YouTube Partner Program Entry Thresholds Updated With Higher Requirements for New Creators

YouTube Partner Program was launched by the video streaming platform in 2006, with 2026 marking the 20th year of its launch. Over the years, the tech firm has updated its Partner Program policies, changing how it shares revenue with creators on its platform. Now, the company has updated its YouTube Partner Program terms, which YouTube claims is the first major change since 2018. As part of the update, the company has increased the ad and premium thresholds for new creators who wish to apply to the YouTube Partner Program. Moreover, the company has also announced the expansion of its Premium Lite plan into more regions.

YouTube Partner Program Updated Terms

On Monday, the video streaming platform announced that it is updating its YouTube Partner Program terms, calling them the “first significant changes since 2018 to ensure that YPP continues to be the leader in the creator economy.” The company says that in 2027 it expects to pay “even more to creators” than it did in 2026. As part of the updates, the company has revised the requirements for new creators who wish to apply to the YouTube Partner Program.

Scheduled to come into force on February 1, 2027, YouTube says that new creators applying to be part of the partner program must have 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last year or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. The tech firm highlighted that its entry thresholds for Fan Funding and shopping products have not been changed.

Currently, the eligibility requirements to be part of the YouTube Partner Program are 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days or 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views over the past 90 days. YouTube says that the changes are being made to “keep pace with the growth of YouTube, which now sees over 200 billion daily Shorts views and over a billion hours of watch time on TV every day.”

Apart from this, YouTube has updated how it shares Shorts revenue with creators. YouTube will now require creators to have 10 million qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days to be eligible for ads and subscription revenue sharing. Creators below this threshold will continue to be part of the YouTube Partner Program and will be eligible to receive compensation for long-form content. The new mandate will also come into effect on February 01, 2027.

Lastly, the company has announced that the YouTube Premium Lite plan is now available in “all countries”, offering the ability to download videos for offline viewing and background playback of most content, while removing some ads.