YouTube Lowers Requirements To Join Partner Program

Under the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), YouTube is lowering the requirements for creators to gain access to monetization tools. The company is expanding its shopping affiliate program to YPP creators with over 20,000 subscribers in the United States.

The new partner program qualifications, according to the Google-owned company, are as follows: 500 subscribers; three public uploads in the last 90 days; and either 3,000 watch hours or three million Shorts views in the last 90 days.

Prior to the new YouTube Partner Program changes, you needed at least 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 watch hours in the previous year or 10 million YouTube shorts views in the previous 90 days.

Creators must meet the new requirement to gain access to tipping tools such as Super Thanks, Super Chat, and Super Stickers, subscription tools such as channel memberships, and the ability to advertise their own products on YouTube Shopping.

The three video uploads every 90 days criteria is intriguing because long video creators may not have enough material to produce multiple videos during that time period despite receiving millions of views.

YouTube is implementing these new eligibility criteria in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Taiwan, and South Korea. It will later be expanded to other countries where YPP is available.

In addition, the video-streaming company is expanding its Shopping affiliate pilot to include more creators in the United States. Creators who are already members of YPP and have over 20,000 subscribers will be able to tag products in videos and Shorts and earn a commission. Last November, YouTube enabled shopping-related features for Shorts for some US-based creators.

Attendees at next week’s VidCon conference will hear YouTube discuss and reveal more details about its new programs.