YouTube Monetization policies & How to earn money on YouTube
If you’re monetizing on YouTube, it’s important that your channel follows YouTube monetization policies. These include YouTube’s Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, Copyright, and Google AdSense program policies. They apply to anyone in, or looking to apply to, the YouTube Partner Program or anyone receiving Shorts bonuses from the YouTube Shorts Fund.
If you want to monetize videos with ads, they must also meet our Advertiser-friendly content guidelines.
Here’s a quick overview of each major policy. Make sure you read each policy thoroughly, as these policies are used to check if a channel is suitable to monetize. Our reviewers regularly check to see whether monetizing channels follow these policies. Learn more about how we enforce our policies.
What we check when we review your channel
Our reviewers check content that best represents your channel against our policies. Since our reviewers can’t check every video, they may focus on your channel’s:
- Main theme
- Most viewed videos
- Newest videos
- Biggest proportion of watch time
- Video metadata (including titles, thumbnails, and descriptions)
The above are just examples of content our reviewers may assess. Note that our reviewers can, and may check other parts of your channel to see whether it fully meets our policies.
How to get help with issues that affect you
If you're in the YouTube Partner Program, you can get access to our Creator Support team.
Whether you're facing a specific problem or you want to find out how to get the most out of YouTube as a creator, we're here to help you:
- Optimize how you use YouTube
- Get tips on technical or service aspects of YouTube
- Find out how to navigate policy and copyright guidelines
- Get answers on account and channel management questions
- Resolve content ID and rights management issues
- Troubleshoot and fix bugs or issues with your account
How to earn money on YouTube
A few notes
- We won’t tell you what you can create on YouTube, but we do have a responsibility to do right by our viewers, creators and advertisers. If you’re in the YouTube Partner Program, you can earn money through YouTube. When in the YouTube Partner Program, we hold you to a higher standard.
- To make sure we’re rewarding good creators, we review your channel before you’re accepted in the YouTube Partner Program. We also constantly review channels to make sure you’re meeting all our policies and guidelines.
- Channels do not need to be monetizing on YouTube to be eligible for the YouTube Shorts Fund. Creators in the YouTube Partner Program and channels that are a part of a Multi-Channel Network (MCN) are still eligible.
- You may be liable to pay taxes on your earnings from YouTube; find out more below.
Ways to make money in the YouTube Partner Program
You can make money on YouTube through the following features:
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Each feature has its own set of eligibility requirements on top of subscriber and view count requirements. If our reviewers believe that your channel or video is not eligible, specific features may not be available. These extra thresholds exist for two main reasons. The most important one is that we have to meet legal requirements in every area where the feature is available. Then, because we want to reward good creators, we need to make sure we have enough context on your channel. Generally, this context means we need more content to look at.
Keep in mind that we constantly review channels to make sure your content is in line with our policies.
Minimum eligibility requirements to turn on monetization features
Once you've been accepted in the YouTube Partner Program, you may get access to these monetization features:
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Ad revenue |
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Channel memberships |
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Merch shelf |
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Super Chat & Super Stickers |
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YouTube Premium revenue |
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YouTube Shorts Fund
The YouTube Shorts Fund is a $100M fund to reward creators for their dedication to making creative, original Shorts that delight the YouTube community. We’ll reach out to thousands of creators each month to tell them that they qualify for a Shorts bonus from the fund.
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Shorts bonus |
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Your YouTube earnings and tax liability
Earning money on YouTube or receiving Shorts bonuses are a great way to be rewarded for good, engaging content on the platform. Keep in mind that you may be liable to pay taxes to your country of residence on any income earned from your monetized videos on YouTube. Check with your local tax authorities for detailed guidance.