The threshold comes first, and there are two doors
A brand new channel has no toggle that turns on Shorts money. Monetization lives inside the YouTube Partner Program. According to YouTube's eligibility page, you need 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days.
People often miss that you only need one of those doors. If you post nothing but Shorts, the views route is your door, and it's a big one. Shorts views don't count as watch hours, so a Shorts-only channel can't get in through the long-form route. That's why a lot of faceless creators post the occasional horizontal video alongside their Shorts. Long videos build watch hours and Shorts bring in discovery and subscribers. Either door gets you into the program.
The usual worry here is "my Shorts niche will never hit that." Maybe it won't. But you don't have to choose today. Keep posting until your numbers show you which door is closer.
The switches to flip once you qualify
When you're close, YouTube Studio guides you through most of it. The steps look like this:
- Turn on two-step verification for the Google account that owns the channel. Studio asks for it during the process anyway.
- Open YouTube Studio and go to the Earn tab. If you're eligible, you'll see an option to apply. If you're not, you can ask to be notified when you are.
- Review and accept the Partner Program base terms.
- Accept the Shorts Monetization Module. This step is what actually turns on revenue sharing for Shorts, and YouTube's Shorts monetization policy page explains it. If you skip it, your Shorts won't share in ad revenue even if your long videos do.
- Create an AdSense account or link one you already have. This is how you get paid, so use your real details.
- Wait for the review. A person at YouTube looks at your channel as a whole, and Studio shows the status while you wait.
Menu names change from time to time. If a label looks different, stay in the Earn tab and you'll find it.
What the reviewer is actually checking
This is the part to be skeptical about. The review isn't just a numbers check. YouTube looks at whether the channel follows its monetization policies. The one that trips up faceless channels is the inauthentic content policy, which covers mass-produced, repetitive videos that look like one template with only the title changed.
Being made with AI doesn't get you rejected. No platform down-ranks a video just because of how it was made. What gets channels turned down is sameness: the same script shape, the same stock visuals, the same voice reading near-identical lists, over and over.
Before you apply, scroll through your channel the way a stranger would. Does each video have its own idea and its own payoff? If someone watched three in a row, would they feel they'd learned three different things? If so, you're in decent shape. If it looks like one video copied with new words, fix that first. A rejection means waiting before you can reapply.
To be honest about it: no tool or service can guarantee approval. Anyone who promises that is selling something.
If you're not eligible yet, here's the actual work
Most people searching this aren't stuck on a setting. They're stuck on the gap between where the channel is now and the threshold. Three things close it, and none of them is a trick.
Cadence. Shorts get shown to small audiences first, so every upload is another test. If you post once a week, the algorithm has very little to learn from. Posting daily, or close to it, gives it much more. Pick a pace you can keep up for months, not one that burns you out.
Hooks. The first second or two decides whether someone keeps watching. Open with the most surprising line in the script, not "hey guys" or a slow title card.
Niche. Choose a lane narrow enough that a viewer can guess what your next video will be: scary stories, stoic motivation, one slice of history. If you're undecided, browse faceless niches that suit short form.
Watch the retention graphs in Studio, not just view counts. A Short that people finish does more for your channel than one they swipe past.
The questions you're not typing
Am I too late? No. Shorts recommends videos based on what people watch, not on when a channel was created. A channel started this month competes on whether its videos get watched, not on how old it is.
Will people judge me for AI content? Some will. Most viewers just care whether the video was worth their time. If your visuals look like realistic real-world footage, follow the platform's disclosure rule. The label itself doesn't reduce distribution, but skipping it can get a video removed.
What if I quit after two weeks? That's a bigger risk than any policy. Channels rarely fail at the application stage. They fail in the quiet weeks before it, when the numbers are small and posting feels pointless. Whatever system you use, it has to hold up during your busy weeks.
Removing the part that makes people quit
If your bottleneck is making a video every day without filming, that's a problem a tool can actually solve. MaqtAi writes a script that opens with a hook, narrates it with an AI voice, generates visuals with real motion, adds animated captions and puts it all together as a vertical video for Shorts. On a paid plan, Autopilot renders videos from a topic queue on a daily, three-times-a-week or weekly cadence. Each finished video waits for your approval before it posts unless you choose to publish automatically.
It won't pick your niche, rescue a weak topic or get you into the Partner Program. Originality still comes from your topics and your edits. You can change any script line before you launch, and those edits are where your channel's voice comes from.
Waiting costs something, even if you can't see the price. Every week you don't post is a week of retention data you don't collect, a week your numbers don't move toward the threshold, and a week where someone in your niche posts every day. The smallest next step is to make one video and see if it feels like your channel. Verify your email and you get 450 free credits with no card. That covers roughly 3 to 4 videos on the still-frame default, or one with AI motion (pricing has the details). Free renders carry a watermark, so treat them as a test run before you commit to anything.
Doing this by hand is the part most people quit at. MaqtAi writes the script, narrates it, generates the visuals and captions, and assembles the faceless short for you. Verify your email and you get 450 free credits: about 3 videos on the still-frame tier, or one with AI motion. Free renders carry a watermark.
Try it on your niche freeFrequently asked questions
Can I monetize Shorts without 10 million views? Yes, through the other door. Per YouTube's eligibility rules, that's 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months. Shorts views don't count toward those hours.
Where do I find the Shorts Monetization Module? It's in the Earn tab of YouTube Studio. You're offered it when you apply to the Partner Program, and channels already in the program can accept it there too. Your Shorts only share in ad revenue once you accept it.
Do AI-generated Shorts get monetized? They can. YouTube reviews channels for originality and value, and its inauthentic content policy targets mass-produced, repetitive videos, not AI itself.
What happens if my application is rejected? YouTube tells you, and you can reapply after a waiting period. Use that time to fix whatever looked repetitive or reused.
Results vary, and nothing here is a guarantee of income.