YouTube in Mid-May rolled out YouTube Shorts Fund — a new way for creators to share shorter videos but slightly differing from the typical YouTube videos in length and in method of monetization too.
According to a post on YouTube’s blog; any creator who’s making original Shorts content is eligible for the YouTube Shorts Fund. Their channel doesn’t necessarily have to be monetized through the YouTube Partner Program to qualify. No. So long as one is in a country where YouTube is available and are making original Shorts content, then they are eligible to make money through the Shorts Fund.
Whether or not you’ll earn money in any given month is based on your Shorts performance the previous month. YouTube will look at last month’s data when determining which creators to award with bonuses. So, the best way to earn money through the Shorts Fund is to keep creating original Shorts content.
YouTube has dedicated a total of $100 million to the Shorts Fund for 2021-2022. The amount you can earn isn’t based on the same metrics as the ad revenue of the other videos on your channel. Instead, it’s more of a range.
The monthly bonus you earn through the Shorts Fund will be at least $100 USD, but it can be up to $1,000 USD. However, you aren’t guaranteed to earn the same amount every month. It will be adjusted based on several factors, such as your overall Shorts views for the month and where your audience is located.
Criteria To Meet To Maintain Eligibility:
YouTube will review your channel before reaching out about the Shorts Fund. In order to maintain eligibility, your channel must have uploaded an original Short in the last 180 days. Any content that’s non-original content, such as videos reuploaded from other channels platforms, such as TikTok or Instagram Reels, as well as videos with watermarks or logos from third-party social platforms will be disqualified.
Additionally, creators must be 13 or older in the U.S. (or the “age of majority” in their country/region) and must accept terms of the program and link to an active Google AdSense account to receive the bonus payments. Creators are expected that all their content complies with YouTube’s Community Guidelines, copyright rules and monetization policies.
The unfortunate bit of it is that the monetizing part of YouTube Shorts (eligible to receive YouTube Shorts Fund payments) is open to only creators in 10 countries: the U.S.A, U.K., Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia and South Africa; meaning potentials like Uganda, Kenya etc are left out.
YouTube however confirms that they have plans to expand eligibility to more countries/regions soon.
Here’s a short video summary of how the YouTube Shorts Fund works and how to make use of it:
With context from YouTube\Blog & Ameyaw Debrah.
