Guide · updated October 2026

How YouTube Shorts monetization works

Shorts get views more easily than long videos, but each view pays far less. Understanding how YouTube shares Shorts revenue helps you use Shorts for the right job: winning subscribers and pushing viewers to long-form.

Find Shorts topics going viral

Requirements

✓ 1,000 subscribers and 10M valid public Shorts views in 90 days (or 4,000 long-form watch hours in 12 months).
✓ Join the YouTube Partner Program and accept the Shorts Monetization Module.
✓ Original content: Shorts cut from other creators’ videos, movies or TV shows do not count.

How Shorts revenue is shared

Ads shown between Shorts are pooled every month. The creator portion is split by each channel’s share of Shorts views, and the channel keeps 45% of its allocation. That is why Shorts RPM is often a few cents to under $0.10 per 1,000 views — many times lower than long-form, and strongly dependent on the audience’s country.

Making Shorts pay

✓ Use Shorts to test topics fast: when a Short takes off, make a long video on the same topic.
✓ Link a related long video from the Short to pull viewers over.
✓ Target high-RPM countries if ad revenue is the goal.
✓ Shorts suit affiliate and shopping channels, where the money comes from orders, not ads.

FAQ

How much do 1 million Shorts views pay?

Usually from a few dollars to a few tens of dollars depending on the audience’s country and niche — far less than 1 million long-form views.

Do Shorts hurt a long-form channel?

Not if they are on the same topic. Off-topic Shorts can bring in viewers who do not care about your long videos.