YouTube has finally rolled out its long-awaited revenue sharing program for Shorts. On Monday, the company unveiled a new Partner Program agreement ahead of February 1st, when creators can begin earning ad share revenue on their Shorts views. All creators must accept the new terms by July 10 to remain in the program.
Under the new revenue sharing model, creators will earn money from ads viewed between videos in the Shorts feed. YouTube expects that the majority of Shorts fund recipients will earn more under the new model.
To take part in the Partner Program, creators must have at least 1,000 subscribers, over 10 million views on Shorts over the last 90 days, and accept the new “Shorts Monetization Module.” These modules will give creators even more flexibility over how they earn money on the platform by allowing them to choose which modules they want to use. However, for maximum earnings, YouTube recommends enabling all modules.
Impact of Music Licensing on YouTube’s Shorts Revenue Sharing Program
Music licensing will play a big role in determining how much money a creator can make on YouTube Shorts. The revenue generated from ads viewed before a Short will be distributed between music licensing companies and creators through a shared pool, which YouTube will distribute at the end of each month. However, the amount of money that goes towards the creator pool depends on the number of musical tracks featured in the Shorts. For example, if a Short has no music, all the revenue will go towards the creator pool. But if the Short has one song, one-third of the revenue will go towards licensing. And if the Short has two songs, two-thirds of the revenue will go towards licensing.
Once the revenue has been distributed, YouTube will then determine how to distribute the creator fund based on a creator’s share of total Shorts views. For example, if your videos accounted for 5% of all eligible Shorts views in your country for February, you would then get 5% of the money in the fund, whether you used licensed music in your Shorts or not. Creators will receive 45% of the allocated Shorts revenue, with YouTube taking 55% as a cut.
Non-original Shorts ineligible for revenue sharing
It’s important to note that non-original Shorts, such as unedited clips from movies or TV shows, re-uploaded content from other creators on YouTube or another platform, or compilations with no original content added, will not be eligible for revenue sharing. Additionally, Shorts that receive artificial or fake views, such as from automated clicks or scroll bots, will also not be eligible for revenue sharing.