YouTube Monetization Requirements in 2026 (Full Breakdown)
1,000 subscribers plus watch hours or Shorts views. Here's the full 2026 breakdown and how to get there faster.
To earn money from ads, you join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). The bar in 2026 is clear — the hard part is reaching it.
The requirements
- 1,000 subscribers, and
- 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months, or
- 10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days.
- Plus: follow the monetization policies, live in an eligible country, and have 2-step verification on.
What counts (and what doesn't)
Watch time from public, long-form videos counts. Private/unlisted videos, deleted videos and ads-watch-time don't. Shorts have their own view threshold. Once you apply, a human-plus-automated review checks your channel against the rules.
🎁 Free resource
Our monetization tracker: subscribers ___/1,000 · watch hours ___/4,000 · months of runway ___. Update it weekly — seeing the gap close is the best motivation there is.
How to hit the bar faster
Two numbers move together: subscribers and watch hours. Longer videos with strong retention bank hours quickly; a visible subscriber count makes new viewers more likely to subscribe (social proof is real). Many creators stall just short of the threshold — a credible base can be the nudge that gets the flywheel turning.
Close the gap to monetization
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Explore YouTube growthYouTube Watch Hours
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