With TikTok potentially poised to be banned in the US, YouTube advertises how well its own TikTok competitor, YouTube Shorts, rewards creators. The company said Thursday that its short-form video platform now averages more than 70 billion daily views, and more than 25 percent of channels in YouTube’s Partner Program monetize their videos through shorts revenue sharing.
The news quickly follows TikTok’s announcement earlier this month, where the ByteDance-owned short-form video app said its revamped creator fund had increased total revenue by over 250% in the past six months. TikTok’s legacy fund, which replaced TikTok’s $1 billion Creator Fund, is now coming out of beta.
YouTube first introduced monetization options for Shorts creators in September 2022, with its plans to expand the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). Previously, YouTubers producing long-form video content had to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours to qualify for revenue sharing. However, starting in early 2023, Shorts creators could reach a new threshold of 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views in 90 days. These creators would earn 45% of the ad revenue from their short videos.
That program is now a year old, the company says. Additionally, YouTube notes that creators who participate in the Short Partner Program often generate revenue in other ways as well. Over 80% of YPP creators who monetize through Short also earn from large format ads, fan funding, YouTube Premium, BrandConnects, Shopping and other means. This shows that creating for Shorts is not necessarily a stand-alone endeavor for many, but rather an aspect of creators’ larger enterprises.
In total, YouTube says its 16-year-old YPP now includes more than 3 million creators worldwide and has paid out $70 billion to creators, artists and media companies in just the past three years. That’s more than “any other creator monetization platform,” YouTube notes, a swipe clearly aimed at TikTok.
