video creators and 45% to Shorts creators (TechCrunch).

The revenue-split detail matters alongside the threshold change. The 55/45 split between long-form and Shorts creators applies to subscription revenue specifically, not ad revenue. The expansion of Premium Lite to all Premium-available markets broadens the pool of subscription revenue flowing through that split, even as the path to eligibility for new creators narrows.

The tiering here is deliberate. Existing Partner Program creators keep their status and revenue access uninterrupted, while new entrants face a steeper climb. For a creator building an audience today, monetization remains out of reach until they sustain a substantially larger viewership base than the previous rules required. The Shorts path moves from 10 million to 20 million qualified views in 90 days, a doubling that sets a high bar for short-form creators who may rely on viral distribution spikes rather than consistent daily volume.

The broader context here is about scale and quality control. At 200 billion daily Shorts views and a billion hours of daily TV watch time, YouTube is processing content volume far beyond what it handled when the original 4,000-hour threshold was set. The higher thresholds could function as a quality filter, reducing the number of low-effort or duplicate-content channels that enter the monetization pool. They also raise the cost of patience for legitimate new creators, who now need to invest more time and content before earning revenue.

The expansion of Premium Lite grows the subscription revenue pie. If more users adopt the lower-priced tier, the total revenue distributed to existing Partner Program creators could increase, partially offsetting the tightening of new-creator access. Whether that trade-off materializes depends on adoption rates YouTube has not yet disclosed.

The February 1, 2027 effective date gives new creators roughly six months to reach the old thresholds before the higher requirements take hold. For creators currently building toward monetization, that window may matter more than any long-term analysis of the policy itself.

YouTube's announcement was also covered by Tubefilter on August 10, 2026, confirming the reporting across multiple outlets (Tubefilter). The original announcement appeared on YouTube's official blog (YouTube Blog).