In good news for content creators on YouTube, the Google-owned popular Video-sharing platform has announced a change in its eligibility requirements for the YouTube Partner Programme (YPP). Creators can now access the YPP once they reach 500 subscribers, which is half of what YouTube previously demanded.

Also, instead of the previous requirement of 4,000 valid watch hours, creators now only need to achieve 3,000 watch hours. Similarly, the threshold for shorts views has been reduced from 10 million to 3 million. These updated requirements will first be implemented in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Taiwan, and South Korea.

As these creators continue to grow their channel, they’ll automatically become eligible to earn revenue sharing from ads and even more benefits once they reach the existing YPP eligibility criteria, without having to go through the full YPP application process again.

These existing eligibility requirements to unlock revenue sharing remain unchanged, said YouTube. Additionally, YouTube has introduced various new monetisation methods for smaller creators, such as paid chat, tipping, channel memberships, and shopping features.

The company also mentioned that the same YPP rules will continue for revenue sharing, so smaller creators will still need to expand their audience to profit from ad revenue.

Also, the shopping affiliate programme which was previously available by invitation only to select creators is now available to YPP participants in the US with a minimum of 20,000 subscribers. The affiliate program allows creators to feature products from other brands and creators in their content and be eligible for competitive commission rates on the sales of products tagged in their videos and Shorts.

Meanwhile, in February this year, the company had rolled out a new marketplace, Creator Music, an easy way for creators in the YPP in the US to access an ever-growing catalogue of music for use in their videos while still being able to monetise.