YouTube's Partner Programme reaches 2 mn creators

Google-owned YouTube now has two million creators who are part of its money-making partner programme, and the company paid more than $30 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the last three years.

YouTube Partner Programme (YPP) is a first-of-its-kind open monetisation initiative where anyone who qualified could join and start making money.

"Now, more than two million creators participate in YPP globally, including many who might not otherwise have had a platform, from tech reviewers to entertainers. And many of these creators are generating jobs and contributing to local and global economies," Neal Mohan, chief product officer, YouTube, said in a statement late on Monday.

In 2019 alone, YouTube's creative ecosystem supported the equivalent of 345,000 full-time jobs, just in the US.

"YPP continues to be one of the largest drivers of the creator economy in the world. Creators who are part of YPP can make money and earn a living from their content on YouTube with ten different monetisation features (and we keep adding more), from advertiser revenue to selling merchandise," Mohan elaborated.

To qualify for the Partner Programme, creators need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of overall watch time on their channels in the past 12 months.

Mohan said that in the fourth quarter of 2020, YouTube's violative view rate was at 0.16-0.18 per cent, which means that out of every 10,000 views on YouTube, only 16-18 come from violative content.

"As a result, we've seen our focus on responsibility benefit creators and our overall business. In the second quarter of 2021, revenues from YouTube ads crossed $7 billion and we paid more to YouTube creators and partners than in any quarter in our history," he mentioned.

The number of new channels joining YPP in 2020 more than doubled when compared to the year before.

"We've also rolled out a new ‘Checks' process which automatically screens creators' uploads for potential copyright claims and ad suitability restrictions. This helps creators understand how their videos will monetise and make edits before uploading if they want," Mohan noted.