Can you monetize YouTube Shorts in any way? If so, then how exactly to do it? Monetizing YouTube Shorts is possible now for accounts that are eligible and take part in the YPP. Regular shared revenue monetization will replace the YouTube Shorts Fund starting February 1st 2023. But how can you actually make money on YouTube Shorts, and what are the minimal requirements and the monetization threshold right now? Let’s take a closer look at the matter!
- Can you actually monetize YouTube Shorts?
- How to start monetizing YouTube Shorts?
- How to reach the monetization threshold with Shorts faster?
- How will the earnings be calculated?
- To sum it all up – YouTube Shorts monetization 101
Can you actually monetize YouTube Shorts?
With the arrival of the YouTube Shorts, first introduced back in 2020 with much more limited functionality, came a large wave of content creators starting to make use of this brand new feature to grow their channels, improve their outreach and promote their work. Now the question comes: can you actually monetize YouTube Shorts in the current year and how to do it.
The answer is: yes, and it’s all quite fresh news.
Starting on February 1 2023, you are able to monetize your YouTube Shorts as a content creator, provided you fulfill certain new requirements and adhere to some rules. Read on, we’re about to explain all this in detail!
How to start monetizing YouTube Shorts?
Monetizing YouTube Shots requires you to get eligible for the regular YouTube Partner Program (YPP). The neat twist is, that there is a new Short-related way to do that now.
When you reach the standard threshold of 1000 subscribers on your channel, you’ll have to either:
- Reach 4000 watch hours on your videos in the last 12 months.
- Get 10 million views of all your Shorts in the last 90 days.
If any of these two requirements is fulfilled, you’ll be able to join the YouTube Partner Program and monetize both your regular videos and Shorts. Before you ask – yes, the Shorts related views ceiling does seem to be set pretty high so it might not be that easy to reach it.
As always the views and watch time have to be both valid (not acquired by using bots or any kind of 3rd party software), and public (not acquired on private or hidden videos).
Another important thing is that your YouTube Shorts watch hours (which tend to build up rather quick), sadly won’t count towards the first 4000 watch hours limit on regular videos. This means that there is no overlap between the two proposed ways to prove your eligibility for the YPP.
Anyway, no matter which path will you take, when you meet the requirements you’ll be able to monetize both your long form videos and your Shorts after your channel gets reviewed by Google.
If you’ve reached the subscription and view threshold, your channel meets the YouTube content guidelines and you’ve passed the final review – you’re good to go!
If you’re already a part of YPP, good for you! Now you only have to accept the Shorts monetization terms and conditions before you’ll be able to earn money on the Shorts video ads.
How to reach the monetization threshold with Shorts faster?
The “traditional” monetization eligibility requirements are most commonly achieved through the usual grind, patience and constant publishing of quality long form videos. YouTube Shorts however, are a little bit different in these terms.
Your YouTube Shorts have to be: original, engaging, and not be a straightforward re-upload of content that already exists on the platform – just as regular long form YT videos.
Of course it goes without saying that all the Short video material and longer videos on your channel should be your own intellectual property – in other words, content either made or legally owned by you.
Most important tips for engaging shorts are mostly connected with retaining the attention of the viewers which in turn makes the algorithm promote your clips even further.
Shorts on YouTube can have a rather short lifetime, so it’s important that the audiovisual material you provide to the viewers is as engaging as possible.
Here is our advice on creating engaging YouTube Shorts that convert well and have the potential to bring you closer to the new monetization threshold.
- Give extra thought to the very first ~1.5-2 seconds of the video – what people scrolling through their Shorts feed will see and hear during that time will be crucial. These first seconds of the video are the time in which they decide whether or not to keep on scrolling or stay to watch your Short – just keep that in mind!
- Keep up the pace – there is a reason why many YouTube shorts are very dynamic and contain many quick clip cuts and speed up content. This can potentially boost your engagement, as the viewers will be less likely to get bored or distracted when they’re watching your Short (of course, providing your content is interesting enough for them).
- Write detailed descriptions and use appropriate tags/hashtags – this is very important, as YouTube doesn’t only analyze your video contents to promote your material to other users, it also makes full use of the description and tags you provide within it. Be sure to make your descriptions coherent and make sure that it contains all the important keywords being reasonably long, but without being spammy.
- Don’t copy or steal work that’s not yours – these kind of things can and will be detected by the algorithm and not only won’t help you in the long term, but can also get your channel suspended or fully shut down. It’s also just plain unfair to other content creators like you.
How will the earnings be calculated?
How will the ads on YouTube Shorts work and how much can you actually earn? Well, while we do know that the Short creators will be able to earn shared revenue from the ads that appear in-between the Shorts in the feed and when the Short is displayed in the YouTube desktop view, it’s a bit early to say anything about the actual average earnings or the earnings/views ratio.
What you should know though, is that YouTube Shorts monetization is based around the new “ad revenue sharing model”, that is getting more and more popular in various content contribution-based online business models lately. This means that each content creator that is a part of the YPP and has some Shorts up on the channel, will receive a portion of the shared ad revenue pool based on the views, engagement of the viewers and quite a lot of other latent variables. In time we’ll see how reliable this solution is.
Will the YouTube Shorts fund continue? No, the new way of monetizing Shorts through the main YouTube Partner Program is meant to fully replace the old way of getting money out of your short form videos.
To sum it all up – YouTube Shorts monetization 101
Here is the short summary of the current state of YouTube Shorts monetization program:
- Since 1 February 2023, you’re able to freely monetize your YouTube Shorts content, provided you fulfill the requirements to get into the regular YouTube Partner Program (YPP) and accept the terms and conditions required to make money on your short video content.
- Now, there is an additional way to get into the YPP – getting 1000 subscribers and 10 mln YouTube Shorts views over the course of 90 days makes you eligible to join.
- Creating engaging Shorts content can now not only bring quite a few new people to your channel that wouldn’t have visited it otherwise, but it also has the potential to bring in some extra money.
So, go out there and create! The new ways of monetization and money making are in, and we’re curious how all this will play out in the longer term. Stay tuned!
You can learn earn even more about all this in the official YouTube Shorts Monetization notice here.
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