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Last month, Youtube’s board of executives announced new monetization opportunities for creators on the world-renowned platform. Youtube Shorts - the “TikTok” or “Instagram Reels” of Youtube - will finally be able to bring in revenue starting in 2023, an update many creators from around the world have been eagerly waiting for since the release of Shorts. With this, Youtube has become the first social media platform to let creators directly monetize short-form content, a feature that not even the media giants Tiktok and Instagram possess. To quote Youtube’s official blog: “YouTube now offers 10 ways for our over 2M partners to make money. But we're not done. Today, we're expanding our partner program, meaning more creators and artists will have the opportunity to make money on YouTube across different creative formats” (Hanif, 1).
Youtube, as the biggest video-sharing platform for the past two decades, has been under peer pressure from other media giants mentioned above. With the unexpected rise of short-form content during the Covid-19 crisis, pre-existing companies were unable to adapt quickly - and opened the door for new platforms to grow exponentially. Immediately, while firms like Instagram set up new ways to share short-form content, some took this a step further, creating creator funds specifically for individuals making videos that last less than sixty seconds. Noticing this trend, Youtube themselves set up the “Youtube Shorts Fund” in April 2022, to give away over 100 million dollars to individuals making original shorts. However, Youtube was already behind, with TikTok grossing over a billion active monthly users, and Instagram Reels following a likewise pattern. For months to come, Youtube Shorts was considered by many as the “black sheep” of short-form content, giving close to no incentive for individuals to switch over to their platform. Their shorts fund provided a portion of the required incentive, with creators - both small and large - making anywhere between 100 dollars to 10,000 - a range drastically bigger than those of Youtube’s competitors.
Now, Youtube Shorts creators are eligible for the Youtube Partner Program (YPP) - the largest revenue source for aspiring creators on the site. By sharing a percentage of their earnings from ads, Youtube keeps the generation of content up and running through a monetary reward. In fact, Youtube executives released a detailed blog post about Shorts eligibility, and how young creators can jump on the bandwagon. Starting in early 2023, shorts creators will be able to apply to the YPP under two circumstances: if they meet the threshold of 1,000 subscribers, and have gained 10 million shorts views in the last 90 days. Although the view criteria might seem extreme when compared to long-form content’s threshold of 4,000 watch hours, it’s important to note the different algorithms used in the two types of videos, as individuals scroll through an average of 30-40 shorts in the same time it takes to watch a five minute coffee recipe.
Shorts creators, once a part of the Youtube Partner Program will also gain access to the numerous financial benefits that current creators take advantage of, such as Super Chats, Super Stickers, Channel Memberships, Merchandise Shops, and most notably, revenue from ads. Ad revenue makes up a majority of the monetary feedback the average creator receives from their channel, as the process is almost entirely automated. All individuals have to do is to set up a Google Adsense account and connect it to their Youtube Channel, and their hard-earned cash will flow straight into their bank account. As time goes on, certain enthusiastic creators opt to branch into other income streams - and as stated above, Youtube offers well over 10 different potential streams of income through the Youtube Partner Program.
Not only does this sudden announcement prove as a vital incentive for rising creators to switch over to Youtube Shorts to continue their short-form journey and bolster a thriving community of shorts creators, but it also gives Youtube the edge they’ve been looking for for the past two years over their competitors.
Works Cited
“YouTube Shorts Fund - YouTube Help.” Google, Google, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/10923658?hl=en.
Hanif, Amjad. “Made on YouTube: Supporting the Next Wave of Creative Entrepreneurs.” Blog.youtube, YouTube Official Blog, 20 Sep. 2022, https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/supporting-the-next-wave-of-creative-entrepreneurs/.
“Tiktok Revenue and Usage Statistics (2022).” Business of Apps, 19 Aug. 2022, https://www.businessofapps.com/data/tik-tok-statistics/.
Kemp, Simon. “Tiktok's Ad Audience Hits 1.02 Billion (and Other Mind-Blowing Stats).” Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, 28 July 2022, https://blog.hootsuite.com/simon-kemp-social-media/.
Santora, Jacinda. “20 Instagram Reels Statistics That Will Blow Your Mind.” Influencer Marketing Hub, 3 Aug. 2022, https://influencermarketinghub.com/instagram-reels-stats/.
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