YouTube Partner Program Requirements: Both Tiers, Explained
By SocialGrovv Editorial · Published
Ad revenue needs 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 qualified public watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. A lower tier for fan funding needs 500 subscribers, 3 uploads in 90 days, and 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views. YouTube reviews every application.
Partner Program thresholds (checked on YouTube Help, 2026-10-20)
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Ad revenue, long-form route | 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 qualified public watch hours in the last 12 months |
| Ad revenue, Shorts route | 1,000 subscribers and 10 million qualified public Shorts views in the last 90 days |
| Fan funding tier, long-form route | 500 subscribers, 3 valid public uploads in 90 days, 3,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months |
| Fan funding tier, Shorts route | 500 subscribers, 3 valid public uploads in 90 days, 3 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days |
| Does not count toward watch hours | Private, unlisted or deleted videos, ad campaigns, Shorts, and livestreams not kept as public videos |
| Account checks | 2-Step Verification, advanced features, one linked AdSense account, no active strikes, an eligible country |
| Review | Typically about a month. Meeting the numbers does not guarantee approval |
| Coming up | Updated Partner Program terms start February 1, 2027. Accept them in YouTube Studio by January 31, 2027 |
What are the two Partner Program tiers?
YouTube runs the Partner Program as two levels with different entry numbers. Both levels have to follow the same channel monetization policies.
The lower level is described on YouTube's expanded Partner Program page. It unlocks fan funding and Shopping: channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks, and Shopping features. It does not unlock ads on your videos. It is also not open in every country, so check the list on that page.
The higher level is the one most people mean by "getting monetized." It adds a share of ad revenue on the watch page, revenue from the Shorts feed, and YouTube Premium revenue. Its numbers are on the main eligibility page.
A channel can enter at the lower level and move up later, or skip straight to the higher level once it qualifies.
What are the exact thresholds right now?
As checked on YouTube Help on 2026-10-20:
For ad revenue, you need 1,000 subscribers and one of two things. Either 4,000 qualified public watch hours in the last 12 months, or 10 million qualified public Shorts views in the last 90 days.
For the fan funding level, you need 500 subscribers, 3 valid public uploads in the last 90 days, and one of two things. Either 3,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months, or 3 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.
The windows are rolling. Watch hours older than 12 months drop off. Shorts views older than 90 days drop off. A channel can cross a threshold and then fall back under it if uploads stop.
YouTube edits these pages. If you are close to applying, open the two Help pages on the day you apply and use the numbers you see there, not a screenshot from a forum.
What does not count toward watch hours and Shorts views?
The word "qualified" carries a lot of weight. According to YouTube, these do not count toward the 4,000 watch hours: private, unlisted or deleted videos, ad campaigns, Shorts, and livestreams that are unlisted, deleted, or not kept as a public video.
For the Shorts route, views from private, unlisted or deleted Shorts, ad campaigns, and image posts in the Shorts feed do not count.
Two practical consequences follow. First, deleting old uploads deletes their watch hours too, so think twice before cleaning up a back catalog while you are under the line. Second, the two routes do not combine. Ten thousand hours of Shorts viewing does nothing for the long-form route, and long-form watch time does nothing for the Shorts route.
This is why many faceless channels pair the formats on purpose. Shorts help people find the channel. Long-form videos, eight minutes and up, are what build the watch hours. Our guide to long-form vs Shorts for growth covers how to split them.
What account settings do you need before applying?
Numbers are only half of eligibility. YouTube's page also lists account requirements:
Turn on 2-Step Verification for the Google account that owns the channel. Get access to advanced features on YouTube, which is tied to channel history or ID verification. Link exactly one active AdSense for YouTube account. Have no active Community Guidelines strikes. Live in a country or region where the program is available.
Do these early. Advanced features and AdSense setup can take time, and none of it depends on your watch hours. A channel that hits 4,000 hours with 2-Step Verification still off has to stop and fix it before it can apply.
What happens in the review?
After you apply, YouTube reviews the channel against its monetization policies. YouTube says decisions typically arrive in about a month, and can take longer.
The review looks at the whole channel, not only your best video. The two sections faceless channels should read closely are reused content and inauthentic content. Reused content means other people's material without meaningful commentary or changes. Inauthentic content, renamed from "repetitious content" in July 2025, covers videos that look template-made or mass-produced. Our AI content policy guide goes through both.
Meeting the thresholds does not guarantee approval. A channel of 40 near-identical videos can pass every number and still fail the review.
What changes with the February 2027 terms update?
YouTube's eligibility page now carries a notice: updated Partner Program terms start February 1, 2027. Creators who are already partners need to review and accept the updated terms in YouTube Studio by January 31, 2027 to keep full monetization.
If you are already in the program, put a reminder in your calendar for January and read the terms when they appear in Studio. If you are not in yet, you will accept whichever terms are current when you apply.
We will update this article when the new terms are published in full. Until then, treat any blog post that tells you exactly what the new terms say as a guess.
Worked example: how long does 4,000 hours take?
Say you publish one 12-minute long-form video a week. That is 52 videos in a year. To reach 4,000 hours inside that 12-month window, the catalog needs about 77 hours of watch time per video on average.
That could be roughly 1,000 views each at 4 to 5 minutes of average viewing, or fewer views with better retention. In practice a few videos carry most of the hours and most of the catalog carries little. The arithmetic is ours, not YouTube's, and it is not a forecast for your channel.
What the arithmetic shows: retention moves the number as much as views do. A 12-minute video that keeps people for 6 minutes earns twice the hours of one that keeps them for 3. A steady schedule matters more than a burst of uploads, because the window rolls and old hours drop off.