What YouTube's New Monetization Policy Means for Creators

YouTube levels the playing field for monetization. Here's what we know.

Smaller creators will be excited to learn that YouTube is making it easier for them to start monetizing their content. Let's explain the details, what this change entails, who qualifies, and the creators who benefit most.

YouTube Makes Monetization More Accessible 

As of June 13th, 2023, YouTube has expanded its monetization policy by adding earlier access to the YouTube Partner Program. Creators may qualify for fan funding if they meet the following criteria:

• 500 subscribers 
• 3 valid public uploads within the last 90 days 
• Either 3,000 public watch hours within the last year or 3M public Shorts views in the last 90 days

Specifically, this policy provides qualifying creators the following:

• Product promotion via YouTube Shopping 
• Fan funding via super thanks, super chats, super stickers, and channel memberships 
• Access to Creator Support 

Ad Revenue Still Follows the Old Standard

While this news is fantastic for smaller creators for earning fan funding, the rules for monetization through ad revenue remain the same. A minimum of 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 watch hours within the past year or 10M public Shorts views within the past 90 days.

That said, creators who apply for early access to fan funding need not reapply when they qualify for full monetization.

Who Benefits the Most?

For many creators, ad revenue is the most sustainable form of monetization, as you don't need to ask your community to financially support you. However, this new policy seems to especially benefit creators who primarily stream or create Shorts on YouTube.

Streamers tend to have high watch time relative to the number of followers or subscribers they have. On YouTube's main competitor in streaming, Twitch, monetization is primarily through donations and paid subscriptions.

While Twitch has significantly lower requirements for its affiliate program, opening up channel memberships (the YouTube equivalent to Twitch subscriptions) for creators with only 500 subscribers makes YouTube more competitive as an alternative to Twitch for smaller streamers.

As streaming educator Lowco notes, watch time on streams does count towards the 3,000 watch hour requirement.

Shorts creators also benefit, as they tend to earn many views relative to their subscriber count. TikTok's creator fund has a minimum eligibility of 10,000 followers compared to YouTube's new 500 for monetization.