YouTube is lowering the requirements for creators to get access to monetization tools under the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). The company is expanding its shopping affiliate program to U.S.-based creators who are part of YPP and have more than 20,000 subscribers.
The Google-owned company said that the new conditions to be qualified for the partner program are:
- Having 500 subscribers;
- 3 public uploads in the last 90 days;
- and either 3,000 watch hours in the past year or 3 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.
Previously, the conditions were:
- Having at least 1,000 subscribers;
- and either 4,000 watch hours in the past year or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.
If creators meet the new threshold, they can apply to become a part of YPP and get access to tipping tools like Super Thanks, Super Chat, and Super Stickers, subscription tools like channel memberships, and the ability to promote their own merch with YouTube Shopping.
The three video upload per 90 days criteria is intriguing as long video creators may not have material to product multiple videos during time period despite gathering millions of views.
YouTube is applying this new eligibility criteria in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Taiwan, and South Korea. It will later roll it out to other countries where YPP is available.
The video-streaming company is also expanding its Shopping affiliate pilot to more creators in the U.S. Creators that are already in YPP and have more than 20,000 subscribers will be eligible to tag products in videos and Shorts and earn a commission. YouTube introduced shopping-related features for Shorts to some U.S.-based creators last November.
YouTube is set to discuss and give more details about its new programs at the VidCon conference next week.
In March, YouTube had to change its rules against using profanities at the start of the video. The company introduced a policy in November to disqualify any video using profanity in the first 15 seconds — even if the video was an old upload. The company made the time limit to seven seconds under the new policy and allowed profanity in music.
The Google-owned company has been focusing on introducing new monetization tools for Shorts creators. In February, YouTube also started sharing ad revenue on Shorts with creators. During its Q4 2022 earnings call, the company said that Shorts crossed 50 billion daily views. Last October, Meta said Reels had 140 billion daily views across Instagram and Facebook.
Last year, YouTube announced Creator Music, a tool for artists to earn money in exchange for the use of their music in videos. In March, the company rolled out a new metric to track an artist’s reach across different formats including Shorts.