Chatedits
Of the three big short-video platforms, YouTube remains the one that pays its creators best. Here's how Shorts monetization works in 2026, without the jargon.
The entry requirements
To join the partner program on the Shorts side: 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views over 90 days (or 4,000 watch hours on long-form). The bar looks high, but a consistent account in a strong niche reaches it within months (the first 1,000 plan).
How the money is calculated
Ad revenue from the Shorts feed is pooled, split pro-rata by views, after music licensing costs, then shared at 45% for the creator. Concretely: an RPM around €0.04 to €0.10 per 1,000 views depending on the niche and the audience's country — France pays above the global average.
What it means in practice
1 million monthly views ≈ €40 to €100 of Shorts ad revenue. Honest verdict: Shorts AdSense is a supplement, not a salary. Its real value lies elsewhere: it proves your niche pays, and it funds building the rest.
Where Shorts really win
The Short is the best gateway to serious income: it funnels viewers to your long-form videos (RPM 10 to 50 times higher), it sells through affiliate links, and it builds the audience that will buy your products (the creator income tiers apply to YouTube too).
The volume strategy
At €0.07 per thousand, Shorts monetization is a volume game: you need to publish a lot, for a long time, without burning out. That's the exact use case of the Auto-channel: you define the topics, the AI produces and publishes to Shorts every day, and the view counter — therefore the revenue counter — keeps turning while you sleep.
The volume that monetizes, without the exhaustion.
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