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How to Become a YouTube Partner: Eligibility, Monetization Tiers, and Growth Tips

Understand YouTube’s expanded and full-revenue YPP thresholds, track qualified activity, prepare your channel for review, and grow with policies in mind.
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To become a YouTube Partner, meet the eligibility threshold for the YPP tier you want, complete the application in YouTube Studio, and pass YouTube’s channel-wide policy review. As of October 3, 2026, full ad and YouTube Premium revenue sharing requires 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 qualified public watch hours in the past 12 months or 10 million qualified public Shorts views in the past 90 days. A lower expanded YPP tier can unlock some fan-funding and Shopping features, but it does not unlock ad revenue sharing.

How do I become a YouTube Partner?

Use this sequence to work toward eligibility and apply:

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

  1. Choose a sustainable format and audience. Make original videos for a clearly defined audience, with a useful promise viewers can recognize. Choose a publishing cadence you can maintain; YouTube does not promise that any particular topic, schedule, title tactic, or video length will lead to growth or acceptance.
  2. Track the right eligibility activity. In YouTube Studio, use the Earn area to follow your progress toward the expanded or full-revenue tier. Focus on qualified public watch hours or qualified public Shorts views, not lifetime views or every hour shown in general analytics.
  3. Check the channel and account requirements. Your channel must be in a country or region where YPP is available, have no active Community Guidelines strikes, have 2-Step Verification enabled, and have access to advanced features. You also need one active AdSense for YouTube account linked or ready to set up.
  4. Apply in YouTube Studio. Open YouTube Studio > Earn, review the route and regional availability shown for your channel, and complete the signup steps. YouTube reviews the channel as a whole against its channel monetization policies; reaching the numbers does not guarantee acceptance.
  5. Complete feature-specific steps after acceptance. Review the relevant terms and accept the modules for the monetization features you want. YPP membership alone does not turn on every earning feature.

YouTube’s official YPP overview and eligibility requirements, channel monetization policies, and monetization feature overview describe current program conditions. The Earn area is the place to check what is available to your channel.

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Which YouTube Partner Program tier do you need?

YouTube has an earlier-access expanded YPP tier and a higher tier for Watch Page Ads, Shorts Feed Ads, and YouTube Premium revenue. Their thresholds and benefits differ.

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Tier Subscriber and activity threshold What it can unlock
Expanded YPP, where available 500 subscribers, three valid public uploads in the last 90 days, and either 3,000 qualified public watch hours in the previous 12 months or 3 million qualified public Shorts views in the previous 90 days. Eligible fan-funding and Shopping features, subject to separate feature requirements, regional availability, and applicable terms. This tier does not itself unlock ad or YouTube Premium revenue sharing.
Full ad and Premium revenue tier 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 qualified public watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million qualified public Shorts views in the last 90 days. Eligibility to apply for Watch Page Ads, Shorts Feed Ads, and YouTube Premium revenue, subject to policies, terms, and feature requirements.

These are YouTube program thresholds, checked October 3, 2026, not estimates of the time or effort a channel will need. YouTube’s expanded YPP overview describes the earlier tier, while its eligibility overview covers the program requirements.

How many subscribers do you need to get monetized on YouTube?

The answer depends on what you mean by “monetized.” In eligible regions, 500 subscribers can qualify a channel to apply for expanded YPP if it also meets the upload and viewing threshold. That may open certain fan-funding or Shopping features, but it does not grant ad revenue sharing. For the current full ad and YouTube Premium revenue tier, the subscriber threshold is 1,000, plus one of the qualifying watch-time or Shorts-view routes.

Each feature can have its own requirements, terms, and country availability. Check what YouTube offers your channel in YouTube Studio > Earn rather than assuming that a subscriber count guarantees access to a specific feature.

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Should you grow with long-form videos or Shorts?

Both routes can qualify a channel for the full-revenue tier, but they measure different kinds of activity over different periods. Choose the route that fits the format you can consistently create while complying with YouTube’s policies; the thresholds do not establish that one route is universally easier.

Route What counts toward the full-revenue threshold Measurement window and threshold
Public long-form videos Qualified public watch hours from long-form videos. 4,000 hours in the last 12 months, alongside 1,000 subscribers.
Public Shorts Qualified views of public Shorts in the Shorts Feed. 10 million views in the last 90 days, alongside 1,000 subscribers.

For expanded YPP, the corresponding activity options are 3,000 qualified public watch hours in the previous 12 months or 3 million qualified public Shorts views in the previous 90 days, alongside 500 subscribers and three valid public uploads in the last 90 days, where the tier is available.

What counts toward watch hours and Shorts views?

Qualified public watch hours

The 4,000-hour route is based on eligible public long-form video watch time, not all time viewers spend on your channel. Shorts Feed watch time does not count toward this route. Private, unlisted, or deleted videos, ad campaigns, Shorts, and certain livestreams do not contribute to the watch-hour threshold.

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Qualified Shorts views

The Shorts route counts qualified views of public Shorts in the Shorts Feed. Views from private, unlisted, or deleted Shorts and ad campaigns are excluded. YouTube says views generated through paid ad campaigns do not count toward eligibility thresholds; follow-on organic views after promoted content can be eligible. Promotion is not a way to buy YPP progress.

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Shorts revenue sharing has an additional step

For Shorts ad revenue sharing, creators must accept the Shorts Monetization Module. Eligible Shorts views accrue for revenue sharing only from the date the module is accepted. YouTube identifies non-original Shorts and artificial or fake views as examples of views that are ineligible for payment. See the Shorts monetization policies.

Do Shorts views count toward 4,000 watch hours?

No. Shorts Feed watch time does not count toward the 4,000 qualified public watch-hour route. Shorts have a separate qualification route based on qualified public Shorts views in a 90-day window.

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How to grow without undermining eligibility

Give the channel a clear audience promise

Make it apparent who a video is for and what viewers will get from it. A focused set of related videos can help viewers decide what to watch next, while a channel that jumps between unrelated subjects may make that decision less clear.

Make original videos worth returning for

Prioritize material that reflects your own contribution and gives viewers a reason to come back. Reused or non-original material can create monetization-policy problems even when a channel reaches the numerical threshold. Review YouTube’s channel monetization policies before building a strategy around other people’s work.

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Package the video accurately

Use a title and thumbnail that communicate the actual subject and benefit of the video. Clear packaging can help the right viewers understand why to watch; it cannot guarantee clicks, watch time, or YPP approval.

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Use a cadence you can sustain

Plan around your capacity to produce useful, original videos consistently. No particular upload schedule or video length is an official eligibility rule for the full-revenue tier. For the expanded tier, however, the stated requirement includes three valid public uploads in the last 90 days.

Measure progress against the relevant route

Review the Earn area for qualified progress and use audience analytics to understand which topics and formats viewers choose to watch. If your qualified long-form watch hours are advancing but Shorts views are not, or vice versa, refine the format you can make well rather than treating total views as a substitute for eligibility activity.

What changes on February 1, 2027?

YouTube has announced a scheduled increase to the full ad and Premium entry thresholds for new creators starting February 1, 2027: 1,000 subscribers plus either 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. The announcement says the lower fan-funding and YouTube Shopping thresholds will remain unchanged. These are announced future rules, not the thresholds in force on October 3, 2026; check YouTube’s YPP changes page and Studio Earn area for updates before applying on or after that date.

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Or let it run in the cloud

If your YouTube channel uses pre-recorded video for a continuous live stream, StreamNeo keeps uploaded videos looping from the cloud: upload a recording or build a playlist, add your YouTube stream key once, and go live. Nothing has to stay on at home. It streams your upload as made, up to 4K 60fps, at one price per slot; it can automatically recover if YouTube drops the stream. The first day is free with no card. Monthly: $9.99 per month. This is for uploaded video streams to YouTube, not a camera-based live broadcast. Start your free day with StreamNeo.

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