# How Many Subscribers Do You Need to Get Paid on YouTube? (https://www.socialcrawl.dev/data/how-many-followers-on-youtube-to-get-paid)

As of 2026-07-19, you need 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months or 10,000,000 Shorts views in the last 90 days to join the YouTube Partner Program and earn ad revenue. You can start earning earlier at 500 subscribers through fan funding. Across 10 well-known YouTube channels SocialCrawl sampled, the median was 22 million subscribers, far above the payout floor.

Computed 2026-07-19 from a sample of 10.

## Methodology

The subscriber thresholds on this page are YouTube's own published monetization requirements, cited from YouTube Help, YouTube Partner Program eligibility (2026) (model version 2026-07-19): 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 valid public watch hours in 12 months or 10,000,000 Shorts views in 90 days for the full Partner Program, and 500 subscribers plus 3 public uploads in 90 days plus 3,000 watch hours for the expanded fan-funding tier. The two tracks do not add together: a channel has to clear one of them outright. To show where earning channels actually sit, SocialCrawl reads the live subscriber count for a curated basket of well-known public YouTube channels via the API endpoint /v1/youtube/channel and takes the median: 10 channels sampled on 2026-07-19, a median of 22 million subscribers. The thresholds are official published facts, never fabricated; the median is read live from real channels, so the number a creator actually needs is the published floor, not this basket median.

## FAQ

### How many subscribers do you need to get paid on YouTube?

You need 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months or 10,000,000 valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days to join the YouTube Partner Program and earn ad revenue, as of 2026-07-19. At 500 subscribers you can join the expanded tier and earn from fan funding first. Source: YouTube Help, YouTube Partner Program eligibility (2026).

### Can you make money on YouTube with 500 subscribers?

Yes, but not from ads. At 500 subscribers, with 3 valid public uploads in the last 90 days and 3,000 watch hours in 12 months (or 3,000,000 Shorts views in 90 days), you can join the expanded Partner Program and earn through channel memberships, Super Thanks, and Shopping. Ad revenue still needs 1,000 subscribers. Verified as of 2026-07-19.

### Do watch hours and Shorts views count together on YouTube?

No. The two tracks are separate: 4,000 watch hours in 12 months OR 10,000,000 Shorts views in 90 days, and a channel has to clear one of them outright. Partial progress on both does not add up to eligibility. This reflects YouTube's published rules as of 2026-07-19.

### How many subscribers do YouTube channels that get paid actually have?

Far more than the floor. Across 10 well-known YouTube channels SocialCrawl sampled on 2026-07-19, the median was 22 million subscribers. The 1,000-subscriber Partner Program minimum is where paid monetization begins, not where earners sit, so the bar to qualify is far lower than a large channel's audience.

## Explore with AI

Questions this API answers, phrased for an AI assistant:

- How many subscribers do you need to get paid on YouTube?
- Can you make money on YouTube with 500 subscribers?
- Do watch hours and Shorts views count together for YouTube monetization?

Data source: SocialCrawl unified social data API. https://www.socialcrawl.dev/data