Make videos people finish
Watch time is the lever. Longer videos that hold attention bank hours faster than lots of short uploads.
Free YouTube tool
YouTube Monetisation Calculator
Enter your subscribers and watch hours, plus what you've gained in the last 30 days. We'll show your progress toward the YouTube Partner Program and a realistic timeline to hitting both thresholds.
Estimated time to monetisation
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Your progress will appear here once you add your stats.
Subscribers0%
Watch hours0%
YouTube Partner Program requirements
To apply for the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) on the main long-form path, you need:
- 1,000 subscribers
- 4,000 valid public watch hours in the past 12 months
There's also a Shorts path: 1,000 subscribers plus 10 million valid public Shorts views in the past 90 days. On top of the numbers, you need to live in an eligible country, follow YouTube's monetisation policies, and have no active Community Guidelines strikes. This calculator focuses on the long-form subscriber-and-watch-hours route, since that's the path most channels take.
Why the watch-hours threshold catches people out
Subscribers tend to feel like the hard part, but watch hours are where many channels stall. 4,000 hours is 240,000 minutes of view time. Longer videos that hold attention bank hours far faster than a string of short clips, which is why a content mix built around watch time, not just uploads, gets to monetisation sooner. Track both numbers and you'll see which one is actually gating you.
How to reach monetisation faster
Win the click
Titles and thumbnails decide whether a video gets opened at all. Sharpen your titles and impressions turn into views.
Build sessions with playlists
Group related videos so one view leads to the next. More watch time per visitor means faster progress to 4,000 hours.
Strengthen early signals
Early views and engagement help the algorithm surface a video. Targeted growth support can give those signals a realistic lift.
FAQ
YouTube monetisation, answered
What are the YouTube Partner Program requirements?
The main long-form path requires 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 valid public watch hours in the past 12 months. There's also a Shorts path of 1,000 subscribers and 10 million valid public Shorts views in the past 90 days. You also need to live in an eligible country, follow the monetisation policies, and have no active Community Guidelines strikes.
How does this calculator estimate my timeline?
It takes the subscribers and watch hours you've gained in the last 30 days as your monthly pace, then estimates how long it would take to close the gap on each threshold. Your timeline is the longer of the two, since you need to meet both. It's a straight-line estimate, not a guarantee.
Do watch hours from Shorts count toward 4,000 hours?
No. Only watch time from long-form public videos and live streams counts toward the 4,000-hour threshold. Shorts views feed the separate 10-million-view Shorts path instead.
How can I reach monetisation faster?
Publish consistently, make longer videos people watch to the end to bank more watch hours, optimise titles and thumbnails for the click, and build playlists that keep sessions going. Targeted growth support can also strengthen early signals so more real viewers find your videos.
Close the gap to monetisation.
Realistic, paced YouTube growth that strengthens the early signals the algorithm rewards, so more real viewers find, watch, and subscribe.