YouTube Monetization Requirements

To earn ad revenue you need 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months, or 10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days. You also need to live in a country where the YouTube Partner Program is available, have no active Community Guidelines strikes, and have 2-Step Verification enabled with an AdSense account linked.

There is also a lower tier that unlocks fan funding — memberships, Super Thanks, Super Chat — before you reach the ad-revenue threshold: 500 subscribers, 3 public uploads in the last 90 days, and either 3,000 valid public watch hours in 12 months or 3 million valid public Shorts views in 90 days.

Thresholds and availability change, and not every feature exists in every country. Treat this page as orientation and YouTube's own eligibility page as the authority.

The full monetization criteria

The requirements for YouTube monetization are not only the subscriber and watch-hour numbers. The complete criteria, all of which must hold:

• The subscriber and watch-hour (or Shorts view) thresholds above.
• You live in a country or region where the YouTube Partner Program is available.
• No active Community Guidelines strikes on the channel.
• 2-Step Verification enabled on the Google account.
• An AdSense account linked, and only one per person.
• Content that follows the advertiser-friendly content guidelines and is not reused from elsewhere without original commentary.

"Valid public" excludes more than people expect

This phrase is where most confusion about a stalled counter comes from. Watch time only counts when it is both valid and public:

• Private and unlisted videos don't count. Neither does watch time on a video you later set to private.
• Deleted videos take their watch time with them. If you clear out old uploads, your 12-month total drops.
• Invalid traffic doesn't count. Bought views, bot traffic, autoplay farms — YouTube filters these, which is the main reason buying watch hours doesn't work. It also risks the channel outright.
• Ads-disabled watch time still counts toward the threshold.
• Live stream watch time counts if the stream stays public afterwards.

The watch-hours window is rolling, not cumulative. Hours from 13 months ago have expired. A channel that hit 3,800 hours and then stopped uploading will watch that number fall.

How to check where you stand

For your own channel there is exactly one accurate source: YouTube Studio → Earn. It shows both thresholds with live progress bars, and it applies YouTube's own definition of valid public watch time — which no third-party estimate can replicate.

Analytics → Overview, with the date range set to the last 365 days, gives you the watch-hours number directly if you'd rather see the raw figure.

You cannot check whether another channel is monetized. That status isn't public. Tools claiming to check it are inferring from signals like whether ads appeared for them, which is unreliable — ad delivery varies by viewer, region and advertiser demand. Be sceptical of any tool that reports it as a fact.

Watch hours or Shorts views — which route

You need one, not both, and they're very different bets.

4,000 watch hours is 240,000 minutes. At an average view duration of 4 minutes that's 60,000 views — but on long-form, where those views also build a subscriber base that keeps returning. It's slower and compounds.

10 million Shorts views in 90 days is a much larger number and a much shorter window. Shorts can deliver it fast if something catches, but Shorts viewers subscribe at lower rates and Shorts revenue per view is a fraction of long-form. Reaching the threshold this way gets you into the programme; it doesn't get you the same income.

For most channels the long-form route is the better use of the same effort, with Shorts used for discovery rather than as the primary path.

What actually happens after you qualify

Meeting the thresholds gets you into a review queue, not straight into revenue. YouTube reviews the channel against its monetization policies — typically within about a month, sometimes longer. Reused content, minimal original commentary and policy issues are the usual rejection reasons, and you can reapply after 30 days.

Once accepted, what you earn per 1,000 views depends on audience geography and topic far more than on view count. That's a separate subject, covered in how much YouTube pays per 1,000 views.

How to turn on monetization once you qualify

Meeting the criteria does not switch anything on by itself. The steps:

1. YouTube Studio → Earn. When you cross a threshold the Apply button becomes active.
2. Accept the YouTube Partner Program terms.
3. Link or create an AdSense account. One AdSense account can serve several channels; a second one for the same person will be rejected.
4. Wait for review. Typically around a month.
5. Choose what to monetize. After acceptance you pick ad formats per video and can enable fan-funding features separately.

2-Step Verification has to be on before any of this works, and the channel needs no active Community Guidelines strikes.

Monetization methods beyond ads

Ad revenue is the one with thresholds attached, and for many working channels it is the smaller half of the income. The full set of methods YouTube itself offers:

• Ad revenue — the 1,000 subscriber tier.
• Channel memberships — recurring payment for perks.
• Super Thanks, Super Chat and Super Stickers — one-off viewer payments, available from the 500 subscriber tier.
• YouTube Premium revenue — a share of subscription fees from Premium members who watch you, paid regardless of whether ads ran.
• Shopping — product tagging, where available.

Off-platform, sponsorships and affiliate links have no threshold at all and no revenue share, which is why plenty of channels earn before they are accepted into the programme. A monetization strategy worth the name treats ad revenue as one line among several rather than the goal.

What not to do

• Don't buy watch hours or subscribers. It's filtered as invalid traffic, so it doesn't count toward the threshold, and it puts the channel at risk. The services selling it know this.
• Don't delete old videos while chasing the threshold. You'd be removing watch time from your own 12-month total.
• Don't set videos to unlisted to "clean up" the channel mid-push. Same problem.
• Don't pad videos to farm watch time. Retention drops, distribution drops, and you end up with fewer hours than a shorter, tighter video would have earned.

FAQ

What are the YouTube monetization requirements?

1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 valid public watch hours in 12 months, or 1,000 subscribers plus 10 million valid public Shorts views in 90 days. You also need to be in an eligible country, have no active Community Guidelines strikes, enable 2-Step Verification and link an AdSense account.

How do I check my monetization progress?

YouTube Studio → Earn shows live progress against both thresholds using YouTube's own definition of valid public watch time. It's the only accurate source.

Can I check whether another channel is monetized?

No. That status is private. Tools claiming otherwise are guessing from whether ads showed for them, which varies by viewer and region.

Do watch hours expire?

Yes. The requirement is 4,000 hours within the previous 12 months, on a rolling basis. Older hours drop off, so a channel that stops publishing can fall back below the threshold.

Does Shorts watch time count toward the 4,000 hours?

No. Shorts have their own separate threshold of 10 million views in 90 days. The two routes don't combine — you qualify through one or the other.

How long does the review take after I apply?

Usually around a month, though it varies. If you're rejected you can reapply after 30 days; the common causes are reused content and insufficient original commentary.

Next steps

• Check any channel's public subscriber and view numbers with Channel Statistics.
• Estimate what a channel of a given size earns: how much YouTube pays per 1,000 views.
• Watch hours come from retention, and retention starts with the right topic — see YouTube SEO.