YouTube pays out more than $30 billion to its creators and partners

YouTube has revealed that during the last three years, it has paid more than $30 billion out to its creators and partners on the platform.

Announced on 23 August, the figure paints a picture of how much money creators are making from hosting their content on the website.

“Millions of creators across the globe use YouTube to find a community, reach a global audience and build a business,” YouTube said in a statement.

Number of YouTube partners in programme increase

At the same time, YouTube revealed it had reached more than two million participants in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP).

The programme provides monetisation opportunities and lets creators earn an income from their content.

In the second quarter of 2021, YouTube ad revenue amounted to more than $7 billion. That same quarter, YouTube paid out more to its creators and partners than ever before.

YouTube first launched the YPP 14 years ago.

To qualify for the programme, creators must have no Community Guidelines strikes against their channel.

They must also have more than 4 000 valid public watch hours in the last twelve months and more than 1 000 subscribers.

“With improved systems and increased advertiser trust, we’re growing the pie and making channels in YPP more successful as a whole,” Youtube explained.

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

Earlier this month, YouTube launched a new Creators website that features extra tips and resources for users to upload and manage content on the site.

On the website, creators have full access to YouTube’s suite of creation tools and content metadata.

And more recently, YouTube introduced a new “Checks” system that checks creators’ content for potential content ID claims and ad suitability restrictions.

Featured image: Unsplash/Chase Chappell

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