YouTube to give 45% of Shorts ad revenue to content creators

At the Made on YouTube event which took place on Tuesday, Google-owned video sharing platform has announced new ways for its creators to make money from their content.

Starting in 2023, Shorts creators with at least 1000 followers and 10 million Shorts views over the last 90 days will be able to join its YouTube Partner Program, which was first launched in 2007 and paid out over $50 billion over the last three years, the company said.

Once they join the program, they will be able to keep 45% of revenue generated from ads in Shorts videos, which YouTube started testing in April this year.

In addition, the company also said that Shorts creators are now able to receive donations from their audiences via the Super Thanks tipping feature.

YouTube first launched its short-video service in India in September 2020, when its main rival TikTok was banned in the country as well as tens of other Chinese apps. A beta version was released in the US in March 2021, and the feature was launched globally in July last year. 

The company said that Shorts now has more than 30 billion daily views and 1.5 billion monthly logged-in users. 

Also Read: YouTube Usage and Revenue Statistics

YouTube announced a $100 million Shorts Fund earlier this year, which was the only way for Shorts creators to make money from their videos, until now. 

While YouTube still has a long way to go to take on its rival TikTok, the new revenue-sharing program will give the company a significant edge over the ByteDance-owned platform where users make money mainly from livestream donations.

“I’m proud to say this is the first time real revenue sharing is being offered for short-form video on any platform at scale,” YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan said during the Made on YouTube event.