What is YouTube Shorts Monetization? Shorts Fund vs Ad Revenue Share

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When YouTube Shorts just launched, it didn’t earn ad revenue at all. Back then, creators were paid from a fixed monthly bonus pool. That system, the Shorts Fund, ended in 2023 and was replaced by an ad revenue share that’s still how Shorts make money today. The two models work completely differently, and a lot of creator advice still accounts for the old one.

What Was the YouTube Shorts Fund?

YouTube launched the Shorts Fund in May 2021, which was a $100 million pool paid out over 2021 and 2022. It wasn’t tied in any way to the YouTube Partner Program or an application process: any creator making original Shorts that followed Community Guidelines could qualify, and each month YouTube reached out directly to the creators whose Shorts got the most engagement to pay them a bonus. There was no public formula for the amount, and it wasn’t connected to ad revenue at all. It was a standalone incentive while YouTube built a permanent monetization system for the format. YouTube discontinued the fund when Shorts ad revenue sharing began on February 1, 2023. 

What Is the YouTube Shorts Creator Pool?

The Creator Pool is how Shorts monetize as of now. Ads run between videos in the Shorts feed rather than inside any single Short, so there’s no individual ad impression for one video to “own.” Instead: 

1. Pool the revenue: YouTube adds up all ad revenue earned across the Shorts feed
2. Split for music: if a Short uses licensed music, part of that revenue is set aside for music rights holders before the Creator Pool is calculated: no music keeps 100% in the Creator Pool, one licensed track splits it 50/50, two tracks split it roughly 33/67, and so on as more tracks are used
3. Allocate by engaged views: what's left goes into the Creator Pool, and each monetizing creator's share is based on their proportion of total engaged Shorts views for the month
4. Pay out at 45%: creators receive 45% of their allocated Creator Pool share; YouTube keeps the remaining 55%

That revenue split is the reverse of long-form, where creators keep 55%, and YouTube keeps 45%. 

What Is Shorts RPM and Why Is It Lower Than Long-Form?

RPM on Shorts is calculated against engaged views rather than total views, which already makes a world of difference in how long-form RPM is measured. But the bigger reason Shorts RPM runs so much lower is the fact that revenue is pooled and split across every eligible Short on the platform rather than tied to a specific video’s ad impressions. 

Shorts under 60 seconds carry no mid-roll ad inventory, and licensed music usage shrinks the pool further before creators are paid. 

What Is a Typical Shorts RPM in 2026?

Shorts RPM varies enormously by niche, more than long-form RPM does, in AIR's data.

^{Source: AIR Media-Tech, cross-sectional Shorts RPM dataset by niche and channel size, 2026.}

Music is the outlier by a wide margin, largely because Content ID revenue from licensed tracks adds to what a straight ad-based Short can earn. Every other niche clusters far lower, and Shorts RPM typically lands at just 3-20% of what the same channel earns per 1,000 long-form views. This is also one of the reasons Shorts are generally treated as a discovery and growth tool for a channel rather than its primary source of revenue. 

What Are the Shorts Monetization Eligibility Requirements?

Earning Shorts ad revenue requires meeting YouTube Partner Program eligibility requirements: 

Do Shorts Watch Hours Count Toward the 4,000-Hour YPP Threshold?

No. Watch time from Shorts doesn't count toward the 4,000-hour threshold at all; only public long-form video watch hours do. 

Shorts have their own separate path into YPP: 10 million qualified Shorts views in the trailing 90 days. A creator who uploads only Shorts can't reach YPP through the watch-hour route no matter how many views they accumulate; the Shorts-views path is the only door available to them.