First things first, if you have had your share of YouTube content creation for a little while, you probably know that YouTube wants to make sure everyone plays fair. So, if you want to learn how to make money on YouTube by monetizing YouTube Shorts, you need to comply with the platform's overall channel monetization policies.
These policies cover areas such as the following:
- YouTube Community Guidelines
- YouTube’s Terms of Service
- Copyright Guidelines (for the use of music, this means that you need to get YouTube’s your music from YouTube’s licensed music library or download YouTube music by subscribing to a reliable royalty-free music platform like Snapmuse to avoid copyright issues)
- Google AdSense program policies
- Reused and repetitious content guidelines
But that's not all! YouTube also made important updates to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) terms, which affect creators who want to monetize their channels or are already part of the program. So, if you want to monetize your YouTube channel and Shorts, you need to comply with the new terms below by July 10, 2023:
- Watch Page Monetization Module: This module ensures that you continue earning money from ads run across your long-form, live-streamed, and YouTube Premium content.
- Shorts Monetization Module: The star of the show! With this module, you can start earning money specifically from YouTube Shorts through the ads played between Shorts from different creators in the Shorts feed. The revenue from the Ads for YouTube Shorts is collected in something called the Creator Pool and then distributed to individual creators based on certain metrics.
- Commerce Product Module: Don't worry about the fancy name; it is actually a lot simpler than it sounds! You may be familiar with the old name, Commerce Product Addendum. This module covers monetization for extra fan funding features like Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks (which is available for YT Shorts), and Channel Memberships.
Remember, if you haven't signed the base agreement for the YouTube Partner Program before July 10, 2023, you risk being removed from the program. If that happens, you will need to go through the application process again and potentially meet the requirements once more.
Don’t know how you can sign these modules? Worry not! Whenever a module is updated, YouTube makes sure to communicate them with the creators through the Creator Dashboard or by sending module updates via email.