YouTube is raising the eligibility requirements for YouTubers seeking to earn money on the platform, in a move that will make it harder for new content creators and musicians to qualify for monetisation from February 2027.
Under the revised rules for the YouTube Partner Programme (YPP), new applicants will need 1,000 subscribers and either 8,000 valid public watch hours over the previous 12 months, or 20 million valid public Shorts views within 90 days to access full monetisation.
Shorts are YouTube’s short-form vertical videos, comparable to TikTok clips or Instagram Reels. A separate 10 million-view threshold will remain in place for creators already eligible for the Shorts revenue pool.
The new thresholds roughly double the current entry requirements, which stand at 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 public watch hours in 12 months or 10 million valid Shorts views in 90 days.
They mark the platform’s first major overhaul of its monetisation entry criteria since 2018, when YouTube moved away from a flat 10,000 total channel views requirement to the model it has used since.
The changes take effect on February 1, 2027, and creators already inside the monetisation programme will be required to accept the new terms by January 31, 2027, to keep earning.
YouTube, which counts more than three million creators globally, says the tightening reflects how dramatically the platform has grown. The company points to more than 200 billion Shorts views generated daily and over a billion hours of YouTube content watched on television screens each day as evidence that its eligibility bar needed to keep pace.
Alphabet, YouTube’s parent company, reported close to $9.9 billion in YouTube advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2026 alone, underlining the scale of the revenue pool creators are competing to access.
The tighter rules arrive even as YouTube continues to widen the ways creators can earn beyond straightforward advertising, including in Kenya. In 2023, the platform lowered some entry thresholds to let smaller creators access features such as channel memberships, which let viewers pay a monthly fee for exclusive perks, and Super Thanks, which allows one-off viewer payments to support creators.
Digital marketing strategist Egline Samoei says the changes underline the risk of building a business on platforms creators do not themselves control.
“You may spend years building a loyal audience on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or another platform, but the platform still decides the monetisation model and revenue-sharing rules. These rules can change,” she says.
This comes shortly after X made a similar change, saying days earlier that it would scrap its existing creator revenue-sharing programme in favour of a new system placing greater weight on rewarding original content.
YouTube does not publish its total global payouts, and how much individual creators earn varies widely depending on content type, audience size, views and location. The platform pays creators 55 per cent of advertising revenue generated from long-form videos, and allocates 45 per cent of Shorts advertising revenue to creators.
The scale of what is possible at the very top of the platform was illustrated by Forbes’ 2026 Top Creators report, which estimated that American creator Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, earned $300 million (about Sh39 billion) in 2026, making him the world’s highest-paid digital creator.
YouTube maintains the changes will ultimately benefit creators financially.
“With these additional subscribers, creators can expect higher earnings. When a user signs up for Premium, partners, on average, earn more than when the user was watching ads. In fact, we expect to pay even more to creators in 2027 than we did in 2026,” the company said.
For Kenyan musicians in particular, the higher thresholds could carry real weight. YouTube has become a key platform for artistes releasing new music and building audiences, and the tougher entry requirements may make it harder for emerging musicians starting new channels from scratch to reach monetisation.
The broader shift also points to YouTube trying to reduce how dependent creator income is on advertising alone.
“We’re broadening revenue opportunities for creators to reward growth, engagement, and more by introducing new incentive programmes, rather than relying solely on ad revenue,” the company said.
