YouTube raises Partner Program entry bar to 8,000 hours or 20M Shorts views
Starting February 1, 2027, YouTube will ask new creators for 8,000 watch hours in the past year or 20 million Shorts views in the past 90 days before they can join the Partner Program and start earning from ads and subscriptions. That is double the current bar of 4,000 watch hours or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days. YouTube said creators already in the Partner Program keep their current status under the new rules. The company linked the increase to its own scale, pointing to more than 200 billion Shorts views and more than 1 billion hours of TV viewing across the platform each day. Creators whose Shorts views drop below 10 million in a 90-day window stay in the Partner Program and continue earning from long-form video, with Shorts earnings resuming once their view count crosses the threshold again.
Tighter entry rules concentrate ad-supported reach among creators who already clear the bar, since new channels need double the audience before they can run ads or paid subscriptions. Buyers targeting emerging creators for influencer or creator-funded campaigns will see a smaller monetized pool to work with, at least until channels build up watch hours or Shorts views. Premium Lite's expansion to every eligible market also trims the ad-supported audience further, since it lets viewers cut most ads for a lower subscription price than full YouTube Premium. Set against $11.1 billion in YouTube ad revenue last quarter, up 12.6% year over year, and daily viewing that already tops 1 billion hours on TV screens, the platform keeps growing as a TV budget line even as its creator-monetization rules get stricter.