YouTube Partner Program Requirements 2027: The Entry Bar, the Shorts Pay Bar, and the Dates
- New applicants from 1 February 2027: 1,000 subscribers plus 8,000 qualified watch hours in 365 days, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days. Existing partners keep their status.
- A second Shorts number applies to everyone already inside: 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, checked each month, to earn from the Shorts Creator Pool and Premium. Miss it and long
- YouTube measures each month's 10 million against the 90 days ending on the 15th of the previous month. By our count, February 2027 Shorts pay is therefore decided by about 18 October 2026 to 15 Januar
- Accept the updated terms in YouTube Studio by 31 January 2027 or the linked earnings stop on 1 February, without removing you from YPP. Fan funding, Creator Partnerships and Shopping stay at 500 subsc
Here are the YouTube Partner Program requirements from 1 February 2027, taken from the two help pages we re-read on 29 September 2026. For new applicants: "8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days, or 20M qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, in addition to still needing 1k subscribers." For everyone already in the program: "If you are already in YPP, your status is not impacted by this update." The two numbers that get confused are the new-applicant Shorts bar (20 million) and a separate monthly bar for Shorts pay that applies to members (10 million). Neither one removes anybody from YPP.
The changes were first published on 10 August 2026 on the YouTube Official Blog, which called them "the first significant changes since 2018" and put the program at "over 3 million creators". Two dates carry the practical weight: 31 January 2027, the deadline to accept the updated terms in YouTube Studio, and 1 February 2027, when the thresholds change. If you are between 4,000 and 8,000 qualified hours today, the old bar is the one you are measured against until then.
What are the YouTube Partner Program requirements from February 2027?
Three tiers exist, and only one of them moved. The table is built from the eligibility page and the changes page, both read today.
| Tier | Until 31 January 2027 | From 1 February 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Ads and Premium revenue sharing (new applicants) | 1,000 subscribers + 4,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months, or 10M qualified Shorts views in 90 days | 1,000 subscribers + 8,000 qualified watch hours in 365 days, or 20M qualified Shorts views in 90 days |
| Fan funding, Creator Partnerships, Shopping | 500 subscribers + 3,000 qualified watch hours in a year, or 3M qualified Shorts views in 90 days | Unchanged |
| Shorts Creator Pool and Premium pay (members, each month) | No separate views floor | 10M qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days |
The current numbers are still on the YPP overview page, which also says a review "typically" takes about a month and that dropping below a threshold after applying does not matter while you wait. What YouTube has not said is how an application still pending on 1 February is judged. That gap is the reason not to file in the last week of January.
"Qualified" is doing a lot of work in every row. On 12 August 2026 YouTube published a definition: watch hours must come from public long-form videos or archived livestreams, and qualified Shorts views must be engaged views that do "not include any loops". The filtered number is usually well below Analytics; the mechanics are in what counts as a qualified Shorts view and what qualified watch hours are.
Why are 20 million and 10 million two different rules?
Because they sit in two different paragraphs of the same help page and apply to two different groups. The 20 million figure is under "Updating YPP ads & Premium entry thresholds" and is explicitly for "new creators". The 10 million figure is under "Shorts Earnings & Minimum Performance": "To earn each month from the Shorts Creator Pool, creators will now need to maintain 10M qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days. If you miss this threshold, you will not be removed from YPP and this will not impact other YPP earnings, including long-form video." The blog post adds that Shorts revenue sharing resumes "automatically" once a channel crosses 10 million again.
The confusion is not hypothetical. On 23 September 2026 a creator asked r/PartneredYoutube: "a few YouTubers are saying starting February 1st, 2027, even if you are IN the program, you need 20 million YouTube short views every 90 days to maintain your spot in the program for income. If you don't reach 20M, you don't get paid…. Is this INCORRECT? Or CORRECT?" The rumour merges the applicant number with the member rule, then inflates the consequence from "no Shorts share this month" to "no pay". Both replies corrected the figure to 10 million; one added that it affects Shorts revenue "specifically". Both match the help page. It is a three-comment thread from one creator: evidence that the mix-up exists, not a measure of how common it is.
Twenty million opens the door for a new channel. Ten million keeps the Shorts money flowing once you are inside. Neither number closes the door behind anyone.
YouTube's own framing of the 10 million floor came from Amjad Hanif, VP of creator product, in the Creator Insider explainer published on 10 August 2026. As transcribed by PPC Land the same day: "We had a case where if you had only a few thousand views, you might have a few cents for that month," and, on the whole package, "we still expect to pay more out next year to creators than we will this year." The blog post says creators "who already earn significant revenue from Shorts are unlikely to be impacted." We read that as YouTube's expectation, not a guarantee; no distribution of channels by 90-day views has been published.
When is the 10 million window measured?
Earlier than the rule's start date, and this is the detail most coverage skipped. The Shorts monetization policy page says: "Total views will be measured against this threshold over the 90 day period ending on the 15th day of the calendar month preceding the month for which earnings are being calculated." Count back 90 days from 15 January 2027 and February's Shorts pay is decided by views from about 18 October 2026 to 15 January 2027. That start date is our arithmetic, and the page does not say whether the 15th itself is included. What it does establish is that a Shorts channel's first month under the new rule is settled by what it does this autumn.
One wording point we cannot resolve from the page: the sentence before says "qualified Shorts views" and the sentence quoted above says "Total views". We read both as the qualified count, because the eligibility page uses only the qualified phrasing, but the two pages have not been reconciled. The pool mechanics are unchanged: each creator keeps 45% of the revenue allocated to them from the Creator Pool.
What else changes on 1 February 2027?
- Premium Lite expands to every country with Premium. Creators share a pool of 60% of net Premium Lite subscription revenue, against 30% for standard Premium.
- Targeted Shorts ads pay directly. When an advertiser targets five or fewer channels, "eligible creators can earn a direct 45% revenue share from those placements", on top of the pool. Whether "eligible" also requires the 10 million floor is not stated.
- A new definition of "active". Any one of: 1,000 qualified watch hours in 365 days, 1 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days, or two long-form uploads or five Shorts every 90 days, with a 90-day window to recover. Today's rule is blunter: monetization can be removed after six months without an upload or post.
- Everyone re-signs. Terms are accepted per module in Studio: Watch Page, Shorts, and where relevant the Commerce Product Module. Not signing by 31 January stops the linked earnings from 1 February; the FAQ says your "decision to accept these terms does not impact your channel's status". MCN-owned channels are signed by the MCN; affiliate channels sign for themselves and can catch up late.
What should you do before 1 February 2027?
Between 4,000 and 8,000 qualified hours, or near 10 million qualified Shorts views, and not yet in YPP: the old bar is the target and the review takes about a month, so the working deadline is late December, not 31 January. Check the Earn tab rather than Analytics, because only the qualified count decides. Whether the Shorts route is realistic at all is worked through in is 20 million Shorts views reachable.
Already in YPP and earning from Shorts: sign the modules now, then look at your trailing 90-day qualified Shorts views as of mid-October. That figure, not February's, is what the first payout under the new rule uses. The month-by-month mechanics are in the 10 million Shorts views rule for members.
Far from either bar: the 500-subscriber tier did not move, and none of it is affected by the 2027 numbers.
If you run several channels, two things hold. Every threshold is per channel and nothing pools: three channels at 7 million qualified Shorts views each are three channels below the floor. And YouTube's spam policy says it applies to "coordinated networks of channels" and prohibits using automated tools to "churn out high volumes of similar content with minimal changes", so filling channels with variants of one video is the wrong response to a views floor. NoobClaw is one way to run the production side without that shortcut: it generates and publishes distinct content per YouTube channel from your own logged-in browser. It does not change what YouTube counts for any single channel; only what each channel publishes, and how viewers respond, moves the qualified number.
FAQ
Do I need 20 million Shorts views to stay in the YouTube Partner Program?
No. The 20 million figure is the Shorts route for new applicants from 1 February 2027. Existing partners' status "is not impacted by this update". Members have a different number: 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days to earn from the Shorts Creator Pool each month, and missing it does not remove you from YPP.
Does the 10 million monthly gate apply to channels already in YPP?
Yes, to every channel that earns from Shorts, from 1 February 2027. Long-form ad revenue, memberships and other YPP earnings continue if you fall below it, and Shorts revenue sharing resumes automatically once you cross 10 million again.
What happens if I don't accept the new terms by 31 January 2027?
You stay in YPP but stop earning from the modules you did not accept, starting 1 February 2027. Accepting them later in YouTube Studio restores access.
Sources
- Changes to the YouTube Partner Program — YouTube Help (answer 12843009) — read 29 September 2026 — support.google.com/youtube/answer/12843009
- YouTube Shorts monetization policies — YouTube Help (answer 12504220) — read 29 September 2026 — support.google.com/youtube/answer/12504220
- YouTube Partner Program overview & eligibility — YouTube Help (answer 72851) — read 29 September 2026 — support.google.com/youtube/answer/72851
- New opportunities to earn and changes to the YouTube Partner Program — YouTube Official Blog — 10 August 2026 — blog.youtube/news-and-events/youtube-partner-program-updates-2027-new-opportunities-earn/
- What are qualified watch hours and Shorts views for the YouTube Partner Program? — YouTube Official Blog (Rene Ritchie) — 12 August 2026 — blog.youtube/news-and-events/youtube-monetization-qualified-watch-hours-shorts-views/
- YouTube Partner Program Changes - Explained! (Amjad Hanif with Rene Ritchie) — Creator Insider, YouTube — 10 August 2026 — youtube.com/watch?v=BozYSBSLIp0
- YouTube VP cites 'a few cents' to justify 10 million Shorts view floor — PPC Land — 10 August 2026 — ppc.land/youtube-vp-cites-a-few-cents-to-justify-10-million-shorts-view-floor/
- Cross referencing - YouTube shorts Monetization 2027 (community thread) — r/PartneredYoutube — 23 September 2026 — reddit.com/r/PartneredYoutube/comments/1wokm0g/
- Spam, deceptive practices & scams policies — YouTube Help (answer 2801973) — read 29 September 2026 — support.google.com/youtube/answer/2801973