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If you’re constantly on YouTube, or not, you may have heard of the new feature YouTube Shorts. Now YouTube is evolving this feature even more by creating a Shorts Bonus Fund within the YouTube Creator Fund.
YouTube Shorts are short videos that launched globally in July 2021, following on from the success of TikTok’s short videos.
Very much similar to other apps, YouTube Shorts consists of many features that allow creators to have access to tools to record and edit including:
- Automatically adding captions to your YouTube Shorts
- The ability to add popular music to the videos
- The ability to record up to 60 seconds with the YouTube Shorts camera
- Being able to add clips from your phone’s gallery to all your recordings made with the YouTube Shorts camera
- Being able to add basic filters to color correct your Shorts
Acting as a rival for TikTok, the feature started as a beta and only being available to users in the US, it has now launched in many other countries including India.
YouTube says they’ve “already seen many creative, awesome Shorts from our community”.
What is the YouTube Creator Fund Bonus?
Following in TikTok and Snapchat’s footsteps, along with the launch of YouTube Shorts, YouTube has also announced the YouTube Short’s creator fund consisting of a 100M dollar fund distributed from 2021 to 2022.
A new feature meant YouTube had to take a fresh look at how to monetize and reward their creators for their content.
Monetization on YouTube is a key part of Creator earnings. Check out this blog to see the process and benefits of getting monetized on YouTube.
This could be a big boost not only to attract creators to YouTube Shorts but also to provide motivation to existing creators on the platform.
The YouTube Creator Fund Bonus is not limited to just current creators in the YouTube Partner Program.
Creators will be eligible to participate if they create original content for Shorts and follow all the Community Guidelines. Meaning, anyone is eligible to participate in the fund simply by creating unique Shorts that are entertaining and appealing.
Every month, YouTube will invite eligible creators to claim a payment from the fund. The bonus ranges from $100 to $10,000 based on metrics such as view, engagement, and the total monthly performance with their Shorts video.
YouTube however chose not to share more specific details about the fund’s operations at this time, including how creators will be selected or what specific thresholds for receiving payments YouTube has in mind. YouTube also held back information about whether YouTube creators could receive multiple payments in the same pay period if they had several videos that would qualify.
How Creators Earn It
There are certain eligibility criteria that creators will need to meet to receive the bonus fund. These include:
1. Original Content
To qualify for the YouTube creator fund bonus when creating Shorts, creator content must produce original content. This means videos that are not reuploaded from other platforms or channels or those with watermarks from other social media services and platforms. This prevents creators from making more TikTok-like content and publishing it to YouTube.
However, with this announcement, YouTube did not specify how it would be checking to ensure that the content is original.
2. Age
Creators will need to be 13 years old or older and be able to manage their own YouTube/Google account. Those between the ages of 13 to 18 will also need to have a parent or guardian set up their AdSense account.
3. Be Active
The channels also need to have uploaded at least one eligible Short in the last 180 days
4. Follow Guidelines
The Shorts uploaded must follow YouTube’s Community Guidelines, copyright rules, and monetization policies.
YouTube Partner Program members can participate in the fund and creators don’t have to already be monetizing on YouTube to qualify for the new Shorts bonuses.
If creators have qualified for a bonus, YouTube will reach out and let creators know that they have. They will send out a notification in the YouTube app that will include the amount of the bonus and details on how to claim it.
Creators have until the 25th of the moment to claim the bonus until it expires.
Keep in mind YouTube will also ask these creators to share their feedback as they continue to build and improve the feature to develop a long-term program designed for YouTube Shorts.
YouTube Shorts so Far
So far after the launch, the fund is supporting creators in the US, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Stating that over time it will expand to more markets.
At launch, YouTube Shorts included editing features such as camera recording, speed controls to slow or speed the audio, a countdown timer, text timing capabilities to make text appear on the screen at certain times, and, soon after launch, color adjustment filters.
YouTube claims the YouTube Shorts Fund is the first step to build a monetization model for Shorts on YouTube.
“This is a top priority for us, and will take us some time to get it right. We are actively working on this, and will take the feedback gathered from our community to help develop a long-term program specifically designed for YouTube Shorts”
Hinting at new features for YouTube Shorts in the works, YouTube mentioned things such as more effects to come in the future.
“Earlier this year, we previewed a new feature that will allow you to remix audio from videos across YouTube – which includes billions of videos – and we’re excited to share this experience is starting to roll out to everyone that has access to our Shorts creation tools soon. This means you can give your own creative spin on the content you love to watch on YouTube and help find a new audience.”
YouTube now has 10 ways creators can make money on its platform, including ads, YouTube Premium subscription revenue shares, channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Thanks, Super Stickers, merchandise, ticketing, and YouTube Brand Connect.
Paying more than $30 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the years, YouTube is committed to supporting the next generations of creators with YouTube Shorts.
