To start making money on YouTube through the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), you need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 valid public watch hours in the past 12 months, or alternatively, 10 million valid public Shorts views in the past 90 days. Additionally, you must live in a country where YPP is available, have uploaded at least three public videos in the last 90 days, have an active AdSense account linked, enable two-step verification, and comply with YouTube’s monetization policies and community guidelines
. There is also a lower tier of monetization access that requires only 500 subscribers , three public videos in the last 90 days, and either 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views, which unlocks fan funding features like channel memberships and Super Chats but does not include revenue sharing from ads
. In summary:
- Full ad revenue monetization: 1,000 subscribers + 4,000 watch hours (or 10 million Shorts views)
- Partial monetization (fan funding tools): 500 subscribers + 3,000 watch hours (or 3 million Shorts views)
Earnings at 1,000 subscribers are modest and depend heavily on views and engagement, but this is the minimum threshold to start earning money from ads on YouTube
