YouTube Monetization Requirements — Step-by-Step Guide & Transcript

[00:00] I have received some questions on YouTube, some people asking about me. I put here the question, how I share my, I share how I got to monetization,

[00:13] and others have suggested to do a video of the requirements of monetization. So today I'll be talking about the two. I'll be talking about requirements for monetization on YouTube,

[00:26] and also I'll be sharing my story. So I hope the video will help a lot of people and it will be short maybe, it will be short but I just want to let you know the requirements. I go by the name Mwanza Joce on YouTube. Thank you so much for being here. I hope this helps you and if it does kindly comment down below.

[00:43] For the requirement of monetization on YouTube, I talk about the long form because I do long form videos. So for the long form, when you are doing YouTube, you are supposed to get a thousand subscribers and then for now it's 4000 watch hours in the past 365 days, so in the past one year.

[01:07] so this comes when I'm doing video for let's say from January 1st until December 31st so they will be counting the watch hours from that period so when you go to the next

[01:23] the following year's first the first of January of this year it will start deducting from behind let me put it this way if I'm doing like a so it's supposed to be 10 days from one

[01:38] day to 10 days when I get to 11 days the first day disappears so that's what's happening while doing when you are trying to get to my monetization you are supposed to get the watch hours within 365 days they will be deducting the hours when you go

[01:56] like 366 you see but the hours are there but now this is the threshold this is what will be coming you uh getting into monetization later after you're monetized you can check your hours even if

[02:11] before you are monetized you can check your hours the hours are always there the only problem is if we start deducting if you are not monetized and then you have to like put more effort to get

[02:23] to gain those watch hours and i did a video on how you can do this for showers uh very quickly and also i did a video about uh next week like i was i think the same video about monetization

[02:41] right now with 4 000 watch hours but for me next year very fast it will be 8 000 hours and then i I give some tips on how you can attain the 4000 hours before that. So, like, generally, for you to get monetized,

[02:56] if your content is based on long-form videos, you have to get 1000 subscribers and then 4000 hours. But for the shops, you have, I think right now, you have to get 10 million views on shops in the past 3 months

[03:13] so that you can get monetized. and during monetization there are two types of monetization half monetization and then full monetization when it's half you have to get around 500 subscribers and about 300,000 watch hours

[03:34] then you can, you'll be allowed to do the membership thing you can do the membership, you can get superchats, super things and everything when you have 500 subscribers and 3000 watch hours.

[03:48] But now, the ways of earning on YouTube, through memberships, if you have a membership then people join with a little bit of money monthly, then get paid, and superchats is when people give you gifts, not gifts really, but send you something on YouTube, on your videos, that's super pay.

[04:09] and superchats is when you go live and then people can also send something for you. So that's not like ad revenue. For the ad revenue, you have to get fully monitored and that's where you have a thousand subscribers and then four thousand watch hours.

[04:27] So for the subscribers, they don't change, it doesn't matter, it's just a thousand. But now for watch hours because in the past three or five days, that's when now it reduces and it's like it pulls you back. So for my advice, mine I said it took two years to get monetized, but it's not like we have a time frame for everyone. Mine took two years, others it can take a day. It just depends on your videos and everything.

[04:53] So for me, I started that way because I didn't even know anything and I didn't have anyone to guide me. I was just researching and doing everything.

[05:05] and also for the short i can i i think short right now if you are measuring on short it's 10 i see 10 million views in the past 90 days and uh yeah something like that i'm not i'm not so sure let

[05:21] me not talk about short but if you are doing content based on short you can also check it's there uh depending to do this because i thought like you know when you are doing

[05:33] something like i'm a youtuber right now i understand a few things i feel like many people know it but when i remember where i like where i was before starting i didn't know anything now i

[05:46] just feel like oh okay i'm assuming people know but they don't know so for those who are asking about uh the requirements of monetization those are the requirements as other subscribers and then four thousand dollars in the past one year i know some people when they go to the youtube

[06:03] studio dashboard they see like um today the hours are high tomorrow they are low also some people have asked about that it's just because on the dashboard it shows the hours you gave in 28 days

[06:17] like if it's not even a full month for in 28 days those are the hours that are showing so if today is the 22th day and it showing 100 hours and then the 29th day tomorrow it shows 99 It means the first day that those hours are reduced now they showing from the second day until 29th day so that why you see the fluctuations are on the watch hours

[06:46] that go i'm worried that it goes up and down no it's the hours are there you can just go on the settings and then you you like check for the seven days for today then for 30 days for 90 days for

[07:00] three hundred and five days or for lifestyle for lifetime if you have been doing youtube for long maybe more than one year you can check your license and then it will show you all the hours that you change during that time so don't get worried when you see on the dashboard it's not

[07:17] showing like um the like the previous uh hours the previous day it's just because it's only showing 28 days so uh for also because i said it's uh two two types of monetization the first type is just

[07:34] to wait you are being paid uh with super signs and everything but now this would be fully monetized now for the thousand and four thousand watch hours uh that's now where you start um ad revenue now

[07:50] ad revenue is where when the ads pass by like the you have ads on your video you get paid from that so those are the requirements for now but next year next year is going to change for those who

[08:06] are willing to start youtube we can start now it's not too late you can start right now and put more effort and by February 1st you have did the photo of the Lottawa. It's hard if you feel like it's

[08:19] hard and also it becomes hard when you don't have someone who is guiding you like I didn't have anyone. It might be hard if you're doing everything but if you have like you're done your search well

[08:33] and you have someone also or you know there are some people who he searched for long and then when they start something, it just peaks. But there are those like me who start and learn as we go. So for people like us, it takes a little bit longer because we are learning during the process.

[08:50] But for someone who is doing it like I want to research, to see everything, then I start as I have the knowledge, I think it peaks. And also I'm not saying this to mean if you start as you

[09:04] uh to learn as you go it's not good if both experiences are good but now if you take a lot of time with searching before starting again it's not good you know but both uh like both styles

[09:19] work so we are different and it just depends with them i don't know i don't want to say it's It's a lot of work. I've done it. There's a video that I put last Saturday where I was talking about how much I earned as a senior YouTuber.

[09:42] But most young YouTuber on a video I did and it went viral for me, it had 24,000 views. And I think I earned $58. It was it? $58. $58. That video went a lot, a lot.

[10:00] right now what i'm doing this video it has 13 000 views and in that 13 000 views the only money that i've earned in that 13 000 views is six dollars six dollars i've earned six dollars on 13.2

[10:20] and that's why i said don't uh be seeing people doing videos and then you see they have a lot of views you detect how they are going to get paid it doesn't go like that so for me for

[10:33] the 13 000 views if i compare with this the one that i had in 4 000 views and had 58 dollars i could say i should be having around half of the 58 000 of 58 dollars which is around 20

[10:46] $28 $28 $29

[11:01] So if I was comparing my video that has had 24,000 views and I earned $15, if I was comparing I am having around $29 right now on a video that has 13,000 views. But right now I have $6. I put it here. You see. So mostly it's not easy on YouTube because if you look mostly on the money part, you will give up.

[11:28] If you really want to grow on YouTube, just put the money part a little bit behind your, of course it should be there, but put it back because it can disappoint you.

[11:41] And I'm not saying that everyone has done, because I've seen in that video, I've seen, if you have a lot of audience from first world countries, like you were saying, Europe, you will be earning a lot. But for me, I have a lot of Kenyan audience.

[11:59] And in Africa, if you have, apart from South Africa, I think South Africa is a little bit, the economy is okay. So if you have people from there watching, it's also okay. But for me, a Kenyan, having Kenyans, like around 50% watching from Kenya, I gain a lot, like very little amount.

[12:18] So the monetization, that's how it works. And then someone asked also how I reached monetization. So I started my YouTube channel in January of 2024. And as I said, I was just trying it. I had nobody to guide me or everything.

[12:41] So mine took a lot of time because I got monetized this year, February I think. And it was up and down because sometimes you do a video, you see the views are going up. Sometimes it dips a lot. And that's the growth now.

[12:57] that I think it tries to like to find your patience to see if you are patient enough because if you are not patient you will give up so for me I just I was just doing videos because also i i was i think i was doing one video a week also that may be why it took a long time for me to get

[13:19] money because if you're doing one video a week and then we are trying to grow the audience i'm not saying it's bad it's good but again if it takes longer so that you can meet the audience maybe

[13:33] video subscriber count. So I did one video a week then it reached a point I felt like, because you know when you're starting and you don't have any knowledge about editing it's so hard to be like shooting and editing at the same time you see it like a very, it's

[13:49] a lot of work and also I had a full time job so I felt like it was very, it was a lot for me that time but when I continued editing and doing everything and I started loving

[14:01] it i said now it's becoming easier that's why now i introduce another video so i was doing like two videos a week i did that for a very long time i don't know how long and then when uh for the

[14:13] subscribers if you put your content out there i think that people just uh are tuned to subscribe because i say that for me subscribers i get like the only people that i can tell you subscribe to

[14:28] my channel because i told them are 11 people being my family members and then a few friends friends like four friends of mine only as an account for that but all other people that i have right now

[14:40] they choose to subscribe and don't go around telling people subscribe because you will have the subscribe count if you are telling people to subscribe but again they are not watching you know they'll be just subscribing so that's why i say also if you are telling people or you're

[14:56] you bring Stub4Sub you will have like 10,000 subscribers but the watch hours you are less than a thousand so what's the meaning, make it make sense

[15:08] are you interested in subscribers only or you want subscribers and watch hours so that you can get monetized so that's why I said try as much as possible not to do Stub4Sub because it kills channels

[15:20] because also it will demotivate you, you will see you have a lot of subscribers like 10,000 You are not monetized and someone with a thousand subscribers has already monetized the channel and they are getting things.

[15:32] So, this is not to tell people who are doing that to stop. If you really want to grow, you should stop. But again, I don't want to tell you what to do. You know what you want. Okay? So, for me, I will just advise if you are doing sub4sub, stop it because you will gain subscribers.

[15:49] They will go up but you will still not monetize the channel. because if someone chooses to subscribe to the channel, it means they have watched you and they watched, at least they watched the video, if it's halfway, that's a no.

[16:03] Because, you know, the one minute, the two minutes, that counts to one hour and now they watch hours. But if I subscribe and I never watch, you know. So for me, I reached monetization like this year and the subscribers, I reached subscribers first before monetization subscribers. I reached last year on October 30th, I think. And then I failed because I was almost, I was packed halfway without the watch hours.

[16:38] So I was remaining around 15 I think, I'm not sure but I was passed halfway almost 3000 watch hours. So I failed because already the subscriber count is there and the watch hours is already here.

[16:50] Like I'm going down in the watch hours. Let me do the, I went to the challenge which the challenge is the blogmark. So I prepared myself in November to just feel like which videos I'll do like that.

[17:06] Then in December I started the vlogmas, I went into the challenge which started in 1st of December until 24th. I did videos daily. And by the end of that vlogmas I had gained I think more than 500 or 800 which I won.

[17:25] Then in January I think I said let me do, I think I was posting three videos a week, something like that. Then in February I said because I was in Nairobi let me do I think five videos a week and then before even February I was remaining with less than a hundred watch hours.

[17:47] That's how I did that. And that's why also I think the video is, I would have mentioned the last video or the coming video I mentioned, I want those people who want to go into the challenge to do with me because I'm doing it in November. I want to be posting daily until December 24th.

[18:09] So that's it for this. It's a lot of work, but you know, it depends on what you want. So if I've not mentioned in the previous video, I'll mention later in the coming video, I'm starting a challenge in November, which shall be posting.

[18:23] So for that, at least, even if it's bad, bad, it will not leave you with less than 500, like, 700 watch hours. It will boost the watch hours. For me, I'm not looking for the watch hours because of the amount, but I just want to challenge myself and it's good to challenge yourself.

[18:41] I am not saying this so that you can join my challenge. I am saying this just for you to put your own challenge. I said also in one of the videos, if I was to say it, it's funny.

[18:56] Some people post five videos a day. I cannot do that. I know my limits. I cannot do that. But some people give themselves a challenge to post five videos a day.

[19:08] I will never but I don't think I can do that. That's the same thing with the challenge that I'm saying, opposing daily. I can do that if I plan well, but people will not. So it's not like a must. You can do, you can look for your own challenge. You can challenge yourself if you have a target.

[19:27] And that's why I say, always have a target. So that target will be pushing you to do, maybe to go and exercise. Because without the target, you know what you want, okay?

[19:41] So working towards what you want is the thing that will push you to who you need to be I become a motivational speaker yeah so for me so for the person who asked me to share how I reached monetization

[19:59] that's how I did it after but it's not like I started okay I said I'm self taught on YouTube I got the idea of starting YouTube and the motivation from big YouTubers, senior YouTubers, like that.

[20:17] But I taught myself on how to do everything. I had never edited anything. I had never shot. For shooting or taking pictures, everyone can do that.

[20:31] But no, for YouTube, you need to be precise, okay? And I guess another thing I can say, you can start with what you want. you want don't see some people doing the content with camera and you want the camera for me i

[20:45] started with a phone that was not so clear if you go to my oldest video you can just check my channel the oldest video they are not clear as this one because i bought the phone later like after i was

[21:02] on youtube like one and a half years that's when i bought the phone this phone that has a good quality so you can start with what you have if you have a phone provided it somehow clear start with

[21:15] that as you grow and learn and then you can improve and maybe save for a good phone and be at that but don't say i don't want start with the phone i want a camera don't choose on what you will be choosing and someone will be starting with the phone and then they pass you by as you

[21:31] still waiting for a camera to start shooting. So my advice is start with what you have. Most people can afford a phone so start with a phone as you grow and also sell for a camera if

[21:46] you want a camera later but don't wait for the camera. So for monetization that's the requirement. I hope I have answered your question but for those who do shots I'm not really sure. Okay if you do a

[22:01] lot of shorts and you are doing long form content and you are also doing a lot of shorts, the watch hours for shorts will not count during monetization on the long form.

[22:17] That's what I forgot to tell you. The watch hours for shorts if you are doing long form content will not count during monetization. It might count late after you have monetized your channel but it will not count during monetization

[22:34] because monetization is 4000 more hours on long form, not long form plus short. So, if you know you are doing long form content and you are doing a lot of shorts,

[22:46] the hours that you are doing on shorts will not count during monetization of the long form. unless you get the 10 million views within the 90 days you will monetize the channel with the shots

[23:01] but if not if you will depend on long form to get monetized it will not work so monetization if it's a long form it's long form so it's not like it will add with the short or watch hours

[23:14] and watch hours it can be a um a big tactic to acquire watch hours but if you do you are doing video 10 minutes video try and do longer videos so that if any someone watches

[23:31] a half of the video it will be better than you do a five minute video and someone watches one you know you need a lot of people to watch your video so that you can even get one hour so try longer videos and try to be consistent and also

[23:47] I say consistency does not mean to post every day if you don't have the time and you cannot do that because you need to also if you are doing full-time job you need to work full-time

[23:59] and then do this at time so if you try to do that you will feel burnout and when you feel burnout you can't do anything you can't do the full-time job and you will not do anything so the body will

[24:12] it will be shutting like it's shutting down because it's for time so do what you can consistency might mean once a week but if they are consistent that's better so I think the video

[24:25] was not supposed to be so long and I thank you for the people who were asking that and I just decided because I after the after I say this next video on Saturday it will be this one so I hope

[24:37] I've answered you for my journey uh that's what I did and also you can you can everybody has a different than on YouTube. It's not like we should go this way all of us.

[24:49] Provided you are following the guidelines, you can do whatever you want that you are comfortable with and get there. So YouTube is for everyone. There's nothing left out and

[25:01] you can start the content ideas or the niches, you can start with what is comfortable at the moment. like for me I said I want to travel like really really travel the world but I cannot afford that

[25:16] so I started with lifestyle so that I can grow the audience as I change later but not now because you know traveling of course it's so expensive and yeah so start with that with what if you have

[25:29] money you can start traveling you start content creation because that those who are doing that they can afford traveling and they start content that they travel and those people who we are selling there but we cannot

[25:42] afford that so we start with what we have as you plan to change the content later. So thank you so much for the questions. I really really appreciate. Thank you for those who asked

[25:54] and hope you have helped and I really really appreciate your support for my videos. I'm seeing a lot of growth and that's a lot for me and i really appreciate for those who are subscribing commenting sharing and liking

[26:08] may god bless all of you for me and i'll see you on monday in the next vlog bye