YouTube doubles monetisation thresholds, raising concerns over who gets left behind

YouTube has announced its biggest creator monetisation changes since 2018, doubling the thresholds new joiners must hit to earn ad and subscription revenue, as industry figures warn the move could squeeze the creator "middle class" and make it harder for the next generation of kids' creators to break through.

From 1 February 2027, new creators will need 1,000 subscribers and must meet one of two higher thresholds before they can start earning ad and YouTube Premium revenue.

For long-form video, the requirement will rise from 4,000 to 8,000 watch hours in the past year.

For Shorts, the threshold is also doubling, from 10 million to 20 million views in the past 90 days.

Those already eligible for ad and Premium revenue sharing will not have to meet the new entry thresholds.

There's a second, separate change for Shorts. Regardless of how they initially qualify for ad revenue sharing, creators will need 10 million Shorts views every 90 days to keep earning ad and subscription revenue from the format. If they fall below that threshold, Shorts revenue sharing pauses until they cross 10 million again, although they can continue earning from eligible long-form content.

YouTube billed the overhaul as necessary to ensure those who qualify are earning enough for the payments to be meaningful. 

Speaking about the changes, Amjad Hanif, who leads YouTube's Creator Product Team, said the company had seen cases where channels with only a few thousand Shorts views earned just "a few cents" in a month.

"We'd like to design the program in a way where it rewards creators who are leaned in, who are driving views and engagement," he said.

Hanif added that the new incentive programmes could include bonuses for continuing to upload, using YouTube Shopping or securing brand deals.

YouTube said it expects to pay creators more in 2027 than it did in 2026.

Who can afford the longer road to monetisation?

But some in the creator economy question whether "meaningful" earnings should come at the cost of a higher barrier to accessing them.

Murphy Hopkins-Hubbard, founder of creator standards platform Stamp, told The Daily Influence the risk is not necessarily that under-resourced creators will never reach the new thresholds, but what it takes to get there.

"Someone with savings, family support, an agency, or a network that cross-promotes them can cop this with ease; someone filming on their phone between shifts has to sacrifice much more, and at what personal cost?" she said. "When the finish line moves further out, the people who drop out first are the ones who couldn't afford to work for free in the first place... privilege is the first word that comes to mind."

She was also sceptical of the new recurring Shorts threshold specifically.

"The Shorts requirement is now recurring, not a one-time unlock," she said. "That turns Shorts income into something conditional and volatile. Anyone building a business model on stable Shorts ad revenue is basically building on sand."

Author and creator Sophia Smith Galer called the changes "one of the most unethical platform moves I've seen in a long time" in a LinkedIn post.

On the new recurring Shorts requirement, she said 10 million views in 90 days is "a viewcount that's practically impossible without team support, which most creators cannot afford."

Is the new bar really that high?

Others read the changes differently. Tobias Hoss, a creator economy advisor and former chief business officer of Lunar X, told The Daily Influence the higher long-form threshold mostly rewards consistency rather than punishing newcomers.

"8,000 watch hours over a year averages out to roughly 22 hours of daily watch time. You get there through steady output and a real audience, not budget or connections," he said. "Creators with resources were already clearing the old threshold comfortably."

Comedy creator and entrepreneur Niall MacMillan struck a similar note on LinkedIn.

"I don't think the long form parameters are too unreasonable tbh... if you're hitting 4,000 watch hours, you're likely consistent enough to be able to hit 8,000 soon enough," he wrote.

He was more critical of the Shorts change, calling it "wild" and suggesting YouTube "tier the incentives" so those building towards the higher threshold can still earn along the way.

A harder squeeze for kids' creators

Some of the sharpest concerns came from those working in children's content, where channels already operate under tighter monetisation restrictions.

Jo Redfern, SVP Digital at children's IP company Coolabi, told The Daily Influence that YouTube's approach could make sense as it tries to solidify its position as "the new TV", but warned it could have unintended consequences for emerging talent.

"In making the on-ramp for new creators tougher it prioritises established talent who already have large audiences, and, in theory, discourages low value or sloplike content," she said.

"However, for the already challenged kids creator space who already face restriction on monetisation due to regulation, it makes it even harder."

Redfern said she worried the result could be fewer breakout children's creators in the future.

"We won't see a new Danny Go! or new Ms Rachel if kids creators perceive the barrier to entry as now being too high," she said. "And there are some passionate, brilliant creators out there."

Meanwhile, Emily Horgan, a YouTube and streaming specialist, told The Daily Influence the kids' content economy on YouTube had been "broken... for the past six years since COPPA," referring to changes YouTube made to children's content following a settlement under the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Those changes restricted personalised advertising on content made for children, limiting a key source of revenue.

Horgan described the latest changes as "another blow, particularly for small indie creators."

She said established studios would likely weather the changes or use their existing networks to launch new IP, while "smaller, cottage industry creators, the ones who were once the beating heart of what made YouTube special, will struggle."