YouTube raises YPP bar as Shorts creators face new revenue rules

MUMBAI: The creator economy is about to face a higher bar. YouTube is making its first major changes to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) since 2018, raising the threshold for Shorts revenue sharing, tightening entry requirements for new creators and expanding Premium Lite globally from February 1, 2027.

The changes come as YouTube’s creator ecosystem continues to balloon, with the platform saying YPP now has more than 3 million creators. YouTube also expects to pay creators more in 2027 than it did in 2026, even as it reshapes how that money is distributed.

Shorts sits at the centre of the overhaul. From February 1, 2027, existing YPP creators will need at least 10 million qualified Shorts views in the previous 90 days to continue receiving advertising and subscription revenue from Shorts.

Creators who fall below that mark will not be kicked out of YPP altogether. They will continue to be eligible to earn from qualifying long-form content, while Shorts revenue sharing will automatically resume once they cross the 10 million-view threshold again.

YouTube said creators already generating significant revenue from Shorts are unlikely to be materially affected. For those below the new benchmark, however, the change could make the race for views considerably more important.

The platform is also looking beyond advertising to cushion that shift. YouTube plans to introduce additional incentives for creators below the 10 million-view threshold, including potential bonuses through YouTube Shopping, incentives linked to brand deals and earnings boosts for creators who start and grow trends on the platform. Further details are expected later.

At the same time, YouTube is widening the subscription pool available to creators by expanding Premium Lite to every country where YouTube Premium is available. The lower-cost service offers uninterrupted viewing of most content, along with offline and background playback.

The economics are different too. YouTube said 30 per cent of net subscription revenue from YouTube Premium goes into the creator pool, while Premium Lite allocates 60 per cent of its net subscription revenue to creators. The calculation factors in operating and promotional costs, including payments to music partners.

That pool is then distributed according to member watch time and views, after which creators receive a 55 per cent revenue share for long-form videos and 45 per cent for Shorts.

YouTube said creators, on average, earn more when a viewer becomes a Premium subscriber than when the same person continues watching advertising-supported content, giving subscriptions a bigger role in the platform’s monetisation equation.

For newcomers, the gate is also moving higher. New creators applying to YPP for advertising and YouTube Premium revenue sharing will need either 8,000 qualified public watch hours over the previous 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the previous 90 days.

These higher thresholds apply only to new YPP applicants. Existing members are not affected by the revised entry requirements, while eligibility for Fan Funding and shopping products remains unchanged.

The numbers underline the scale of the platform creators are competing on. YouTube says Shorts now generates more than 200 billion views every day, while viewers watch more than one billion hours of YouTube content on televisions daily.

That scale is also pushing YouTube to diversify how creators make money. Instead of relying purely on advertising, the platform is putting greater emphasis on shopping, brand partnerships, subscriptions and creator-led trends.

Nearly two decades after YPP helped turn YouTube into a professional home for creators, the programme is now entering a new phase where simply being in the creator economy may not be enough. From February 2027, creators will have to bring the views, the watch time or find new ways to turn their audiences into revenue.