From February 2027, fresh channels need 8,000 watch hours or 20 million Shorts views before they earn a penny.
YouTube just raised the stakes for aspiring creators. Google’s video giant announced a major shake-up to its Partner Program on Monday. New creators must now log 8,000 qualified watch hours within a year. That figure doubles the current 4,000-hour requirement. Alternatively, creators can hit 20 million Shorts views in 90 days—also double the old bar.
Existing partners keep their status. Nobody already inside the programme loses access. Whilst the subscriber threshold stays at 1,000, the watch-time climb marks the platform’s toughest reset in years.
YouTube points to explosive growth as justification. The platform now logs over 200 billion daily Shorts views. It also counts a billion daily watch hours on TV screens alone.
To soften the blow, YouTube expanded its cheaper Premium Lite tier worldwide. Creators earn a share regardless of format—55 percent for long-form videos, 45 percent for Shorts.
