How to make money with YouTube shorts is a question that a lot of creators have had over the past few months. With the incredible rise of TikTok, many of the bigger social media platforms have been looking for a way to compete with the short video juggernaut. Youtube threw its hat in the ring with the release of Youtube shorts and the YouTube shorts fund earlier this year.
According to YouTube, the shorts fund is a, “$100M fund distributed over the course of 2021-2022. Anyone is eligible to participate in the fund simply by creating unique Shorts that delight the YouTube community.” The shorts fund was put in place in order to encourage creators to use the new shorts functionality and is currently the only way to monetize Youtube shorts. So how does the shorts fund work and is it possible for you to actually make money with it? Let’s dive into the details of this program.
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How do you qualify for the Shorts Fund?
Youtube has stated that anyone can qualify for the shorts fund, just by creating a Youtube short. You don’t have to be a part of the partner program in order to make money with YouTube shorts. To qualify for the shorts fund you just have to create an original short on Youtube. Shorts that are pulled from TikTok or other third party platforms will not be considered for the shorts fund.
There’s no way to optimize your shorts or do anything extra in order to be considered for the fund. Youtube will select creators to receive a shorts bonus based on your channel’s shorts performance that month. The selection will occur on a month to month basis. So each month that your shorts receive views, the views will count towards your qualification for a shorts bonus that month. Basically, your ability to monetize YouTube shorts is at the mercy of YouTube. As a creator, you don’t have control which shorts will be monetized.
Make Money with Youtube Shorts
If your channel’s Youtube shorts qualify for a payment, YouTube will contact you with an email to claim your funds. Once you claim your funds via that email, you’ll be paid through the Adsense account connected to the channel. If you don’t have an Adsense account, the claimed funds will stay on your account until you’re able to complete a payout. YouTube claims that creators have the opportunity to make between $100 and $10,000 per month from the Youtube shorts monetization. Again, this monetization only occurs if your channel’s shorts performance is deemed worthy by Youtube.
The good and the bad
The good:
- You can get paid for shorts without being part of the partner program.
- Shorts can be done with less effort than long form content, so you don’t have to commit hours to it.
- Qualification refreshes each month so you have a chance to qualify monthly.
The bad:
- You have no control on which shorts get monetized.
- You don’t really know the exact metrics that trigger monetization payment. We don’t know if it’s just views or if there’s more target points that they’re clearly looking for.
- Youtube decides who gets a shorts payment. You can’t choose to monetize your shorts, they have to choose you.
So monetizing YouTube shorts is possible, it’s just something that you’re not in very much control over. It’s almost like playing the lottery. You pick your numbers by creating shorts and then praying to God that Youtube deems you worthy.