Making Money from Short YouTube Videos — YouTube Shorts Monetization Guide (2026)

Earning money from YouTube Shorts has become one of the fastest-growing opportunities in the creator economy. Short-form vertical videos can now generate real income through ad revenue sharing, fan support tools, and external monetization strategies—turning quick clips into sustainable revenue streams when used strategically.

This guide explains how Shorts monetization works, the requirements to qualify, expected earnings, and the smartest ways to increase profit from short YouTube videos.

How YouTube Shorts Monetization Works

Unlike long-form YouTube videos, Shorts earn money mainly from ads shown between videos in the Shorts feed.
Each month, YouTube pools this advertising revenue, deducts music licensing and platform costs, and distributes the remaining creator share based on each creator’s portion of total engaged views. Creators ultimately receive about 45% of their allocated share.

This system means your income depends heavily on:

• Total eligible Shorts views

• Viewer location and ad demand

• Music usage within the video

• Overall performance of Shorts in your country

Requirements to Earn from YouTube Shorts

To make money from Shorts, you must first join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) and accept the Shorts monetization terms in YouTube Studio.

Full monetization (ads + fan funding)

You typically need:

• 1,000 subscribers, and

• 10 million valid Shorts views in the last 90 days
  OR

• 1,000 subscribers + 4,000 public watch hours from long-form videos in the last 12 months.

Early access monetization features

Some creators can unlock limited earning tools earlier with:

• 500 subscribers,

• 3 public uploads in 90 days, and

• Either 3 million Shorts views in 90 days or 3,000 watch hours.

At this level, creators may access fan funding, memberships, or shopping tools, but not full ad-revenue sharing yet.

How Much Money Do YouTube Shorts Pay?

Revenue from Shorts is generally much lower than long-form YouTube videos.

• Average Shorts RPM: about $0.03 – $0.07 per 1,000 views.

• Example estimate: 1 million views may generate roughly $30 – $70 or more, depending on location and engagement.

Because of this lower payout, many successful creators combine Shorts income with other monetization methods rather than relying on ad revenue alone.

Additional Ways to Earn from Shorts

Even before full ad monetization, creators can profit through:

Fan funding features

• Super Thanks, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Channel Memberships
  Creators typically keep about 70% of these payments after fees.

External monetization

• Affiliate marketing

• Brand sponsorships

• Selling products or services

These income sources can be used from day one, even before meeting full Shorts monetization thresholds.

Tips to Increase Profit from YouTube Shorts

To maximize Shorts revenue:

• Focus on high-engagement, repeat-watch content to increase eligible views.

• Post consistently to build momentum in the Shorts feed.

• Combine Shorts with long-form videos to reach monetization thresholds faster.

• Diversify income using fan support, sponsorships, and product sales.

Creators who treat Shorts as part of a multi-stream monetization strategy typically achieve stronger long-term earnings.

Final Thoughts

Making money from short YouTube videos is now realistic—but it depends on meeting Partner Program requirements, generating large view volumes, and diversifying income beyond ads. While Shorts ad revenue alone may be modest, combining it with fan funding, sponsorships, and product sales can transform short-form content into a meaningful revenue source.