There’s a new money maker on YouTube, and it ain’t just a new type of ad. While it has brought up the idea sometime last year, YouTube has decided that it’ll expand Shorts monetization by introducing revenue from ads displayed between Shorts clips shared among eligible creators. The platform confirmed that this update will go live come February 1st.
“Starting February 1st, 2023, monetizing partners will be able to earn money from ads that are viewed between videos in the Shorts Feed. This new revenue-sharing model will replace the YouTube Shorts Fund.”
This Will Be Short
As we said, YouTube first announced the program Last September, and it has the potential to change the way that all platforms monetize short-form content. The challenge with short clips is that you can’t monetize them using pre- and midroll ads. In China, TikTok’s sister app, Douyin, generates the majority of its income via in-stream commerce. However, with the same process not seeing the same level of take-up in Western markets, alternative pathways needed to be established.
Most social apps have reverted to creator funds to maintain a monetization pathway for their creators, but that’s not really a sustainable process. Likewise, the structure of such systems also sees payments decline as more creators look to draw money from that pool. With this in mind, YouTube’s payment model could become more sustainable and equitable with the cumulative funds from Shorts ads being allocated to a much larger pool, with YouTube then splitting 45% of the total amount among Shorts creators, based on their respective views.
Unlike the static models that we’ve all come to know, this new one means that payments will grow as Shorts do; funding, unlike direct revenue share programs, isn’t capped. Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t – YouTube at least said that it expects the payouts to be greater than what creators are currently seeing from its Creator Fund process.
Creators can apply for a cut of Shorts ad revenue if they have over a thousand subscribers, and have seen 10 million Shorts views over the next 90 days. Once you reach these benchmarks, YouTube will allow you to sign up for the program, with the full funding split based on performance.
The Wrap
YouTube looks to continue refining its processes over time, which should be interesting to watch as creators would be happy with this new Shorts funding model. It could be a way forward – if YouTube can provide more funding and a more equitable and transparent process through which creators focusing on short-form get paid, then that could be a big tick in its favor, increasing its appeal over TikTok for the top creators.
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