YouTube’s previously-announced Shorts Fund, a $100 million commitment to creators of TikTok-like videos, is launching today and will begin to compensate creators this month, the company said.
Each month through 2021 and 2022, YouTube says it will pay thousands of creators from the Fund — with monthly allotments ranging from $100 to $10,000, based on viewership of and engagement with their Shorts. As previously shared, creators do not need to be members of the YouTube Partner Program — which enables ad monetization — to collect earnings from the Shorts Fund.
However, YouTube outlined criteria in a community forum post, noting that eligibility will refresh every month.
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Channels uploading non-original content (from movies, TV shows, or other creators’ channels) or Shorts with watermarks from other platforms won’t be eligible for the Fund, YouTube said. Creators must also have uploaded one eligible Short in the last 180 days and generally abide by YouTube’s Community Guidelines, copyright rules, and monetization policies.
The Fund will only disperse payment to creators over the age of 13 — and those between ages 13 and 18 must have a guardian set up an AdSense account, which is where payments will be sent. Right now, the Fund is only available to creators in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S. — with plans to expand to more countries and regions soon, YouTube said.
How It Works
All of a creator’s Shorts will count toward potential payments each month, though YouTube says that the barriers to payment will be ever-changing — based on factors including audience location and the overall number of creators making Shorts in any given month.
YouTube will reach out to creators who are eligible to receive bonus payments on the second week of each month via YouTube app notifications . Creators will have until the 25th day of each month to claim their bonuses before they expire. Once accepted, bonuses will arrive in creators’ AdSense accounts, which is the same place they receive payment from ad revenues and other monetization tools.
In a blog post detailing the various ways to monetize on YouTube, the video giant noted that the Shorts Fund marks the tenth way creators and artists can do so. YouTube also says it has paid out $30 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the last three years.
The other ways to make money on YouTube are: ads, YouTube Premium subscription revenues, Channel Memberships, Super Chats, Super Thanks, Super Stickers, Merch Shelves, concert ticketing, and influencer marketing platform YouTube BrandConnect.
In its latest earnings report, YouTube said Shorts clock 15 billion views per day — more than double the 6.5 billion views per day that the company reported in March. After launching in India and the U.S., Shorts rolled out to 100 additional markets last month — and also launched its very first TikTok-like dance challenge alongside K-pop phenoms BTS.
Other platforms have already set up funds to compensate creators of short-form content, including Snapchat (for its Spotlight service), Instagram (for its TikTok clone Reels), and even TikTok itself.
