How to Join YouTube Partner Program in 2021!

- Do you have existing video creation skills?
- Perhaps you have an idea for a unique Youtube channel that you want to start?
- Do you want to turn those skills and ideas into a profitable hobby or business?

If your answer to these questions is 'yes' then the Youtube Partner Program will be something that you are going to want! Also allowing you to unlock higher-tier functionality on YouTube and make money in the process. 

So what are the requirements you will need to meet to become part of the Youtube Partner Program, how do you sign up for it, and what exactly do you get out of it?

The first requirement:
You'll need an existing YouTube channel with plenty of high-quality videos that engage your audience of viewers. And these videos must be something that YouTube won't have any issues putting ads on, or publishing on their platform. Before you consider signing up for the program you should make sure that you have first spent the time learning your craft and using those skills to create a decent number of videos that people actually want to watch.

The second requirement:
You need at least one thousand subscribers to your Youtube channel.
These should all be genuine human subscribers, not subscriptions from bot accounts accumulated as a result of using dodgy sites and services that claim to sell you Youtube subscribers.

No matter what the people who run these sites might tell you, all the subs they are sending you are from bots. You will run afoul of YouTube sooner or later if you try to sign up a channel to their YouTube Partner Program that only has these useless subscribers.

Also bear in mind, there is no point in getting upset by these requirements.
Your channel must have an existing viewer base. If you don't have a reasonable number of people regularly viewing your content then any money you might get from ads would be minuscule anyway. So focus on building up your audience before you focus on making money from that audience. 

The third requirement:
Your channel needs to have accumulated at least four thousand watch hours for the videos on the channel over the last twelve months.
This doesn't mean four hundred views on average for one hundred videos that are six minutes long though.

Remember that most people don't watch the full video.
Only the actual watch time counts towards this total.
Watch hours from any video that isn't a public video also don't count, and neither do videos that you have used as ads for True View advertising campaigns.

If you have deleted videos from your channel then the watch hours accumulated on those deleted videos will also have been deleted, so factor that in.
This isn't really as big a hurdle as it sounds. When you first start out the views will be slowly dribbling in, but by the time you get to one thousand subscribers, you should have a decent number of videos getting a reasonable amount of views and watch time. Even if you don't have the four thousand watch hours at one thousand subscribers you shouldn't have long to wait before the watch time catches up.

The fourth requirement:
You need to be in good standing with Youtube.
All the videos on your channel should be free of any illegal content or any other content that violates the Youtube terms of service.

If you have any videos that you are concerned about then you should remove them before applying for the program. Any videos with copyrighted content that you don't own the rights to should be removed.

For example, You should also not engage in any personal behavior that is in violation of Youtube's terms of service, such as posting spam or abuse in Youtube comments. If you've misbehaved in the past to the point where you are worried about getting rejected as a result then you will probably want to start with a fresh Google account and associated Youtube channel.
You'll also need to stop doing whatever it was that compromised your account.
You can find the YouTube Terms of Service here.

The fifth requirement:
Being in a country that allows sign-ups for the Youtube Partner Program.
Fortunately, the list of allowed countries is very long, and the chances are fairly high that you live in one of these countries.

You can find a list of supported countries at support.google.com/Youtube/answer/7101720?hl=en

The last requirement:
You'll need some patience!

It will take Youtube a month or more to review your account and decide if they want to approve it for their Youtube Partner Program.
If you get rejected you will still be able to re-apply after thirty days from the date you were rejected.

In this case, you should spend those thirty days addressing the issues that caused you to be rejected, or you will get rejected again.

For a full list of all the requirements, you will need to meet and continue to comply with the Youtube Partner Program.
Go to: support.google.com/Youtube/answer/1311392

First, you'll want to find out how near you are to qualifying.

To do this:
- Click on your Google avatar icon in the top-right corner on any Youtube page.
- Click the Youtube Studio option in the drop-down menu that appears.
- Click the gear icon next in the sidebar menu on the left side of the page.
- Click on the 'Monetization' menu option.

This will take you to the Monetization page in Youtube Studio.
You should then be able to see how many subscribers you have and how many you need. There you'll also find the number of watch hours you have accumulated on your videos and the total you will need to qualify.

On the Monetization page you'll probably see:
'We'll send you an email when you're eligible to apply' if you don't yet qualify.

If you do qualify then look for the sign-up email in the email account associated with your Youtube account. It should have a link you can use to apply for the Youtube Partner Program. If you don't find the email then you should find an 'Enable My Account' button or similar link on the Monetization page that lets you apply.

After clicking the application link you should get a 'Monetization Agreement' form that appears in a pop-up window. There should be three checkboxes that you need to check to indicate your understanding of and willingness to comply with the agreement. Check those checkboxes and then click on the 'I Accept' button to submit the agreement form.

You should get another pop-up with the title 'Monetize my Videos'.
You should see three ad-type options with checkboxes that let you select which ad types will appear on your videos:

- Overlay In-Video Ads, Banner ads.
- True View In-Stream Ads, Video ads that appear during a video.
- Videos Contain a Product Placement declaration.

You should be able to set all these on an individual basis for each video and change the global settings later too, so don't stress too much about them at this point.

If you plan on using sponsored product placements to monetize your videos then you should check all three ad options. Otherwise, just check the first two.

It's unlikely that you won't want both types of ads.
Checking both ensures that the best paying ad will appear when one is available.
A lower paying banner ad will still appear if there are no True View video ads in the ad inventory for your channel.

Click the 'Monetize' button on the page to complete the Youtube Partner Program application process.

Your account will be manually reviewed, which will usually take about a month.

You can spend that month preparing videos to release once the review period is over, and you should also release a few videos during this period to show that you are still producing content and to keep your viewer audience happy.

Note that: for many of the Partner Program features, you will need to be eighteen years or older and have a minimum number of subscribers depending on the feature involved.

These requirements are currently in flux as YouTube adopts new policies on how it handles content targeted at kids. So check the information link below to get the latest info. More information at support.google.com/adsense/answer/72857

Once you are part of the Youtube Partner Program, you can link your Adsense account to your Youtube account and have ads start appearing on your videos.

You will also need to sign up for the Google Adsense service to make this happen.

You will also get revenue from any YouTube Premium members who watch your videos. Youtube Premium is a subscription service that gives its members ad-free viewing and other benefits.

If you meet specific criteria, then you may be eligible for the 'Channel memberships' feature of the Youtube Partner Program.
This feature allows you to sell monthly memberships that give your members extra perks, such as badges and emojis.

You may have access to the Merchandising Shelf feature.
This feature allows you to sell your brand merchandise via links and ad tools on your video pages.

If you stream on YouTube, then you may also have access to streaming features that are part of the YouTube Partner Program.
These include stream chat features such as Super Chat and Super Stickers that let viewers of your stream purchase access to special chat enhancements.

The Youtube Partner Program may not seem that easy to get into.
Still, if you are creating regular high-quality video content on YouTube, then you will probably not have to wait too long before you are eligible.

The benefits allow you to take your channel to the next level with monetization and channel features, which makes it a goal well worth working towards.

Start filling your YouTube channel with quality original videos now!
And see where your content creation adventure takes you.