YouTube announces new ways for creators to make money, supporting the next wave of global creative entrepreneurs

At its inaugural, the platform revealed that over the last three years, it has paid YouTube Creators and media companies more than $50B

YouTube introduced the next chapter in rewarding creativity on the platform. At its inaugural Made on YouTube event, YouTube shared that it’s expanding the platform’s monetization system, the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), to allow more creators to join the program, introducing new ways for creators to earn revenue through Shorts, and re-imagining the music industry and creator dynamic by opening up ads monetization for those who feature music in their videos. 

Today’s announcement reflects the diversity of the platform’s growing creator community and allows its over 2M monetizing creators to make money on YouTube across any creative format. Today’s key announcement includes:

Expanding access to YPP

Starting in early 2023, Shorts-focused creators can apply to YPP by meeting a threshold of 1K subscribers and 10M Shorts views over 90 days. These new partners will enjoy all the benefits YPP offers, including ads monetization across Shorts and long-form YouTube videos. This is another option to the existing criteria where long-form creators can still apply to YPP when they reach 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. Creators can choose the one option that best fits their channel while YouTube maintains the same level of brand safety for advertisers. To support creators who are early in their YouTube journey, YouTube will also introduce a new level of YPP with lower requirements that will offer earlier access to Fan Funding features like Super Thanks, Super Chat, Super Stickers and Channel Memberships. 

Introducing a first-of-its-kind revenue sharing model for Shorts

With 30B+ daily views and 1.5B+ monthly logged-in users, Shorts are exploding around the world. To reward this new creative class, beginning in early 2023, we’ll be moving away from a fixed fund and doubling down on a unique revenue sharing model for Shorts for both current and future YPP creators. Because ads run between videos in the Shorts Feed, every month, revenue from these ads will be added together and used to reward Shorts creators and help cover costs of music licensing. From the overall amount allocated to creators, they will keep 45% of the revenue, distributed based on their share of total Shorts views. The revenue share remains the same, no matter if they use music or not.

Launching Creator Music

The complexities of music licensing has meant that most long-form videos that feature music don’t result in creators being paid. To build a bridge between the music industry and creators, YouTube is introducing Creator Music, a new destination that gives creators easy access to an ever-growing catalog of music for use in their videos, while providing artists and music rights holders with a new revenue stream for their music on YouTube. Creators can now buy affordable, high-quality music licenses that offer them full monetizing potential—they will keep the same revenue share they’d usually make on videos without any music. And for creators who don’t want to buy a license up front, they’ll be able to use songs and share revenue with the track’s artist and associated rights holders. Creator Music is currently in beta in the U.S. will expand to more countries in 2023.

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Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, said: “The YouTube Partner Program was revolutionary when we launched it back in 2007, and it’s still revolutionary today. Over the last three years, YouTube has paid creators, artists, and media companies more than $50 billion dollars. That $50 billion dollars has changed the lives of creators around the world and enabled new voices and stories to be told. But we’re not done yet. When we introduced the YouTube Partner Program, we made a big bet: we succeed only when our creators succeed. And today, we’re doubling down. We’re introducing the next chapter in how we reward creativity on our platform by expanding access to our YouTube Partner program.”

Neal Mohan, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer, said: “YouTube’s first-of-its-kind, industry-leading Partner Program changed the game for long-form video. And now we’re changing the game again, this time by opening it up to Short-form creators and introducing revenue sharing to Shorts. This is the first time revenue sharing is being offered for short-form video on any platform at scale, adding to the ways creators can already earn revenue on YouTube. It’ll be available to all of those in YPP — including the new, mobile-first creators, who will be joining the program for the first time.”

Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s Global Head of Music, said:  “Creator Music is the future. We're building the bridge between artists and creators on YouTube to elevate the soundtrack of the creator economy; it's a win-win-win for artists, songwriters, creators and fans. With Creator Music, artists have a new way to get their music out into the world; fans can now discover music they love on their favorite creator’s channels, and both creators and artists will have new revenue opportunities."

These creators and artists are using YouTube to lead the next wave of the creator economy and share how the announcements shared today will impact the broader ecosystem: 

Producer/DJ, Marshmello said: “As an artist, Creator Music gives us an opportunity to tap into YouTube’s massive creator community and reach new fans. I’ve built an incredible global audience on YouTube and Creator Music feels like one of the latest evolutions that makes it such a valuable place for my music and more importantly, my fans.”

YouTube creators, Colin and Samir said: “Over the last three years, YouTube has paid out $50 billion to over 2 million creators, artists and media companies. through its Partner Program – more than any other platform. That’s $45 million a day. $1.9 million an hour, $528 a second. Every second. For the last three years. Today’s announcements prove that YouTube is continuing to lead the way in its commitment to creators everywhere.”

Multiformat creator, Kallmekris, said: “So many creators find themselves having to choose between video formats to best serve their unique goals. From a business perspective, the key benefit of Shorts for me is that they help me pull people into my community. Whereas for longform, it brings in a lot more revenue. That’s why this news about the partner program coming to Shorts is so great. My work will be supported in much the same way, no matter the format. That need for a strategic trade-off - weighing up the pros and cons - will disappear.”