YouTube is raising the requirements to join its Partner Program, telling creators that starting February 1, 2027, applicants will need 1,000 subscribers plus either 8,000 watch hours, up from 4,000, or 20 million Shorts views over 90 days, up from 10 million. Shorts creators will also need to sustain 10 million views per rolling 90-day window to keep monetization active once approved.
YouTube also changed how it counts views as of August 24, 2026: a view now registers the moment a video begins playing from its very first frame, across all video formats. The company says the change affects only the publicly displayed view count and does not alter how monetization payouts are calculated.
Separately, the EU AI Act's transparency obligations took effect August 2, requiring creators with European audiences to label AI-generated or manipulated content with machine-readable markers, adding a new compliance requirement for channels that use AI tools in production. Taken together, the changes raise the bar for new creators trying to break in while adding fresh disclosure requirements for AI-assisted content.
