What Are the YouTube Shorts Monetization Requirements?
The YouTube Shorts monetization requirements are 1,000 subscribers and 10 million public Shorts views within the past 90 days. A channel that meets them can apply to the YouTube Partner Program for Shorts creators and, once approved, earns a share of the ads shown between videos in the Shorts feed.
YouTube opened this path in its announcement of Shorts monetization, which set the threshold at 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views over 90 days and the creator share at 45%. YouTube's entry tier sits below it, at 500 subscribers and 3 million Shorts views, and unlocks fan funding without ad revenue.
Shorts can also earn on a channel that qualified through long-form. A creator who reached 4,000 watch hours gets Shorts feed ads after accepting the Shorts module in YouTube Studio. So are YouTube Shorts monetized automatically? No. Approval comes first, and the module has to be switched on.
The rest of the criteria for monetization on YouTube Shorts match any other channel: original content, no active strikes, 2-step verification and a linked AdSense account. In practice the review is where Shorts channels struggle. Across our listings only around 25% of channels under 100,000 subscribers are monetized, and the short-form channels I review are refused for reused content more often than long-form ones. I compare the two formats in the guide on whether short YouTube videos can be monetized.
How Many YouTube Shorts Views Are Required for Monetization?
The YouTube Shorts views required for monetization are 10 million in 90 days for ad revenue and 3 million in 90 days for the entry tier. That averages out to roughly 111,000 views a day for the full tier and about 33,000 a day for the entry tier, sustained for three months.
There is no official daily YouTube Shorts views threshold for monetization. YouTube looks only at the 90-day total, so one viral week can carry a quiet month. The daily average is still the honest way to judge whether a channel is on pace. The table below compares the Shorts path with the long-form one.
| Requirement | Shorts path | Long-form path |
|---|
| Subscribers | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Activity threshold | 10 million views | 4,000 watch hours |
| Window | 90 days | 12 months |
| Average needed per day | About 111,000 views | About 11 hours |
| Creator revenue share | 45% | 55% |
| Entry tier threshold | 3 million views | 3,000 watch hours |
Source: YouTube Partner Program thresholds as published by YouTube, checked October 2026. Daily averages are calculated from them.
Only public Shorts count. Views from paid promotion and artificial traffic are excluded, and views do not carry over once they fall outside the 90-day window. The same figures applied under the YouTube Shorts monetization requirements 2025 creators worked toward.
Volume is also where the money gets thin. Budget channels in our dataset report an RPM near 1.00 USD, and short-form views generally pay less per thousand than long-form ones. Ten million views sounds like a business until the payout arrives. You can test your own numbers in the Revenue Calculator.
How Does YouTube Shorts Revenue Sharing Work?
Shorts revenue comes from a shared pool. Ads play between videos in the feed, YouTube adds that revenue together each month, sets aside part of it to cover music licensing, and distributes the creator pool by each channel's share of total Shorts views. Creators keep 45% of the amount allocated to them.
That model has two consequences. A Short does not earn from "its own" ad, so a video with a million views in a low-value country earns less than the same views in a high-value one. And the 45% share stays the same whether or not a Short uses music, although tracks reduce the pool attributed to that video.
The program is widely used. In its update on Shorts revenue sharing, YouTube reported that more than 25% of channels in the Partner Program earn through Shorts. The more telling figure is that over 80% of creators who joined through the Shorts threshold also earn from other features, such as long-form ads and fan funding.
That second number matches what I see in listings. Shorts work as a way into the program and rarely as the whole income. Budget channels in our dataset report median earnings of about 70 USD a month, and a Shorts-only channel has fewer ways to lift that figure. Anyone learning how to monetize YouTube Shorts should plan the long-form step from day one. The same applies to anyone asking how to get monetized on YouTube Shorts quickly.
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YouTube Shorts Monetization Rules: What Gets Rejected?
The YouTube Shorts monetization policy rejects content that is not original. Unedited clips from films and TV, reuploads from other platforms and compilations of other people's videos are not eligible, even when the channel has the views. Artificial or purchased views are excluded from the count and can end the application.
YouTube short monetization follows the same originality standard as long-form. These are the cases I see refused most often:
- Movie and TV clips. Can you monetize movie clips on YouTube Shorts? Only with real transformation, such as commentary or analysis that changes the material.
- Reuploads carrying watermarks from other short-video apps.
- Templated videos, where one format is repeated with a different caption or stock clip.
- Channels grown with view bots or exchange schemes.
Length is rarely the issue. There is no minimum length of YouTube Shorts for monetization: any video YouTube classifies as a Short counts toward the threshold, however brief it is. The YouTube short length for monetization only matters at the upper limit, where a longer vertical video stops being treated as a Short.
Mass production does not help either. Our pricing data shows that the number of videos has essentially no effect on a channel's price, with a correlation of −0.03. A channel with thousands of near-identical Shorts is worth no more for its library, and it is the profile reviewers decline most readily. Before buying such a channel, check the listing with the Fair Price Analyser.
Is a Shorts-Only Channel Worth Monetizing?
A Shorts-only channel is worth monetizing as a first step and rarely as a final one. Shorts can build subscribers quickly, but those subscribers are priced low and the revenue per view is small. The value comes when the same audience starts watching long-form videos.
Our listings show the discount clearly. The more subscribers a channel has, the less buyers pay for each one: the rate falls from roughly 6 USD per 1,000 subscribers for small channels to about 1 USD per 1,000 above a million. The extreme case was a 13.6M-subscriber channel listed at just 8,999 USD because it was not monetized.
Can you monetize YouTube Shorts and stop there? You can, since YouTube accepts a channel with only Shorts. Approval still matters, because a monetized channel sells for roughly 3× the price of a comparable non-monetized one. What it does not fix is the earning power of a short-form audience, which stays low until viewers spend longer with the channel.
The practical plan has three parts:
- Use Shorts to reach 1,000 subscribers and the view threshold.
- Apply as soon as you qualify, since the 90-day window moves every day.
- Introduce long-form videos on the same topic to raise revenue per viewer.
Creators who want the audience without the build can look at channels with 100K+ subscribers, and compare the asking prices with the audience sizes.
The Channel Price Calculator shows what your own channel would list for today.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can you get monetized on YouTube Shorts without 1,000 subscribers?
- Partly. With 500 subscribers and 3 million Shorts views in 90 days a channel can join the entry tier, which unlocks fan funding such as Super Thanks and channel memberships. Ad revenue from the Shorts feed still requires 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views in 90 days.
- Do Shorts views count toward 4,000 watch hours?
- No. Views in the Shorts feed do not add to the 4,000 public watch hours used for the long-form path. The two thresholds are separate, so a channel must fully meet one of them. A channel with 5 million Shorts views and 2,000 watch hours does not qualify for ad revenue on either path.
- When does YouTube Shorts monetization start paying?
- YouTube Shorts monetization starts paying after the channel is approved and the creator accepts the Shorts module in YouTube Studio. Views collected before that date earn nothing. Revenue is calculated monthly from the shared pool and paid through AdSense once the balance passes the payout threshold.
- Can I get monetized on YouTube Shorts with reposted videos?
- No. Reposted videos, including your own content downloaded from another app with a watermark, are treated as reused content and are a common reason for rejection. YouTube expects Shorts that are original or clearly transformed. Views on reposts may count toward the total, but the channel will still fail the review.
- How much does YouTube pay for 1 million Shorts views?
- It depends on audience location and season, and the amount is small compared with long-form. Shorts revenue comes from a shared pool, and creators keep 45% of their allocation. Budget channels in our dataset report an RPM near 1.00 USD overall, and short-form views generally pay less per thousand than long-form ones.
