The 8,000 Watch Hour Requirement Explained

Confirmed: Starting Feb 1, 2027, new YPP applicants need 8,000 qualified watch hours in the last 365 days plus 1,000 subscribers, or the Shorts path (YouTube Help, YouTube Blog). Before that date the bar is 4,000 (YPP overview).

What counts as a qualified watch hour

Only watch time on public long-form videos counts. Private, unlisted, and deleted videos don’t count, and neither do ad campaigns, Shorts, or livestreams that weren’t kept as a public VOD (source).

The rolling window

The 365-day window rolls. Every day, the hours you earned on that date a year ago drop off your total. So your daily pace has to cover those losses as well as close your gap.

Simple pace math

(4,000 − current qualified hours) ÷ days until your target apply date = hours per day you need. After that, add the hours you’ll lose as last year’s views roll off.

Unconfirmed

YouTube hasn’t said how it handles an application that’s still under review on Feb 1, 2027. Don’t plan around a grace period.

FAQ

Is 8,000 hours per year or lifetime? It’s per 365 days, rolling. Existing partners? Not affected (source). Does 8,000 also apply to fan funding? No. Fan funding and Shopping stay at 500 subs plus 3,000 hours or 3M Shorts views (source).

Check your pace for free: Enter your subscribers, qualified watch hours, and daily pace in the YPP Pace calculator. It tells you whether you’ll cross 4,000 hours before Jan 31, 2027 and what daily pace you need. Not affiliated with YouTube.