Overview
- YouTube announced on Aug. 10, 2026 that new applicants to the YouTube Partner Program must meet either 8,000 qualified watch hours in the past 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the past 90 days to earn ad and Premium revenue.
- Beginning Feb. 1, 2027 channels must sustain 10 million qualified Shorts views on a rolling 90-day window to receive Shorts ad and subscription revenue while remaining in YPP if they fall below that mark.
- YouTube is expanding its lower-cost Premium Lite to all countries with Premium and creating separate subscription revenue pools that allocate 60% of net for Premium Lite and 30% for Premium, with payouts split 55% to long-form creators and 45% to Shorts creators.
- Existing YPP members are grandfathered but must review and accept updated terms in YouTube Studio by Jan. 31, 2027 to keep earning under the new contract terms.
- YouTube says it will introduce milestone and behavior-based incentive programs—shopping bonuses, brand-deal incentives, and trend boosts—for creators below the new Shorts threshold but has not published mechanics or timelines, which raises questions about how smaller channels will replace paused Shorts revenue.