If you’re a creator, especially one specializing in short-form content, you’re probably aware of YouTube Shorts. These vertical, short-form videos are up to 60 seconds long. They’re essentially YouTube’s attempt at competing with TikTok.
YouTube Shorts bring in billions of views daily, leading many creators to wonder how to monetize them. Turns out, there’s more than one way to do it.
Read on as we dive into the different ways you can monetize YouTube Shorts.
YouTube Partner Program eligibility
Before getting into the ways you can monetize YouTube Shorts, it’s important to look at the eligibility requirements for the YouTube Partner Program (aka the platform’s hub of creator monetization tools).
First, your Shorts views contribute to your eligibility for the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). To be eligible for all YPP monetization features (including Shorts ad revenue-sharing), you’ll need at least:
- 1,000 subscribers.
- Either 4,000 public watch hours in the last year, or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.
Don’t have 1,000 subscribers? No problem. There’s also a more accessible tier of the YouTube Partner Program, which gives you access to some of its monetization tools — more on that later.
To qualify for this lower tier, you’ll need:
- 500 subscribers.
- 3 public uploads over the last 90 days.
- Either 3,000 public watch hours in the last year, or 3 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.
5 ways to monetize YouTube Shorts
From ad revenue to fan funding, here are some of the best built-in monetization options with YouTube Shorts.
1. Shorts ad revenue-sharing
The YouTube Shorts ad revenue-sharing program allows creators to earn money based on their Shorts views. Here’s what YouTube does to determine how much creators earn:
- Pool shareable ad revenue: This is the total revenue generated from ads that run between Shorts. Part of it goes towards rewarding creators, and part of it goes to paying licensing costs for music.
- Calculate creator pool: The creator pool is calculated based on the number of views brought in by Shorts, and music usage in these Shorts.
- Allocate revenue shares to creators: Shares of the creator pool are attributed to monetizing Shorts creators, based on how many views their Shorts got.
- Creator payment: Finally, a creator will receive 45% of the revenue allocated to them.
While you likely won’t make millions off of this revenue-sharing program, it’s a reliable way to start monetizing your YouTube Shorts.
Who’s eligible for YouTube Shorts ad revenue-sharing?
Shorts ad revenue-sharing is only available to creators who meet the higher threshold for the YouTube Partner Program. That means you need a minimum of 1,000 subscribers, and either 4,000 public watch hours in the past year, or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.
If you meet the eligibility requirements, you can join the YouTube Partner Program to start earning. Follow these steps to apply:
- Sign in to YouTube on a computer (alternatively, you can apply on the YouTube Studio app).
- Click your profile picture at the top right, then click YouTube Studio.
- In the left menu, click Earn, then select Apply.
- Click Start to review and Accept the base terms.
- Click Start to set up an AdSense account, or link an existing active one. You should then see In Progress in the Get Reviewed step.
Note: You should hear from YouTube within one month after it’s reviewed your channel. If your application was unsuccessful, don’t worry. You can reapply after 30 days if it’s your first rejection, or after 90 days if you’ve previously applied.
2. YouTube fan funding
“YouTube fan funding” is an umbrella term referring to a few ways your subscribers can contribute to your income as a creator, including:
- Super Chat and Super Stickers: By giving you a small donation, live stream viewers can highlight their messages or get an animated image that appears in a live chat.
- Super Thanks: For a few dollars, viewers can buy a fun animation that appears on your video, and a colorful, customizable comment that goes under your video.
Who’s eligible for YouTube’s fan funding features?
Fan funding is available at both YouTube Partner Program tiers. Whether you have 500 subscribers or 1,000 subscribers, as long as you meet the minimum Shorts views requirements, you can join the YPP and start earning.
3. YouTube Shopping
With YouTube Shopping, you can promote a product by tagging it in your Shorts. A product overlay will show on your video, with a link that takes viewers to the store’s website directly.
Not only are you able to sell your products by connecting your store — from platforms like Shopify, Spring, or Spreadshop — to your YouTube account, but you can also promote products from other brands and earn through the YouTube Shopping affiliate program.
Who’s eligible for YouTube Shopping?
YouTube Shopping is available for both YouTube Partner Program thresholds but with one major difference between the two.
If you meet the requirements for the lower YPP tier, you can only promote your own products on your channel. Whereas if you meet the higher threshold (and more specifically, you have a minimum of 15,000 subscribers), you can promote products from other brands.
Note: Currently, only creators based in the U.S. and South Korea can promote products from other brands using YouTube Shopping features.
4. YouTube Premium
Did you know you can earn money from YouTube Premium (aka the subscription service that provides ad-free access to content on YouTube)?
That’s right, YouTube actually shares the revenue it makes from these paid subscriptions with creators. The platform would distribute the revenue to you monthly, based on the amount of time YouTube Premium members spend watching your content.
Who’s eligible to earn from YouTube Premium?
To start earning from YouTube Premium, you must meet the higher YouTube Partner Program threshold. In other words, you must have at least 1,000 subscribers, and either 4,000 public watch hours in the past year, or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.
5. Channel memberships
Want to reward your diehard fans and make a little extra cash each month? Channel memberships allow you to put exclusive content behind a paywall, including Shorts, longer videos, and live streams.
You can also offer your members other exclusive perks, like custom emojis, channel badges, and early access to all your videos. Memberships are a great way to build a more exclusive community within your audience while monetizing your Shorts.
Who’s eligible for channel memberships?
Because channel memberships fall within YouTube’s fan funding monetization features, they’re available with both YouTube Partner Program tiers. So even if you only have 500 subscribers, you can start monetizing through memberships.
6 other ways to make money with YouTube Shorts
If you want to earn a decent income from YouTube Shorts, relying only on Shorts feed ads and other YouTube monetization tools won’t cut it. But your short-form content can be used as a vehicle for other ways to make money as a creator. Here’s how.
1. Sell digital products
One of the best ways to earn money as a creator is to create and sell digital products — think ebooks, courses, and templates. Why? They don’t cost nearly as much money to produce and deliver as physical products. Additionally, since digital products only need to be created once and can then be sold over and over, they can be a great source of passive income.
Once you’ve built your digital product, you can promote it through your YouTube Shorts to reach potential customers. Talk about a great way to leverage your content!
How do I create and sell digital products?
If you’re interested in creating and selling your own digital products, look no further than The Leap — an AI-powered digital product builder designed to help you bring your digital product ideas to life, quickly and easily. It enables you to create mini-courses, tutorials, guides, and more with a similar look and feel as YouTube Shorts, making learning fun and engaging.
Even better, The Leap doubles as a link-in-bio storefront tool, allowing you to create and sell your digital products all from one place. Once you’ve finished building your mini-course (or guide, or tutorial), The Leap will instantly generate a sales page for you to start selling it. And if you’ve got an existing digital product (say a Canva template or an ebook), you can also add it to your Leap storefront by simply pasting a link to wherever your product is hosted.
Try The Leap for free now to create your digital products and start selling.
2. Join affiliate programs
By becoming an affiliate marketer, you can make a commission any time someone in your audience follows a custom affiliate link to an online store or makes a purchase. For example, the Amazon Influencer Program is one of the most popular affiliate programs out there, and you can sign up for free.
Once you’ve joined an affiliate program, you can start earning by recommending products through your YouTube Shorts using unique affiliate links or promo codes.
3. Partner with a brand
With the influencer marketing industry expected to hit $22.3 billion in 2024, brand partnerships are still one of the best ways to make money as a YouTube creator. What’s more, social media ads — specifically, short-form videos — are predicted to generate more revenue than any other platform by 2024.
If you’re creating Shorts, there’s no better time than the present to explore brand sponsorships. Be proactive about reaching out to brands you’d like to work with and agree to partnerships that are relevant to your content and niche.
4. Create UGC for brands
UGC (or user-generated content) is commissioned by brands who want promotional content for their product or service that looks authentic but doesn’t cost as much as a typical influencer marketing campaign. This is a great niche for Shorts creators looking to monetize, no matter how many subscribers you have.
Since brands looking to work with a UGC creator aren’t interested in their audience, but rather their ability to create engaging, high-quality content that feels organic, you can tap into this revenue stream even if you’re a beginner YouTuber and still growing your channel.
5. Patreon (and other membership platforms)
While YouTube’s channel memberships have already been a thing for a while, you’ll still hear a lot of YouTubers encourage their followers to support them on Patreon. This external membership platform has more robust features, including allowing the sale of digital products. It’s no wonder so many creators still use it over YouTube’s built-in memberships.
To start a Patreon, you’ll want to think up some kind of exclusive content or product you can offer to people who join up, though some creators don’t offer any extra perks and treat the platform as a hub for donations.
You shouldn’t add a link to your Patreon in every Short you make, but the occasional pitch works great!
6. Promote your longer content
While Shorts are a great way to get your channel in front of a large audience, they’re not necessarily the best way to bring in revenue. Few channels specialize exclusively in YouTube Shorts unless they’ve already built up an audience on short-form platforms like Instagram Reels or TikTok. That’s why many YouTubers use Shorts to promote their channel’s longer videos.
Try cutting clips of longer content and repurposing them as Shorts, or finding clever ways to create short previews of your main content. That way, you can pull in viewers from the Shorts feed for your channel, grow your audience, and make more from YouTube’s built-in monetization options.
How much can you make from YouTube Shorts monetization?
With many of the monetization methods listed above, the only limit to your income is how much work you’re willing to put into them. For Shorts ad revenue-sharing, though, your earnings can change month to month depending on how your videos perform and how big the Creator Pool gets.
A number of creators have gone on record with how much they’re able to make through Shorts feed ads. Let’s take a look.Creator Maddie Borge, who has 1 million subscribers on YouTube, shared how much she earned for Shorts that brought in 10 million views. Between ad revenue and the — now defunct — Shorts fund, she brought in $385. Most of that amount came from the Shorts fund.
Doesn’t seem like a lot? Don’t worry, this was from before YouTube’s current ad-sharing program, which represents a significant bump in revenue.
VidIQ, the company behind a popular Chrome extension that helps YouTubers get more views and subscribers, looked at a viral Short to see how much creators could hope to earn. At 1.4 million views, a Short could bring in about $108. At 14 million, a similar Short brought in $1,087. Not the huge cashout some creators might expect, but already a lot better than before.
Another creator, CaffeinatedBlogger, revealed that he earned $31.70 for a Short that brought in 1.2 million views. Meanwhile, in the clip below, three creators share that their YouTube Shorts earnings range from a few pennies to $120.
Start monetizing YouTube Shorts!
YouTube Shorts aren’t just great for making your content more easily discoverable, but they’re also a way for you to generate income. As long as you have 500 subscribers, you’re eligible for some of the monetization options available through YouTube’s Partner Program. To enjoy all of the benefits of the YPP, though, you’ll need at least 1,000 subscribers.
However, remember that built-in monetization options on YouTube aren’t the only ways to make money from Shorts. Diversify and explore alternate ways to monetize your Shorts, like selling digital products, partnering with brands, and more.
FAQ
Can I get monetized on YouTube Shorts?
As long as you have at least 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views in the past 90 days, you can monetize your YouTube Shorts through all monetization features in YouTube’s Partner Program.
There’s also a more accessible tier, for which you’ll only need 500 subscribers, three uploads over the last 90 days, and either 3,000 watch hours or 3 million Shorts views. With this tier, however, you’ll only be able to use YouTube’s fan funding features and promote your own products through YouTube Shopping.
How much does YouTube pay for 1,000 views on Shorts?
Short answer? A few pennies.
Long answer: that depends on your RPM, or revenue per mille, which calculates how much you’re getting paid for every 1,000 views. Some creators have reported RPMs around $0.04, while others say the highest RPM they’ve seen is $0.07.
How much do you get paid for 1 million YouTube Shorts views?
Using similar figures above, a Short with an RPM of $0.04 would get you $40, while one with an RPM of $0.07 would pay $70.
Can I monetize YouTube Shorts without 1,000 subscribers?
You need at least 1,000 subscribers to be eligible for all monetization features available through the YouTube Partner Program. That being said, you can still access some of them with only 500 subscribers.
And even if you don’t have that many subscribers, you can still make money with YouTube Shorts, like by using them to promote your digital products. Get our YouTube Shorts Monetization Guide to learn more!
Follow The Leap on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for more monetization tips for creators. We also make a newsletter.
Further reading
- YouTube Money Calculator: Estimate How Much You Can Make on YouTube
- YouTube Monetization Requirements: How to Monetize Your Videos
- How To Make YouTube Shorts (+19 Tips To Go Viral)
- How Does the YouTube Shorts Algorithm Work?
- 9 Tips for Getting Your First 1,000 YouTube Subscribers
- How To Create a YouTube Content Calendar (+ Free Template)
- How To Create a YouTube Business Plan (+ Free Templates)
