Getting into the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) is a two-part process. First your channel has to reach a set of numbers. Then a person at YouTube reviews the channel as a whole. Most guides stop at the numbers, but the review is where a lot of channels get stuck. This guide covers both, plus what to do if the answer is no.
The two tiers
YPP now has two levels of entry. According to YouTube Help, the lower one is available in many countries and regions, and it unlocks fan funding and Shopping before you can share in ad revenue.
| Tier | Subscribers | Plus one of these | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fan funding and Shopping | 500, with 3 valid public uploads in the last 90 days | 3,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months, or 3 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days | Channel memberships, Super Chat and Super Stickers, Super Thanks, Shopping |
| Ad revenue sharing | 1,000 | 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months, or 10 million qualified public Shorts views in the last 90 days | Watch page ad revenue, Shorts Feed ad revenue, YouTube Premium revenue |
If the lower tier isn't offered where you live, you go straight to the ad revenue thresholds. Check the country list on the YouTube Help page before you plan around the 500-subscriber mark.
Changes announced for 2027
On August 10, 2026, the official YouTube blog announced changes that take effect on February 1, 2027:
- New applicants will need either 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.
- Creators already in YPP aren't affected by the new entry thresholds.
- Shorts revenue sharing will only apply to channels with 10 million qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days. Channels below that stay in YPP and keep earning from long-form videos.
- Fan funding and Shopping thresholds stay the same.
The post doesn't restate the subscriber requirement, so read the updated YouTube Help page when the new terms arrive in Studio. If you're close to the current thresholds, that date matters for your planning.
What counts and what doesn't
The word "qualified" is doing a lot of work in those thresholds. According to YouTube Help, these don't count toward watch hours:
- Private, unlisted and deleted videos
- Ad campaigns
- YouTube Shorts
- Live streams that are unlisted, deleted or not converted to a regular video
For the Shorts path, private, unlisted and deleted Shorts don't count, and neither do ad campaigns or image posts in the Shorts Feed.
Two practical results follow. If you delete or hide old videos, their watch hours go with them, so do any clean-up with the threshold in mind. And a channel that mixes long videos and Shorts can't add the two together. You qualify on one path or the other.
The other requirements
The numbers aren't the whole list. YouTube Help says you also need to:
- Follow the YouTube channel monetization policies
- Live in a country or region where YPP is available
- Have no active Community Guidelines strikes
- Turn on 2-Step Verification for your Google Account
- Have advanced features access on YouTube
- Have one active AdSense for YouTube account linked to your channel
Advanced features and 2-Step Verification are quick to sort out, so do them before you hit the thresholds. That way nothing small holds up your application.
How to apply
When you're eligible, the Earn section of YouTube Studio lets you start. The steps are short:
- Review and accept the base terms.
- Set up an AdSense for YouTube account, or link an existing active one.
- Your channel goes into the review queue automatically.
What the review checks
Meeting the thresholds doesn't guarantee acceptance. YouTube Help says the channel is reviewed as a whole against YouTube's policies and guidelines.
According to the channel monetization policies, reviewers can't watch every video, so they may focus on:
- Your channel's main theme
- Your most-viewed videos
- Your newest videos
- The videos with the biggest share of your watch time
- Video metadata, including titles, thumbnails and descriptions
- Your channel's About section
Reviewers can also look beyond these areas. Read the list as a to-do list. Before you apply, open your channel as if you were a stranger and look at exactly those places. Is it clear what the channel is about? Do your top videos show your own work? Do the titles and thumbnails match what's in the videos?
The most common problem area is reused content: videos built mostly from material that isn't yours, without enough added commentary or editing. It has its own guide on this site, because it's the policy that trips up the most channels.
How long it takes
According to YouTube Help, you'll typically get a decision in about a month. It can take longer when lots of channels apply at once, when there are system issues or when reviewer capacity is limited. Some channels need more than one review before a decision is made.
There's nothing you need to do while you wait. Keep uploading as usual. Your newest videos are one of the things reviewers may look at, so the work you publish during the review still counts.
If you're rejected
The rejection email tells you which policy the reviewers applied. From there, YouTube Help gives you two options:
- Appeal within 21 days if you think the decision was wrong.
- Reapply after 30 days. If this isn't your first rejection, or you've already reapplied, the wait is 90 days.
Use the waiting period. Reapplying with the same channel usually gets the same answer. A practical routine:
- Write down the policy named in the email.
- Go through the review areas listed above: main theme, most-viewed, newest, top watch time, metadata, About.
- For every video that leans on other people's material, ask whether a viewer could tell what you added.
- Rework, replace or remove what doesn't hold up, and keep publishing original videos so your newest uploads show the direction you want.
How our Monetization Checker helps
You can't see another channel's watch hours, but you can see what other channels in your niche have achieved. Paste a channel URL, an @handle or a video URL into the Monetization Checker. You don't need to sign in.
For a channel, we sample its recent public uploads, read the ad signals YouTube sends with each page and look for the Join button, which only Partner Program channels can turn on. The result is likely monetized, probably not monetized or can't tell, with a confidence level and the evidence behind it. Comparing a few channels that look like yours shows you what a monetized channel in your niche looks like: its format, how often it uploads and how it presents itself.
The limits:
- It doesn't check your own eligibility. Watch hours and qualified views are private, so we only see the public subscriber count.
- It can't tell you why a channel was or wasn't accepted.
- A single Short can't show monetization signals, so Shorts come back as can't tell, with a pointer to check the channel instead.
- Every result reflects one moment and one region. Only YouTube can confirm a channel's status.
Worth keeping in mind
- Check the thresholds on YouTube Help before you plan around them. They change, and the 2027 changes are already announced.
- Deleting or hiding videos removes their watch hours from your total.
- Thresholds get you a review, not a guaranteed yes. Prepare the channel for the reviewer.
- A rejection isn't permanent. Fix the named issue, wait out the period and reapply.