YouTube is finally going all in on Shorts. This week, the company held an internal meeting to announce that it would begin monetization of its Shorts platform starting next week. The new change will allow Shorts creators to start earning money from the content they produce. YouTube is planning to announce these changes on September 20.

In the past, YouTube required its creators to have at least 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers to be eligible for its Partner program. According to the source, these criteria will be changed for its Shorts creators, making it easier to become eligible for monetization. For the first time, YouTube will now add ads to Shorts to begin monetizing the platform further and pay its creators. The company will offer 45 percent of the ad revenue to its creators, slightly different from traditional YouTube videos that offer creators a 55 percent share. YouTube hopes the move will sway creators to come to its platform.

YouTube has been a video powerhouse for over a decade, not only offering users a place to enjoy content but also a space to create. While most creators aren't paid, those with popular channels are given the option to join its Partners program. From here, creators can monetize their videos to earn money. For the past few years, short-form vertical videos have become quite popular. Despite arriving in most regions in 2017, TikTok has been a dominating force with vertical videos, offerings users a fun and addictive new way to watch content. Of course, this success has caused its competitors to take action, adopting short-form videos into their apps.

While TikTok is the clear victor in this space compared to rivals like Instagram and YouTube, the latter will now make a serious push, leveraging its ads business. In addition to ads, YouTube plans to introduce the ability to use popular songs in its videos. In the past, YouTube flagged videos with copyrighted music and sent ad revenue from these videos to the copyright holders. The company recently announced that YouTube Shorts would integrate with YouTube Music with a shared playlist. Furthermore, it has made creating Shorts even easier, allowing creators the ability to edit existing YouTube videos in short-form clips. If this change does take place, it could be huge and will surely make the platform much more competitive.

Source: The New York Times