How to Make Money on YouTube in 2026 (Faceless Channels Included)

How does YouTube pay creators?

YouTube pays through the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). Once you are in, you earn a share of the ads shown on your videos, a share of the ads that run between Shorts in the Shorts feed, a share of YouTube Premium revenue when Premium members watch you, and the money viewers pay you directly.

Some income needs no programme at all. Sponsors, affiliate links and your own products follow the audience, which is why most of this guide is about building an audience YouTube is happy to pay for.

• Watch page ads: a share of the ads on your long videos.
• Shorts feed ads: a share of the monthly Shorts Creator Pool.
• YouTube Premium: a share of subscription revenue from Premium members' viewing.
• Fan funding: channel memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers and Super Thanks.
• YouTube Shopping: your own store or tagged brand products.
• Outside YouTube: sponsorships, affiliate links and digital products.

YouTube Partner Program requirements in 2026

There are two doors. Ad and Premium revenue opens at 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 qualified public watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. The expanded programme, for fan funding and Shopping, opens earlier: 500 subscribers, 3 valid public uploads in the last 90 days, and either 3,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months or 3 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.

One route is enough. A long-form channel never has to post a Short, and a Shorts channel never needs watch hours. Both doors also ask for the basics: living in a country or region where the programme runs (the expanded programme is available in more than 100), following the monetization policies, having no active Community Guidelines strikes, turning on 2-Step Verification and linking an AdSense for YouTube account.

• Ads and Premium: 1,000 subscribers + 4,000 watch hours in 12 months, or + 10 million Shorts views in 90 days.
• Fan funding and Shopping: 500 subscribers + 3 public uploads in 90 days + 3,000 watch hours in 12 months, or + 3 million Shorts views in 90 days.

What changes on 1 February 2027

YouTube's page on changes to the Partner Program sets new entry thresholds from 1 February 2027: 1,000 subscribers plus 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Channels already in the programme keep their status.

Two more changes land the same day. To earn from the Shorts Creator Pool each month, a channel will need to keep 10 million qualified Shorts views over the last 90 days. And every creator in the programme has to review and accept the updated terms in YouTube Studio by 31 January 2027, or stop earning from the affected features from 1 February. Our guide to the 2027 monetization requirements works through the timelines.

How YouTube Shorts pay

Shorts are not paid per video. Each month YouTube pools the revenue from the ads that run between Shorts. When Shorts use music, part of that revenue goes to the music partners, depending on the number of tracks used. The rest, the Creator Pool, is shared among monetizing creators by their share of engaged Shorts views in each country, and creators keep 45% of what is allocated to them, with or without music.

Only engaged views of original, advertiser-friendly Shorts count: compilations, non-original Shorts and artificial views are left out. That is why a Shorts channel earns much less per view than a long-form one; our guide to faceless channel earnings puts ranges on it.

Earning beyond ads: memberships, Supers, Shopping and sponsors

The expanded programme unlocks fan funding at 500 subscribers: channel memberships (a monthly payment for members-only perks), Super Chat and Super Stickers in live chat, Super Thanks on videos, and Jewels and gifts during live streams. YouTube Shopping lets you connect your own store or feature brand products.

Sponsors pay for a clear audience. A faceless channel with a sharp niche, personal finance, gadgets, history, cooking, is easier to sell than a general one, because the sponsor knows exactly who is watching.

What gets a faceless or AI channel demonetized

Faceless and AI-made channels can be monetized: YouTube reviews the videos, not the tools. Its monetization policies ask for content that is not mass-produced, generic, repetitive or manipulative. Under 'inauthentic content' (formerly 'repetitious content') the policy names AI-generated content made with generic or unoriginal templates that gives the impression of mass production, similar or repetitive videos with little educational value, commentary or narrative, and videos that put characters in the same situation over and over with the same outcome.

What passes is the opposite: every video has a distinct storyline, focus or concept, and the bulk of the channel differs from one video to the next. Reused content has its own rule: clips taken from elsewhere need substantial original commentary or changes.

Disclosure is a separate question. YouTube asks creators to disclose realistic AI content that could be mistaken for a real person, place or event; animated or clearly unrealistic content, and AI help with a script, title or thumbnail, need no label. Its help page is explicit that disclosing won't limit a video's audience or its eligibility to earn money.

A plan for a faceless channel that earns

The channels that reach the thresholds treat every video as an episode of one show: the same promise, a new angle each time, on a schedule they can keep for a year.

• Pick a niche you could make 100 different videos about, each with its own angle.
• Choose your door: long videos for watch hours, Shorts for reach, or both on one channel.
• Publish on a schedule you can keep for a year: the thresholds take months, not weeks.
• Put the payoff in the first 30 seconds: YouTube's retention report measures exactly that.
• Test titles and thumbnails: YouTube Studio can compare up to three and keeps the one with the most watch time.
• Start a second income early: an affiliate link or a digital product that fits the niche.

How to make those videos with FacelessCast

Write the idea in the box on our home page, or paste your own script. Pick Video for AI video where every scene moves, or Agent to let the studio decide. The studio writes a hook-first script at the length you asked, reads it with a narrator that fits the video, makes the scenes, adds captions synced to the voice and music, and shows you the plan and its price before anything starts.

To stay on the right side of the originality rules, give every video its own angle: a different story, question or product. Series keep recurring characters looking the same, and versions let you publish a translation or test another opening without making the video again. FacelessCast does not promise monetization: YouTube decides that, video by video, against the policies above.

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