YouTube now requires creators to have twice as many watch hours to start earning money | SpinGraph: Efficiency framing
SpinGraph analysis of TechCrunch's YouTube now requires creators to have twice as many watch hours to start earning money story: efficiency framing, The Cushio…
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YouTube now requires creators to have twice as many watch hours to start earning money
YouTube monetization, creator economy, Shorts policy
Monetization门槛 doubled for long-form content Shorts now has a parallel, time-compressed eligibility path Policy change affects all new and existing creators seeking ad revenue
Emphasizes platform scalability and format evolution; minimizes direct financial impact on individual creators, absence of transitional support, and lack of transparency around qualification criteria.
YouTube as a responsible, adaptive platform steward optimizing for sustainable ecosystem health.
YouTube raised monetization requirements to 8,000 watch hours or 20M Shorts views to reflect platform growth.
No explanation of how 'qualified' is determined or audited; No mention of appeal process or grace period for near-qualifying creators; No data on historical disqualification rates or churn impact
Combines precise numerical thresholds (credibility signal) with implicit association between Shorts growth and policy modernity (legitimacy signal), making the rule feel like an outcome of market forces rather than a deliberate business decision — despite no evidence in the text linking the thresholds to actual cost structures, fraud patterns, or creator retention data.
Creators who want to start earning on the platform will need at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.
Extracted statistics from the source narrative
Required over past 12 months for long-form monetization
Required over past 90 days as alternative path