Creators who want to start earning on the platform will need at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.

Starting in February 2027, creators will face higher monetization thresholds and a new rolling requirement for Shorts revenue.

It’s getting harder to stay a YouTube partner, too.

YouTube is changing the requirements for creators to be accepted into its primary monetization program.