You can now get monetized on YouTube with shorts instead of watch hours

One of the most intimidating things about trying to get monetized on YouTube is the requirement to generate 4,000 public watch hours in the last 365 days.

Well, now there’s another way.

I logged on to my account yesterday and noticed the ‘Monetization’ tab had been changed to ‘Earn.’

I clicked on it to see what’s up and found a redesigned monetization page with a list of tools, earning options, and a re-jigged meter that tells you how far away you are from the coveted status.

Previously, there was a speedometer-type graphic for each of the monetization requirements: subscribers and public watch hours.

Here’s what you see now:

I’ve been working for nearly four months now to try and get monetized on YouTube and boy is it a grind.

Although I’m nearly a quarter of the way to the required 1,000 subscribers, I’m still miles away on watch hours despite having 26 videos to my name.

This is incredibly frustrating as an early-stage YouTube creator.

Ads for me, not for you

I went to my channel the other day to respond to a comment, and imagine my surprise when an ad popped up on my content!

Although my videos aren’t fancy by any means, I think they provide a lot of valuable information to people interested in writing-type side hustles in general and, specifically, writing on Medium.

Here’s one of my most-watched videos on that subject:

Oddly enough (despite my channel being almost exclusively focused on writing), my most viewed video — with about 2,100 views— is about the benefits I experienced from quitting caffeine:

Again, it’s deeply frustrating to know that Google deems my videos good enough to serve ads on, but won’t sauce me some of that sweet ad revenue.

I recently watched a video by a guy who makes similar content to mine and he said his RPM, or his revenue per thousand views, was something like $17 (contrast that to my Medium RPM, which I estimate to be $40 … this site actually rules).

I don’t think RPM that high is typical, but let’s say for a moment that I could hit that number.

By that measure, Google has already short-changed me some $146!

OK, OK, enough crying by me.

The fact of the matter is, I only have a YouTube channel because everything I write here is effectively a script for a video.

Once I’ve written some content (the hardest part), I’m looking to repackage it in any way I can.

When I finally do achieve monetization, it’ll be fairly easy money. I don’t expect to get rich off of it, but I’m looking to squeeze every bit of value out of everything I create.

YouTube’s literal billions of monthly active users are seductive indeed.

The shorts option

Would shorts be a better option for achieving monetization? Four thousand watch hours is intimidating enough, but 10 million shorts views?

To be honest, I don’t even know if that’s better or worse.

As you may have noticed from the graphic above, I haven’t made a single short yet, so I don’t know how quickly the views pile up for those.

I think I’m still wrapping my head around what kind of content I could package in that way given my subject matter.

If you’re a YouTuber with some experience with shorts, I would absolutely love to hear from you in the comments.

Which do you think would be easier to achieve: 4,000 public watch hours in 365 days or 10 million views?

Folks, thank you so much for reading this post all the way to the end. If you enjoyed it, please give it a clap or two so others can find it!

My most-read posts on Medium:

1. I made hundreds on Medium in my first month
2. You’re depressed over low views on Medium — here’s how to fix it
3. Why Medium is the most underrated way to make money online
4. You’re sad about low views on Medium (how to fix it)
5. I’m buying these 3 dividend monsters in 2023
6. How I became a top 6% writer on Medium in my first month
7. Avoid the mistake I make every time my story goes viral
8. My Medium earnings dipped in my third month and it’s all my fault
9. I tripled my hourly wage on Medium in my second month — you can too
10. My first viral story taught me not to chase viral stories

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