As YouTube tries to chase down TikTok in the short-video market, the Google-owned company says it will start handing over a portion of advertising revenue to popular creators.
Neal Mohan, chief product officer for YouTube, said on Tuesday at the annual creator event “Made on YouTube,” that starting next year, the company will pay a portion of revenue from Shorts, distributed based on the videos that get the most views.
“This is the first time real revenue sharing is being offered for short-term video at scale,” Mohan said.
It’s not yet clear how lucrative the opportunity will be for Shorts creators because YouTube is providing limited information on the payouts. YouTube said that every month it will pool together ad revenue from Shorts. Of that sum, an undisclosed percentage is allocated to creators, and YouTube will pay them 45% of that amount.
Popular creators have long been able to make money on YouTube’s main site by running ads in their videos and keeping a portion of the revenue. Google launched the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) in 2007 to enable that to happen.
Until now, the only way to make money in Shorts was through a $100 million Shorts Fund that was launched last year.
“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,” YouTube said in a blog post on Tuesday.
Mohan said, “We started with the Shorts Fund as a first step but, creator funds can’t keep up with the incredible growth we’re seeing in short-form video.”
