YouTube Launches Revenue-Sharing Programs for Shorts, Music Licensing

YouTube Shorts, the video platform’s short-form competitor to TikTok, is launching an ad revenue sharing program that will give creators a 45 percent cut, which will be determined based on their share of total Shorts views.

Unlike advertising on traditional YouTube videos, Shorts ads are displayed in between videos and are not necessarily tied to a specific creator’s content. For the Shorts revenue sharing program, which will begin in early 2023, YouTube will pool together the total revenue from all Shorts ads, and the payout will go toward creators and paying for music licensing costs, Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer, said at an event on Tuesday.

YouTube is also adjusting the threshold for creators who want to join YouTube’s Partner Program. Creators who have at least 10 million Shorts views over the past 90 days and at least 1,000 subscribers can apply for the partnership. Previously, creators needed more than 4,000 valid public watch hours in the past 12 months and more than 1,000 subscribers to be eligible for the program.

“Whether they’re going to be the next big thing or just need help paying the bills to make a better life for themselves, for their families and for their communities, we want YouTube to be the place that gives [creators] the greatest support within the changing digital landscape today,” Mohan said.

Mohan said he expects Shorts creators who have participated in the $100 million Shorts fund, which the company has previously said was temporary until it figured out a suitable revenue program for short-form creators, will “earn more money under this new model.”

And for creators creating both long- and short-form videos, YouTube is launching a program this fall in the U.S. that will allow creators to use popular music without losing out on ad revenue. Called Creator Music, the platform — currently in beta — will have a catalogue of revenue-sharing tracks that creators can use without losing out on their revenue. Instead, creators and music rights holders will split ad revenue.

For tracks not included in the revenue sharing program, creators will have a streamlined platform to purchase music licenses for their videos.