Starting February 1, YouTube will share ad revenue with Shorts creators. To get ready for the change, new terms for all YouTube Partner Program creators must be accepted by July 10 to stay in the program.
YouTube’s Partner Program has been updated to now let creators make money from ads between videos in the Shorts Feed. The new revenue sharing model replaces the YouTube Shorts Fund, but most recipients are expected to earn more with it. Creators can apply if they have 1K subscribers and 10M total views within 90 days.
Creators must accept three monetization modules: the “Watch Page Monetization Module” for earning from ads on long-form videos and YouTube Premium; the “Shorts Monetization Module” for ads between Shorts in the Shorts Feed and YouTube Premium; and lastly, the “Commerce Product Addendum” enabling features like Channel Memberships & Supers.
YouTube creators can maximize their earning potential by accepting all modules, including the recently added Shorts Monetization Module. Doing so will make them eligible to receive ad revenue on their Shorts views starting next month.
Revenue from ads in Shorts is used to reward creators and cover music licensing costs. A part of the total revenue goes into a Creator Pool, which is shared based on views and track usage across all watched Shorts. If no music is used, all view-based revenue goes to the pool; if tracks are included, it’s split between pool & partners according to # of tracks featured.
Non-original Shorts, including unedited clips from movies/TV shows, re-uploaded content from other platforms, compilations w/ no original content and those receiving artificial views (automated clicks or scroll bots), are ineligible for revenue sharing.
YouTube Shorts is set to be TikTok’s biggest rival. Creators have a chance to make more money on YouTube than TikTok, so they’re encouraged to create exclusive content for the platform. This gives Shorts an advantage over its competitors since no short-form video platform has yet successfully shared ad revenue.
