How to get monetized on YouTube Shorts
Shorts have their own path into the YouTube Partner Program, counted over a rolling 90-day window: 3 million Shorts views (plus 500 subscribers) unlocks the fan funding tier, and 10 million views (plus 1,000 subscribers) unlocks ad revenue sharing. Watch hours from Shorts don't count toward the long-form 4,000-hour path — the two routes are completely separate, and the 4,000-hour route has its own calculator if you are chasing that one instead.
Once you're in, Shorts revenue works differently from long-form: ad money from the Shorts feed goes into a shared pool, gets split by view share (after music licensing costs), and creators keep 45% of their allocation. Creators commonly report Shorts RPM of about $0.01–$0.07 per 1,000 views (roughly $10–$70 per million), depending heavily on where the audience lives — far below long-form, which is why many Shorts channels use their reach to funnel viewers toward long-form uploads or fan funding.
What changes for Shorts on February 1, 2027
YouTube's August 2026 update hits Shorts harder than long-form. For anyone applying on or after February 1, 2027, the ad revenue tier needs 20 million Shorts views in the trailing 90 days, double today's 10 million. The fan funding tier stays at 3 million.
Channels already in the program keep their membership, but sharing in Shorts ad and Premium revenue will require 10 million Shorts views over the trailing 90 days. Drop below and Shorts payouts pause while long-form earnings continue; cross it again and Shorts revenue sharing resumes on its own. So if you are between 10 and 20 million today, getting approved before February is the difference between the old bar and the new one. Source: YouTube Help, Changes to the YouTube Partner Program.
Reading your numbers honestly
The 90-day window rolls forward every day: views from 91 days ago silently drop off as new ones arrive. A viral spike helps for exactly 90 days — sustained daily views are what carry you over the line. Our projection assumes your current daily pace holds, so treat it as a direction, not a promise.
Views are only half of it. Both Shorts tiers also carry the subscriber bar and the policy checks that catch most applications — the full Partner Program requirements cover what else has to be true before YouTube will review you.