If you've been grinding towards YouTube monetisation, the goalposts just moved. On 10 August 2026 YouTube announced the first significant changes to its Partner Program (YPP) since 2018, touching who gets in, how Shorts pay out and how subscription money is shared.

The headline for South African creators still on the outside: getting into the ad-revenue side of YPP is about to take twice the work. Here's the breakdown.

What changed

The entry bar doubles. New applicants will need 1,000 subscribers plus either 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Until now it was 4,000 watch hours or 10 million Shorts views.

Shorts revenue sharing gets its own threshold. To share in ad and subscription revenue from Shorts, a channel will need 10 million qualified Shorts views over the previous 90 days. Drop below that and you stay in YPP, your long-form videos keep earning, and Shorts payouts switch back on automatically once you're over the line again.

New incentives for smaller Shorts channels. For channels under the 10 million mark, YouTube says it will add milestone-based ways to earn: bonuses for YouTube Shopping, incentives for brand deals and earnings boosts for starting and growing trends. Details are still to come.

Premium Lite goes wide. The cheaper Premium Lite tier is expanding to every country where YouTube Premium is sold. Creators share a pool of 60% of net Premium Lite subscription revenue (30% for full Premium), split by member watch time and views. From that pool, creators get 55% on long-form and 45% on Shorts.

[W]e expect to pay even more to creators in 2027 than we did in 2026.

— YouTube, official blog

When it changes

The new rules kick in on 1 February 2027. Creators can review and sign the updated terms in YouTube Studio before then. That gives anyone close to the current bar a few months to get over it before it doubles.

Who is affected

  • Creators already in YPP (YouTube says there are more than three million) aren't affected by the higher entry requirements.
  • Shorts-heavy creators already monetised need to watch the 10 million views-per-90-days line, because that now decides whether Shorts keep paying.
  • Creators not yet in YPP face the doubled bar if they apply after the change.
  • Fan funding and Shopping: YouTube says the entry thresholds for these products stay the same, so the lower-tier path is unchanged.

What creators should do

  • If you're close, push now. If you're near 4,000 watch hours or 10 million Shorts views, applying before 1 February 2027 may save you months of extra work.
  • Lean into long-form. Long-form earnings don't depend on the new Shorts line, and watch hours are one of the two routes into YPP.
  • Don't wait on ad revenue alone. Fan funding and Shopping keep their current entry rules, so memberships, tips and products can start earning well before ads do.
  • Track your 90-day Shorts views. If you're monetised on Shorts, know where you sit against 10 million so a payout pause doesn't surprise you.
  • Watch for the incentive details. Shopping bonuses and brand-deal incentives could matter more than Shorts ad share for smaller channels.

Source: New opportunities to earn and changes to the YouTube Partner Program, The YouTube Team, YouTube Official Blog, 10 August 2026. This article is frontcamera's summary and analysis; read the original for the full piece.

Source: YouTube Raises Partner Program Thresholds For New Creators, Kerem Gülen, Dataconomy, 11 August 2026.