YouTube Shorts monetization is finally coming in 2023. A New York Times leak has hinted that YouTube Shorts will finally be added to the YouTube Partner Programme and creators will get a 45/10/45 split on all revenue with 10% going to musicians and 45% going to the platform.
Starting in early 2023, Shorts-focused creators can apply to YPP by meeting a threshold of 1,000 subscribers and 10M Shorts views over 90 days. These new partners will enjoy all the benefits our program offers, including the various ways to make money like ads on long-form and Fan Funding.
We also want to support creators who are even earlier in their YouTube journey, from gamers showing off their speed runs to trendsetting DIY makeup tutorials. A new level of YPP with lower requirements will offer earlier access to Fan Funding features like Super Thanks, Super Chat, Super Stickers and Channel Memberships. To reward creators across a range of formats, we’ll have paths for long-form, Shorts and Live creators to join this new tier in 2023. Stay tuned for more details.
To be clear, nothing will change with our existing criteria—creators can still apply to YPP when they reach 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. But these changes reflect the diversity of our growing creator community. Creators can choose the one option that best fits their channel while we maintain the same level of brand safety for advertisers. You can learn more here.
What are YouTube Shorts?
You might be reading this and wondering “what the hell is a YouTube Short?”, but don’t worry, we’re going to fill you in.
YouTube Shorts are essentially YouTube’s answer to Instagram and Facebook Stories. They are short videos—less than 60 seconds to be precise—that are intended for continuous consumption. In essence, YouTube wants viewers to sit and watch several Shorts one after the other, with the ultimate aim being to keep those viewers on the website for longer.
Many of us will happily sit through a 10-15 minute video, and if YouTube can put the right Shorts in front of a viewer, that 10-15 minute window could see them viewing 15-30 Shorts (many Shorts are much less than 60 seconds). These videos are primarily made for mobile viewing, something that is evident when you look at the portrait aspect ratio.
While regular YouTube is the kind of experience you can set up in front of your computer or laptop head off down the rabbit hole, YouTube Shorts is more of a “kill five minutes at the bus stop” kind of experience.
Why make YouTube Shorts?
You have been on the YouTube platform for years and you have always been told to stick to horizontal rather than “ugly looking vertical£ videos – why start making vertical videos now?
YouTube wants to win the new young creator demographic away from TikTok and to do that they are pushing the feature very hard to viewers.
Your videos could show up under the first suggested video on the mobile app giving you a large boost of views. Adopt it early and you could see great results before EVERYONE uses it! Make eye catching relevant videos and you could get featured against established large youtube channels.
Imagine if you could be one of the first people on YouTube all those years ago. Or one of the first people to grow an audience on Twitter and Instagram… this is your chance at a fresh new medium, but this time its supercharged by YouTube!
Even YouTube is exited about the tool
Get discovered: Every month, 2 billion viewers come to YouTube to laugh, learn and connect. Creators have built entire businesses on YouTube, and we want to enable the next generation of mobile creators to also grow a community on YouTube with Shorts.
I have been testing YouTube shorts and seen huge jumps in views even when the channel has only 65 subscribers!
Where Can I See YouTube Shorts?
YouTube shorts are currently curated by YouTube and displayed under videos on the mobile app.
It has its own shelf that you can swap through and the youtube shorts normally match the topic of the main video above – for example if you are watching a tech tips video you might see tech related short stories.
What is YouTube Shorts sizes? ratio?
The standard aspect ratio for YouTube Shorts 9:16. YouTube may add more padding for optimal viewing. The padding is white by default, and dark grey when Dark theme is turned on.
Recommended resolution & aspect ratios for YouTube Shorts.
For 9:16 youtube shorts aspect ratio, encode at these resolutions:
2160p: 2160×3840
1440p: 1440×2560
1080p: 1080×1920
720p: 720×1280
480p: 480×854
360p: 360×640
240p: 240×426