How Many Subscribers to Make Money on YouTube? (500 vs 1,000)
If you're wondering how many subscribers to make money on YouTube, there are two numbers. At 500 subscribers you can apply for the lower tier of the YouTube Partner Program, which pays through fan funding like memberships and Super Thanks, but not ads. At 1,000 subscribers you can get a share of ad revenue. Both also need watch hours or Shorts views, and both come straight from YouTube's own Help pages (expanded YPP overview, Partner Program eligibility).
Subscribers only open the door, though. Once you're in, YouTube pays for views, not for subscribers. A channel with 1,000 subscribers and no views earns nothing.
The two tiers at a glance
| Lower tier | Ad revenue tier | |
|---|---|---|
| Subscribers | 500 | 1,000 |
| Uploads | 3 public uploads in the last 90 days | No minimum count listed |
| Watch hours (long-form) | 3,000 in the last 12 months | 4,000 in the last 12 months |
| Or Shorts views | 3 million in the last 90 days | 10 million in the last 90 days |
| What it pays from | Memberships, Super Chat, Super Stickers, Super Thanks, Jewels and gifts, Shopping | Ads and YouTube Premium, plus the fan funding features |
Sources: YouTube Help, expanded YPP and YouTube Help, YPP eligibility, both checked October 11, 2026.
The lower tier is only open in certain countries. The United States is on YouTube's list, but check the country list on the expanded YPP page if you live somewhere else.
How many subscribers needed for ad money: 1,000
To earn from ads, YouTube asks for 1,000 subscribers plus one of these:
- 4,000 qualified watch hours on public long-form videos in the last 12 months, or
- 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days.
You also need 2-Step Verification on your Google account, access to advanced features, a linked AdSense account, no active Community Guidelines strikes, and a channel that follows YouTube's monetization policies (YouTube Help). YouTube says the review typically takes about a month.
Watch hours from private, unlisted, or deleted videos don't count, and neither does time spent watching Shorts. If you delete a video, its watch hours go with it.
For long-form videos, YouTube pays creators 55% of net ad revenue. For Shorts, creators get 45% of the revenue allocated to them from a shared pool (YouTube partner earnings overview).
The 2027 change for new applicants
From February 1, 2027, new applicants for ad revenue will need 8,000 watch hours in 365 days or 20 million Shorts views in 90 days. The 1,000-subscriber rule stays, and the 500-subscriber tier is unchanged, according to Music Business Worldwide (August 11, 2026). Channels already in the program aren't affected by the new entry bar. YouTube's own YPP page confirms updates start that day and asks creators to accept new terms in YouTube Studio by January 31, 2027.
If you're close to 4,000 hours now, it makes sense to push to apply before February.
What 500 subscribers actually pays
The lower tier gives you tools for viewers to pay you directly. Memberships are a monthly fee for perks. Super Chat and Super Stickers are paid messages during livestreams and Premieres. Super Thanks is a tip on a regular video. Shopping lets you connect a merch store. Each feature has its own extra rules, so not every channel gets all of them at once (YouTube Help).
This works best for channels with a small group of loyal viewers: tutorials, hobby communities, people who stream. It works less well for faceless or story channels, where viewers often don't feel a personal connection to tip. For those channels, the 1,000-subscriber ad tier is usually the one that matters.
YouTube doesn't move you up on its own. To hear when the lower tier is open to you, select "Get notified" in the Earn section of YouTube Studio.
If you'd rather make videos than read about it, VidPuff turns a title into a faceless video. No waitlist, cancel anytime.
How many subs to make money on YouTube that you'd notice?
This is the real question behind the search, and the answer is that subscriber count isn't the right measure. Ad money comes from views, and how much each view pays depends heavily on your niche.
From our breakdown of how much YouTube pays per view, using AIR Media-Tech's Studio data from 300 monetized channels (May 2025 to May 2026):
| Monthly views | At the $2.30 median RPM | At Education's $10.22 RPM | At Kids' $0.33 RPM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | ~$23 | ~$102 | ~$3 |
| 100,000 | ~$230 | ~$1,022 | ~$33 |
| 1,000,000 | ~$2,300 | ~$10,220 | ~$330 |
These are simple multiplications of RPM (earnings per 1,000 views), so treat them as rough. A channel with 5,000 subscribers whose videos get searched every day can out-earn a channel with 50,000 subscribers that stopped uploading. To run your own numbers, try our YouTube money calculator.
Ways to make money before 500 subscribers
You don't need YouTube's permission for everything. These don't depend on the Partner Program:
- Affiliate links in your descriptions. Each affiliate program sets its own rules, so read them before joining.
- Sponsorships. Some brands work with small channels in narrow niches. A focused audience can matter more to them than size.
- Your own product or service. A guide, a template, coaching, or freelance work that the channel shows off.
We list every option, with what each one needs, in how to make money on YouTube.
How to reach 1,000 subscribers faster
There's no official average for how long this takes. What helps:
- Pick topics people search for. Search videos keep pulling in viewers months after upload. Trend videos fade fast.
- Make videos long enough to hold real watch time. At 8 minutes or longer you can also add mid-roll ads once you're monetized (YouTube Help).
- Upload on a schedule you can keep. Every video is another way in, and old videos keep adding hours.
- Watch audience retention in YouTube Studio. Make more of what holds people and less of what loses them in the first 30 seconds.
- Ask for the subscribe after you've delivered something, not in the first ten seconds.
If producing videos every week is the hard part, VidPuff can help on the production side: you type a title, it drafts a script, narration, a visual for each scene, music, and captions, and renders a long-form 16:9 video. You review and change each stage before it renders, and plans start at $25/month.
To see how close your channel is today, enter your numbers in our YouTube monetization checker. For the full checklist and common rejection reasons, see YouTube monetization requirements.
FAQ
How many subscribers to make money on YouTube from ads?
1,000, plus 4,000 watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days. From February 1, 2027, new applicants need 8,000 hours or 20 million Shorts views instead.
Can you make money on YouTube with 500 subscribers?
Yes, through the lower tier of the Partner Program if it's available in your country. You also need 3 public uploads in the last 90 days and either 3,000 watch hours in 12 months or 3 million Shorts views in 90 days. It pays from memberships, Super Thanks, Super Chat, and Shopping, not ads.
Does YouTube pay per subscriber?
No. YouTube pays from ad revenue on views and from fan funding. Subscribers only count toward eligibility.
How much does a YouTuber with 1,000 subscribers make?
It depends on views, not subscribers. At the median RPM of $2.30, a channel getting 10,000 monthly views would earn about $23 a month from ads. Many channels at 1,000 subscribers aren't monetized yet because they still need the watch hours.
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