Platform Monetization Requirements
Exactly what each major platform requires before it will pay you — verified against official documentation, with the dates and numbers that actually matter.
Every platform sets its own bar for when a creator starts earning, and those bars move more often than most guides admit. Three of the four biggest platforms changed their monetization rules in 2026 alone.
This section covers what each platform requires right now, which programs are worth pursuing at your current size, and what is scheduled to change. Every figure below is checked against the platform’s own documentation rather than secondhand summaries — and each page tells you when it was last verified so you can judge how much to trust it.
Entry Requirements Compared
The first paid tier on each platform, side by side. Lower bars are not always better — what you can earn once you clear them differs enormously.
| Platform | First paid tier | Audience needed | Activity needed | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | Expanded Access | 500 subscribers | 3 uploads in 90 days, plus 3,000 watch hours (12 mo) or 3M Shorts views (90 days) | Memberships, Super Thanks, Super Chat, Shopping affiliate. No ad revenue. |
| YouTube | Full Partner Program | 1,000 subscribers | 4,000 watch hours (12 mo) or 10M Shorts views (90 days) | Everything above, plus ad revenue and Premium revenue share. |
| TikTok | LIVE gifts / Shop affiliate | 1,000 followers | Account 30+ days old, a public video in the last 30 days | Virtual gifts on live streams, product commission. |
| TikTok | Creator Rewards | 10,000 followers | 100,000 video views in 30 days | Per-view payouts. Eight countries only. |
| Twitch | Affiliate | 25 followers and 3 average viewers | 4 broadcast days and 240 minutes in 30 days | Withdrawable subs, Bits and ad revenue. |
| Twitch | Partner | 75 average viewers | 12 broadcast days and 25 hours in 30 days | Better terms, more emotes. Manual review required. |
All Twitch figures use a rolling 30-day window. YouTube Shorts-feed views do not count toward the watch-hour threshold — Shorts have a separate pathway.
Full Requirements by Platform
Every program on each platform, what it pays, and the fine print that catches people out.
What’s Changing
Announced changes worth planning around before they land.
New applicants will need 8,000 watch hours over 365 days or 20 million Shorts views over 90 days, up from 4,000 and 10 million. The 1,000-subscriber requirement is unchanged. Existing Partner Program members are grandfathered in — so if you are currently between 4,000 and 8,000 watch hours, getting in before February is worth prioritising. Separately, every channel will need 10 million Shorts views per 90 days to keep earning Shorts revenue.
X ended its Revenue Sharing programme on September 7, 2026 and replaced it with Original Content Rewards. We have deliberately left X out of this section until the new programme’s requirements settle, rather than publish numbers that are about to change.