YouTube is making its biggest changes to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) since 2018. The company says the changes are designed to reward active creators and give them more ways to make money beyond advertising. The changes will take effect on February 1, 2027, and will affect both new creators trying to enter YPP and existing creators who earn money from Shorts.
YouTube is raising the requirements for new creators who want to earn revenue from ads and YouTube Premium. From February 1, 2027, new YPP applicants will need either 8,000 qualified public watch hours in the previous 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the previous 90 days.
The requirements for YouTube’s Fan Funding and shopping features will not change.
This means new creators can still unlock some monetization features without reaching the higher advertising threshold. However, getting access to ad and Premium revenue will become significantly harder.
For someone starting a channel from scratch, 8,000 hours of watch time is already a substantial target. The 20 million Shorts views alternative is even more difficult unless a channel starts getting viral reach consistently.
YouTube is effectively raising the bar for creators who want to turn the platform’s largest revenue stream into a regular income source.
YouTube is also changing how Shorts revenue sharing works. Starting February 1, 2027, creators will need 10 million qualified Shorts views over a rolling 90-day period to qualify for Shorts advertising and subscription revenue sharing.
This applies to existing YPP creators as well.
A creator who falls below 10 million views will not lose YPP membership. They can continue earning from eligible long-form videos and other monetization features. Shorts revenue sharing will return automatically if they reach the threshold again.
YouTube says creators who already earn significant revenue from Shorts are unlikely to be affected.
The change will matter more for smaller Shorts channels that regularly move between periods of high and low traffic. A viral video can bring millions of views, but maintaining 10 million qualified views every 90 days requires a fairly consistent flow of Shorts traffic.
That could make Shorts less attractive as a standalone business model.
YouTube is not simply raising the Shorts requirement and leaving smaller creators with fewer options. The company says it will introduce new incentive programs for creators below the 10 million-view threshold. These could include bonuses connected to YouTube Shopping, incentives for brand deals and rewards for creators who start and grow trends on the platform.
YouTube has not yet announced how these programs will work or how much creators could earn from them.
That detail matters because these programs could determine whether smaller Shorts creators actually have better alternatives to ad revenue.
The move also shows where YouTube sees the creator economy going. Instead of relying entirely on advertising, creators are increasingly expected to make money through shopping, brand partnerships, subscriptions and other commercial opportunities.
YouTube is expanding Premium Lite to every country where YouTube Premium is available. Premium Lite offers uninterrupted, offline and background viewing for most content at a lower price than the full Premium subscription.
Creators will earn from Premium Lite through a dedicated revenue pool. YouTube says 60% of net Premium Lite subscription revenue will go into the creator pool, compared with 30% for regular Premium. The pool is distributed according to member watch time and views. Creators then receive a 55% share for long-form videos and 45% for Shorts.
YouTube says creators earn more on average when a viewer becomes a Premium subscriber than when that viewer watches ads.
The actual benefit will vary between channels because it depends on how many Premium and Premium Lite subscribers watch their content and how much time they spend watching.
The changes create a clear divide.
For new creators, reaching ad and Premium revenue will take considerably more work. Building a channel around long-form videos may become more attractive because it offers a more predictable way to build watch time and an audience.
Shorts will still be useful for discovery and audience growth, but relying entirely on viral Shorts will become riskier for creators who want to build a sustainable business.
Existing YPP creators do not need to worry about the higher entry requirements. The main change for them is the new 10 million qualified Shorts views requirement if they want to continue receiving Shorts revenue sharing.
For established creators with strong audiences, the changes could be less disruptive. They are more likely to qualify for the thresholds and can also benefit from Premium, shopping, sponsorships and other revenue sources.
For smaller creators, the impact will depend heavily on the new incentive programs YouTube is preparing.
It seems YouTube is trying to move beyond a creator economy built mainly around raw view counts. The platform now has more than 200 billion Shorts views every day and more than one billion hours of YouTube viewing on TVs every day. At that scale, YouTube has an incentive to reward creators who can build sustained audiences and engagement rather than simply generate occasional viral traffic.
That does not necessarily make YouTube worse for creators. It could create more opportunities if shopping, brand deals, and other incentives become meaningful sources of income. But the higher thresholds will make the early stages harder for new creators.
The new YPP terms will be available in YouTube Studio, and the changes will take effect on February 1, 2027. For creators, the safest strategy is becoming increasingly clear: build an audience first, use Shorts for discovery, develop long-form content where possible and avoid depending on a single source of YouTube income.
