YouTube Partner Program Requirements: What YouTube Checks and Why

To meet the YouTube Partner Program requirements, a channel must reach YouTube's audience thresholds. This means a minimum number of subscribers, plus either watch hours on long videos or views on Shorts. You also need no active Community Guidelines strikes, two-⁠step verification, a linked AdSense account and a channel that follows the monetization policies. Then a person reviews your channel.

This guide explains each requirement, what reviewers check and why, the most common reasons for rejection, and what to do if it happens to you. YouTube changes the exact numbers from time to time. So we show them as placeholders in square brackets: check YouTube's current help page for the figures that apply to your channel.

What the YouTube Partner Program is

The YouTube Partner Program (often shortened to YPP) is how creators earn money directly from YouTube. Before you join, ads may still appear on your videos, but you do not get a share of that money.

Joining unlocks, in general terms, a share of ad revenue on long videos and Shorts, fan funding features such as channel memberships, Super Chat and Super Thanks, and access to creator support. Which features you get depends on the level you join at and on other eligibility rules.

The eligibility requirements, one by one

There are two kinds of requirements: audience thresholds (how big and active your channel is) and account and policy status (whether your channel is in good standing). You need the subscriber number plus one of the two activity routes, not both.

YouTube has changed these numbers over the years. It has also offered a lower entry level that unlocks fan funding features before ad revenue, with its own requirement for a number of recent public uploads. The Earn section in YouTube Studio shows the thresholds that apply to you and your progress towards them.

Besides the numbers, you need to:

• Have no active Community Guidelines strikes. A strike is a penalty YouTube gives when a video breaks its rules. It expires after a period of time.
• Turn on two-⁠step verification for the Google account that owns the channel. This adds a second check, such as a code on your phone, when you sign in.
• Link an AdSense account. AdSense is the Google account that pays you. You link it during the application.
• Follow the channel monetization policies. These include the Community Guidelines, the Terms of Service, copyright rules, AdSense policies and YouTube's rules on reused and inauthentic content.
• Live in a country or region where the program is available. The current list is on YouTube's help page.

How the review works and what reviewers look at

When you reach the thresholds and apply, your channel goes into review. Automated systems help, but a human reviewer looks at the channel as a whole. Why? Advertisers pay for ads on monetized channels, and YouTube wants to make sure the channel is original and safe for those ads.

Reviewers can't watch everything, so they focus on what represents your channel:

• Your channel's main theme: what most of your videos are about
• Your most viewed videos and the videos with the most watch time
• Your newest uploads
• Your metadata: titles, thumbnails, descriptions and the channel's About section

A review usually takes about a month. It can take longer if there are many applications or your channel needs a second opinion. Keep uploading normally while you wait.

Common reasons channels get rejected

Rejection emails often name the policy only in general terms. In practice, most rejections fall into three groups:

• Reused content. Videos built mostly from other people's material without a meaningful original contribution, such as compilations, clips from films or TV, or reactions with little commentary. Having permission to use the material does not automatically make it acceptable.
• Repetitive or mass-⁠produced content. Many videos that look almost the same, made from one template with small changes, or produced in bulk with little human input. This is where AI-⁠heavy channels often struggle. Our guide to YouTube's inauthentic content policy includes a self-⁠audit you can run.
• Other policy issues. Misleading titles or thumbnails, content that breaks the Community Guidelines, copyright problems or spam.

If your videos are aimed at children, make sure your audience setting is correct before you apply. Children's content can be monetized, but the setting changes which ads and features are available. Read our explainer on COPPA and Made for Kids to see what changes.

If you are rejected: what to do next

1. Read the rejection email carefully. Note which policy it mentions.
2. Review your channel like a reviewer would. Start with your most viewed and newest videos. Remove, make private or rework videos that are mostly reused or repetitive. Fix misleading titles and thumbnails. Removing videos may lower your public watch hours, so check your numbers afterwards.
3. Appeal if you believe the decision was wrong. You can usually appeal within 21 days of the decision by submitting a short video that explains your channel and how you make your content.
4. Or reapply after the waiting period. This is usually 30 days after the rejection. If you are rejected again for the same reasons, the wait may be longer.

Don't reapply without changing anything. The same channel will most likely get the same result.

After you're accepted: settings to check first

• Accept the terms for each part of the program you want to use, such as ads on long videos and ads on Shorts.
• Turn on ads and choose your ad formats in YouTube Studio. Check each video's monetization status.
• Finish your AdSense setup. Add payment details and complete address verification so payments are not held.
• Submit your tax information. If you live outside the US, read our plain-⁠English guide to the W-8BEN form.
• Keep following the policies. YouTube can review a monetized channel again and turn off monetization later.

Partner networks, including HubTub, work with channels that are already in the Partner Program and check them when they apply. So a network is a possible next step after YPP, not a replacement for it. If you want to know what networks do today, see do YouTube MCNs still exist.

What to do next

Open the Earn section in YouTube Studio and compare your numbers with the current thresholds on YouTube's help page. Then look at your most viewed and newest videos with a reviewer's eyes, and fix anything that looks reused or repetitive. Apply only when both the numbers and the channel are ready.