YouTube announced that it will be making changes to its monetization criteria under the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). According to the new rule, content creators will now be eligible for monetization once they reach the required 500 customers and 3,000 hours of watch time. The platform has also decided to cut down the criteria requirements for short videos from 10 million to 3 million. These new changes in policy will be initially introduced in countries like the US, UK, South Korea, Taiwan, and Canada.
Why the change?
YouTube revealed that the reason for suddenly changing the existing criteria was to provide small content creators with access to more monetization options. If the creators expand their channels and meet the new requirements, they will automatically become a part of the YPP and be eligible to earn revenue sharing from ads. Moreover, they will be given additional benefits such as paid chat, tipping tools like super thanks and super stickers, channel memberships, and the opportunity to market their own merchandise with shipping.
If you've been accepted into the YouTube Partner Program, it's time to start thinking about earning money with ads. Monetization relies on three key players: the viewers, the creators, and the advertisers. Learn more about how they work together → https://t.co/QsBAytqF8B pic.twitter.com/nSaxzKnM6R
— YouTube Creators (@YouTubeCreators) July 2, 2020
Even though this new change gives the creators more options to monetize their work on YouTube, they will still be required to increase the audience size and achieve certain standards to earn revenue from ads. The company has mentioned that there are no changes to the criteria for revenue sharing and that they will remain as they are. However, creators who are already part of the YPP won’t need to apply again once they qualify for full monetization.
In addition to these, YouTube has also decided to make its Shopping Affiliate Program available to more creators in the US. This feature was previously available to only those who were selected by invitation. Creators who are included in the YPP and have a minimum of 20,000 subscribers are eligible to use this program to tag products from other brands in their videos and shorts to earn a commission rate.
we’re launching our YouTube Shopping affiliate program to more U.S. creators!!
✨ tag products from popular brands & retailers in your content
💸 earn commission from product sales
🛍️ make it easier for your fans to shop your recsmore deets: https://t.co/BwWndmvzFc pic.twitter.com/ZI6SVoVQUh
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) June 14, 2023
Benefit for Shorts Creators
This new policy change will prove to be a great advantage for creators who mainly stream or post shorts on YouTube. Many new creators have started using the platform with the hope of generating revenue through its ad revenue sharing for shorts. By providing creators an opportunity to monetize their content, the platform is looking forward to rewarding them and improving the selection of short-form content it offers.
Streamers are likely to achieve more views than the number of subscribers they actually have. Twitch, a popular streaming platform and rival to YouTube, makes the majority of its target revenue through paid memberships and donations. It also has lower requirements for its affiliate program when compared to YouTube. So the plan to open channel subscriptions to creators with a minimum of 500 subscribers can make the platform a more competitive and compelling choice for streamers with a smaller following.
https://twitter.com/YouTubeCreators/status/1620894159086452737
The aftermath of the policy change
Small and new creators will be overwhelmed by this move introduced by YouTube. They know that the job of achieving the first milestone is now cut in half. However, these new changes in policy can also have some negative effects. The platform has recently decreased its CPM rates for advertising. This new criteria change will only encourage more people to create content. This will lead to an overflow of content creators on the platform, forcing it to run ads for less money.
Over the last two decades, YouTube has been continuing as the undisputed king among video-sharing platforms. These updates indicate that the company is now looking forward to dominating its short-form content and competing against platforms like Twitch and TikTok. This will also make things slightly easier for newbies who have just begun to share videos on YouTube. Overall, we can conclude by saying that these policy changes will help make the platform more competitive than it already is.
YouTube: NEW: Earlier Access to the YouTube Partner Program
Photo credit: The feature image is symbolic and has been done by Evgeniy Shkolenko.
