YouTube Partner Program requirements — full 2026 checklist

YouTube has two YPP tiers as of 2026. Most creators want the full tier because only that one unlocks ad revenue share.

YPP tier 1 (Fan Funding)

Unlocks Channel Memberships, Super Chat, Super Thanks, Shopping affiliate program. Does not include ad revenue share.

Requirements:

• 500 subscribers
• 3 public uploads in the last 90 days
• One of:
  • 3,000 valid public watch hours in the last 365 days, OR
  • 3M valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days
• 2-step verification enabled on Google account
• No active community guidelines strikes
• Adhere to YouTube's monetization policies, AdSense Program policies, Google Ads policies

YPP tier 2 (Full monetization with ads)

Adds ad revenue share, YouTube Premium revenue share, longer Shorts revenue share.

Requirements:

• 1,000 subscribers
• One of:
  • 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 365 days, OR
  • 10M valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days
• All tier 1 requirements
• Approved AdSense account linked

"Valid" watch hours and views — what's excluded

• Private videos
• Unlisted videos
• Deleted videos (retroactively excluded)
• Live streams that were privated after the fact
• Views from non-Shorts shelves in Shorts-only counting
• Views detected as invalid traffic

This is why some channels appear to qualify but don't pass review — half their watch hours came from unlisted or deleted uploads.

Country availability

YPP is available in 100+ countries but the list rotates. Check the official country list before applying — if your country is not eligible, applying anyway puts your channel into a queue that may never resolve.

After applying

• Decision time: 1–4 weeks typically
• If rejected, the rejection email names the policy you failed
• Re-apply window: 30 days after rejection for first-time, 90 days for repeat