YouTube Shorts have become a significant part of the company's monetization program. As per the company, more than a quarter of channels that are part of its Partner Program are now earning money from YouTube Shorts.
This has come more than a year after YouTube began sharing ad revenue with creators who engage in making Shorts. The Google-owned platform said that of the creators who joined YPP by meeting the Shorts eligibility thresholds, more than 80 percent are now also earning through other YPP monetisation features on YouTube, "be it long-form advertising, fan funding, YouTube Premium, BrandConnect, Shopping and more".
"This means that Shorts is opening the door for creators to earn in other ways on the platform, and they're seeing the dividends," the company informed.
Ads in YouTube Shorts appear between clips in a feed. Unlike longer-form content on YouTube, revenue sharing for Shorts is structured differently. Ad revenue is pooled and divided among eligible creators based on factors such as views and music licensing. This arrangement has been claimed to be more profitable for individuals than traditional creator funds.
YouTube has paid $70 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the last three years. "With an average of over 70 billion daily views on Shorts and new avenues to earn money, the Shorts community is beginning to thrive, both with new forms of creativity and fresh voices to the platform," said YouTube.
Alan Chikin Chow (who has 38.7 million subscribers) said that revenue sharing on Shorts has really changed the game. "As a Shorts-first creator and one of the most-viewed channels in the US, I've seen what's possible creatively through the format. But revenue sharing has delivered a sustainable way to continue to build my business," Chow said in a statement.
The company introduced YPP 16 years ago. "Beginning with just a handful of creators, it's grown to more than 3 million creators globally," the company said.
