How to make money on YouTube in 2026: 7 steps, the rules and the pay

How to make money on YouTube: publish original videos, reach 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 watch hours or 10 million Shorts views, apply to the YouTube Partner Program, then earn from ads, memberships, Shopping and brand deals. In some countries, fan funding opens at 500 subscribers. YouTube charges nothing to apply.

Last checked: 7 October 2026, against YouTube's help pages.

This guide is the step-by-step route. If you want the numbers first, see how much YouTube pays. If you only make Shorts, how to make money on YouTube Shorts covers the Shorts rules in more depth.

How to make money on YouTube in 7 steps

1. Pick one subject and make original videos. YouTube pays for videos on your channel, and it reviews the whole channel against its monetization policies before it lets you in.
2. Check the basics. Your country must offer the Partner Program. You need no active Community Guidelines strikes, 2-Step Verification on your Google Account, access to advanced features and one AdSense for YouTube account.
3. Reach 500 subscribers, where the first tier is open. With 3 public uploads in the last 90 days and either 3 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days or 3,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months, you can turn on memberships, Super Thanks and Shopping. Open Earn in YouTube Studio to see if it is available in your country.
4. Reach 1,000 subscribers and the ads threshold. That is 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months, or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.
5. Apply in YouTube Studio, under Earn, and accept the modules. YouTube says a decision typically takes about a month.
6. Add income that doesn't depend on ads. Memberships, Shopping, brand deals and sending viewers to your own business all pay without a view count attached.
7. Stay active and accept the new terms. YouTube is updating the program from 1 February 2027, and members must accept the updated terms in YouTube Studio by 31 January 2027.

Source for the thresholds and dates: YouTube Help, checked 7 October 2026. The 500-subscriber tier is also on YouTube's partner program overview.

YouTube Partner Program requirements

YouTube has two tiers today, and both count only qualified views and hours.

Source: YouTube Help, checked 7 October 2026. Qualified watch hours count only public long videos. Private and unlisted videos, Shorts and ad campaigns are excluded. Qualified Shorts views count only public Shorts watched in the Shorts feed.

From 1 February 2027, YouTube raises the bar for new channels to 1,000 subscribers and either 20 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days or 8,000 watch hours in 365 days (YouTube Help, checked 5 October 2026). Channels already in the program keep their status. To earn from the Shorts pool in a given month, members will need 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days (YouTube Help, checked 7 October 2026).

How many subscribers to get paid on YouTube

500 subscribers opens memberships and Shopping in some countries. 1,000 subscribers opens ads. Subscribers alone never qualify you, because each tier also needs watch hours or Shorts views.

The view numbers are bigger than they sound. 3 million Shorts views in 90 days is about 33,000 a day. 10 million is about 111,000 a day. That is why many creators aim at watch hours or fan funding first.

How to get monetized on YouTube

Meeting a threshold doesn't get you in automatically. YouTube reviews the whole channel against its monetization policies, and says a decision typically takes about a month. If it says no, you can appeal within 21 days or reapply after 30 days (YouTube Help, checked 5 and 7 October 2026).

• Apply early if you are close. If you are near 10 million Shorts views, apply well before 1 February 2027. YouTube hasn't said what happens to applications still under review on that date.
• Accept the right module. Ads on long videos and ads in Shorts each have their own module. Only Shorts views from the day you accept the Shorts module count toward earnings.
• Keep videos original. Rejections often come from the content policies, covered below.

How to make money on YouTube without making videos

YouTube only pays for videos on your channel, so you still publish. What you can skip is filming yourself.

Channels without a face on camera can earn if the videos are original. YouTube Help describes two policies to know. The reused content policy covers channels that repurpose content from YouTube or elsewhere without significant original commentary, substantive changes or educational or entertainment value. The inauthentic content policy, updated on 15 July 2025, covers repetitive or mass-produced content. Both are checked at the channel level (checked 7 October 2026).

• Screen recordings and voiceover over your own slides or photos.
• Short videos built from your own product photos and a clear point of view.
• Videos made from your website, in your brand, then approved by you.

Whatever you use, the test is whether each video adds something. Our guide on what makes a short video go viral shows what held attention in 1,272 short videos, though we studied TikTok and Instagram, not YouTube.

How to make money on YouTube for free

It costs nothing to start. YouTube's help pages list no fee to apply to the Partner Program, and you set up the AdSense for YouTube account inside YouTube Studio. A phone is enough to record and post. What you spend is time, because the thresholds are measured in subscribers, hours and views.

Every way to make money on YouTube

Source: YouTube Help, checked 5 and 7 October 2026. For what each tier pays per view, see how much does YouTube pay.

How long does it take to make money on YouTube?

Nobody can promise a timeline. It depends on how fast your videos find viewers. What is fixed is the process: the thresholds are measured over rolling windows of 12 months for watch hours and 90 days for Shorts views, and YouTube takes about a month to review an application.

We haven't studied YouTube directly. For what tends to earn views on short vertical feeds, see how to get more views on TikTok. The patterns come from TikTok and Reels, so test them on your own channel.

Post to YouTube every week with Postdom

Consistency is the part you control. Postdom reads your website and makes short-form videos and slideshows in your brand. The videos it makes can be posted to YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, and nothing posts until you approve it. Approved posts are scheduled by default at 9am and 7pm in your time zone, 2 a day per account.

The Free plan is $0 with no card: 1 post a month on 2 accounts on any platform, with a Postdom watermark. See pricing for the paid plans. Postdom can't get you into the Partner Program, and it is built for business owners who want YouTube to bring in customers. Approve only videos that add something, because the originality rules apply to everything you post.

What to avoid

• Buying views or subscribers. YouTube excludes artificial views, and paid ad campaign views don't count toward the thresholds.
• Reuploads and compilations with nothing added. Reused content can remove monetization from a whole channel.
• Near-identical, mass-produced videos. The inauthentic content policy covers them.
• Counting Shorts toward the 4,000 watch hours. They have their own route.
• Missing the 31 January 2027 deadline. Members who don't accept the updated terms stop earning from the affected features.