YouTube applied additional changes to its YouTube Partner Program (YPP) requirements with the aim to protect its creator ecosystem to ensure revenue is more stable. December 2017, YouTube started rolling changes to prevent incidents like Logan Paul’s video that trended all over the world. It aims to minimize bad actors exploiting YouTube’s openness to mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm.

Today’s update of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) aims to further secure the network against spammers, impersonators and bad actors that damage YouTube’s ecosystem by applying stricter requirements to apply for YPP while rewarding those that truly contribute to make YouTube a better platform.

YouTube Partner Program Requirement Changes

Old Requirements: Channel must have 10,000 lifetime views
New Requirements: Channel must have 4,000 hours of watchtime within the past 12 months and at least 1,000 subscribers.

YouTube arrived with the new thresholds after thorough analysis and feedback from video creators which will help YouTube to determine creators that contribute positively to the community from those that don’t. New channels will need to apply and pass these new requirements effective immediately.

Implementation on Existing Channels

YouTube will implement the new threshold on existing channels on the 20th of February 2018. Creators will be given a 30-day grace period to pass the new standards. Those that will fail to pass the requirements will no longer earn money on YouTube. Any of the channels who no longer meet this threshold will be paid what they’ve already earned based on our AdSense policies.



Helpful Links:
YouTube Policies and Safety Guidelines: https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/policies/
YouTube Terms of Service: https://www.youtube.com/t/terms
Source: https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com