Blog · Last updated 30 Sept 2026 · BakeVideos team

YouTube Shorts monetization requirements (2026): the numbers, explained

To monetize YouTube Shorts with ads in 2026 you need 1,000 subscribers and 10 million qualified public Shorts views in the last 90 days (or 4,000 public watch hours on long videos in the last 12 months). A lower tier, 500 subscribers plus 3 public uploads in 90 days and either 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views, unlocks fan funding but not ad revenue. From February 1, 2027, new applicants will need 20 million Shorts views or 8,000 watch hours.

How many views do you need to monetize Shorts?

Ten million. That is qualified public views of your Shorts in the Shorts feed over the last 90 days, plus 1,000 subscribers, per YouTube's Partner Program eligibility page (Sept 2026). The other route, 4,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months, only counts long-form watch time; the same page says Shorts views in the feed do not add to the 4,000 hours.

All the current numbers in one place:

Requirement	Number	Source
Subscribers for ad revenue	1,000	YouTube Help, YPP eligibility (Sept 2026)
Shorts views, last 90 days	10,000,000 qualified public	same
Or long-form watch hours, last 12 months	4,000 qualified public	same
Subscribers for the fan-funding tier	500	YouTube Help, expanded YPP (Sept 2026)
Public uploads, last 90 days (fan-funding tier)	3	same
Views or hours (fan-funding tier)	3,000,000 Shorts views in 90 days, or 3,000 watch hours in 12 months	same
Creator share of Shorts ad revenue	45% of allocated revenue	YouTube Help, Shorts monetization policies (Sept 2026)
New applicants from Feb 1, 2027	20,000,000 Shorts views in 90 days, or 8,000 watch hours in 365 days	YouTube Blog (Sept 2026)

Beyond the numbers you also need to live in a country where the program is available, have no active Community Guidelines strikes, turn on 2-Step Verification, and link an AdSense for YouTube account.

What does the 500-subscriber tier get you?

Fan funding, not ads. With 500 subscribers, 3 public uploads in the last 90 days and either 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views, you can apply for the expanded Partner Program: channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks and YouTube Shopping (YouTube Help, Sept 2026). Ad revenue on Shorts and long videos still needs the full 1,000 / 10 million / 4,000 tier.

For a faceless Shorts channel this tier is mostly a milestone. It does get you through the policy review early: if your channel is going to be flagged for reused or inauthentic content, better to learn at 500 subscribers than at 1,000.

What changes on February 1, 2027?

Two things, both announced by YouTube in September 2026 (YouTube Blog, YouTube Help).

New applicants will need 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, still with 1,000 subscribers. That is double today's bar.
Channels already in the program keep their status. But Shorts ad and subscription revenue sharing will require 10 million qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days; drop below it and Shorts revenue pauses until you cross it again, while long-form earnings continue.

If you are starting a Shorts channel now, the practical reading is: getting in before February 2027 is worth a real push, because after that the entry bar doubles.

How much does YouTube pay for Shorts?

YouTube pools the ads shown between Shorts each month, sets aside a portion for music licensing, and shares the rest with monetizing creators by their share of engaged views in each country. Creators keep 45% of what is allocated to them, whether or not they used music (YouTube Help, Sept 2026). YouTube does not publish a per-view rate, and we will not invent one. Rates vary by country, niche and month.

Which Shorts do not count, even after you are in?

YouTube's Shorts monetization policies exclude "non-original Shorts, such as unedited clips from others' movies or TV shows, reuploading other creators' content from YouTube or other platform, or compilations with no original content added", plus fake views from bots and anything that breaks the advertiser-friendly guidelines (YouTube Help, Sept 2026).

The channel-level rule is the "inauthentic content" policy updated July 15, 2025: content that is "repetitive or mass-produced" is not eligible, with examples like "image slideshows, templated storylines, or scrolling text with minimal narrative" (YouTube Help, Sept 2026). A Short with its own script, narration and edit is fine. A hundred Shorts that are the same Short with a different noun are not.

How do you hit 10 million views with faceless Shorts?

Volume with variety. 10 million views in 90 days is about 110,000 a day. Channels get there with a few Shorts a day where one in twenty takes off. The bottleneck is how fast you can make videos that are actually different from each other.

BakeVideos is built for that. Type one sentence, or paste your script. The AI writes a hook-first script with one idea per scene, a neural voice reads it, real footage from Pexels and Pixabay is matched to each scene, captions are word-synced, no-attribution music is added, and you get a 1080×1920 MP4 in about one to two minutes. A licence record is saved with every render, which is what you want on hand during the monetization review. You upload to YouTube yourself; auto-posting is not live.

Start with one: bake a 30-second Short on why the Great Wall of China took over 2,000 years to build. Free to try, no watermark.

FAQ

How many views do you need to monetize YouTube Shorts? 10 million qualified public Shorts views in the last 90 days, plus 1,000 subscribers. The alternative is 4,000 public watch hours on long videos in the last 12 months (YouTube Help, Sept 2026).

Do Shorts views count toward the 4,000 watch hours? No. YouTube says public watch hours from Shorts in the Shorts feed do not count toward the 4,000-hour threshold. Shorts have their own route: 10 million views in 90 days.

Can you monetize Shorts with 500 subscribers? Only through fan funding (memberships, Super Chat, Super Thanks, Shopping). The 500-subscriber tier also needs 3 public uploads in 90 days and 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views. Ad revenue starts at 1,000 subscribers.

Are the Shorts requirements going up? Yes, for new applicants from February 1, 2027: 20 million Shorts views in 90 days or 8,000 watch hours in 365 days. Existing members keep their status but need 10 million Shorts views per 90 days to keep Shorts revenue sharing (YouTube Blog, Sept 2026).

Can faceless Shorts made with AI be monetized? Yes, if each one is original: its own script, narration and edit. What YouTube excludes is reuploaded or unedited content and mass-produced, repetitive videos. We cannot promise any channel will pass; YouTube reviews each one.

Bake a video from one sentence →Free to try. No watermark.