- There are two huge pain points
all small YouTube channels face.
1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time.
But in a massive YouTube monetization update,
all of this could become a thing of the past.
Yeah, I thought that'd get your attention.
The source of all of this information
comes from a New York Times article,
which I will link to in the description
just below the like button,
and is a fascinating development in itself.
I can't remember the last time
I got information like this about YouTube
that wasn't directly released by YouTube themselves,
so consider this a fairly big and unprecedented leak,
which also means it might not all be true.
But there is a lot to get through, so hold onto your hats.
So this dude at YouTube,
who now knows that I've checked him out on LinkedIn,
is calling this "The largest expansion
"YouTube have done in several years,
"creating new ways for creators
"to join the Partner Program."
And that's because we're not just
talking about long form content.
Monetization is also coming to YouTube Shorts.
And make sure to stick around until the end of this video
to find out when all of this is rumored to kick off.
In audio obtained from a YouTube all-hands meeting,
the New York Times say, and I quote,
that "YouTube plan on lowering the barriers
"to entry for its Partner Program."
Now, quick history lesson.
There used to be a time when the requirements
for YouTube monetization were very simple and very easy.
10,000 views, that's all you needed.
But then along came the YouTube ad pockets of 2018,
and that ramped up all of the requirements
to 1,000 subscribers, 4,000 hours of watch time,
which is where we find ourselves today.
However, TikTok has been taking
huge slices of the market share,
as well as creating a whole new short form
vertical viewing video experience.
So YouTube needs to offer something very enticing,
especially to new creators,
to help them start making money quicker.
And the easiest way to do that is by lowering requirements.
- Uh, fellas?
(audience laughing)
- Let's say, for example, and this is purely speculation,
YouTube halves all of their requirements.
500 subscribers, 2,000 hours of watch time.
That would open up the YouTube Partner Program
to hundreds of thousands of creators.
Or maybe it'll have nothing to do at all
with subscribers or watch time.
Simply don't know.
But if YouTube are going to lower the requirements,
what do you think they're gonna do?
Let us know when the comments below.
Also, you have to consider that if more creators
are eligible through simple channel milestones,
YouTube is likely going to have to rely
more on the stuff it's not quite as clear cut.
Don't be surprised, for example,
if YouTube introduced self certification for videos
before you're even in the YouTube Partner Program.
I'm just speculating here, but remember,
YouTube does still need to protect its platform,
viewers, creators, advertisers.
And if monetization requirements are reduced,
that's gonna invite more bad actors onto a platform as well.
Next up, shorts.
This part of the YouTube platform
already has 1.5 billion users.
Clearly, there's revenue to be made.
So get ready for a good news, bad news, good news sandwich.
- This is the greatest sandwich in the world.
- You've likely already seen ads popping up
while you're watching shorts, but until now,
they haven't been directly related to creators' revenue.
Instead, creators have had to endure this weird shorts fund
where they might earn a couple of hundred dollars
for tens of millions of views, but it was never guaranteed.
Now, the New York Times article suggested
the traditional ad revenue structure
that we all know and understand is coming to shorts,
with one quite expensive difference.
So currently, with long form content,
the creator gets a 55% split of the ad revenue.
But with shorts, that split is gonna lower to 45%.
While this may look like
a greedy, cynical cash grab from YouTube,
the more likely reason is because there is now
a third player in this revenue split, music labels.
You can already add popular music and sound to shorts
without getting any copyright claims,
but what YouTube is now saying
is that you can earn ad revenue on top of this.
And if you do wanna check out,
what is the top trending music and sound effects
on both TikTok and YouTube?
Yeah, check out our app.
VidIQ Viral curates trending sounds
by location, topic, artist,
and notifies you when new sounds are trending
so you can act fast.
It's free to download for both Android and iOS now.
Our man from LinkedIn says that the payments
will "really help creators understand
"why YouTube is the place to start their shorts career,"
which is code for "TikTok,
"we're coming after your creators."
And all of this leaves us with one remaining question.
When is this all going to happen?
Well, the rumor is as early as tomorrow.
Now, I wouldn't imagine anything to change immediately,
but YouTube will likely announce timelines.
Unless, of course, this is all just rumor and innuendo,
or this leak forces YouTube to back off
and change its plans.
But whatever happens, I've got an unusual request.
I haven't asked anybody to subscribe to the vidIQ channel
for almost two years, but if you do wanna stay up to date
with all of these monetization changes,
yeah, I think you need to subscribe
and turn on the notification bell.
I can't believe I said that.
And if you want a five-minute
explainer guide on monetization,
whether it's the old system or the new system,
check out this video over here.
- What's more important, your friends or money?
(overlapping voices)