Monetization guide
How to make money on YouTube
Short answer
You earn on YouTube in two ways. Inside YouTube, you join the Partner Program and collect a share of ads, Premium, memberships, Super Chat and Shopping; outside it, sponsors, affiliate links and your own products need no YouTube threshold. The first paid features open at 500 subscribers, and ad revenue opens at 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 watch hours or 10 million Shorts views. YouTube does not publish a pay-per-view rate: your earnings are views divided by 1,000 times the RPM that your own YouTube Analytics shows.
Key takeaways
- Two tiers inside YouTube: 500 subscribers (memberships, Super Chat, Super Thanks, Shopping, Creator Partnerships) and 1,000 subscribers (Watch Page ads, Shorts Feed ads, Premium revenue). Details and the full checklist are on our requirements page.
- YouTube states the shares: 55% of net ad revenue on long videos, 45% of your allocation from the Shorts Creator Pool, 70% of net revenue from memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers and Super Thanks.
- Sponsorships, affiliate links and your own products have no YouTube subscriber threshold. You only have to mark paid promotion in the video details.
- Shorts can earn ad money from the Creator Pool, but from February 1, 2027 you need 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days to be paid from it each month.
- Earnings = views ÷ 1,000 × RPM. The RPM is yours alone, so use the one in your Analytics and the free calculator below.
How do people make money on YouTube, and what does each stream require?
Eight streams cover almost everything creators do. The table puts them side by side with the official gate and the share YouTube states. The drawing below it shows the same thing as a map.
| Stream | Who pays you | Gate | Share or rate | Source type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watch Page ads (long videos) | YouTube | 1,000 subscribers, plus 4,000 watch hours (12 months) or 10M Shorts views (90 days) | 55% of net ad revenue | Official |
| Shorts Feed ads | YouTube | 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 watch hours or 10M Shorts views; Shorts Monetization Module | 45% of the revenue allocated to you from the Creator Pool | Official |
| YouTube Premium revenue | YouTube | 1,000-subscriber tier (same numbers as ads); content watched by a YouTube Premium subscriber | Pool share; no per-view rate published | Official |
| Channel memberships | Your fans | 500-subscriber tier, 18+, available country, Commerce Product Module | 70% of net revenue | Official |
| Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks | Your fans | 500-subscriber tier, 18+, available country, Commerce Product Module; plus a live stream or a video to attach them to | 70% of net revenue | Official |
| YouTube Shopping (own or affiliate products) | Shoppers, via YouTube | 500 subscribers, plus 3,000 watch hours (12 months) or 3M Shorts views (90 days) | Not stated on the pages we read | Official gate, rate not confirmed |
| Sponsorships and affiliate links | A brand or merchant | No YouTube threshold stated; tick Paid promotion for sponsored videos | Set by you and the brand | Official disclosure rule only |
| Your own products, services or courses | Your customers | No YouTube threshold stated | Yours | Our description |
YouTube Help, read October 23, 2026, unless marked.
The two subscriber tiers are shown separately because YouTube sells them separately: you can be paid by fans at 500 subscribers and still earn nothing from ads. For the exact numbers, country lists and the other conditions (2-Step Verification, no active strikes, AdSense), use our YouTube monetization requirements page rather than this summary.
Can you make money on YouTube without the Partner Program?
Yes, but only from income that does not pass through YouTube. A sponsor, an affiliate merchant or a customer pays you directly, and YouTube states no subscriber or watch-hour threshold for that. What YouTube does require is disclosure: if a video has branded content, sponsorships or endorsements, you tick the paid promotion option in the video details, and YouTube shows a label at the start of the video (YouTube Help, read October 23, 2026).
YouTube does not publish what sponsors pay, so neither do we.
- Sponsorships: a brand pays you to feature a product. Disclose it with Paid promotion.
- Affiliate links: you are paid a commission by the merchant when someone buys. Disclose that too; this is our suggestion, since the commission is not paid by YouTube.
- Your own products or services: courses, templates, coaching or merchandise. YouTube Shopping is the in-platform route and needs the 500-subscriber tier; selling through your own site needs nothing from YouTube.
Which of these suits you is a business question YouTube cannot answer. If you want to price a sponsored video, start from your own views, not from a rule of thumb.
How much does YouTube pay per view?
YouTube does not publish a per-view rate. It shows you one number, RPM (revenue per mille), in YouTube Analytics. YouTube defines it as the money you earned per 1,000 views, based on several sources: ads, channel memberships, YouTube Premium revenue, Super Chat and Super Stickers, and calculated per 1,000 views (engaged views for Shorts) (YouTube Help, read October 23, 2026). RPM is already after YouTube takes its share, so do not apply 55% again. CPM is a different number: what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions, before the share.
So the arithmetic is simple, and the only unknown is your RPM:
| Views | Earnings at $1.00 RPM | Multiply by |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $10 | your RPM |
| 100,000 | $100 | your RPM |
| 1,000,000 | $1,000 | your RPM |
| Views for a $1,000 goal | 1,000,000 | divided by your RPM |
Our arithmetic, tested on our calculator on October 23, 2026.
Worked example. We picked an RPM of $2.50 only to show the steps; it is not a typical rate and YouTube has not published one. 100,000 views divided by 1,000 is 100, and 100 times $2.50 is $250. For a $1,000 goal: 1,000 divided by 2.50 is 400, times 1,000 is 400,000 views. Enter your own RPM and views in the calculator below and it does the same sum, including the views a goal needs.
RPM changes with the audience country, topic, season and format. Shorts and long videos have separate RPMs, so estimate them separately. Views before you join the Partner Program, or on videos that are not monetized, earn nothing.
earnings = views / 1000 x RPM
views needed for a goal = goal / RPM x 1000Can you make money from YouTube Shorts?
Yes, in three ways. Shorts ads share revenue through the Creator Pool once you are in the 1,000-subscriber tier and have accepted the Shorts Monetization Module: YouTube pays you 45% of the revenue allocated to you based on your share of views from the pool. Shorts views also count toward fan funding and Shopping at the 500-subscriber tier (3 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days instead of 3,000 watch hours). And a Short can carry a sponsorship like any video.
YouTube's own worked example shows how the pool splits (YouTube Shorts monetization policies, read October 19, 2026): with a $90,000 Creator Pool for 100 million engaged views and your Short at 1 million views, you get 1% of the pool, $900, and your 45% is $405. It is YouTube's illustration, not an average, and we do not read it as a rate per view.
- The 4,000 hours are counted on long-form videos only (YouTube: "qualified watch hours on long form videos"); Shorts use the 10 million views route.
- From February 1, 2027, to be paid from the Creator Pool in a month you need 10 million qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days. Missing it does not remove you from YPP or cut long-form earnings.
- New programs announced for Shorts: bonuses for YouTube Shopping, production credits for brand deals and boosts for cultural trends, with opt-in notices to eligible creators when they launch. Not available yet on the date we read.
Shorts-only channels are the weakest fit for this page's "views times RPM" shortcut: the pool share depends on everyone else's views in your country that month, which we cannot know.
What did YouTube launch or announce for creator income in the last 12 months?
The program list below comes from the YouTube Help pages read on October 23, 2026. All of it is official; whether it pays for your channel is not confirmed by YouTube.
| Program | What YouTube says | Date it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Higher ad-tier entry bar | New applicants need 8,000 watch hours in 365 days or 20M Shorts views in 90 days, plus 1,000 subscribers. Existing partners keep their status. | February 1, 2027 |
| Shorts Creator Pool minimum | Earn each month only with 10M qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days. | February 1, 2027 |
| Premium Lite expansion | For Premium Lite, creators share in a pool representing 60% of net subscription revenue; for Premium views, a pool representing 30% of net subscription revenue. Premium Lite goes to all countries where Premium is available. | February 1, 2027 |
| Targeted Shorts ads | If an advertiser targets five or fewer channels, eligible creators get a direct 45% share, paid on top of the pool. | February 1, 2027 |
| Shorts incentive programs | Possible bonuses for Shopping, brand-deal production credits and trend boosts; creators are notified when they launch. | Rolling, no date stated |
| YouTube Shopping affiliate program | Fans can buy products you tag from other brands; listed as a Partner Program feature at 500 subscribers. | In effect (not new; listed for completeness) |
| Creator Partnerships and fan funding | No change to the 500-subscriber thresholds. | In effect |
| Accept updated terms | Review and accept the updated Partner Program modules (Watch Page, Shorts, and Commerce Product Module where applicable) in YouTube Studio by January 31, 2027, or you stop earning from those features from February 1, 2027. Your YPP status is not affected. | January 31, 2027 |
| Channel activity requirement | A channel counts as active with 1,000 qualified watch hours in 365 days, or 1 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days, or 2 long-form videos or 5 Shorts uploaded every 90 days. Channels that drop below get a 90-day window to restore it. | February 1, 2027 |
YouTube Help, read October 23, 2026.
Not covered and why: we found no official page with dated payout rates for Shopping or Creator Partnerships, so we list their gates only.
What order should a new channel try these in?
This is our suggestion, not a YouTube rule, and it fits most channels except those whose audience cannot be reached by YouTube search at all.
- Pick the stream you can start today that needs no threshold: your own offer or a sponsor-ready topic.
- Track your own numbers from the first upload so the calculator has real inputs: subscribers, qualified watch hours and engaged Shorts views.
- Aim at the 500-subscriber tier first if your count is closer to it: it opens fan funding and Shopping before ads.
- Apply for the ad tier once you clear its route; YouTube reviews the whole channel, typically in about 1 month (YouTube Help).
- After approval, accept only the modules you will use and compare each stream's share in Analytics, not guesses from other channels.
Free next step: check where you stand against the tiers on our requirements page.
Limits and how we checked
- All thresholds, shares and program names come from YouTube Help pages (answers 72857, 72902, 9314357, 12843009, 154235) opened in headless Chromium on October 23, 2026, because the pages render in the browser. YouTube can change them at any time.
- The Shorts worked example was read from the Shorts monetization policy page on October 19, 2026.
- February 1, 2027 items are announced, not yet in effect on the date we checked.
- We did not test YouTube Shopping, Creator Partnerships or Premium payouts. YouTube states no rates for them in the pages we read.
- We do not give earnings benchmarks, "best niche" lists or sponsor prices: none has an official source. Third-party figures in other guides are not repeated here.
- Our calculator was run on October 23, 2026 with the formula shown above; its output is an estimate that is only as good as the RPM you enter.
- Taxes: YouTube says you may owe tax on your earnings and to ask your local tax authority. This page is not tax or legal advice.
- We read the Hootsuite and Shopify guides and YouTube's own earning page to check coverage, and did not copy their text.
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Questions people ask
How many subscribers do you need to make money on YouTube?
500 subscribers plus either 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views opens fan funding and Shopping (channel memberships also need 3 public uploads in the last 90 days). 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 watch hours or 10 million Shorts views opens ad revenue. Sponsorships, affiliate links and your own products have no YouTube threshold.
How much does YouTube pay for 1,000 views?
YouTube does not publish a figure. It is your RPM, shown in YouTube Analytics, and it differs by country, topic, season and format. Multiply views divided by 1,000 by that RPM.
What share of the money do creators keep?
YouTube states 55% of net revenue from Watch Page ads, 45% of the revenue allocated to you from the Shorts Creator Pool, and 70% of net revenue from memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers and Super Thanks.
Is there a YouTube money estimator or views-to-money converter?
Yes. Our YouTube earnings calculator turns views and your RPM into estimated earnings, and shows how many views a monthly goal needs. It needs your real RPM; the $1 default is a placeholder.
Can you earn money from YouTube Shorts?
Yes, from the Shorts Creator Pool at 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views (new applicants from February 1, 2027 need 20 million), from fan funding and Shopping at 500 subscribers and 3 million views, and from sponsorships.
Do you need to be 18 to earn money on YouTube?
For ad revenue you must be 18 or have a legal guardian over 18 who handles payments through AdSense. Memberships, Super Chat and Super Thanks require you to be 18 or older.
Do I have to pay tax on YouTube income?
YouTube says you may be liable for taxes in your country of residence on income from monetized videos. Ask your local tax authority. This page does not give tax advice.
Related
Sources and how we checked
- YouTube Help: YouTube Partner Program overview and eligibility (review time) (checked 2026-10-23)
- YouTube Help: How to earn money on YouTube (checked 2026-10-23)
- YouTube Help: YouTube partner earnings overview (revenue shares) (checked 2026-10-23)
- YouTube Help: Understand ad revenue analytics (RPM and CPM) (checked 2026-10-23)
- YouTube Help: Changes to the YouTube Partner Program (February 1, 2027) (checked 2026-10-23)
- YouTube Help: Add paid promotion disclosures to videos (checked 2026-10-23)
- YouTube Help: YouTube Shorts monetization policies (worked example) (checked 2026-10-19)
- Hootsuite: How to make money on YouTube (coverage check) (checked 2026-10-23)
- Shopify: How to make money on YouTube (coverage check) (checked 2026-10-23)
We opened each YouTube Help page above in headless Chromium on October 23, 2026 and quote shares and gates only from them. The views-to-money table is arithmetic from the formula in our calculator, run and logged the same day. We read the Hootsuite and Shopify guides to check coverage: by their section outlines both list the ways to earn, and neither shows a gate-by-stream map or a formula you can test (we compared outlines, not every sentence).