YouTube has announced major changes to its Partner Program (YPP) raising the bar for new creators to start earning ad and subscription revenue.
Starting February 1, 2027 new creators will need either 8,000 qualified watch hours in the past year or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last three months double the current requirements of 4,000 hours or 10 million views. The 1,000-subscriber requirement remains unchanged.
The changes also affect existing Partner Program members. To keep earning from Shorts and creators will now need 10 million qualified Shorts views over a rolling 90-day period, rather than a one-time threshold. Channels that fall short will stay in the program and continue earning from long-form videos with Shorts revenue resuming once they meet the requirement again.
YouTube said creators already earning significant Shorts revenue are unlikely to be affected though it did not disclose how many current creators fall below the new threshold.
Alongside these changes, YouTube is expanding its lower-cost Premium Lite subscription offering an ad-free experience, offline viewing and background play to all countries where YouTube Premium is available. Under the revenue-sharing model 30% of net Premium subscription revenue and 60% from Premium Lite will go into creator payment pools.
This marks the first major overhaul of the Partner Program since 2018. The program now includes over 3 million creators. YouTube said Shorts now receive more than 200 billion daily views, nearly triple the 70 billion recorded in 2024, while viewers watch over 1 billion hours of YouTube on TVs daily.
