If you're reading this, you're undoubtedly looking to monetize your YouTube channel and join the YouTube Partner Program so you can start earning money from your YouTube videos.
What you should know is that the YouTube Partner Program has altered in the first quarter of the year and maybe slightly different from what you recall.
If you're new to YouTube monetization or have never had a monetized YouTube channel, this is going to be useful.
One of the newest benefits of the YouTube Partner Program and monetization is that you can now interact with YouTube Creator Support directly from your YouTube dashboard. And I know this, So I can tell you about the current YouTube Partner Program criteria as well as other YouTube monetization upgrades you may not be aware of.
One of the most important things to note is that the actual requirements for YouTube monetization have changed, and if you're not aware, you still need 1,000 subscribers, which we'll discuss, 4,000 hours of watch time in a year, and you'll need to use two-factor authentication, which will most likely require a mobile device such as your smartphone, and much of this is for security reasons.
Many people's YouTube and AdSense accounts have been stolen and hacked, so you should certainly do that.
You must also ensure that your YouTube channel has no community guideline strikes and that you are in compliance with all of YouTube's monetization standards, which have also been updated.
And, if you haven't been monetized before, you'll want to double-check that you're still following those rules.
There is no time restriction for obtaining the 1,000 subscribers required for YouTube monetization.
When it comes to the 4,000 hours of watch time, though, it takes a year.
Many individuals have expressed inquiries like this regarding what they mean when they say "12 months."
Is it reset to zero after a year or not?
It's every 365 days, therefore it's the previous 12 months.
It's a constant, rolling thing. So, if 12 months perplexes you, just think of it as the previous 365 days, and you should be OK.
When it comes to community guideline strikes, they're not the same as YouTube copyright strikes and claims.
Strikes against copyright have no bearing on your eligibility for the YouTube Partner Program.
However, if you make a lot of content claims, you can be disqualified since you're not employing original stuff.
And if your channel has a history of not employing original content or not adhering to proper fair use guidelines, you may be prohibited from ever applying for YouTube channel monetization.
The monetization policy rules have to do with a couple of different categories, such as reused content and not having those copyright claims of, you know, using other people's content without their permission.
If you're making children's content, there will also be some quality guidelines.
These are policies that may change over time, so you'll want to stay on top of them. You'll also want to keep an eye on my blog since I try to cover big developments in YouTube or the platform as a whole on the blog to keep you informed.
You must also ensure that your content is monetizable when it comes to delicate issues and avoiding extremely graphic stuff.
Everything you'd expect.
I'll absolutely do an article on what sorts of material are likely to get you demonetized on YouTube or make you ineligible to monetize your content at some point, but a lot of stuff is really simple.
My simple rule is this.
If you think you'd be suspended from school for doing or watching this, or if it's the kind of thing that if you were watching it at work and got caught, or if you were saying or doing these things at work and got caught, you'd be fired, then it's probably not something you should be uploading to YouTube. That's usually my common sense rule of thumb.
Because so many of you have asked about YouTube Shorts, it's vital to note that they do not count toward your 4,000 hours of viewing time required to be eligible for the YouTube Partner Program.
Videos that have been privated, removed or unlisted are also not counted.
Also, if you perform a live stream that lasts longer than 12 hours, it will not be stored and will not count against your YouTube Partner Program revenue watch time.
None of these factors contribute to you being monetized. You may utilize YouTube Shorts to increase your subscriber count, which will help you achieve that aim, but keep in mind that it will not increase your viewing time.
It's a different story when it comes to getting compensated from YouTube Shorts.
I believe it needs its own dedicated video on the channel, so if you want a video on YouTube Shorts and the Creator Fund, as well as how to monetize YouTube Shorts material and be paid for those short-form films, subscribe to my YouTube channel.
What you should know is that you don't have to be a member of the YouTube Partner Program or use Adsense on a regular basis to qualify for the YouTube Shorts Creator Fund and get rewarded for your material.
In reality, around 40% or more of the artists who have made money with YouTube Shorts are not currently enrolled in the YouTube Partner Program or get regular revenue.
Just keep in mind that YouTube Shorts is a distinct entity, so don't confuse the two. They're different things that require their own set of criteria and objectives.
When you monetize your channel, you'll have access to YouTube's copyright claim tool, which you may use if someone uploads or steals your video.
Previously, authors could only use this feature if they had at least 100,000 members.
So now, even with just 1,000 subscribers and meeting the monetization requirements, you get access to this.
Also, you used to have a monetized channel to be able to get access to the YouTube community tab that required 1,000 subscribers,
this is no longer the case.
You have access to that at 500 subscribers regardless of your monetization status.
The same thing for live streaming from mobile devices, this is also something that used to require 1,000 subscribers similar to monetization.
It not only requires 50 subscribers to Livestream from mobile, but if you Livestream from desktop, it requires zero subscribers.
So just understand that YouTube monetization only unlocks certain types of features for you, mostly revolving around how you can earn money from YouTube.
It's not as much of a barrier to entry to other features in the platform, but there are features like access to creator support through chat and access to things like the copyright claim tool, those are something tied to monetization on YouTube.
Another important update that I know a lot of you are very sensitive to is some of you probably have been seeing ads on your YouTube videos and wondering why you're not getting paid for them.
Some of you have even asked me:
- do I just need to like connect my AdSense account fromGoogle and will that just mean that I'm getting ads even though I don't have 1,000 subscribers?
- Did they lower the requirements and not tell people?
The answer is that YouTube has a new monetization policy
called the right to monetize.
YouTube has the right to run advertising and monetize content without giving creators a share of that or allowing them to earn money on that.
Now, that might sound really weird to you or it might sound unfair.
You just need to understand that this is actually how it used to be on YouTube for a very long time in the beginning and that it's not as bad as you think.
The main thing would be that, number one, you probably will not meet the $100 threshold for ad revenue if you have less than 1,000 subscribers and are not capable of earning 4,000 hours of watch time in the first place.
It's very unlikely that you would make money that would allow you to receive a payment from YouTube if that's the case. Also, something that I've talked about is that the average YouTube creator makes a 10th of a penny per view.
A 10th of a penny per view. That's not a lot of money. What it comes down to is that it might take some of you as much as one million views to make even $100 and get paid out. So as a small YouTuber, even just the fact that they might be running ads on your channel without paying you,
it would be very unlikely that if you can't meet the monetization threshold anyway that you would make enough money to receive payment at all.
And this is something that happens more often than you would think.
There is a silver lining. If your channel has ads on it, it means that once you meet the requirements for the YouTube Partner Program and you apply and if you're accepted, then you have an indicator that your channel is going to be making money and that they are going to run some pretty decent ads on it and you should get an idea of that.
So again, while you're in the beginning phase of your YouTube journey,
this might seem unfair or discouraging, but the reality is that most YouTube content creators cannot make a livable amount of money off of their YouTube channel for the first three to five years anyway and in terms of effort and value and ROI, it actually sometimes ends up being a net negative even if you are monetized with YouTube ads.
The majority of creators tend to earn a full-time living by diversifying their income and not off of their ad revenue.
The primary way that most full-time content creators earn is typically brand deals and also selling something directly. But that's a subject for another video.As far as being approved for the YouTube Partner Program,
However, from having another channel recently monetized,in this case, my podcast channel, I actually learned a lot of interesting things about the application process. For one thing, I definitely believe it's in your best interest to go ahead and sign up for a Google adsense account before you even apply to the YouTube Partner Program and you also wanna make sure you're familiar with that system when it comes to setting that up to get paid.
You also need to know that YouTube cannot send that money, at least not right now currently, it does not pay out to a PayPal account or Venmo or any of those, so you need to be aware of that and you might need to set up a bank account that specifically is gonna be tied to how you're making money online on your YouTube adsense.
They are gonna make you fill out some information, so you will have to disclose your identity to Google and YouTube in order for that to be tracked so you can pay the appropriate taxes. They are not gonna do that for you.
You're gonna need to submit all of those things to the IRS when the time comes. And so you just wanna make surethat you're in full compliance with allof these things and you're doing it legal. I know that sounds a little intimidating, but it's just something you have to get through.
When you apply to the YouTube Partner Program, typically, they tell you that the approval processand the review, which is done by human beings,
it's something that takes place within a 30-day period and you'll know whether you're accepted or rejected into the program.
Once that happens, though, it's you who has to turn ads on for your channel. They will not automatically monetize all of your previous videos.
You have to actually do that in the YouTube dashboard yourself.
So that's important. If you don't do that, you're not gonna get paid. So this is something you should not have skipped over in the video. Now, in terms of how long it actually takes once you apply to the Partner Program, it used to be a much longer queue for some reason and they had a lot of trouble getting through the review process before.
I actually talk about that and how much certain creators get paid based on the topic of their videos and get those high ad rates. you might be very interested in my other content for making money online cause you can monetize outside of YouTube. As always.