YouTube Shorts Monetization: Guidelines, Eligibility, Revenue & Stats

The evolution of videos has seen different forms of video content and the current era has its own form of video content and it is the “shorts‘ ‘.

The attention span of the audience and the thirst to consume content as quickly as possible has drawn audiences to consume content in a short format.

What is YouTube Shorts?

YouTube has introduced it’s very own short-form video content and it is known as the “YouTube SHORTS”. A typical shorts is less than 60 secs of video consumed by the viewers.

When was YouTube Shorts invented?

The rivalry of tik tok, YouTube shorts was initiated on July 13, 2021 in the United States and was launched in 100 plus countries. YouTube shorts on a quick note surpassed  6.5 billion daily views on its initial days and spread across the globe.

YouTube Shorts fund

“We’re introducing the YouTube Shorts Fund, a $100M fund distributed from 2022 to 2023”.

–Amy Singer (Director, Global Partnership Enablement for YouTube Shorts)

YouTube brought in the YouTube shorts fund for YouTube shorts creators as a payback for the contribution creators brings to the YouTube community.

How YT Shorts Fund works?

YouTube will reach out to the content creators with the most engagement and views and rewards.

It also states that the shorts fund is not just for participants but creators with original content can participate adhering to the community guidelines.

YouTube Shorts Monetization

The bigger question here is can you monetize YouTube shorts, yes AVOD option is available for creators to monetize shorts content. And there are certain rules to be followed to monetize your shorts, before that join the YouTube partner program and apply for monetizing your content using your YouTube account. 

YouTube Partner Program Eligibility for Shorts

Rule 1:  Your channel should have 1000 subscribers with 10M valid public short views or 1000 subscribers with 4000 public watch hours from the last 12 months.

Rule 2: Repetitive or replica of other content creator shorts will not be validated for monetization.

Rule 3: Bot views and copyrights issues from movies and songs are strictly watched over for monetizing shorts.

YouTube Shorts bonus points:

To monetize your content and to generate revenue, brands and sponsorship are a great way, because all you need is dedicated viewers and an active fan base. This also applies for faceless YouTube channels, where your content’s quality and the strong engagement of your audience are key to attracting potential sponsors.

Advertiser-friendly Guidelines

YouTube has strict guidelines and policies against violators and we have listed the list of violations to be avoided in the lists below:

• Inappropriate language
• Violence
• Adult content
• Shocking content
• Harmful or dangerous acts
• Hateful & derogatory content
• Recreational drugs and drug-related content
• Firearms-related content
• Controversial issues
• Sensitive events
• Enabling dishonest behavior
• Inappropriate content for kids and families
• Incendiary and demeaning
• Tobacco-related content

YouTube Shorts Earnings & Revenue

Ad revenue is one of the major sources for YouTube shorts and creators who agree to the terms and conditions of the monetization module will generate revenue from YouTube shorts.

How it works:

Pool shorts ad revenue: on a monthly basis revenue from ads in between the shorts gets added up and rewarded to the creator

The creator pool is based on the views and music used in the content.

Apart from these if you use music tracks from third parties then the revenue is distributed into the following.

If two music tracks are used 66% of revenue goes to the music owner and 33% goes to the content owner and if a single track is used the revenue is divided into two equal halves. If there is zero music track then the entire revenue goes to the creator.

The Past, and Present Statistics of YT Shorts

• From 2023 YT shorts made 30 billion views and In 2024, YouTube Shorts made around 50 billion daily views.

• In research, YouTube Shorts marks a whopping 1.5 billion monthly active users with a growth percentage of 135% between 2022 and 2023.
• According to YouTube statistics, there were 826 million shorts available from 46 million channels in February 2024.
• There are approximately 30 million new Shorts added to YouTube every month. Each month, there are about 1 million more channels.
• YouTube has multiple revenue streams like The YouTube partner program, super chat, YouTube brand connect super stickers, merchandising, super thanks, events, channel memberships, and YouTube Premium.

Note from YouTube

Things not included in the creator pool,

Creator’s pool has a specific set of rules for revenue generation, and they are 

• Creators who didn’t accept the shorts monetization module aren’t eligible for the revenue for shorts; creators should accept the YouTube shorts policies, or else YouTube will retain the revenue.
• Revenue that is brought in with views of Shorts uploaded by music partners is not included in the creator’s pool.
• Revenue is generated by the ads shown before the opening of the Shorts feed (e.g., the YouTube Shorts Masthead). It is not included in the creator’s pool.
• Revenue generated on the navigational pages within the Shorts player will not be included in the revenue generated.

Hypothetical example

As a monetizing creator, let’s say you upload a Short that uses 1 music track. Here’s how we’d calculate what your Short earns in Country A this month.

• There are 100 million total Shorts views in Country A, and all views are on Shorts uploaded by monetizing creators.
• $100,000 is earned from ads that play between Shorts in the Shorts Feed.
• 20% of these Shorts use 1 music track, so the Creator Pool is $90,000 and $10,000 is used to cover the costs of music licensing.
• Your Short is viewed 1 million times, so you are allocated 1% of the Creator Pool, or $900. Your allocation from the Creator Pool is not affected by your use of a music track.
• The 45% revenue share is then applied to your allocation, and you earn $405 for your Shorts views in Country A.

Conclusion:

In the ever-evolving world of the internet, video consumption has become an unavoidable and irresistible force. As a business owner and a content creator, finding the right space for your video content is your key task, because all your efforts need recognition and revenue. To find the right youtube alternative platform for your business needs click here.

Frequently Asked Questions