YouTube is expanding its creator programme to include new incentives for earnings.
YouTube is updating its Partner Programme (YPP) to change the revenue distribution for YouTube shorts creators.
Starting 1 February, 2027, creators who have 10 million eligible shorts views in the last 90 days will qualify for ads and subscription revenue sharing on shorts.
Accounts that already qualify for YPP, but don’t make the views threshold, can continue earning on long-form content, with shorts revenue automatically resuming when they cross the 10 million views.
Revenue opportunities are changing for growth, engagement, and new incentive programmes are being introduced rather than creators relying exclusively on ad revenue. This will help creators diversify their YouTube income and help those who may only just meet the YPP threshold.
For those below the 10 million view requirement, the initiatives look to offer new ways to earn based on different milestones, such as incentives for brand deals, earnings boosts for starting and growing trends, and bonuses for YouTube shopping.
Creators who reach over 1,000 subscribers and have either 8,000 qualified public watch hours in 12 months, or 20 million qualified shorts views in 90 days will be eligible for YPP.
YouTube is also expanding Premium Lite to all countries where YouTube Premium is offered. This includes uninterrupted, offline, and background viewing of most content.
Creators can earn money through a dedicated pool of revenue for each subscription type, with 30% of the net subscription revenue for Premium and 60% for Premium Lite.
The allocation includes the cost of promoting and operating the service, and the pool is “distributed to creators based on member watch time and views, and from that distribution creators receive revenue share: 55% for long-form videos and 45% for shorts”.
This means that creators can expect higher earnings from the additional subscribers, with partners earning more on average from a p xremium subscribers ad viewing than otherwise.
