YouTube has lowered the requirements for creators to gain access to YouTube Partner Program (YPP) monetization tools. Instead of 1000 subscribers to the program, 500 subscriber entries are now sufficient. The view count requirements have also been significantly lowered. At the same time, the company is expanding its affiliate program for US writers who are already part of YPP and have more than 20,000 subscribers.

YouTube has released new thresholds for video creators to enter its partner program. Now requires 500 subscribers instead of 1000, 3 video uploads in 90 days, 3000 hours of views last year (was 4000) or 3 million Shorts views (was 10 million) in the last 90 days

Writers who break the entry barrier can apply to join YPP and gain access to tools like Thanks, Superchat, and Superstickers, as well as subscription tools like channel membership and the ability to promote their own products. With the help of the “Shopping” partner program. YouTube enforces these new criteria in the US, UK, Canada, Taiwan, and South Korea. Later, the new requirements will spread to other countries where YPP operates.

The company is also expanding the piloting of its Shopping affiliate program to include more authors in the US. Creators who already join YPP and have more than 20,000 subscribers will be able to tag promoted products in their videos and earn commissions. YouTube rolled out shopping features through Shorts for select US creators last November.

The requirement to upload three videos within 90 days makes it difficult to enter the affiliate program, as creators of long videos may not be able to accumulate material for three videos in three months despite millions of views. YouTube is gearing up to reveal more details about its new apps at VidCon next week.

In March, YouTube had to change its rules banning the use of profanity at the beginning of a video. Last fall, the company implemented a policy of disqualifying any video that uses profanity within the first 15 seconds, even if it’s an old video. The company has set a seven-second time limit under the new policy and allows the use of profanity in music.

Recently, YouTube has focused on providing new monetization tools for short film creators. The company began sharing its short film advertising revenues with its creators in February. The company reported in its Q4 2022 report that Shorts has surpassed 50 billion daily views. By comparison, Meta’s rival video service Reels had 140 billion daily views on Instagram and Facebook last October.

Last year, YouTube announced Creator Music, a tool for composers and musicians to get paid to use their music in their videos. In March, the company launched a new metric to track an artist’s overall reach across formats, including short films.