If you’ve been thinking about starting a YouTube channel to chase ad revenue, the bar just got a lot higher. Starting February 1, 2027, YouTube is overhauling its Partner Program (YPP) requirements — the first major change since 2018 — and creators on both sides of the threshold need to pay attention.

What’s Changing for New Creators

The entry requirements are effectively doubling. Under the current system, new applicants need 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 watch hours in a year or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days. From February 2027, that jumps significantly.

Requirement	Current (2026)	New (Feb 2027)
Subscribers	1,000	1,000 (unchanged)
Public Watch Hours (365 days)	4,000	8,000
OR Qualified Shorts Views (90 days)	10 million	20 million

Existing YPP members are grandfathered in and won’t lose their status under these new entry rules — but they do need to review and accept updated terms inside YouTube Studio before January 31, 2027, to keep earning.

A New Minimum Bar for Shorts Revenue

Here’s the part that affects creators already in the program. Starting the same date, every YPP channel will need to maintain 10 million qualified Shorts views over the trailing 90 days to keep earning Shorts ad revenue and subscription revenue sharing.

Fall below that number, and a channel doesn’t get kicked out of YPP — it simply pauses on Shorts earnings while continuing to earn normally from long-form videos. Cross back above 10 million views again, and Shorts revenue sharing resumes automatically. It’s a rolling threshold, not a one-time gate.

Premium Lite Expands Globally

To soften the blow of the higher bar, YouTube is expanding Premium Lite — its cheaper, ad-light subscription tier — to every country where standard Premium is currently available. Revenue from Premium Lite subscriptions feeds directly into creator payouts: 60% of net Premium Lite subscription revenue goes into the creator pool, split 55% toward long-form content and 45% toward Shorts, based on watch time and views.

YouTube frames the wider Premium Lite rollout as a way to grow the overall revenue pie even as the entry bar rises, pointing to its own scale — over 200 billion daily Shorts views and more than a billion daily hours of connected-TV watch time — as the reasoning behind the reset.

Why This Matters

For aspiring creators, the message is clear: consistency and watch-time depth now matter more than a quick viral Shorts spike. Twenty million Shorts views in 90 days is a serious volume requirement, and 8,000 watch hours demands sustained, engaged viewership rather than one breakout video. You can read YouTube’s full announcement directly on the official YouTube Blog.

For more on how creator platforms are evolving, check out TechnoSports’ coverage of YouTube Shorts trends and the broader creator economy landscape shaping 2026 and beyond.

Bottom Line

YouTube is raising the entry bar sharply while protecting existing creators and expanding new subscription revenue streams to offset the change. If you’re planning to start a channel with monetization in mind, treat 2027’s thresholds as the real target — not today’s numbers.

Source: YouTube Blog (official)