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YouTube now requires creators to have twice as many watch hours to start earning money
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YouTube has doubled the watch hour requirement and significantly raised the Shorts views threshold for new creators to begin monetizing their content on the platform.
This change substantially raises the barrier to entry for creator monetization on YouTube, meaning new channels will need to produce significantly more content and viewership before earning any revenue. For anyone building creator economy tools or advising content strategies, this signals that major platforms are tightening monetization access, which could push emerging creators toward competing platforms like Facebook's new program or X's revamped payouts.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
New creators now need 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year or 20 million qualified Shorts views over 90 days, up from 4,000 watch hours or 10 million Shorts views.
Existing YouTube Partner Program members are not affected by the threshold changes.
Shorts creators must maintain 10 million views per 90-day period to keep earning Shorts revenue, or that revenue pauses until the threshold is met again.
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